Hi all!
I realised that I haven't told you much about the Celestial Plague trilogy. Book one is set to be released in October, so I thought that should change before the book comes out!
The books are in the point of view of four characters, this blog post will focus on Raya. She is a panther shapeshifter.
I chose the panther because I don't see them getting much love in books. I think they are beautiful animals and would love to read about them more in fiction. In the books she doesn't like shifting to start with, but warms up to it as time goes on. Her panther side is conscious as well, and comforts her when needed. She can still control her body and her emotions in her panther form, the consciousness is just there for support when needed. She names the consciousness Damisa, which makes it feel more connected to her.
Damisa can't speak, but it can make itself more known in Raya's mind, and the two develop a communication system through brain signals. They can feel each others emotions as well which aids communication. Raya's friends are aware of Damisa, but can't communicate with it directly. Damisa will however help Raya protect her friends when necessary and shows distress along with her when they are in trouble. The two of them have been together since birth and cannot be broken apart. Well, apart from a virus that the characters have to contend with in the books.
With Raya's shape-shifting power, I thought choosing a cat would be too easy. I've written about cats since I was young and I wasn't sure how useful a cat shapeshifter would be. A panther on the other hand is a much bigger cat with the ability to hunt bigger prey and terrify anyone who comes across it. I saw a panther as being more fun to write and it will create some unique situations that a cat shifter wouldn't be able to help in. It was also a lot of fun to write about a big cat. This is the first book I wrote that was in the point of view of a big cat and it was definitely a learning curve!
That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading. See you next week!
