On Writing War & Grace: Another Update!

On Writing War & Grace: Update!

The Fairytale and Fantasy in My Three Worlds

As the three short stories—The Girl Who Watched for Elves, The Girl Who Dreamed of Red Shoes, and The Girl Who Couldn't Sing—that serve as the prelude to my new Once Upon a Time Today collection, are being released, I wanted to share my three worlds: The one for The Daughter of Light, the one for the three short stories, and the one for the Once Upon a Time Today collection. Each is distinct, and purposeful, to their particular stories.

The Daughter of Light Trilogy
The Daughter of Light cosmology is the most complex of my worlds, and includes the mortal and enchanted Worlds. The mortal world is real, it's ours, and it spans hundreds of years. The enchanted world is hard-core fantasy. All made up. However, I used the borders of time and space, between the two worlds, to shift time. While things in the series are always "present day" in the enchanted world, any creature from Faerie can travel to any time in the mortal world—as long as that time has already been lived and/or is currently inhabited by mortals, i.e. creatures from Faerie cannot travel into our world's unknown future. The hitch is: creatures from Faerie cannot travel back in time. Once they've traveled to a particular point in history, in the mortal world, they can't ever travel back to a prior period in human history. So time between the mortal world and enchanted world is fluid—to a degree.

I wrote it that way because The Tale of Melusine (which the entire series spins off of) is a 14th century French fairy tale, but I didn't want Melia's forays into the Mortal World to be strictly historical. I wanted her to be able to visit more contemporary times. So while Melia and her sisters visit their father in Ireland in the 1300s, and her older sister, Melusine, marries and lives with a French nobleman of that time in Half Faerie, Melia also travels to the early 1900s to find Gabriela in Texas, and to find Lola in California in 1998 in Half Mortal, and will, finally, enter our present time, in the last book in the series, War & Grace. Then, there's that nefarious character obsessed with bringing the twenty-first century to Faerie in Half Faerie…

I'm a huge fan of The Lord of the Rings. To give us verisimilitude, Tolkien wrote his Middle Earth historically. It's a time period that existed, but it's in the distant past. I also wanted to create a sense of verisimilitude in The Daughter of Light, but I decided to create my enchanted world parallel to ours, existing in tandem with Planet Earth.

In creating my enchanted world, and the faeries and creatures that live there, I did a lot of research about faeries. I didn't like a lot of the traditional faerie lore. It didn't suit the faeries that I wanted to write about, so I decided that most faerie lore, as chronicled by mortals, would be recognized as fictitious, by the creatures that inhabited my enchanted world.

For example, in the mortal world, Melia's older sister is the famous sister—the legendary Melusine—but in the enchanted world, Melia—and her younger sister—Plantine steal the show—and for very different reasons. Plantine, because she triggers an apocalyptic event, and Melia, well, Daughter of Light is her story… so, sorry, no spoilers!

The Girl Who Believed in Fairy Tales
The three short stories in The Girl Who Believed in Fairy Tales that comprise the prelude to my Once Upon a Time Today collection are set in our world. You will find places in them that actually exist! Austin and Houston, Texas; San Diego and Escondido, California. However, they are written as fairy tales, so you'll also find overriding elements of symbolism and archetypes, in the references to the tarot (The Girl Who Watched for Elves), astrology (The Girl Who Couldn't Sing), and other fairy tales (The Girl Who Dreamed of Red Shoes).

The Once Upon a Time Today Collection
Finally, in the this collection, the world is also our world, but it's a timeless one. Therefore, in that collection all locations will be created ones, i.e., you won't find Hollywood, but you might find Glitter City (Beautiful Beautiful). These stories will be retellings of fairy tales drawn from the oeuvre of Hans Christian Anderson and Brothers Grimm. There will be no real world references. In Half Mortal, Jade belts out an Alanis Morissette song, but there will be no such name dropping in the Once Upon a Time Today collection. Although, you will find smartphones and the internet.

I created these three worlds in different ways for a reason. In Daughter of Light, I wanted to blend imagination and reality, to the highest degree possible. In the three short stories, I wanted to spin reality into a fairy tale. In the novellas, in the Once Upon a Time Today collection, I wanted to create the timelessness of the classic fairy tale, but with a contemporary sensibility.

The Numinous Moment
All in all, I'm always seeking that space between human and divine, ego and Self, conscious and unconscious, imagination and reality. In my own life, the moments I've lived in those spaces, have been the most numinous. (Numinous meaning spiritual—sorry, I had to use that word, because I just love it, and because it has the sense of shimmering and light those moments possess!)

Those are the moments, the opportunities, and the possibilities, that I strive to create in all my work.

Thus, my three worlds, and the sense of magic and enchantment in each.

Will You Come to the Party?

I'm reading Little, Big by John Crowley. I'm so enamored of this book. Every time I pick it up I want to step outside in a drop-waist dress (print with tiny flowers) and straw hat. Perhaps a pair of lace gloves, but definitely with bare feet. A garden party is called for. Stretched out on a chaise lounge, spreading my toes. Drinking tea from a glass teacup. With a saucer. I imagine Cloud sitting next to me with her tarot cards, smoking one of those brown cigarettes (downwind, of course).

In the backyard, where the grass is long and weeds ferocious, is that flick in the corner of my eye a butterfly or—racing heart hoping—someone Little?

I can't say enough good things about the prose. Be assured though, Little, Big is not for the dilettante reader. Only the truly avid bibliophile should come to the party. First impressions are of a sedate gathering, but the attuned will soon snap to the humor that presses out from all sides. As the sun sets beyond the white fence, dusk vibrates with laughter. I turn the pages and smile. It's all so clever I can hardly stand it.

the Siege Perilous: Nandana's Mark

I'm  honored that Nandana's Mark has been featured on Episode 3 of the Siege Perilous. I just listened to the podcast and have to admit: It had me in tears, I was laughing so hard in certain places. It was also very instructive.

I'll update this post as soon as I can with some choice quotes….

Until then, you can download or listen to the podcast here. (Sorry, the podcast is no longer available.)

About the Siege Perilous podcast:

In Arthurian legend, the Siege Perilous (also known as The Perilous Seat) is a vacant seat at the Round Table reserved by Merlin for the knight who would one day be successful in the quest for the Holy Grail. The Siege Perilous is so strictly reserved that it is fatal to anyone else who sits in it.

The Siege Perilous Podcast reviews independently published ebooks of the fantasy and science-fiction genres and their sub-genres.

New episodes are released every two weeks on Tuesdays and last approximately one hour each.

Each episode focuses on one book and its author only and feature a roundtable of reviewers. The host, Eric Guindon, and his guests, Valerie Doucette, Sean Helferty, and Ted Whitmell, discuss the book and then assign it a rating, which can lead to very lively debates and arguments.

Do You Believe in the Realm of Faerie?

Click the pixie to go to the Goodreads Poll!

The Weekend Extract: Melia & Her Father

In this week's extract, Melia, a half-faerie who lives in the Realm of Faerie, travels to visit her father, a druid, in the Mortal World. Although they haven't seen each other in years, they've had some telepathic communications that have disturbed Melia. In this scene she prepares to confront him about his plans to incarnate Umbra, the psychic mass of mortal ash accumulating in the Void.

From Half Faerie, "Chapter 8: Achill Island"

Three days later, Melia stood before a small stone building. She raised her fist to knock on its door; her hand stilled midair. More than one shopkeeper in the village had told her she would find the Great Mortal Druid Elynus here. She dropped her fist and stepped back down the steps. Her body trembled.

Elynus’ simple stone abode stood like a solitary sentinel on the sweep of an elevated promontory—Achill Head, the shopkeeper had called it. A thin trail of grey smoke blew from the chimney, dissolving into the grey clouds overhead. Melia heard seagulls clacking in the bay to the south.

She paced in the short grass, staring at the three steps that led up to the cottage. The locals held her father in high esteem. Did she dare confront him? After all, he was a great druid. Who was she to question his work?

Melia felt weak and confused. She hadn’t realized, when she’d arrived on the beach, she’d have to roam the countryside to find her father. For some reason, she’d expected to arrive closer to where he lived. Maybe she should have swallowed her pride and asked Melusine to help her. But that was her hunger talking. Although it had taken a generous fisherman and a benevolent grocer to keep her from starving, and every single muscle in her legs and feet ached, she told herself she was fine.

She touched her hand to her forehead. She couldn’t feel Nandana’s mark, but knowing it was there gave her a sense of purpose. She saw things her father couldn’t bear to witness. Didn’t that mean some part of her was stronger than some part of him?

The wood door swung open. Melia faced a young lady in clean, but well-worn clothes. She carried a wicker basket on her hip. Their eyes met.

“He’s busy, he is,” the young lady said, closing the door behind her. “Best to come back later,” she whispered.

Melia tilted her head. “I can’t.”

“Suit yourself.” The young lady pushed by. “His mood’s dark; it’s all I'm sayin’.”

Melia watched the young lady retreat into the distance. When she was a black stick on the horizon, Melia raised her fist to the door. This time she knocked.

“Go away!”

She recognized her father’s voice. “It’s M...m...melia.” Her body trembled again.

The door swung open. Her father stood before her, a sour look on his face.

He backed away from the door. “You shouldn’t have come.”

Melia followed him inside. “I need to talk to you.”

They stood in a bright room, a massive desk overwhelmed its center. A fire popped and crackled in the hearth to the right; two large oil lamps provided additional light. Bookshelves lined three of the walls. A leather-bound book, an ink pot, several quill pens, and a stack of parchment covered the desk’s surface. A single shadowy doorway stood to the far left of the fireplace.

A stew of emotions simmered in Melia’s stomach. They bubbled up into her ribcage and made her throat feel hot. Over the past three days, wandering around Achill island, she’d wondered what it would be like to see her father for the first time in more than fifteen years. Although she’d never welcomed his intrusions in her mind, there had been a time she’d loved him deeply.

Any lingering affection scattered in his presence. He was as stiff as a fence post and made her feel about as welcome as a horsefly.

He pointed to a chair in front of his desk as he settled himself into a larger one behind it. He steepled his fingers, glared, and penetrated her mind.

Traveling to the Mortal World had strengthened Melia’s confidence.

She pushed him away, but not before she felt his resentment that she was freer than he was, banned as he was from the Enchanted World and Faerie. The look in his eyes told her he was surprised by the force with which she’d closed her mind.

His eyes took her in. “Perhaps Little Bird is not as small as she once was,” he mused.  “Yes, you’ve grown up. Into quite a lovely young lady, I daresay.”

His compliment caught Melia off guard. He opened one of the desk drawers and pulled out a bit of cloth. He handed it to her.

“You’ve got some dirt—” Elynus brushed his fingers between his eyebrows. “—there.”

Melia twisted the rag in her hand. “It’s not dirt. Nandana—”

“Say no more,” her father said. “I usually recognize the Illustrator’s work. It’s usually more—”

“Delicate,” Melia finished his sentence.

He smiled. “Yes, that’s the word I was looking for. But young people do like to have their own styles, don’t they? It’s quite unusual, gives you an exotic look. Does it serve some purpose? Awaken your third eye, perhaps?”

Melia didn’t know what he was talking about. Nandana hadn’t mentioned anything about her eyes, let alone a third one.

“Did you know Nandana’s Hindi?” her father asked.

“No,” Melia said.

“Her husband died; he was young. So was she. Her culture dictated a faithful wife go with him. They were going to burn her alive on his funeral pyre. She was frantic, then she found the way to the Realm of Faerie. I don’t think she’s ever come back to join us mortals. No reason she should. Illialei’s much safer for her these days.”

“She didn’t tell me,” Melia said.

Would Nandana have told her, if Melia had ever gone back to visit her? How many times had she wanted to return to the Illustrator’s shop and talked herself out of it? A pang of sadness settled in her chest. She’d have to fix that when she returned to Illialei.

Once again her father had turned the conversation away from himself. On the shores of the Nyssalei he’d talked about Queen Luisa, now he talked about Nandana. Melia shifted her gaze to the fire; its heat stifled. She recalled the horrible vision of the Illustrator dying with her grey cat beside her.

“You can’t incarnate Umbra. You must think about others beside yourself.” The clarity of her speech felt like a small—yet important—victory.

Her father’s eyes hardened, but he said nothing. His silence unnerved Melia more than any outrage she’d anticipated. Although her heart raced, she was determined to match his quiet. In those still moments, Melia recognized her father’s strength within her. She’d always dwelled on her faerie-blood, the gifts it had bestowed and denied. Not once had she considered what traits might have come to her by way of her father’s blood. By matching his resolve that afternoon, it became clear strength of will was one of them.

Who is that crazy man just eating grass?

I read several books, because one is not enough. Take a bite from each, and savor.

The Story Sisters by Alice Hoffman is creamy, bitter, and crunchy. It is not too sweet, but it is very intense. The world Elv, Meg, and Claire share unites goblins, demons and faerie queens; Paris, hawthorn trees and carriage horses; with wild girls who wear pointy boots and get black wings tatooed on their back. There is a secret language. Ca brava me seen arra? Who among us has the courage to do the right thing?

It tastes just as good the second time.

The Complete Fairy Tales by Oscar Wilde are bursts. Stabs. They hit my tongue like the darkest of chocolates. Less than a single square is plenty. A nightingale presses a thorn to its breast for the blood red rose discarded in a gutter. SIGH. Don't we all know.

Leaf Storm is altogether different. Perhaps the best salad made from the fresh greens and herbs they grow down the road at Tolstoy's Farm. Why not?

The boy, Isabel, the colonel, and Meme provide slivers of Macondo. Slices of tomato.

So who is that crazy man just eating grass?