Today I'm thrilled to be featuring interviews from several authors of the Fae Anthology by World Weaver Press!
Laura VanArendonk
Baugh author of “And Only the Eyes of Children”
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.
Alexis A. Hunter
author of “A Fairfolk Promise”
What 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.
Beth Cato author
of “The Cartography of Shattered Trees”
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.
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.
Sixteen-year-old Mariam Wilson never knew she was going to be one of the most powerful people in the world. And all it took was death, blood, and a lot of brain power.
AUTHOR BIO: Ebony Easter is seventeen-years-old. Born in Sacramento, California and raised with three brothers, she spends most of her time (especially during class) writing and reading. The Callous Catcher is her first novel with many more to come. Her future dream is to be a screen writer and a best-selling author with her name on billboards and her face in every magazine ("I was told to dream big"). At the moment, Ebony is hogging the seats at Starbucks, finishing college, and hoping to get to New York before the airline tickets rise.
