Tanith Lee

Tanith Lee has always been one of my favorite writers. Her worlds are strange, fantastical, and disturbing, as are the scenes she writes--a woman in an alternate Renaissance is killed by a flamingo; Snow White falls in love with a beautiful dwarf; a family of vampires exists like the mob in modern England. Her heroines seem to be victims until they discover a goddess-like power within. Her heroes are as striking and unsettling as dark gods, yet are still fallible and human. Love is an ancient, erotic power. Her universes are gorgeous nightmares, even when set in reality (When the Lights Go Out), the Victorian era (Reigning Cats and Dogs, Elephantasm), strange futures (The Silver Metal Lover, Eva Fairdeath), or other worlds like something out of a glittering and grotesque Mesopotamian mythology (The Flat Earth series, Anackire). Her Secret Books of Paradys might as well take place in some elegant hell, the characters poets and artists and criminals. In her hands, vampires and werewolves become bizarre, seductive, and truly terrifying (Heart-Beast, Personal Darkness, Lycanthia, Red as Blood). She even manages to make robots and Romeo and Juliet her own (The Silver Metal Lover, Sung in Shadow). As for her antagonists, they are as perverse and glamorous as devils, yet still manage to remain human.

Other books by Tanith Lee: The Heroine of the World
                                           Mortal Suns
                                           The Blood of Roses
                                           Sometimes, After Sunset
                                           A Bed of Earth
                                           White as Snow
                                           The Secret Books of Venus

A Writer's Day/Night

(Illustration: The cruel and elusive Muse)

WHAT I IMAGINED: Waking up early in the morning and having coffee on the balcony while outlining or researching a book. Maybe going to a coffeehouse.

THE REALITY: Dragging out of bed late in the morning due to staying up late obsessing over a plot problem. Drinking a can of espresso during two hours of checking emails and social networking.

IMAGINED: A constant stream of fabulous ideas.
THE REALITY: As usual, the best ideas still hit just before sleep (hence, the dragging out of bed in the morning).

IMAGINED: Being more energetic with only a part-time job and full-time writing.
THE REALITY: Realizing exercise or yoga or something is needed after being hunched over a computer, desk, or book most of the day. Feeling like a pretzel. Drinking way more caffeine.

IMAGINED: Saying clever things on social neworks and giving out advice while creating a magical experience.
THE REALITY: Strugging to say clever things on social networks and getting distracted by GoodReads and Pinterest.

IMAGINED: Time to write short stories and plan other books while writing devastatingly gorgeous prose and intriguing characters for my current book.
THE REALITY: Errands, house cleaning, playing with the cat, appointments, etc;...you know, life.

IMAGINED: Efficiently and perfectly completing revisions while telling myself I love revising.
THE REALITY: Panic that the revision might not be finished, while realizing I don't love revising as much as I thought I did. Clutching the manuscript and growling "You again?"

IMAGINED: Getting lost in the world and characters I've created while listening to inspiring music, surrounded by candles with witchy scents--sandalwood, patchouli, midsummer's night--and perusing magazines with great photos and old books of folklore.
THE REALITY: Music, witchy candles, magazines, and books on folklore are expensive, so, not so much.
Realizing that writing isn't a job. It's a fantastic, satisfying way of life that requires discipline and a nurtured imagination. And, so far, it hasn't stopped being fun.

How to Survive a Relationship with a Demon Lover: Part 2

She's alluring. She inspires you. She's like no one you've ever met before, and yet all of the women you've ever wanted. Here's a list if you take the risk:

1) She may have averse reactions to the following: iron, silver, holy water, or salt. Try to avoid keeping these items in your household.

2) Black cats, toads, and ravens will be unusually attracted to her. Get used to them.

3) Suggest an elegant up-do for her hair, so that it's not constantly veiling her features.

4) Always let her win the arguments--there is no argument worth winning that results in yor temporary existence as an insect, an easy chair, or a tree.

5) Do not touch the following items in her home: Fancy bottles with weird labels, creepy dolls, or mirrors.

6) If you're uncomfortable with the way she dresses--super-sexy glamour or spooky antique (or she always wears white if she's a Lady in White) present her with a gift card to a classy boutique.

7) Family. If you have children and have lost your spouse to death or divorce, be warned: your DL will be a terrible stepmother. Don't ever let your kids accept gifts from her...especially apples, combs, or candy.

8) If you decide to share a place, you might suggest she move into yours, because she'll probably have real estate in a forest, an abandoned mansion/castle, or in a lake, and these might not suit your lifestyle.

9) Ex-lovers. Most likely they'll all be dead at suspiciously youthful ages. But they'll have left some great art behind--poems, music, paintings, etc; As she'll be a source of inspiration, you, too, may want to venture into the fine arts.

10) Intimacy. Since this tends to literally drain the life out of you, make sure you have a will and a good life insurance policy. Good luck!

(Illustration: Carlos Schwabe)

How to Survive a Relationship with a Demon Lover

He's dark. He's brooding. He's gorgeous. and his origins might be less than earthly. Here are 10 tips if you decide he's worth the risk:

1) He'll be a night owl, so become one. (Goodbye big weekend breakfasts. Hello Denny's late night.)

2) Whenever he begins to brood, read him a funny part from a book (all DLs have literary fetishes), watch a comedy, or take a bubble bath together. (Third one always works!)

3) His family. If they're totally evil, they'll have hopefully been destroyed. If not, the usual things should work in keeping them away--holy water, silver, sea salt, etc; Remember, most times, they need to be invited. So don't do that.

4) Your family. Explain to them any allergies your DL might have (silver, salt, garlic), so accidents don't happen.

5) Get used to crows, black dogs, bats, wolves, and, inevitably, some sort of totemic insect--death's head moth, dragonfly, scarab--they'll be attracted to your DL. Ordinary cats and dogs, however, will not, so, no pets.

6) If he doesn't have a fortune in a tomb or the stock market, it might be best to encourage self-employment. (Artist. Writer. DLs are crafty!)

7) Make sure, if you ever go on vacation, he picks something you want, as he'll be drawn to gloomy places (Abandoned cities, ancient castles, Eastern Europe). If that's your thing, fantastic. Avoid cruises.

8) If you share a space, just add a bit of a classy Gothic touch to make your DL feel at home: a porcelain skull, a black accent wall, taxidermy animals.

9) Intimate moments. Needless to say, if he has supernatural strength or hazardous teeth, be careful.

10) Exes. If your DL has exes, most of them will, unfortunately--or fortunately, in some cases--be dead. (Hopefully, he won't have killed them.) You may need to perish one or two of his exes yourself.

Good Luck!

Ten Favorite Urban Fantasy Books Part Two

So here are the others:

Among Others by Jo Walton: A teenage girl who loves science fiction novels and whose twin sister's death was caused by her mad mother, attends a boarding school in England, where the magic she is used to in Wales is scarce.

Tithe by Holly Black: A sixteen-year-old girl learns she's a changeling when the world of faery presents itself in the form of a beautiful elf knight and his weird and dangerous enemies.

Waking the Moon by Elizabeth Hand: A young woman attends an eccentric college in Washington D.C. and makes two intriguing friends whose fates are entwined with the resurrection of an ancient goddess cult.

Daughter of Hounds by Caitlin Kiernan: A dark fantasy set in New York, this time about a changeling named Soldier, a young woman who is one of the soldiers of the Cuckoo, monsters who abduct human children to serve them. It's also the story of a little girl called Emmie who can see those monsters.

Moonwise by Greer Gilman: In modern England, a young woman named Ariane must rescue her best friend from the otherworldly forest that has drawn her in. A story of friendship told in strange and bewitching prose.

Ten Favorite Urban Fantasy Books: Part One

Okay, picking only ten was difficult and I left out a lot of great ones. These are the books that appeal to me. Not listed are the urban fantasies based on the ballad Tam Lin mentioned in a previous post.

MOONHEART by Charles De Lint
A magic house in Ottawa, Canada is the setting for this fantasy that beautifully mingles Celtic and Native American mythology, as several residents of the house--a folk musician, a police offer, an antique shop owner, and a biker--must face an ancient evil.

WAR FOR THE OAKS by Emma Bull
Eddi, a young woman in a Minneapolis rock band, meets the faery folk, who draft her into a war between the dark and the light courts. She also falls in love with an elusive young man who is an Irish shapechanging faery.

WITCH BABY by Francesca Lia Block
In this series, set in Los Angeles, a girl named Witch Baby grows up with her eclectic family. The descriptive language and the characters are the magic here.

WHEN THE LIGHTS GO OUT by Tanith Lee
16-year-old Hesta runs away from home and takes up residence in a rundown hotel on an English beach. The former resort town has some sinister inhabitants. Then she meets a mysterious man who may be far older than he appears. A weird and lyrical urban fantasy.

EXCEPT THE QUEEN by Jane Yolen and Midori Snyder
Two fairy sisters are punished by the fairy queen and become elderly mortal women in two different cities. As they try to help a mysterious girl and a lost boy against a malicious Elfin knight who is a tattoo artist, they discover what it is to be human.

Next five. Next time.

Reindeer and Chimneysweeps and Fairy Toadstools

The reindeer is a source of life for the nomadic Laplander tribes of the arctic. Because the reindeer sometimes eat the psychotropic toadstools known as amanita muscaria (fly agaric, which is also poisonous--flying reindeer?), these animals are also valued by Saami shamans who, in visions, soul-journey on the backs of reindeer, or through the chimneys of their homes. In Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen, little Gerda sets out on an almost shamanic journey, on the back of a reindeer, to rescue her friend Kay.

In some areas of Europe, chimneysweeps, associated with the Yule season, were considered good luck and portrayed as distributing gold coins, red and white toadstools (fly agaric again), and four-leafed clovers. They were also identified with coal, which wasn't negative, but a source of light and heat.

As for Santa Claus, he may have originated from fertility deities such as Holland's Black Peter, who carried a sack full of babies to deliver, in the new year, or the Nordic fertility god Freyr, who was king of the elves.