The Sinister Folklore of Trees

Recently, a majestic oak on one of my routes was taken down. To be fair, it seemed to be diseased, but I couldn't help feeling sad, wondering how long it had stood there, with a neighborhood growing up around it. It reminded me of a Tanith Lee story, 'The Tree: A Winter's Tale', about a tree that was due to be taken down, but the family of the house kept reliving the same day over and over, and not in a funny, Groundhog Day kind of way either, so that the tree would stand forever. Recently, Peter Wohlleben's book, The Hidden Life of Trees, explained the nature of trees and how they communicate.

So here is some folklore on trees you should be wary of.

BIRCH: Witches' brooms were made from its branches. It is called the Lady of the Woods in Celtic folklore and walks at night. The birch spirit is feared and adored and causes death to those she touches. Check out The Birch, a great short film on YouTube.

ALDER: Walpurgis tree. Associated with elves, water spirits, the Erl King and his daughter. Alder wood turns red when cut and resists decay. The wood was used for divining instruments. The tree often grows near Saints' wells. As for witches, red-haired ones loved it, and red dyes made from alder sap were used by Italian witches.

ELDER: Threshold trees. Guard the home from evil. An elder wood walking stick will protect a traveler. Associated in Native American and Celtic folklore with the Elder Mother. Also with the Scandinavian Mother Hulda. It's friendly to humans. Fingernail parings, hair, and teeth were buried beneath it to keep from them from being used in bad magic. And don't forget elderberry wine!

ELM: Another witch tree, but also a tree of the Goddess. The Romany made magic wands from its wood. Coffins were also once built from the timber. It dislikes people and is an entry into the land of the dead. In some folklore, it is said the first woman was created from an elm. It's also linked with Dionysus because it was planted in vineyards.

FIG: Inhabited in Greece by the fauni ficarii, the dusois, dangerous spirits that take the forms of nymphs and satyrs. In Sicilian folklore, fall asleep beneath a fig, wake up confronted by the figure of a nun with a knife. It's also a fertility tree. In Muslim myth, the tree is associated with knowledge. It's the tree under which Buddha received his enlightenment. In Africa, the fig houses dead ancestors.

HAWTHORN: The May tree. A fairy thorn. The blackthorn is guarded by Lunantishee fairies. In Ireland, a road was re-routed in 1999 to avoid taking down a whitethorn said to be sacred to the Sidhe, the dangerous Irish fairies. Never bring a hawthorn blossom indoors because it causes bad luck. In Welsh folklore, it is associated with the malevolent chief of the giants. Also the tree of enforced chastity, hence the May tree.

OAK: Turn your cloaks
           For Fairy Folks
           Are in old oaks
Tree of Zeus. It attracts lightning. It's the guardian of otherworldly doors--an opening between two oaks leads to Faerie. The sacred oak king became a sacrifice in some cultures. It is the Druids' tree and the dryads' tree. It's a protector. Acorns were worn by witches for protection against bad spirits. It's friendly to humans...well, except maybe the old oaks. In their case, watch your back.

WILLOW: A fertility tree. A water tree. It wards off snakes. It's the Goddess's tree, associated with Persephone and Artemis. The Greek enchantress Circe had a grove of willow trees. It's a dangerous tree, said to walk during moonlit nights. Willow wands channel energy. It's bark contains salicylic acid, which is a natural painkiller and used in aspirin.

YEW: A healing tree. It contains an element currently being used for curing breast cancer. It is Hecate's tree, a witch tree, and hostile to people (though perhaps not to women, considering). Some trees grow to be hundreds of years old and it is often found in churchyards. Its wood was once used for archery bows, shields, and spears.

So walk carefully among these trees, and be careful of the ones that might strike out.

Sources:
The Element Encyclopedia of Witchcraft by Judika Illes
The Element Encyclopedia of Secret Signs and Symbols by Adele Nozedar
The Ultimate Fairies Handbook by Susannah Marriott

The Awesomeness of The Female Surrealists

I love art as much as I love writing and music, but my ultimate favorite artists, aside from the Symbolists, are the female surrealists. You might have heard of Dali, Max Ernst, and Magritte, but a few of their associates, including the famous Frida Kahlo, were amazing artists in their own right. Mysticism, the Goddess, animals, nature, and feminist themes are predominant in their works, which are all deeply personal representations of their imaginations.

LEONOR FINI

Born in Buenos Aires and disguised in childhood as a boy by her mother (to avoid being found by her father), Leonor moved to Paris in the late 1930s. She knew Max Ernst and Jean Genet. Sphinx-like and mysterious, she had an affinity for felines. She lived with two men at one time, both her lovers. Her paintings are ritualistic, fascinating, erotic, inspired by the Symbolists and the Pre-Raphaelites. They are fairy tales. There's even a song written about her by Katell Keineg.

LEONORA CARRINGTON

I love her self-portrait with a delicate black hyena and a white rocking horse. She had a fondness for Celtic and Mayan mythology and even lived in Mexico, married to Max Ernst. Most of her paintings are fantasy scenes of delicate, human-looking creatures, heavy with symbology. She also wrote Surrealist fiction.

DOROTHEA TANNING 

Her paintings are disturbing renderings of womanhood and adolescence. Born in Illinois, she read Alice in Wonderland and the Gothic authors to escape what she considered a boring, Midwestern life. She moved to New York, where she eventually met Max Ernst (He got around) and became his lifetime companion.

REMEDIOS VARO

 Alchemy, owls, and forlorn, attenuated people, were Remedios's totems. Her paintings are delicate and child-like. She was born in Madrid and eventually settled in Mexico. The spirit world lurks just beneath the surface of her paintings.

Sources:
Women Artists and the Surrealist Movement by Whitney Chadwick
Surrealism and Women by Mary Ann Caws, Rudolf Kuenzli, Gwen Raaberg

Halloween Contest Winning Entries

Each of these gorgeous entries is copyrighted by the authors. Read the stories and enjoy! 

GRAND PRIZE: SHVETA THAKRAR

When the poison sank into his bones, he gasped at the mirror. She had drawn on him, scrawled secrets, all graceful loops and fine lines. Hers was a venom no less deadly than truth; she'd shaded and cross-hatched until half his skin dissolved, revealing another's rich brown flesh.

Another time, another life. Him. He remembered now--her virtuous nature, his restless heart. Hands knotting, he collapsed onto the cold checkered floor.

Across the hall, the Scarlet Scourge smiled. "You wanted to know who you are. Once you loved me. Then you left me. Now? Now you, too, break in half."
                                                                 

FIRST PRIZE: KENNEDY CANNON

My darling one,
He saw you beneath the moonlight
With lips like poison berries--
Crimson,deceitful, alluring--
And hair like knotted twigs,
So you drew him close,
Planted seeds beneath his skin,
Allowed your thorns
To make their home there.
He wrote you poetry
Scrawled in blood and brought you roses
Red as sin,
And you watched them decay,
My purest one,
Turn to nothing,
While he worshiped you
Until his knees cracked
Beneath the weight of his love
And he could no longer stand.
And then what did you do,
My virtuous one?
You broke his heart in two.
                                 

SECOND PRIZE: DONAVAN MCRAE

I can taste the poison . . . He told us not to eat from this tree, he warned us. He warned us, Eve! We were supposed to Live a Virtuous life, true to HIM. That is what HE scrawled across our hearts. LOOK AT US NOW! The poison has transformed me. My beautiful skin has begun to lighten and the very thought of it leaves a knot in my throat. But that is not my biggest fear. My fear is that HE will find me and see what I have done, see you covered in red and know that it was me.
                                      
THIRD PRIZE: PAMELA WYATT

I couldn't help looking at her milky white skin. My God she was beautiful. But I know if I go to her and kiss her full red lips, I would taste the poison that would seep into my virtuous soul and devour it; destroying what goodness was left inside me.

As the knot in my stomach grew with anticipation, all hesitation and doubt left me. I looked in the mirror before me one last time to scrawl the words, "remember me." I slowly walk to her and glide my hands down her naked back and remove the rest of her red velvet dress.

She looked at me with those beautiful chestnut eyes and smiled. I took a hesitant breath and leaned in to kiss her. I could feel the venom slide down my throat and burn the inside of my body. I slowly pull back and whisper breathlessly, "I love you." Then everything went black as I slid to the ground as my soul burned away to leave me as one of the damned.

FOURTH PRIZES:

SHANNON HAWKINS

"This is what you were.
In the hours that my fingers pulled the knot out of your skin and slid kisses out of your hair, you wore a dripping red dress to wreck me. To poison me and hurt me as I watched you walk along that marble floor to go out the window.

I'll remember the scrawl of a life we didn't get enough of poking out along your back, the fire that we kept down when our bed would have been the place to hold the flames.

Just remember you were a virtuous woman who deserved the world."
                                             
PANCHALI DEVI WALFORD

The skin on his back was winter white and the scrawl on his shoulder rotted red. He couldn't see it in the mirror, not then anyway, but the rot clung to him. She had said it was a mark of The Virtuous. That it would show others that the poison had left him. His lips quirked into an ugly shape and he resisted the urge to spit. Pulling a lock of hair from his temple, he wound it into a knot and placed it in his mouth and under his tongue. Her back still faced him and he swallowed.

BETH ADKINS
                                               
He watched her walk away with a knot in his stomach. She knew what she was doing to him. She had scrawled invisible words on his skin while she whispered love and poison in his ear. He had been known as a virtuous man before he got involved with her. He couldn't break free from her now. He was tied to her with an invisible cord. Maybe by the words she wrote. Either way, he was hers.
                                                

Halloween Contest Selections

This was more difficult than I thought it would be. I printed out the entries, blacked out names, and chose the ones that made the most impact on me emotionally.

I'll be contacting the entrants today about their prizes and I've made up a fifth prize for 3 others who sent in amazing writing.

This contest wasn't really about the prizes (although it is fun giving stuff to people who've read my books!) It's about inspiring people to write, to have fun. And I hope all of you had fun with this:)

I'll be posting the winning entries who give me permission.

And thank you to everyone who entered! I hope you love your gifts!

Fantastic Fantasy Finds: Crystal and Steel by Lyndan Darby

Crystal and Steel (1988)
Bloodseed (1989)
Phoenix Fire (1990)

These books were published in the UK. The trilogy begins as a quest fantasy, with a prince trying to take back his throne. There are dark lords and mystical objects aplenty, but it's the characters I loved. Eider, the prince, is naive and idealistic. His friend, the young wizard Nairb, is vulnerable, but powerful. Regor the elf is a trickster. Lehon is a young man hoping for adventure. There's only one memorable female character, and she turns out to be something completely different.

The fantasy has a Tolkienish plot, but the mood is decidedly Mervyn Peakeish. There's a warm friendship between the questing companions. The villain Zarrat the usurper is a typical tyrant, but the other villains are wonderfully drawn; the repulsive gnome monarch, the slithering Black Queen, the Baobhanshee, and Ruthra, the seducer masked in beauty.


Eider attains his throne, and, in the sequels, absolute power corrupts absolutely. Eider's friends must try to save Eider's soul in stories of surrealistic grandeur.

This series is for anyone nostalgic for Moorcock or Lord Dunsany's picturesque fantasies, weird and lavish, with a company of friends at its core.

Guest Interview: Liana Brooks, author of Decoherence

Welcome, Liana Brooks, author of the science fiction thrillers The Day Before, Convergence Point, (available now) and Decoherence (available in November 2016 from HarperVoyager) to It's All About Story.

You can find Liana at her blog: http://www.lianabrooks.com/
And her books on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Liana-Brooks/e/B007S9DB2A

1) Describe Decoherence in one paragraph.

Decoherence is the final chapter in the Time & Shadows trilogy. It's where all the loose threads get tied up, and we finally see what happened to Jane Doe who was found in chapter one of book one (The Day Before.)

2) What inspired Decoherence?

Decoherence was never alone in the universe, I guess. It's the natural conclusion to the rest of the series and so I'm not sure it was inspired by anything outside that universe. It was influenced by things on the outside. I think little pieces of other stories snuck in. There might be a nod to Agent Carter in there.

3) Were The Day Before, Convergence Point, and Decoherence your first works of fiction?

Oh, no. The Day Before was my first published novel, but it was nowhere near the first one I wrote. That one is moldering under my bed somewhere. You do not want to see my first novel. I don't want you to see my first novel. It's embarrassing.

The Time & Shadows trilogy is the first series I've written and published completely. The reading order is: The Day Before, Convergence Point, Decoherence.


4) What song or music piece would you put on a soundtrack for Decoherence?

I put together a 30-song playlist for Decoherence. It is mostly from Two Steps From Hell's Battlecry album. If I had to pick a single song, it would be Canon in D Minor from that album. I love the energy and the mood. It really works with where Sam (the heroine) is at throughout the book. She is fighting so hard to hold on to reality and rescue Mac, she's fighting herself at every turn, but she won't quit fighting.

5) Which character in Decoherence was easy to write? Which was the most difficult?

The easiest scenes are always when Sam and Mac are together. I've been writing them as a pair since 2009, throughout many (far too many) drafts of The Day Before and Convergence Point. They're my sweet spot. They play off each other well and they're just fun to write.

The hardest part to write was anything where I had to juggle multiple Sams. Because there is time travel and the multiverse theory, I wound up with three (four?) Sams in Decoherence. Writing them each as a unique person with her own personality and style was a wonderful challenge.

6) What is your writing space like? Or can you write anywhere?

I can write anywhere (because I have a handy-dandy folding Bluetooth keyboard), but I prefer to write from my office. My family moved to Alaska in the middle of winter and I couldn't fly up to see the house we were renting, we just picked one that had enough bedrooms. And when we got there I found this odd little corner room that's too small for a bedroom, but works perfectly as an office. I have a view of the pine trees out my window (and snow during the winter), and it's a cozy nook for writing.

But, I wrote about half of Decoherence on the folding keyboard while my kids were at sports practice. I'd put in headphones, write a chapter in an email to myself, and edit the next day. You have to be flexible.

7) Any odd writing habits? Rituals?

You know, I think writing habits and rituals are a luxury you earn after you've written a few dozen books and have no small children at home. Maybe someone else has it figured out, but for me all I need is some headspace away from stress and a keyboard. If I waited for the perfect conditions to get a book done, it would never get done.

8) George R.R. Martin describes 2 kinds of outliners, the Gardener (let it grow) or the Architect (plan it.) Which are you?

I'm a Gardener by habit and an Architect because of training. There is no way to finish a series without a little bit of planning. You can write one while being as wild and free as the flowers, but pulling all the plot strings together and wrapping up the story in a satisfying way requires planning. Not a ton, but you do need to think a few steps ahead of where you're writing if you want to get to The End.

9) What are some of your favorite world myths or fairy/folk tales? Why?

Oh, that is a good one. I don't think I actually had a favorite fairy tale. I grew up on Tolkien, not the Brothers Grimm, so I'm at a bit of a disadvantage here. I suppose....1001 Arabian Nights, because a woman was able to save herself through the power of her storytelling. And anything with dragons or mermaids.

10) What is your favorite fictional world, one you'd want to visit?

I'd like to hang out with the crew of the Warhammer from The Price of the Stars/Mageworlds series. It was my favorite series in high school and their good advice got me though some rough days.

11) Who is your favorite fictional character?

Oh, that's a tough one. This is like asking me to pick a favorite child. Let's go with Harry Dresden. I like a person who fights losing battles just to save friends.

12) What is the best writing advice you've ever received?

Either quit whining and write, or quit writing.

That was the swift kick in the pants I needed to get The Day Before finished, polished, and published. It's always easier to complain about writing, while not writing. But, if you want to be a published author, eventually you have to shut your mouth and get writing. It's going to be hard, so suck it up and write anyways, or go find something that you love so you don't whine.

13) In Decoherence, are there any hidden acknowledgements to friends, places you've lived, favorite writers, etc;

Here's the short list...

Cannonvale, Australia--because my best friend and spiritual twin, Amy Laurens, lives in Australia.

New Smyrna Beach, Florida--because I lived not far south of there for four years and wanted to introduce the mangal swamps to everyone in Convergence Point.

Alabama--because that's where I lived when I started writing the series.

Donovan (the villain in Convergence Point)--is actually named after one of my beta readers

....and there's one more in the very last chapter that I think you'll be able to figure out all on your own.

14) Can you tell us anything else about your writing experiences?

When I started writing seriously back in 2007 or so, I had no big plans I was going to write my weird, little books and see what happened. By reading widely and writing regularly, I finally reached a point where I could not only tell a good story, but I had an inkling of an idea of what readers wanted. The sweet spot for a published author is where our interests and our fans' interests collide.

15) What do we have to look forward to after Decoherence?

I have five projects on my desk right now waiting for attention, including the long-awaited Even Villains 4. There's another novella series that I've been teasing on Twitter for a few months now, and that kicks off with Bodies in Motion next spring. And then, hopefully, one of these novels I'm pitching will find a home in the next few months and I'll be able to announce that series.

In the meantime, I publish monthly short stories on The Darkness and Good blog (http://www.lianabrooks.com/tag/darkness-and-good/ ) with Thea van Diepen and Amy Laurens, so you can always catch me there or on Twitter at @LianaBrooks.

Thank you, Liana!

10 Favorite Literary Witches

Okay, so most of them are women, (because I don't believe men can be witches.) Although there is one warlock. And not all of them are wicked. Here are my favorites and the reasons why.

1) ELPHABA Gregory Maguire's Wicked. Green-skinned and rebellious, Elphaba begins fighting for the rights of the sentient animals in her world. She doesn't start out wicked, only idealistic. A fantastic heroine.

2) JADIS The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. A terrifying and seductive snow queen, she's one of the best villains EVER.

3) MAGNUS BANE The City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. The High Warlock of Brooklyn is unpredictable, shady, brave, and a trickster.

4) SERAFINA PEKKALA The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman. The beautiful and valorous witch who rides a broom and leads an army of witches. Immortal and compelling.

5) HERMIONE GRANGER The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. She grows from an annoyingly precocious child into a brainy and courageous young woman with the fiercest wand around.

6) JENNY WAYNEST Dragonsbane by Barbara Hambly. She's officially a wizard, but the wizards are an eccentric tribe, like scientists and creatives, only maligned. Middle-aged and daring, with a be-spectacled husband who killed a dragon, she's a force to be reckoned with.

7) MELANCTHE The Green Pearl by Jack Vance. Solitary, mysterious, and beautiful, she's a powerful enchantress in a magical world of kings and fairy creatures.

8) THE DUST WITCH Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury. She's horrifying and elemental,a  feature of a sinister carnival.

9) LANGWIDERE The Oz books by L. Frank Baum. The princess who collects other girl's heads to wear as her own. Disturbing to say the least.

10) CIRCE The Odyssey by Homer. Another solitary sorceress on an island. She turns men into animals if they anger her and lures a hero into her home.

Halloween Story Contest

So this is how it works. Make up a brief story (between 50-100 words) about the picture below. Make this wholly your own and nothing to do with Thorn Jack. The story must contain these words to be eligible:

Poison
Scrawl
Virtuous
Knot
Skin

There will be one grand prize winner and 3 runners up.

The grand prize is the entire Thorn Jack trilogy in trade paperback, signed, as well as the printed out manuscript of a lost Thorn Jack chapter (short story titled TRIBUTE), a butterfly mask, a Fata flower wreath, a fortunetelling game, an original print of one of my paintings, & some lovely trinkets.


The following prizes will be rewarded to each of the three runners up.

1ST PRIZE: Day of the Dead  art book by Russ Thorne + some beautiful trinkets

2ND PRIZE: The Story of Pandora coloring book + a trinket

3RD PRIZE: Pop Manga Coloring Book by Camilla d'Errico + a trinket

Email your entry to katherine@katherineharbour.com. MAKE SURE TO PUT THE STORY IN THE BODY OF THE EMAIL. NO ATTACHMENTS.

THE CONTEST ENDS ON NOV. 20

The winner will be announced on this blog and on my Twitter (@katharbour) after Nov. 20, so keep posted!

This contest is available only to residents of the U.S. and Canada.

Happy Halloween!

10 YA Fantasy Books You should Read if You've Never Read YA

THE RAVEN BOYS by Maggie Stiefvater

Five young people in a contemporary rural town search for a legendary Welsh King. Even with bit parts, the adults are just as interesting as the young protagonists, who are beautifully rendered individuals. And there are some fabulous villains. Blue, the girl whose first kiss will lead to the death of the boy who kisses her, is a beguiling hero, and the four boys each have their own personal demons. The beginning of a four book series.

IN THE SERPENT'S COILS by Tiffany Trent

Set after the Civil War, this fantasy series is about a group of young women who have been targeted by the malevolent fairy folk. The fairy prince is seductive and terrifying, not the typical romantic villain. Each book in this series features a different heroine and her battle against some truly monstrous fairies.

SERVANTS OF THE STORM by Delilah Dawson

Truly creepy. Set in contemporary Savannah after a hurricane--which turns out to be a horrifying entity in itself. The heroine, Dovey, tries to save a dead friend's soul while discovering an original world of demons and otherworldly creatures. When she meets the seductive trickster Isaac, she's drawn even deeper into this world.

THE GOLDEN COMPASS by Phillip Pullman

A race of good witches, martial and intelligent polar bears, animal familiars, and a tough young heroine and hero make this an original fairy tale for all ages. It's got a steampunk flare and wonderful villains.

DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE by Laini Taylor

A romance between an angel and a demon, but not what you think. The angels are a warrior race who have tried to conquer what they feel is the inferior race--the monstrous looking Chimerae. Karou is a young woman living in Prague, raised by benevolent Chimerae. When she meets Akiva, a fierce, winged, young man, an ancient romance is revealed between them.

NAMELESS/WAYFARER/KIN by Lili St. Crow

Darker shades of 'Once' in this fantasy series about a friendship between a contemporary Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, and Snow White, in a future that has been transformed by the arrival of magic. Detailed, original worldbuilding and the genuine way in which the three girls care about each other make this series highly enjoyable for fairy tale lovers.

THE WINTER PRINCE by Elizabeth E. Wein

A different and disturbing take on King Arthur, centering around Medraut, King Artos's eldest, bastard son. His half-brother Lleu is their father's favorite. Medraut both loves and hates him. Artos's sister--Medraut's mother--is horrifying and bewitching. Themes of abuse and twisted family dynamics make this myth poignant and suspenseful.

THE DARKANGEL by Meredith Ann Pierce

Set in an alternative world on the moon, this strange and beautiful fantasy is about a girl named Aeriel who is stolen away, with her friend Eoduin, by one of the feared darkangels--a heartless and lovely creature who wants Eoduin as one of his wives and Aeriel as his servant. His wives are all phantoms because he's a vampire, and captive of an evil witch.

THE WHITE CAT by Holly Black

Cassel is a young man who lives, gypsy-like, in a secret world of almost gangster-like magic. Curse workers are a distrusted minority in this not-too-distant future. When he's betrayed by people he trusts, he must run a con of his own on the best magic-using con artists he knows. An urban fantasy with a dash of noir.

THE SILVER KISS by Annette Curtis Klause

Zoe is losing her mother to cancer. She's targeted by a feral and strange young man named Simon--whose enemy, a creature pretending to be an innocent little boy, stalks him. It's an exquisite tale of defeating monsters and accepting death. 

The Mythology of Briars, Nettles, and Thorns

Natural and beautiful, sharp and serpentine, usually found in the wild and unwanted in most tamed gardens, these plants have been used in folklore and witchcraft for centuries.

In the story of 'Sleeping Beauty,' the slumbering princess is surrounded by a wall of briars and brambles. (Brambles are also blackberry bushes and notorious faery fruit.) Briar Rose is another name for Sleeping Beauty, suggesting that her beauty might conceal prickles.

The nettle is known for its healing properties, despite being a stinging plant. Blind nettles are called Lamium album (A lamia is a female demon who kills babies.) The nettle plant wards off ghosts. It's the plant of the Noridic storm god Thor. In the fairy tale 'The Wild Swans,' a girl releases her brothers from their enchanted swan forms by placing nettle shirts over them.

Blackthorn and hawthorn are traditionally faery trees. Infamous for crowning sacrificial kings, thorns also blind the prince in the original 'Rapunzel.' Thorns pierce, shed blood. In 'Sleeping Beauty,' the princess punctures her finger on a spindle and falls under the spell. Snow White's real mother pricks her finger on a needle and uses that drop of blood to wish for a child. In 'Little Red Riding Hood,' Red Riding Hood is offered a choice by the wolf; the Path of Needles or the Path of Pins.

The spindle and the needle, symbolic thorns, set a story on its path.

Briars, nettles, and thorns symbolize barriers, pain, enchantment, but they also keep the vulnerable from being breached. In storytelling, they signify that life has teeth. And, like most faery things, they are beautiful, and something to be wary of.

The Awesomeness of Home by Beth Cato

This week's 'The Awesomeness of . . .' post comes from Beth Cato, author of The Clockwork Dagger series from Harper Voyager, which includes her Nebula-nominated novella Wings of Sorrow and Bone. Her newest novel is Breath of Earth. She's a Hanford, California native transplanted to the Arizona desert, where she lives with her husband, son, and requisite cat. Follow her at BethCato.com and on Twitter at @BethCato.

THE AWESOMENESS OF HOME by Beth Cato

I grew up near a naval air station in the smack dab middle of California. My mom told me, "Never date a sailor. If you marry him, you'll end up living far away." As it so happens, I met a man when I was just shy of turning nineteen; we fell in love; my parents approved of him; THEN he joined the United States Navy.

My mom's early warning was apt. During my husband's Navy years, we lived in South Carolina and Washington state, and we have now been civilians in Arizona for nine years. I have been away from my hometown of Hanford, California, for sixteen years, but a deep sense of homesickness has not abated.

Sure, there is a lot to complain about when it comes to California, especially my part of the state. I'm from the Great San Joaquin Valley, hundreds of miles of some of the richest, most diverse agricultural land in the world. It also ranks among the worst in the world as far as air pollution; in the summer, smog smothers the valley in murky brown. Many people are poor, working class. The racial divides are clear and tragic. Unemployment remains at a steady high.

But it's still home. My home. If my husband could find a job there, I'd move back in a heartbeat. As it is now, I'm lucky to make the long drive back once or twice a year. I delight in the faint yet bold wall of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the distance. I smile as we drive past row after row of walnut trees, orange groves, and raisin grape vineyards. I delight at the sight of lush fields of corn, and even the fragrant clusters of dairies.

I can't go back often. I can't live there. So I do what any writer does: I live vicariously. I write myself back home.

My new novel Breath of Earth isn't set in the San Joaquin Valley, but it's close: San Francisco. My version of 1906 features not-so-mythological creatures, geomancers who harvest the overflowing energy of the earth, and airships that traverse the skies. My heroine, Ingrid Carmichael, doesn't look like me in the slightest. We have different skin tones, cultures, and histories, but we do have a major thing in common: a fierce love and longing for our homes.

Home is awesome. A shared home in California, even more so. We both have roots in the central part of the state. We appreciate the diversity of our neighbors. Our home cities are a few hundred miles apart, but that's not far at all in the scheme of things.

The beauty of being a writer is that I can imagine myself into far away realms. Sure, I would love to see castles and moonscapes and alien civilizations, but when it comes down to it, most of all, I want to be home.

My house, husband, son, and cat may be in Arizona, but the home of my heart is some 500 miles northwest. For all its flaws, Hanford is an awesome place. No matter how many years I live away, it remains part of me, and will continue to inspire my writing . . . and a lot of homesickness, too.


You can find Beth's books here: Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/Beth-Cato/e/B006S84MNO

And here: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/breath-of-earth-beth-cato/1122785052;jsessionid=890BB5DEF8138CDC71875B7AAF03D71E.prodny_store01-atgap02?ean=9780062422064

The Awesomeness of Steampunk in Film by Brooke Johnson

Today's 'The Awesomeness of . . . ' post comes from guest author Brooke Johnson, creator of the wonderfully imaginative The Brass Giant and The Guild Conspiracy (Harper Voyager). Brooke is a stay-at-home mom and tea-loving author. As the jack-of-all trades bard of the family, she journeys through life with her husband, daughter, and dog. She currently resides in Northwest Arkansas but hopes one day to live somewhere a bit more mountainous.

Brooke's blog: http://brooke-johnson.com/
Twitter: @brookenomicon

THE AWESOMENESS OF STEAMPUNK IN FILM

This might be blasphemy as a steampunk author and reader, but my favorite medium for the steampunk genre is film--hands down. There is nothing quite like seeing a beautiful mechanical sculpture come to life on the screen, whether it's the steam castle in Steamboy, or something as a close-up of the gear makeup within the Jaegers of Pacific Rim.

That ratchet and clank, the hiss of steam, the grungy aesthetic of greased up gears and tarnished boilers, paraded across the screen in gorgeous cinematic CG glory. In my opinion, nothing brings steampunk to life better than film.

But the absolute pinnacle of steampunk in film has to be the 1999 film version of Wild Wild West. That movie holds a very special place in my heart, whatever that may say about my taste in cinema.

I think that film was my first real glimpse at the steampunk genre, and I probably owe much of my fascination with the genre to it. I was ten years old when it came out and absolutely mesmerized by all the machines and inventions. And as absurd as many of the gadgets in the film are--the dead-man's-last-vision projector, the locomotive steam tank, the giant mechanical spider, the rocket-powered flying bicycle, and the mustache-twirling villain Dr. Loveless's multifunctional wheelchair--these weird and marvelous inventions embody such creativity, exploring every avenue of what if. It was that unabashed sense of "Why not?" with regard to the technology that made me love it so much. To this day, it's my favorite steampunk-inspired film (and yes, I even re-watched it recently to make sure. Its pinnacle status still stands. Haters keep hatin'. I don't care).

Other films have successfully incorporated steampunk elements as well, and many of them have offered varying levels of inspiration to my steampunk novels. The steam castle in Steamboy lends its enormous engine chamber, with its gargantuan gears and colossal pistons, to the subcity beneath Chroniker City, and the mechanical soldiers in both that film and movies like Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Hellboy II, and even Sucker Punch had an impact on my automaton design in The Brass Giant, and the designs of the mechs and war machines I wrote into The Guild Conspiracy.

But Wild Wild West probably offered the most inspiration, with its widespread integration of all things mechanical into every possible gadget. It gave me the courage to delve deeper into my steampunk world, to think beyond the more obvious and exciting applications of mechanical technology and dare to build even the most mundane machine out of clockwork and steam engines.

Chroniker City has steam rickshaws instead of automobiles or carriages, automated venting systems along the city streets, a cross between a trolley and a vertical lift combined into one multidirectional mode of city transport, and a mechanical theater that employs an orchestra of musical automatons instead of musicians. These things are unimportant to the larger plot, but I feel like they bring the steampunk element to life, just as important to the steampunk aesthetic as the war machine the main character designs and builds over the course of the story.

I only hope that my words bring these machines to life with the same visual wonder and imaginative creativity as the best computer-generated graphics of the big screen. If not? Well . . . get on that, Hollywood. It's high time for a steampunk blockbuster.

You can find Brooke's novels here: https://www.amazon.com/Brooke-Johnson/e/B006OOGR9O

How To Create A Girl

Have the heroines of YA fantasy overtaken the heroes? I began reading fantasy when there was a true Renaissance of female protagonists: The artistic young women of Charles de Lint's Newford series; Neil Gaiman's Goth girl Death; the sword-wielding heroines of Robin McKinley's The Blue Sword, C.J. Cherryh's Gates of Ivrel series, and Barbara Hambly's Time of the Dark; P.C. Hodgell's trickster Jame in Godstalk.

I also read about the bad-ass girls of myth and folklore: Tokoyo, daughter of a Samurai, who took the place of a sacrifice and killed a dragon; Janet of the Scottish ballad 'Tam Lin,' who defied a faery queen to save her lover; the heroine of the fairy tale 'The Robber Bridegroom,' who outwits murderous thugs; the Russian Vassilisa, who escapes the terrifying witch Baba Yaga; Maeve, the Irish warrior queen, who is somewhat of an anti-hero; the Australian Wawilak sisters, hunters and keepers of wisdom; and clever Scheherazade, who convinced a mad sultan not to kill her by telling him stories.

The idea of writing a YA heroine as a blank slate so that readers might place their own personas upon her is no longer the standard. YA books are filled with young women who have distinct personalities. The steampunk tough girls of Marissa Meyer's Lunar Chronicles and Kady Cross's The Girl in the Steel Corset. The cutthroat trickster girls in A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab and Leigh Bardugo's Six of Crows. The inquisitive and introspective Blue of Maggie Stiefvater's The Raven Boys, and Karou in Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone. The rebels Katniss Everdeen in Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games, and Lada in Kiersten White's And I Darken.

When creating a young female protagonist, an archetype is a helpful way to lay the groundwork. Archetypes are not stereotypes, but traditional roles in storytelling throughout time. Beginning with an archetype helps understand a character's function, what part they'll play, and how they'll change throughout the story. Books explaining the meaning of Tarot cards are a fantastic way to find an archetype for a heroine, as well as lists of attributes.

But a hero is a person, not an archetype. And building on this is where the real work begins. Finding a face and a personality for the female protagonist can be done by leafing through magazines, checking out Pinterest, watching movies or TV. It helps to visualize her as flesh and blood. Adding a quirk, habits, and hobbies makes her memorable. These must be important to her character. Listing her likes and dislikes and any daily rituals also helps give her an identity--sometimes these won't even be seen by the reader, but kept in a character journal. And what kind of upbringing has she had? What sort of culture was she raised in? Fantasy opens up doors to imaginative alternatives in diversity. A family and choice memories create a rich background from which to extract emotional information.

Remember she's a teen. Remember what it was like to be a teenager, with all those passions and insecurities. This is a part of who she is. Add some heroic or anti-heroic qualities--a negative trait makes her easy to relate to (temper, pride, selfishness) and a fault she aspires to conquer. This fault can also get her into trouble and ratchet up the tension. Rational contradictions and unexpected attributes also add depth.

Think of the heroines that came before. The adventurers, Nancy Drew and Alice in Wonderland. The survivors--the true life pioneer Laura Ingalls Wilder and Frances Hodgson Burnett's Little Princess. And real life girls who have overcome great odds.

Romance or not? It depends on the story. If it's a fairy-tale like narrative, a heroine can be the adventurer and still find true love. Romance doesn't have to be the major focus, but it can be a development that complicates matters. It should be organic, something that helps grow the story.

People are complex, but a character full of foibles and personality traits is weird. Just a few distinguishing characteristics will create a protagonist whose emotional and physical journey is unforgettable. Overcoming stereotypes, even fun ones (such as the kick-ass heroine), to create a girl who is on her way to becoming a unique young woman, is a challenge, but results in a fascinating hero readers will adore and follow anywhere.

So, who are some of your favorite heroines and why?

Summer Giveaway #3 Thorn Jack

For the third Night & Nothing giveaway this summer, the prize is listed below:

A signed trade paperback of Thorn Jack
The Spring edition of Faerie Magazine
A journal
A one-of-a-kind, hand-crafted Fata journal

A flower fairy bookmark

There will be one winner. All you have to do is answer a question and leave a comment here, Tweet about the contest or follow me on Twitter, or visit my author page (where you can get news of upcoming projects).

CONTEST OPEN TO U.S. & CANADIAN RESIDENTS ONLY




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Tim Lees, Author of The God Hunter

Welcome back, Tim Lees, author of The God Hunter and Devil in the Wires (Harper Voyager) to It's All About Story. Tim's blog can be found here: https://timlees.wordpress.com/

1) Describe your latest book.

It's called Steal the Lightning. It's the third in the Field Ops series (following the two mentioned above), and it's a sort of road trip around the US, looking at some of the consequences of having a bunch of "gods" (for want of a better term) on the loose. The previous books jumped about a bit, globally, but this takes place in a much shorter time-frame and a much smaller area. Like the other books, it's self-contained; they follow an overall development, but I try to make sure new readers can pick up any one of the series and still enjoy it.

2) What do you like about speculative fiction as a genre?

You can tackle big issues in a light, even frivolous way. I tend to mix up genres--thriller, SF, comedy, fantasy--and the Field Ops novels touch on some serious matters, including religion and politics, but do so playfully, I hope. It's not like writing an essay. You don't have to produce the final word. You can even have a situation that goes against your general beliefs, though I don't know that I've actually done that. I like messing around with big concepts, and sometimes just being surreal and silly--and wondering how relatively ordinary people would react if such things actually happened. Plus, I suppose, like anyone in this field, I'm temperamentally attracted to the weird and bizarre. Always was, even as a kid.

3) Name three of your favorite writers.

J.G. Ballard, Brian Aldiss, Alan Moore.

4) What books do you feel have influenced you as a writer?

Everything I've ever read. But the period when I really learned to write was when I lived in Scotland, and there were a few authors who influenced me strongly then. One was William Burroughs--not the cut-ups, but the little short stories in between, especially in Soft Machine and The Wild Boys. I still think "The Mayan Caper" is a great time travel piece, so unconventional. I should go back and re-read those books. I liked Hemingway's A Moveable Feast, his bitchy account of '20s Paris, and Angela Carter's short stories in Fireworks (overshadowed by her later work, but to my mind much more interesting), and Christopher Isherwood, who taught me how to use autobiographical material in an "English" way, as opposed to the "American" style of Jack Kerouac. Isherwood was a perfect antidote to the other authors, with his deceptively simple, "transparent" writing. It took me a very long time to recognise the value of simple, straightforward prose.

5) What was the first book in your childhood that you loved?

The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It was the first book I read on my own. I've been asked this question before and it made me think about the book a little more deeply. On the one hand, it's an adventure story with dinosaurs--who could resist?--but on another level, there's a rather poignant frame-plot to it. The narrator, Edward Malone, joins Professor Challenger's expedition in an attempt to impress the girl he loves, who mocks him for his supposed lack of heroism. He even names the plateau's central lake after her, Lake Gladys. Then he returns to England, and she marries someone else. You can't make people love you, even when they let you think you can.

6) What is your favorite book on writing, the one that helped you the most?

Death is no Obstacle, a long interview with Michael Moorcock by Colin Greenland. In fact, Moorcock is a huge source of inspiration to me and, I think, many British writers of my generation. He's done it all--literary fiction, potboilers, fantasy, historical, contemporary--but always, you imagine, with the rent collector tapping his foot on the other side of the door. (I'm joking--I trust he's made a decent living, but his work is certainly haunted by the need to put food on the table.) He's a professional in the truest sense of the word, even a hack, and has rushed books that might well have benefited from a few more days' consideration. At the same time, he has produced work of astonishing artistic achievement, and even now, in his late seventies, remains a great innovator. He talks articulately about writing, both the tricks which get him through a book and the commercial environment in which such books are written. His approach is very nuts-and-bolts and therefore accessible to anyone. What he doesn't talk about is his talent, the mysterious miracle ingredient which makes it all actually work.

7) When you need inspiration, where do you find it?

Long ago, when I'd produce only a few short stories a year, ideas would come to me while I was out walking, or sometimes as spin-offs from my reading of other authors (a favorite trick was to take a non-genre story and then create a fantasy or SF "version" of it). Nowadays it's not like that. The germ of a story may come, often during a bout of insomnia, or while I'm doing something unrelated to writing, and I'll be hugely enthusiastic about it. But it takes more than that, say, to bring it to novel-length. Structural problems can take a lot of sorting out. Smaller problems often solve themselves in the act of writing itself. There's nothing more inspirational than having a pen in your hand!

8) Do you feel your work is plot-driven or character-driven?

I'm more interested in character than plot. Unless I come up with a really good plot.

Plots are great for a writer, because they tell you where the story's going. Than can be handy for a reader, too. But nobody's going to read a book where the characters don't engage them.

That said, I like characters who are flawed, quirky, and not always admirable. They remind me of my friends.

9) What process do you find most challenging as a published writer? Outlining? Editing? Promoting?

Promoting. It's not that the job is hard--I've really enjoyed appearances at comics conventions and bookstore readings, and it's always a pleasure to be invited to appear on somebody's blog. But does any of it actually sell books? Social media was recently touted as the great marketing tool, and it certainly has provided some enjoyable moments--through Twitter, I've been able to have conversations with a wide range of people, including a number of much-admired authors. I didn't buy their books because they talked to me on Twitter, though--and I doubt they bought my books at all!

A former bookshop manager once told me that, despite all the advertising hype, the only thing that really sells a book is word of mouth. Of course, to get word of mouth, people have to know about your book to start with. You're up against the same problem you'd have marketing any product. There are a huge number of books out there. Why should anyone pay attention to yours? (If there's a good answer to this, please let me know.)

10) What's the most surprising thing you've learned about being published?

That I am not world famous and driving around in a gold-plated Rolls Royce. Yet.

11) Are there any upcoming books, novellas, short stories?

Only if someone publishes them. "If a tree falls in a forest . . ." I have a couple of short stories doing the rounds, and a novel set in the aftermath of World War II which needs finishing, and a hundred other ideas and half-finished manuscripts. Years ago, I taught a creative writing class, and was always astonished when people told me they didn't know what to write about. To me, there's far too much to write about. I'm looking forward to getting my current jobs out of the way so I can work on something new.

Thank you, Tim!
You can find all of Tim's books here: http://www.amazon.com/Tim-Lees/e/B006E4I288