Ilona Andrews

[CheeseBK]

About Kate. He is the information man.

i guess you mean that you think saiman knows more about kate than he lets on. gotta admit, I was pretty confuzzled by your comment.... it seemed  so out of the blue

[odile]

Wouldn't be so sure wether he truely knows that information would be quite valueable at least for blackmail  and he is selling information after all. I guess he suspect, still wants to prove or to find out something... he just has to have a hint - don't think he would be so interested in Kate otherwise

[Pendle]

Sorry, when I said "he must know", I meant he must have worked it out. He would have been at the midnight games when Kate impaled herself on the blood sword. If he knew what the blood sword was, being the information man and all, then he's already got it all figured.

[Pendle]

or sells the info to Kate's enemies?

But Kate knows about Saiman. I don't think he'd sell her out.

And I am pretty sure Curran has figured out some if not all of it on his own.....I think.....

And Jim. I think it depends on exactly what Andrea told them about the Scarlet Star.

[Pendle]

Wasn't Kate 25 at the start of Bites?

I thought the same thing. That kinda stopped me from reading for a bit. It just wasn't my cuppa. I'm just waiting for Magic Bleeds.

I couldn't read it either, but there's an answer to the age question on Ilona's blog.

I always figured it was her birthday when she was enjoying her solitary drink, until Ghastek ruined it all. And I can't get that out of my head now. 

[Cerulean]

Compliments of the fabulous Jill Myles!!
http://www.ilona-andrews.com/forum/index.php?topic=17.330#lastPost

Hey a little NSFW warning! Thank goodness none of my students popped their head in my office. Still ... was totally worth it 

[Zealith]

New short fiction up on her blog.

[nuitblanche]

Wow, love the new look. I think I like it better. Very cool!

You have my vote on that one. The new Kate on the website may not be as beautiful as the one on the book cover, but she is in "reality" more of what a trained, fierce, "take no sh*t" fighter would actually look like, physique, clothes and all. Of course that is my opinion.

[Kyria]

Actually, 'the rock' is usually the engagement ring, which women get and men don't.  The wedding rings for both sexes are customarily (but not always) plain bands, or with very limited decoration.  And it's usually (in the U.S., anyway) on the left hand. 

Really?  My mom's engagement ring has three rocks, her wedding ring has two; my best friends are both getting studded wedding rings (though the one threatened dire things if her fiance spent the money to get real diamonds).  I guess I just thought that was typical then. 

Also, they all still wear the engagement ring along with the wedding band; and my mom additionally has a third band my dad got her for their first anniversary (they fit together into a little roseate of diamonds).  So there's still a rock there. 

Black ring, though... does anyone know what powers would traditionally be associated with onyx, obsidian, or any other black stones?

[nuitblanche]

You are probably thinking that Slayer should be a huge medieval broadsword. Nothing wrong with that at all.

Without going all technical and saving my aching fingers a tremendous run around the keyboard, swords have come in all lengths, shapes (curved, straight,{variations of these} etc.) and weights. Swords from various areas of the world have taken on all these aspects (and more) as well as time periods they have come from.

So, until Ilona articulates very specific traits of Slayer, I think each reader can paint in their mind whatever image they want. Go for it!

I do like the blood all over it. Looks like Kate just had "a go" with something evil!

[CheeseBK]

ilona posted a pic of a saber (shashka) on the forum once, saying that was pretty much how slayer looked like. if you go to the kate daniels wiki you can find the pic there too....

http://kate.ilona-andrews.com/wiki/pmwiki.php?n=Main.Slayer

I actually carefully chose a such a sword for the wiki header

[Pfefferminztee]

Ah, thanks for the info!
Now that I think about it more carefully it makes sense for a woman to have a thinner sword.

[Kyria]

There is always a trade off between strength and weight, when going for a thinner blade.  A broader blade is stronger, but a thinner blade is lighter and faster. 
For length - longer blades are heavier, for one thing.  Secondly, a long blade increases reach, but for a short person, you'd have to have a ridiculously long blade to have that reach give you an advantage over a tall person (I'm a short person, and when I fence, I'm up against people 8 inches or more taller than me... if I use the longest blade available and they use the shortest, we might break even on reach... and then my arm will get tired faster).  On the other hand, a fast, skilled fighter with a shorter (lighter!) weapon can get inside the effective range of the longer weapon. 


On the other hand, Kate strikes me as the type (with Voron's training) to use any weapon to her greatest possible advantage. 

[Ellyll]

Okay, all, I think we're getting a bit too heated about the sword picture. 

Cheese, I'm sure no one intended any slight to Ilona about the picture of the sword.  You and I both know how caught up readers can get in the accuracy of the pictures that go with books; it's an occupational hazard for the authors. 

And, yes, all, it's definitely not a completely accurate picture of the specific sword that Kate uses, but I expect it's fairly difficult to find a picture of a woman wielding that particular uncommon saber, and we have no reason to suppose that it was custom-drawn for the occasion. 

It's great to discuss it, but let's try to keep it civil, okay? 

Ellyll, Moderator

[Kate]

OH. Holy. Crap. Ilona just posted a "what if Kate, Curran, and Jim Tweeted" scenario: I had to mute my business call so I could laugh. http://www.ilona-andrews.com/2010/05/04/phhhhttthhh/