Tag Archives: Fae-tastic Fridays

Fae, Interview

Fae Contributor Interview: Sara Puls

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Sara’s story in Fae, Ten Ways to Self-Sabotage, Only Some of Which Relate to Fairies, was one of three from the anthology honored with a Pushcart Prize nomination from editor-in-chief Eileen Weidbrauk. Sadly, the interview with Sara I’m about to share was conducted long before the nominations were announced so I didn’t ask her about it. Next time. Next time… For now, Sara has plenty to say, and an excerpt to share for Fae-tastic Friday 🙂

Sara Puls’ Interview

What was the inspiration for your Fae story?

My inspiration for writing this story was something pretty mundane–I had a bit of an ant problem at my house. Somehow, that got me thinking about a fairy infestation…

Was this your first foray into writing fairy stories?

I have written one other fairy story of sorts–about a lady that works as a “matchmaker” for the fairy creatures, where fairies are loosely defined as “creatures that exist because we believe in them. Because we talk about them and write about them and dream about them.” That story is available here.

Can you tell us a bit about the specific type of fairy creature in your story?

Well, my story actually contains about eleven types of fairies, including pixies! selkies! dryads! and trolls! The most prominently-featured fairy, however, is a “mermaid fairy,” who contributes to a bit of friction between the two main characters.

 

Excerpt From Ten Ways to Self-Sabotage, Only Some of Which Relate to Fairies by Sara Puls (417 words):

5. A List

As with people, there are many types of fairies:

A. Within the water fairy family, sirens and selkies and mermaids are the most common. At least, these are the ones Elly most often finds spit out through the faucet into her tub. They’re smaller than she would have guessed. And they have green wings that remind her of kelp.

B. The air fairies consist mostly of ill-tempered Tinker Bell types. They’re always whispering about what needs fixing around the house. And they act out something fierce when Elly and Lina crawl beneath the sheets. Elly learns quickly enough that it’s straight to the basement with them.

C. Fire fairies. The untrained eye sometimes mistakes fire fairies for lizards. They get along with no one, save the air fairies.

D. The earth fairies that frequent Elly’s bungalow most often are tree nymphs and trolls. She finds the tree nymphs tending the potted plants in the kitchen. The trolls sneak into the refrigerator to eat up all the rotten vegetables.

E. House Fairies. These fairies supposedly live only to help with household chores. Elly finds such a claim more than a little suspicious. She trusts these fairies less than most. Why would they want to help someone like her? What did she ever do to deserve it? It has to be a trick.

F. There are also goblin-like fairies that speak mostly Spanish and some Portuguese. These are called Duende. Elly has considered taking up the study of Spanish in order to understand their whispers. But she hasn’t found the energy.

G. The Moon fairies appear only during a full moon.

H. The soul catcher fairies. Whenever they’re around, Elly feels like something is eating at her from the inside out.

I. As a child, Elly had heard that fruit fairies help crops grow. This, she has learned, is true. But there is a limit to how much fruit one can eat.

J. Music fairies. These are Lina’s favorite. But Elly can’t stand it when they sing.

K. Finally there are the ice fairies. They think it’s funny to freeze the water in the pipes. Despite their name, Elly has learned that they do not limit their appearance to the winter months.

Lina likes lists. She tells Elly that making lists might help her take more control of her life. Two months into their relationship, Elly has made several lists. But she still hasn’t revealed how she rids the house of the fluttering, singing, sugar-smelling fey.

FAE quote - marge simon 1

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Fae, Interview

Fae Contributor Interview: Amanda Block

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It’s Friday, and you know what that means! Fae-tastic Fridays continue. This week I’m stoked to share contributor Amanda Block’s interview and an excerpt from her story, Antlers.

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Amanda Block’s Interview

Fae Cover

What was the inspiration for your Fae story?

For some time, I had been mulling over three separate ideas: an original tale influenced by English folklore (I had ‘featuring stag?’ written in my notes), a story about someone being imprisoned in a garden, and an environmental fairy tale. When I realised they would fit together very neatly, the rest of Antlers quickly followed.

Was this your first foray into writing fairy stories? If no, why do you write fairy stories? What is it about them that appeals to you?

I would actually say that most of my writing is influenced by fairy tales. There are many, many reasons I like using them, at least as a starting point, but perhaps the principle one is this: I believe fairy tales are stories stripped down their purest and most basic form. Generally, there is no room for psychology or backstory, lengthy descriptions or character development – only plot. Philip Pullman, who recently reworked some of the world’s most famous stories in Grimm Tales for Young and Old, has said that a fairy tale is ‘made out of events’.*

As such, I find them a very useful writing tool. There are so many directions in which to take them: Snow White, for example, could be told from the mirror’s perspective, could be set in space, could evolve into an entirely different yarn about poison… But even if the fairy tale is turned upside down, or forgotten entirely in the development of the new fiction, I think at least beginning with a story structure that has been passed down hundreds of years, and that has survived countless retellings, can only serve to enhance and strengthen an original piece of writing.

Outside of your own writing, who is your favourite fairy character? What is it about them that makes them special?

I have always been fascinated by the eponymous hero of J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan. First of all, and most obviously, he’s completely impossible: ‘the boy who wouldn’t grow up.’ But even aside from that, he’s a complex riddle of a character, who veers from heroic and carefree (‘I’m youth, I’m joy, I’m a little bird broken out of the egg!’) to tragic and morbid (‘to die would be an awfully big adventure’). I’m always surprised that Barrie’s play is only just over a century old – there is such a mythical quality to the idea of a boy blessed (and doomed?) with eternal youth.

Excerpt from Antlers by Amanda Block (445 Words):

(Death)

The garden is a crypt. Vines grasp at the walls, pulling themselves upwards, right towards the throats of the tallest trees, which bow forward to meet one another, branches clasping branches.

Inside, there is no breeze, and the air is thick with the musk of pollen and damp, dark earth. The birds that remain stand still in the shrubs, their songs low and mournful.

At the centre, lies the Lady. Under the netting of shadows, her skin seems to shine and shift, like moonlight upon water. The only colour is at her breast, opening up like a red flower thrust forward through time, blossoming around the arrow that has pierced her heart.

 
(Birth)

She was pulled from the dying Queen, strong and squalling, and they quickly shushed and rocked and coddled her. Her mother, quiet at last, gazed only once upon her girl, before her eyes rolled back in her head.

There was no time to be respectful, to even check, before they cut into the Queen’s belly and dug around for the other child. It was a small, sinewy creature slipping like entrails through their fingers; the wrong colour, too quiet. They stood back while the midwife snipped at the cord and then, at the sound of the rasping, rattling breaths, surged forward once more. The healthy girl child was snatched from the wet nurse and replaced by her brother. Her screams filled the chamber, but no one heard her.

 
(Growth)

The twins were both pale, raven-haired, he and she versions of the same doll, though everyone could tell them apart. The girl was her mother’s daughter, tumbling outside at dawn and only returning at dusk, covered in grass stains and chattering about the lark’s nest above the gatehouse or the frogspawn in the moat. The boy was weaker, more wary, preferring to play his own games with his own rules. Sometimes he watched his sister through the arrowslits in the castle walls. He knew of the moments that had passed between the beginning of her life and his, when she had tried to steal his birthright by pushing herself first from their mother’s womb. It angered him, as it angered him to see the servants slip her cake, or their father gift her with the private garden within the castle grounds, which had once belonged to their mother.

As the old King faded, his daughter bloomed, and his son wavered somewhere in between. The Prince hated that the people loved her, the rosy almost-queen, and by the time his father died, and the crown sat heavy upon his brow, there was nothing in the kingdom he loathed more than his own sister.

~*~

FAE quote - marge simon 1

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*http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/aug/23/philip-pullman-dark-materials-children

Fae, Interview

Fae Contributor Interview: Beth Cato

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I took a short break from Fae-tastic Fridays because I was traveling and also rather too swamped with *things* to even pretend I could be organised. However, stuff has become far less frenetic of late and (most importantly) I’m back home with no plans of that changing anytime soon, so Fae-tastic Fridays are back! Interestingly enough, today’s interviewee is Beth Cato. That’s interesting because I spent a significant amount of time with Beth at World Fantasy this year (which was the trip I’d taken).

Anyway… around about the time of Fae’s launch I interviewed Beth about her contribution. Here is that interview as well as an excerpt from her story, The Cartography of Shattered Trees:

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Beth Cato’s Interview

Fae Cover

What was the inspiration for your Fae story?

I wrote my story as part of a Codex Writers’ Halloween contest. I was provided two distinct prompts: a luopan, which is a Chinese magnetic compass used in Feng Shui, and lichtenberg figures, the scarring that results from a lightning strike. The luopan put me in mind of maps, and from there I thought–what if there was a map in fractal burns on someone? What would cause that?

Was this your first foray into writing fairy stories?

No, I’ve written and published a number of fairy poems and stories, including a steampunk-fae tale in “Stitched Wings” in Beneath Ceaseless Skies and a story in the forthcoming B is for Broken anthology. Fairies are such an important part of the fantasy genre, and there are common elements in fairy-like mythologies across the world. It’s something universal and accessible.

Note from Rhonda: I knew the answer to this question before I asked it. In truth, Beth’s story, “Stitched Wings” was definitely one of the things which inspired me to want to create this anthology in the first place. One of several things, to be fair, but a significant one.

Can you tell us a bit about the specific type of fairy creature in your story?

In the case of my story, that would be a major spoiler! I’ll withhold the name.

Is that your favourite type of fae?

No. My very favorite fae would be selkies. Back in my teens, I even collected seal figurines and plushes for a time!

Do you believe in fairies?

In a wistful way. I write about obscured magic because I want there to be something more, something we can’t quite see or comprehend. Along those same lines, when I’m driving and encounter a number of green traffic lights in a row, I thank the traffic gods. It’s not too much to hope that, in a bountiful garden, that glint of light in the corner of my eye might have something more to it. I hope I’ll always be childlike in that way. If I lose that, I’ll have nothing left to write.

Excerpt from The Cartography of Shattered Trees by Beth Cato (283 words):

Her fingers glanced her skin. The scars felt like divots, the fern-like spread of her burns in soft ripples. According to doctors, the Lichtenberg figures should have faded months before. Now those fractal burns had metamorphosed into something more.

Repulsed and fascinated, she followed the red route south to her navel. Did the map go where… it happened? Shuddering, she clenched her fist.

“I need to get ready for work,” she said aloud.

Yet she still stared at herself, mesmerized. Despite the burns, despite the horribleness, there was something beautiful about the map.

She reached into the darkness of her closet and pulled out her old portfolio. Disturbed feathers of dust were set adrift in the air. She propped a large pad of paper against the bathroom counter and, with glances at the mirror, began to sketch. Her head pounded as it had so often since the lightning strike, and she furrowed her brow as she struggled for focus.

The line veered, gouging at the paper. She flung the pencil away with a wordless scream.

Vivian used to draw, paint, exist for the muse that overflowed from her fingertips. She used to live.

Her therapist had told her that if she wanted to create art again, she would find a way, even with the lingering nerve damage. Such trite, arrogant advice from a man with an illegible signature.

She didn’t just want art again, she wanted her old life back. She wanted her innocence, for her body to be a clean slate, free of burns, free of the lingering memories of Andrew’s heavy hand dragging her down.

Vivian ached to feel whole again, to fill the emptiness that constantly echoed beneath her breast.

~*~

FAE quote - allen 2

 

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Fae, Interview

Fae Contributor Interview: Liz Colter

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This week for Fae-tastic Friday, I’m stoked to introduce you to Liz Colter. Liz wrote the Fae story, The Last King and was kind enough to consent to an interview:

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Liz Colter’s Interview

 

What was the inspiration for your Fae story?Fae Cover

The primary inspiration for “The Last King” was my fondness for the ancient “Ballad of Tam Lin,” though I had a lot of fun throwing a variety of other characters from fairy into this story as well.

Was this your first foray into writing fairy stories?

Not at all. My unpublished novel, “Thiery’s Sons,” is about the uneasy coexistence of elves and mortals. To summarize the novel: Eighteen years ago an Elven woman’s seduction left Tristan with a half-blood son and a ceaseless yearning for her. Her return reveals the rest of her plan, one which traps Tristan and his realm between two deadly armies.

Is this a subject you think you’ll be likely to write about again?

Definitely! I’m currently shopping a short story with True Tom as the main character where Tam Lin makes an appearance again. I find it interesting that some scholars believe Thomas the Rhymer and Tam Lin were the same character in the earliest versions of the stories.

Can you tell us a bit about the specific type of fairy creature in your story? Is that your favourite type of fae?

So far, all my stories about the fae have my favorite kind, the kind found in the oldest stories, where they are arrogant, dangerous, and hedonistic to a fault. I also like to think that, even though I would describe them that way, they’re so utterly different from mortals that human morality doesn’t apply to them. I’ve tried to illustrate that dichotomy in all my fae stories.

Outside of your own writing, who is your favourite fairy character? (ie: Tinkerbell, Puck, etc.)

I don’t know that I have a favorite character, but I was very influenced years ago by the book “Faerie Tale” by Raymond Feist, as well as Brian Froud’s artwork and Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” as well as many other tales and images that inspired a fascination with all things fae.

 

Excerpt from The Last King by Liz Colter (360 words):

He smiled. She wouldn’t have believed he could be more handsome until she saw that smile. She tried to collect herself but her thoughts were becoming less and less coherent. Physical attraction had always been her downfall — the first catalyst in each of her disastrous relationships — but this was more. Much more. She felt like a twig in a strong current.

He crossed the distance between them, coming so close she could feel the heat radiate from his body. His skin had a sweet, clean scent. Her breath quickened. She wanted him to touch her. She could imagine it as clearly as if it was happening; sliding his fingers under her hair, his strong hands cupping her head. His mouth moving to hers. His warm breath on her face just before his tongue slid past her lips.

She blinked. He was watching her with those fathomless blue eyes, he hadn’t moved, hadn’t lifted a hand to her. What was happening? Why couldn’t she think straight?

“Come. Walk with me,” he said.

He extended his elbow and she slipped her arm through his without hesitation. His skin below the short-sleeved jerkin was so warm it felt fevered. Touching his flesh sparked a sensual reaction, like an electric shock that ran from her arm down her body, leaving a residual pulse lingering in her groin.

He took them deeper into the woods. One part of Anna craved his physical touch so much she felt she would do anything for it but a deeper, quieter part of her was terrified. Images of the two of them together, naked bodies twined, kept flitting through her mind. The little pocket of fear suppressed deeper with every step.

Anna had always been pretty enough to interest men, but she felt plain and dull next to him. He moved so gracefully that she felt clumsy. She should have worried about where he was taking her, but instead she worried that he might not be as attracted to her as she was to him.

“Let me show you a favorite place of mine,” he said.

~*~

FAE quote - allen 2

 

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Fae, Interview

Fae Contributor Interview: L.S. Johnson

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Each uisge by Liza PhoenixIt’s Fae-tastic Friday again! This week I’m pleased to offer an interview I conducted with the amazing L.S. Johnson. Her story, “The Queen of Lakes” was one of my favourite stories in Fae (and I’ll have a little excerpt of it for you below!).

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L.S. Johnson’s Interview

What was the inspiration for your Fae story?

I must confess that my story began not with the each-uisge, but with the lake, and Rose’s walk past it. When I was in junior high, a group of high school boys used to hang out in the playground across from my apartment building. They would catcall, and wolf whistle, and sometimes follow me for a block or two. For several months I had to prepare for that every day. Even just going to the corner store was fraught. It became normal for me to carry a little butterfly knife—indeed, it suddenly seemed a perfectly normal thing to go into a shop with the intent of buying a butterfly knife. I think about that time a lot; I write about it a lot, in one form or another. All the different ways women run the gauntlet.

Was this your first foray into writing fairy stories?

I often turn to fairy stories or mythology when I write. It’s a bit like taking a recipe and making it your own: it gives you a structure you can build upon. One of my favorite parts of the writing process is constructing a story, and working with these old tales creates a different approach than with a fully invented narrative—you are at once working with particular conventions and, at the same time, you have all sorts of fascinating interstices to explore. It’s a process that often carries me very far from my original intent, with the best possible results.

Can you tell us a bit about the specific type of fairy creature in your story?

The each-uisge is a Scottish fairy, a rather uncommon one; what little I know of it comes from the Briggs encyclopedia. It is a water horse, but can also take the form of a handsome man, and should you touch or mount him within sight of water his skin becomes adhesive and he will instantly plunge to the depths with his hapless victim glued to him. I will admit I took some liberties with Rose’s admirer, but I like to think that, in this instance, he finds his human form far more practical than that of a horse.

Do you believe in fairies?

I believe in nothing, which is another way of saying I am open to anything.

 

Excerpt From The Queen of Lakes by L.S. Johnson (236 words):

The moment the path starts to dip, the world goes silent. The very wind ceases to blow; not a leaf stirs, not an animal can be seen, not even an insect. There is only the rasp of my breath, the blood thudding in my ears.

It is forty-two steps from the silence to the far end of the curve. Forty-two steps where the only sound in the world is myself.

Myself and the each-uisge, I mean.

“Where did you go?” I ask. For he is beside me, though I did not hear him approach. I never hear him.

“Here and there,” he gurgles. His voice is low and wet, as if his mouth were full of jelly. “Across great lakes and little rivers, so many lovely sights. Though not a one as lovely as you, Rose.”

He teases my braid, making it sticky and knotted, and I slap his hand away. Thanks to his fondling I’ve been scolded by Mrs. Duggan more than once now, for looking slovenly. He strokes the bare strip of my throat instead, smearing my skin as he hooks a gluey finger beneath my scarf, trying to tug it away from my neck.

His fingers are so very cold.

The first time he touched me I was so frightened I nearly stopped walking, but I did not stop, I have never stopped.

I do not know what will happen if I stop.

~*~

Fae Cover

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Fae, Interview

Fae Contributor Interview: Rhonda Eikamp

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It’s Fae-tastic Friday, again! How are you enjoying these Fae-centric breaks from everything else that’s going on? I rather like them. We have a few more interviews to go, but when we run out I think I’ll continue the series with some guest blogs or some such awesomeness. We’ll see… For today, another interview! This one is with Rhonda Eikamp. Her Fae story begins in a submersible! How’s that for a unique setting, eh? 🙂

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Rhonda Eikamp’s Interview


What was the inspiration for your Fae story?

Editor Rhonda Parrish put out a great call for submissions, looking for the most unusual settings for fairy stories authors could come up with. I knew I wanted to go with something underwater and the Civil War submarine idea just came out of nowhere.

Can you tell us a bit about the specific type of fairy creature in your story?

There was no particular folklore type I had in mind, unless it was maybe the winged sprite that is inimical to humans. I wanted to create something earthy, cthonic, more animal than human, which could inhabit the world with us but escape notice most of the time. Its concerns would be so different from ours that there would be almost no communication and the human and fairy characters would each have little understanding of what the other wanted.

Was this your first foray into writing fairy stories?

No, there was a story I’d almost forgotten about, from my first iteration as a writer (in the late 90’s to around 2001). And now that I think about it, the fairy queen captured by humans in that story was similar to the one in Possession – savage and animalistic, not quite comprehending what was happening to her. As if one had captured a ferret. So maybe this is an image that appeals to me.

Do you believe in fairies?

I’m an ancient-history and prehistory buff, and I love the idea of real origins for most of the myths and monsters and folktales we know. So I believe these ideas may have come from encounters between various peoples in ancient times, that the fairy idea may be a remnant of that kind of encounter.

Excerpt from Possession by Rhonda Eikamp (329 words):

Corporal Francis McFarlane was about to drown and the woman in his pocket couldn’t save him.

Black water had cascaded in when the submersible’s tip ruptured, the hand-cranked propeller not quick enough to pull them back from the explosive charge they’d rammed into the Union ship, the sea like a steely-cold monster poking its snout in through the twisted hole, and now all eight men were flailing away at the crank up around up around, headed for the shallows of the Chesapeake Bay, but they would never make it. The water was up to McFarlane’s waist. Private Dunsey was screaming beside him. On every face McFarlane saw the knowledge – clear by the light of the single candle clamped to the ceiling – that they would be dead in minutes, clams at the bottom of the bay.

Moments were tripping in his head like lightning bursts: the old farm, sunlight. Cherish, home in Suffolk with the baby, her eyes red from crying when he left for war. There lay a sadness, worse than the panic closing his throat. They would be alone. His life for the Confederacy, yes, but god help him, his wife and child would be alone.

McFarlane felt the flutter in his breast pocket and fumbled open the button. He knew the others believed he carried a live mouse there, a lucky charm, and he’d let them think that. No use for secrets now. The tiny winged woman clambered onto his palm. Perfect and perfectly nude, her skin a white gold glowing brighter than the candle. Eyes too large for the thumbnail bit of smooth beast face, lids sweeping back and up to her temples, etching the same parabola as the impossible violet wings rising from her shoulder blades, huge as elephant-ear leaves as they unfolded, colors of bruises and winter sky. The men had stopped cranking, the water to their chests. The nearest stared, death-hallucinating, McFarlane knew they assumed, seeing an angel come to lead them home.

~*~

Fae Cover

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Fae, Interview

Fae Contributor Interview: Christine Morgan

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For this week’s Fae-tastic Friday I’m stoked to bring you an interview with another contributor to Fae, Christine Morgan!

~*~

Christine Morgan’s Interview

What was the inspiration for your Fae story?

It was one of those articles about toy marketing for girls vs. boys, the dreaded “pink aisle” and special girly LEGO and that kind of thing. It led me into thinking about the whole history of toys and “traditional” gender-based play, which then led to all that stuff about snips and snails and puppy dog tails, boys are active and rambunctious, sugar and spice and everything nice for little girls all clean and polite … and it annoys the heck out of me. Then I started thinking about Peter Pan, and how here’s this wonderful world of excitement and adventure for the boys, but Wendy’s expected to be the nice mommy, and wanted to write something where … what if it went kind of a different way around? Why should the boys get to have all the fun? Why not make them pay for it, in a kind of malicious way?

Was this your first foray into writing fairy stories?

Not at all. Always been very into them, going back to when I must’ve checked out a couple of those Andrew Lang color collections (the Green Fairy Book, the Red Fairy Book, etc.) every week. As I got older, I realized how much of a powerful female perspective they had … as they should. Sure, it was the Brothers Grimm who collected them and got the credit, but it was the mothers, the big sisters, the grandmothers, who were making up and telling these stories. For me, as a writer, the real fun is in taking the classics and giving them a new twist or fun quirk, to play with the old tropes. And, sometimes, to do weird mash-ups or re-imaginings just to see what happens. I’ve recently, for example, sold one called “The Arkham-Town Musicians” to an anthology of Lovecraftian fairy tales, and I’ve got a heist version of Cinderella, “Cinder’s Twelve,” in another upcoming book.

Can you tell us a bit about the specific type of fairy creature in your story? Is that your favourite type of fae?

I think of Rosie as being of the Fair Folk / Puck-ish variety, sprite-like, but a little mean. Puck’s depicted as a trickster, but generally benign, seeking to make amends and all that. Rosie’s more the kind who would grow up to steal babies and replace them with changelings, or do real harm. That kind, for me, is the most fun to write about because they might look human enough, but their attitude is completely inhuman, not bound by or even understanding human morality. I also like the little winged pixie-types; more Disney’s Fantasia with the nature magic and the flowers and the snowflakes … which mostly didn’t interact with humans but just flitted about and did their thing.

Outside of your own writing, who is your favourite fairy character? (ie: Tinkerbell, Puck, etc.) What is it about them that makes them special?

The court of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. They exemplify that inhuman attitude I mentioned above, something so foreign and alien to us that it’s almost beyond comprehension. I mean, think about it, Oberon’s all “Ha-ha, made you *bleep* a donkey, ha-ha!” and Titania’s all “Oh, YOU! You sillybuns! Let’s make up!” Gotta love Tink, though … if only for the scene in the Disney animated classic where she’s on the mirror admiring herself and suddenly gets concerned about the size of her rump … and the whole jealous attempted-Wendy-murder.

Those are definitely my favourite Tink moments too! Do you believe in fairies?

I believe in … not really sure what, exactly … but, something more or other than what we can normally perceive. Mostly, I believe in not wanting to rule things out; like to keep my options open. Who am I to say for sure? Got to have a flexible mind and be able to go with the flow. Or maybe I’m too much of a horror writer and know it’s the ones who dig in their heels about there being “no such thing as” who usually meet a band end first.

Excerpt from Rosie Red Jacket by Christine Morgan (230 words):

“Boys are the horridest,” someone said. “Aren’t they just?”

Georgina, on the stone bench by the garden hedge, started so that she almost dropped her book. She caught it against her lap and looked around.

Here was the yard, grassy lawns and flower-beds and tree-shaded paths sloping up toward Drewbury Hall, where her uncle’s family lived. Where she, too, now lived, because she had noplace else to go. The brick walls climbed green with ivy, the roof-slates were grey, and curtains stirred in open windows as the maids aired out the rooms.

The only person she saw was Partridge, the driver, out by the carriage-house. He crouched in front of the big brass-grilled snout of Uncle’s gleaming auto-motor, polishing the luminaries with a soft rag. It couldn’t have been him that she heard, because he was too far away, whistling as he worked.

And the voice had sounded much more like that of a child, a girl her own age.

Which would have been nice, but the only other girl for miles about was the coalman’s daughter in the village. Mrs. Curtis, the housekeeper, insisted it simply wouldn’t do for Miss Georgina to associate with the coal-scuttle girl. Such things weren’t proper, and therefore, weren’t done.

She was about to decide she’d imagined it when the someone spoke again.

“Don’t you wish that they’d all get the speckles and die?”

 

~*~

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Fae, Interview

Fae Contributor Interview: Kari Castor

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It’s Fae-tastic Friday again! This week I’m stoked to bring you an interview with another Fae contributor, Kari Castor. I used Kari’s story, The Price, to end the Fae anthology 🙂

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KariCastorKari Castor’s Interview

 

What was the inspiration for your Fae story?

I was reading some Grimm’s fairy tales, and I ran across this very short tale the Grimm brothers had collected and called “The Rose.”  It was such an interesting snippet, and I’d never heard it before, and I really wanted to take the idea and expand it into a fuller story.

Was this your first foray into writing fairy stories?

No, I actually have another short story that deals with fairies that I started working on before “The Price” ever sprang into my mind, but that earlier story is still in the revision stages right now.

If no,  why do you write fairy stories? What is it about them that appeals to you?

When I was a kid, I was always fascinated by magical creatures, including fairies, so as I got older I went seeking out a lot of the legends and folklore behind the pretty stories.  I think the discovery that the original stories often weren’t so pretty — that there was actually a lot of darkness in those tales — made me love them even more.  There’s something very compelling to me about the way the old stories intermingle beauty and danger.

Can you tell us a bit about the specific type of fairy creature in your story?

“The Price” definitely hearkens back to the old legends, particularly those that come out of the British Isles (like Sir Orfeo and “Thomas the Rhymer”), where the fairies are prone to kidnapping young men and women and whisking them away to the realm of Faerie.  These, of course, are not the small fluttering creatures we so often conjure up today in response to the word “fairy” – like John William Waterhouse’s La Belle Dame sans Merci, they are more or less human in size and appearance.  They’re not necessarily good or evil, but they tend to have their own agendas and desires and don’t care much for what suffering they might cause others in the pursuit of them.

Is that your favourite type of fae?  If yes, why?

Probably.  I’m drawn to this type of fairy because they’re so alien, so other, while at the same time seeming so human.  I think they speak to the very selfish, narcissistic side of human nature — the part of us that wants and that can’t help but feel that our own wants are more important than anyone else’s.

I think it’s also interesting that it’s so often unclear why exactly the fairies in these legends are so interested in carrying off humans.  Perhaps its flattering to the human ego that these strange, beautiful, unknowable creatures would want us, mundane as we are.  Perhaps the uncertainty of the abducted humans’ fate lodges itself in our imagination; we do seem to have a collective fascination with unsolved mysteries.

Outside of your own writing, who is your favourite fairy character? (ie: Tinkerbell, Puck, etc.)  What is it about them that makes them special?

I’ve always had a particular soft spot for Ariel from Shakespeare’s The Tempest.  I actually auditioned for a role in The Tempest using Ariel’s “All hail, great master! grave sir, hail!” entrance (reworked to be a monologue) during my freshman year of college.  (I did get cast, but as a general ensemble member, not as Ariel.)

I suppose I like Ariel because he is both so human and so inhuman.  He’s clearly a powerful creature, yet he’s bound to the service of human Prospero, and he chafes against the confinement.  He’s capricious, tempestuous (ha!), at one moment recounting with glee how he burned the king’s ship and terrified the sailors and at the next bemoaning the further work he is being commanded to do.

Largely unlike the fairies of legend, Ariel’s motivations are eminently clear — he wants to earn his freedom from Prospero.  And I’ve always felt that it is through the scenes with Ariel (along with Caliban) that we see the darker side of Prospero most clearly: his manipulativeness, his thoughtless cruelty, how the power he wields has perhaps corrupted him.

And yet Ariel is one of the primary driving forces behind the action in the play.  We’re told that Prospero is a powerful magician, but it seems that often the magic we see or hear about is really Ariel’s, not Prospero’s.

Do you believe in fairies?

No, I don’t believe in literal fairies.  I do believe, though, that it’s important to keep an open mind and a sense of wonder about the world, and I think one way we do that in the modern world is by telling ourselves stories about magic and magical creatures.

Excerpt time!

From “The Price” by Kari Castor:

Addie breathed warmth into her mitten and pulled it back over her fingers. She turned away from the bush and dropped the bucket in surprise.

He was tall and slender, and though he stood just a few feet from her, no footprints marked his passage through the snow.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I did not mean to startle you.” His voice was quiet and low.

Addie picked up her bucket again, checking that none of the precious berries had been lost. “What do you want?”

“Only to help.” He did not smile. His hair was the color of the ice that formed over the river, dark blue-black, shot through with silver traceries.

Addie shrugged. “Don’t need your help.” She turned away and began walking.

“No, I suppose you don’t,” he said. “Still, I could help you fill your bucket faster.”

“Don’t want your help,” she said, and continued deeper into the forest. She found another bush and added another handful of berries to her bucket.

Again, the man was behind her when she turned. “I mean you no harm tonight,” he said softly.

“Go ‘way,” she said, and trudged on.

By the time her bucket was nearly full, the light was beginning to fade. She turned back toward home.

Once more, the man appeared. “Addie,” he said.

She stood still. “I’m not afraid of you,” she said. “But I know enough not to have truck with strange men in the woods who don’t leave footprints.”

His smile seemed startled but genuine, though Addie couldn’t help but notice that his mouth seemed to have more teeth in it than most mouths do.

~*~

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Fae, Interview

Fae Contributor Interview: Kristina Wojtaszek

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For the third of my Fae-tastic Fridays I’m going to share an interview I conducted with Fae contributor Kristina Wojtaszek. Enjoy!

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Kristina WojtaszekKristina Wojtaszek’s Interview

 

What was the inspiration for your Fae story?

Solomon’s Friend is actually my own very personal story of raising a son with Asperger’s. All of Kadie’s doubts about herself as a mother are mine; all of Solly’s unique views of the world around him are my son’s (although not everything Solly does or says in the story are true to life). Hobby, the cantankerous, brash old hob that narrates much of the story, came from an often-ignored voice of my own– a well of common sense and courage that sparkles every now and again on a quiet, moonlit night, reminding me that I am making some of the right connections with my child, that I am loving him every moment of every day, and that there is still a bit of magic left in the world, especially in the curious and cautious mind of my child. And maybe even in me.

Was this your first foray into writing fairy stories?

That depends on how you define fairy or fae. There is a great variety of fairy-types across cultures, and many of those overlap easily with creatures that we might classify as something else altogether. I have a hard time deciphering the difference between fae and elves, myself, so if you consider the human-sized elfin spirits as creatures of fae, then yes, I’ve written of them, and even named them fae in my novella, Opal, and in the sequel to come. What intrigues me most about any type of fae is the idea that they can see and interact with elements of nature that we blatantly miss out on. Is it truly they that are strange, or are we humans even more bizarre in the way we have segregated ourselves so completely from the natural world we were born a part of? I like taking on a viewpoint that makes the world of nature more meaningful, more magical, than what we humans deem it to be.

Can you tell us a bit about the specific type of fairy creature in your story?

The narrator of my story is a hob, which is a type of Brownie, or household spirit. There are many species of household spirits, some more menacing than others (like the hobgoblin or the boggart). According to myth, these household spirits are often quite involved in domestic upkeep, and prefer to go unseen and unacknowledged except for an occasional gift left out of a bit of food or milk. But if you try to seek them out and give them payment for their work, especially in the form of clothing, they take great offense and will disappear from the home forever.

They are also offended by laziness. My own hob takes great delight in licking dust from every surface and finding a multitude of crumbs in couch crevices and underneath car seats. I’d say he’s a bit more tolerant of accumulated filth than most house spirits, but his rules about gifts of clothing still stand.

Is that your favorite type of fae?

I couldn’t tell you what my favorite kind of fae would be. There are so many, and so many that blend into one another, that choosing one would be like picking out a single color of the sunset as my favorite. But I will say that I find the ones with ghost-like qualities the most intriguing. I think it’s pretty cool that many fairy creatures are thought to be spirits of those who have died, lingering between worlds.

Outside of your own writing, who is your favorite fairy character? (ie: Tinkerbell, Puck, etc.)

Tom Thumb, if he can be counted as such, is my favorite fairy character. Who doesn’t love a little sprite-sized superhero who defeats giants and never waivers in his bravery? He rivals Peter Pan with his forever youth, and he’s even got an in with King Arthur and owes his very existence to Merlin– doesn’t get much cooler than that!

 Do you believe in fairies?

In some ways, it’s hard not to. I’m a woman of science, eternally fascinated by biology and the natural world, and any scientist knows that every fact you uncover leads to a hundred more questions. I can’t imagine a time when we know everything there is to know about the natural world, let alone other dimensions or other universes. Could there be another life form a dimension away that has tapped into our world and made an invisible presence we haven’t yet discovered, but that people have noticed now and again from odd appearances throughout the centuries? Could there be a species of insect left undiscovered in a remote patch of rainforest with unheard of intelligence, or some other striking resemblance to mankind? I’m not one to say anything’s impossible.

And now for the excerpt. You’re welcome 🙂

From Solomon’s Friend by Kristina Wojtaszek (507 words):

 

Tell you the truth, I didn’t feel much of a need to make myself scarce when I saw what I saw in Solomon’s eyes. He’s a special one, that little guy. Call it a syndrome or part of a spectrum or whatever you will, but there’s another facet to his innocence; a kind of clarity of mind you humans don’t often have. And it was obvious right away, just in the way he looked at me, like there was nothing in the world to be surprised about, finding a hairy little dude inside his geode. Truth be told, I knew I’d been sent here for a reason, and the moment he split my world open, I was faithfully his.

That being said, I should probably get a few things off my overgrown chest here and now, because you’re a wonderful mamacita and all, but you’ve got some things wrong about your kid. Like when Solly seems to assign life to every day objects. That’s actually my fault (mostly). Remember that time he propped his dirty sock up on the end table and said it was “watching him” play Mario?

I saw that look on your face, your forehead all creased up, and I just want you to know, he didn’t actually think the sock was alive. Thing is, I’d kind of made a sleeping bag out of that sock. The little dude knew I was in there, peeking out through the hole where his big toe had worn through but Solomon is smart enough not to mention the little “troll” living in his sock; he knows the meaning of your looks, too, and he knew how much worse that would sound than to say the sock itself was alive.

And come on! If he’d glued a couple of google eyes to the sock, you wouldn’t have thought it was all that crazy, now would you? Kid just wants a friend, is all. Even though you can’t see me, and a lot of times (mostly so he doesn’t get in deep shit) I stay outta sight, he knows when I’m around. So give the kid a break– it isn’t about the sock, ok?

And man is he smart, but you have to take the time to understand his logic. Like just the other day. I was up on his ceiling fan making a regular banquet out of all the dust up there (don’t judge, you eat what you like, I’ll eat what I like!) when you yelled at him for licking the soap off his hands and sent him to his room. So there I was with a nice five o’ clock of sweet, gray fuzz, and I hear Solly down below me start whispering to himself (by the way, he does that when he’s figuring something out, so don’t mess with that, alright?) So he says, real softly, “I ate it because you said there are germs inside my body, duh!”

Duh, mamacita! How else is he supposed to kill those nasty germs that live inside him?

 

~*~

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Fae, Interview

Fae Contributor Interview: Alexis A. Hunter

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I’ve begun a series of posts I’m calling Fae-tastic Fridays where I’m sharing interviews I conducted with the contributors to Fae. This will be the second such post and for it I’m going to interview Alexis A. Hunter.

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Alexis A. Hunter’s Interview

AlexisAHunterWhat was the inspiration for your Fae story?

“A Fairfolk Promise” was inspired by a photo I had pinned to my Writing Prompt board on Pinterest. I can’t seem to find the artist or original link—but it’s an image of a man strung up like a scarecrow. The colors are all faded and dark and creepy and it’s a very arresting image that really captured my imagination and inspired the ‘scarecrows’ in my story.

Was this your first foray into writing fairy stories?

This is the first ‘fairy’ story that I remember writing. There may have been others, but they don’t spring to mind. I may play with faries again in the future—like any other fantasy creature, there’s so much you can do with them, even throwing them in unique settings like a spaceship or a desert, and so on.

Can you tell us a bit about the specific type of fairy creature in your story?

I did some research about fairies, but it seems there are vast amounts of information out there and I didn’t sift through it all. The fairies of “A Fairfolk Promise” are, thanks to my research, harmed by iron. I think that’s a particularly symbolic weakness, as many fairies are extremely nature-oriented (as mine are) and what symbolizes man and the industrialization of our kind more than iron? I also allowed my fairies to shapeshift—I’m not sure if that’s part of fairy folklore or not, but it became necessary for the story to work correctly.

Do you believe in fairies?

I would certainly love to believe in fairies!

Do you want an excerpt? You know you do… 😉

From A Fairfolk Promise by Alexis A. Hunter:

 

A guttural cry tore itself from Cedric’s bleeding, cracked lips as he twisted down and back. Tearing loose, he darted toward the forest. A surge in his chest—half a heartbeat of freedom, but their hands were as brambles, snagging him. They dragged him to the earth, shouting curses and pummeling his bony sides with boots .

The wind knocked out of him, he lay immobilized. His lips parted and he sucked in mouthfuls of air as they dragged him forward. The cornstalks whispered around him, their blades slicing little red trails on his exposed arms and chest—nothing compared to the purple-blue bruising marbling his body.

“You hit me again, and I’ll strike you dead, kushna,” growled the Rolfman.

An iron cross stood in the midst of the corn, its vertical pole driven deep into the earth. Cedric forced his weary muscles to move again, to fight. To resist. But he had little hope of victory. They were too many, and they ate hearty meals each night. Slept in beds fluffed by goose-feathers. Cedric hadn’t eaten a scrap of food in the past three days.

They pressed him against the iron cross. The blazing twin-suns above had heated the surface, and it singed his skin. Gritting his teeth, he refused to cry out. Three held him while the fourth and fifth stretched his arms across the horizontal pole. They secured him with thin, sharp wire, laced with barbs. It cut into his skin, drawing blood.

And still he fought.

For Lina and the baby, he fought to be free.

~*~

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Fae, Interview

Fae Contributor Interview: Laura VanArendonk Baugh

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Over the coming weeks I’m going to be sharing interviews I conducted with some of the contributors to Fae, and since alliteration is fun, I’m going to do it on Fridays and call them Fae-tastic Fridays. 🙂

This is the first of those interviews, where I asked questions of “And Only The Eyes of Children” author, Laura VanArendonk Baugh.

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Laura VanArendonk Baugh reading from "And Only The Eyes of Children" at the Canadian launch of FaeLaura VanArendonk Baugh’s Interview

 

What was the inspiration for your Fae story?

I’d been reading some months before on modern slavery, how there are about 29 million enslaved people today – not pinned by student loans or other things sometimes described as slavery, but real, captive, bought-and-sold slaves, used for forced labor or the sex industry. About 2 million of those are kids in the commercial sex trade. (See www.ijm.org for more information and ways to help fight modern slavery.)

Meanwhile, I saw a delightful production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at our local repertory theater, and they had a lot of fun with the fairies. Jennifer Johansen, who played Titania, is one of my favorites, and her portrayal stuck in my mind, blurring Shakespeare’s Fairy Queen with the strength of other characters Jen has played.

The opening concept – immortality was evolution’s biggest mistake – had been in my idea file for years, waiting for an opportunity.

And then I over-dosed on dark chocolate and everything was a blur, and when I came to, “And Only the Eyes of Children” had happened.

Was this your first foray into writing fairy stories?

Sort of. I haven’t written much with traditional Western fae, but I’m definitely not new to folkloric fiction. My Kitsune Tales series is set in old Japan and revolves around the youkai there, sort of the equivalent of our fairy and monster collections.

Can you tell us a bit about the specific type of fairy creature in your story?

I departed a bit from traditional lore. Robin is half-Fae, an oddity resulting from the Fae’s (usually fruitless) attempt to breed. We’re given to understand that human-fae offspring are relatively rare and often carry a heavy biological penalty. Robin has to work at bit harder at many Fae skills, such as the use of magic, but it’s possible.

What is your favourite type of fairy, and why?

If I may go back to the Japanese youkai, Eastern fae, there are a lot of fun creatures from which to choose, and most are so very different from our own fairies. (An enormous disembodied foot which falls through your ceiling in the middle of the night and demands to be washed? A friendly household spirit made entirely of cast-off kitchen utensils?) But one of the most popular, and a personal favorite as well, is the kitsune, a shape-shifting fox.

In western lore, the Other is usually easy to identify. But kitsune can take the form of a human, or even of a particular human you know well. And they may be benevolent or quite malicious, while they appear to be like us. So many possibilities!

Outside of your own writing, who is your favourite fairy character? (ie: Tinkerbell, Puck, etc.)

Ooh, a fun question!

I’m not sure I can say she’s my favorite, because I don’t think I like her, but I’m fascinated by Jim Butcher’s take on Queen Mab in The Dresden Files. And of course I’m not alone in thinking of Disney’s Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty as an iconic and delightfully scary fairy.

And allow me to end this interview with a short excerpt from Laura’s story. You’re welcome 😉

From And Only The Eyes of Children by Laura VanArendonk Baugh (161 words):

I’m one of the rare half-breed freaks myself, though not of the type to get an OMG!!!1! photo on the internet. No, I’m lucky enough to pass on a human street – which conversely means I’m pretty unlucky on what passes for a street in the Twilight Lands. So I tend to spend most of my time here.

Exactly here, in fact. This is a good place for us. What, you don’t think of Indianapolis as being a particularly supernatural city? That just means we’re keeping under the radar. I know, New Orleans and Chicago and places get all the arcane press, but think for a second. Indianapolis has two affectionate sobriquets: “the Crossroads of America,” for its prominent location on first the National Road and later several interstates, and “the Circle City,” for its efficient, nearly ritual, circle and grid layout.

Crossroads and circles, people, right in the advertising. If you can’t find the Fae in that, I can’t help you.

~*~

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