what allows the Hammers their abilities in Child of Fire. Werewolves: Spell cast upon the family police force of Hammer Bay by the Hammers. Allows transformation into a wolf. Effects behavior causing pack mentality and over aggression as well as moral disassociation. Ball Lightning or "floating storm": Ball of sentient, electricity hungry lightning. Summoned by Zahn with a magical lightning rod. Shown to be summoned without a circle by killing a person with the rod. Game of Cages. Sapphire Dog: This creature has a magical gift for compulsion. To see it is to love it. Can also pass through solid matter. Seen in Game of Cages, and possibly inside the person of Wally King in Circle of Enemies (this is probably what gave him the ability to walk through walls) Iron Balls: Golf ball sized iron balls filled with fire that are simply immovable. Think Blob from X-Men. Killed easily with the ghost knife they explode into flame, often killing their fellows. Can bestow the gift of total immovability upon a person they inhabit physically. Seen to inhabit wally king in untold numbers. Winds of Air and Hunger or "drapes": Invisible creatures that are sort of like boa constrictors if boa constrictors could totally envelope a person. Attempts to crawl in sinus cavities (nose, mouth, ears). Seen inhabiting multiple people whom they bestow invisibility on. After the person they inhabit dies they open a hole in the ground to the Deeps where upon they summon exponential numbers of their brethren. Exact curve unknown. First summon in COE brings 2, 2nd brings 3, 3rd brings 4, but after 5 the progression is described as a "swarm". Claws in Darkness: Eagle like talons that come out of voids of darkness. According to Annalise a popular form of guardian for summoners. Fairly resistant to the ghost knife but fall easily to Annalise's green ribbons. Publishing history The first trilogy of novels are published by Del Rey Books, a branch of Ballantine Books owned by Random House. The covers are painted by Christian McGrath, who also does covers for The Dresden Files series. In October 2011, Harry Connolly announced that Del Rey had cancelled the series due to poor sales. In November 2011, Harry Connolly began self-publishing with a prequel to the Twenty Palaces series, appropriately titled Twenty Palaces. Del Rey Child of Fire (2009) Game of Cages (2010) Circle of Enemies (2011) self-published