A Tour of Veritas, the Magic University
So, my erotic fantasy romance series, Magic University, is being published by Ravenous Romance. The second of two books in a planned four book series was just published at the beginning of February, and I thought this might be a great time to share some photos of the “real” Veritas, the Harvard campus.
In the books, many scenes take place in real Harvard buildings, while others are in magical buildings that cameras and mundane eyes cannot see. As such, of course, these are photos of just the Harvard buildings, but many of the Veritas buildings resemble these very closely.
The full assortment of photos can be seen here: in my Picasa album, but I will put a few here with descriptions, under the cut…
One enters historic Harvard Yard through any number of gates, like this one from Harvard Square on Massachusetts Avenue. The campus is much much bigger than just the area enclosed by the walls and wrought iron fences, but the Yard and immediate environs are the heart of the campus. When Kyle first stumbles into the Veritas administrative building it is here.
In fact, the entranceway to that first building Kyle stumbles into, Peyntree Hall, probably looks something like the above. Notice that the crest above the door reads “VERITAS.”
The buildings that surround the Yard are mostly residential “houses,” i.e. dormitories. I think Camella House is somewhere between Straus and Matthews, while Gladius House and Scipionis are probably between Memorial Church and Robinson Hall. The Elwyn Library and the Sassamon Ritual Arts building are probably between Sever Hall and the Widener Library. “Between” is a nebulous concept since they are magically hidden along the fifth side of the square that mundanes cannot see. What, you didn’t know that squares actually have five sides? You need to take a course in metaphysics at Veritas to learn this stuff, I guess.
While Camella House is almost certainly the same red brick as Straus, Wigglesworth, and most of the other houses on the Yard, Gladius House was probably built to look more like this one above. Not exactly like this, but a similar design, and it has a “tower” not quite like this, but close.
I didn’t take photos of William James Hall while I was getting reference shots, but you can find plenty of photos of it on the web (like this). It’s the tall building they run the broom race from on Halloween.
Many of the other places mentioned in the books are real, like the Garment District (where Kyle and Alex go to shop for Halloween costumes), Izzy’s (the puerto rican restaurant where Kyle and Alex go to eat once), and the convenience store in Harvard Square (the copyeditor made me take out the name of the place). The Spanish restaurant where Kyle and Jess have their first date is, sadly, no longer there. It was called Iruna, and it was on JFK Street.
And Professor Pendragon’s rented house is just a few blocks from where I live.
Hope you’ve enjoyed this little tour! If you’re interested in the books, you can of course buy Magic University: The Tower and the Tears (Book Two) from:
Amazon Kindle Store, All Romance eBooks, or Ravenous Romance’s site, and other ebook retailers. Book one, The Siren and the Sword, is also available, at Ravenous, Kindle store, etc…
Magic University Photo Tour
