Mythical Monday #66

Art work by: @Burntlaughter on Twitter

It seems there are many books influenced by or based on Myths and Mythological Beings.

There are many different Mythology's and Mythological Beings recorded. Some are very popular and well known, others not so much. There are many similar beings, yet different depending on the culture it’s based in.  The definition of Myth covers about anything in the Urban Fantasy/Fantasy realm to me.

I’ve invited authors to share briefly the Mythological being or Myth that influenced their character(s) or story, or what their character(s) are based on influencing their books.  Hosting here, one author and being or myth per week.

Blame it on a misspent youth.

My parents are librarians, and they started reading to me at a very young age—first picture books, then as I got older, we would read stuff aloud together, and eventually I read on my own. Among the first things I read for myself were The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien and the Earthsea trilogy by Ursula K. Le Guin. The lush, beautiful, magickal worlds created by Tolkien and Le Guin captivated me and led me to other fantasy works, and also when I became a teenager to playing Dungeons & Dragons with my friends.

It was also with my parents that I watched television, and two of our favorite series to watch were two seminal police shows, Barney Miller and Hill Street Blues. Still the gold standard for cop shows, these two series captivated me just as much and instilled a fascination with police procedure and the dramatic portrayal of it.

Writing was a passion that was always there—whether it came about due to consuming all those stories when I was too young to know better or if it's just an innate part of me is a question left to geneticists and philosophers. The point is, I have always loved to make stories. (My first book was created on construction paper at the age of six. It's called Reflections in My Mirror, and I still have it.)

Those three passions finally collided in 2004 when Dragon Precinct was published. Set in a high-fantasy setting greatly inspired by Le Guin and Tolkien, the stories were police procedurals, as Lieutenants Torin ban Wyvald and Danthres Tresyllione solve crimes in the city-state of Cliff's End. (Both Torin and Danthres are based on D&D characters I played in my younger days, also.)

I have continued to write stories of Torin, Danthres, and the Cliff's End Castle Guard, both in novel and short story form (the fifth novel in the series, Mermaid Precinct, is on my 2017 writing schedule), and when I was invited to submit something to the new Bad-Ass Faeries anthology back in 2006, there was no question in my mind that the world of fantasy based crime fiction that I'd been slinging words in was ideally suited to giving us a bad-ass fae.

Another cop show I adore is Homicide: Life on the Street, and it was that show—and the book on which it is based, David Simon's Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets—that led to my love for that most fascinating part of police procedure, both in fiction and real life: the interrogation. The verbal dance between detective and suspect. Those quickly became my favorite parts of the various "Precinct" tales to write, and when Danielle Ackley-McPhail and her cohorts invited me to submit to Bad-Ass Faeries, my first thought was to do an all-interrogation story, one that was exclusively detective and suspect, doing that very verbal dance.

The result is "House Arrest," which I'm honored to have reprinted in The Best of Bad-Ass Faeries, which will be out from eSpec Books this year. We've got family intrigue, we've got murder, we've got a house fae with a bit of an attitude problem (and a bit of a milk addiction), and it ends with a terrible pun. What more could you want?


Back the campaign:  Make 100: The Best of Bad-Ass Faeries


Author Bio:
Keith R.A. DeCandido has been writing fiction professionally for twenty-three years now, which makes him feel very old. Well, that, and his arthritic knees. He has written more than fifty novels, almost a hundred short stories, a mess of comic books, and a bunch of nonfiction, both in various licensed universes ranging from TV shows (Star Trek, Supernatural, Sleepy Hollow, Doctor Who, and tons more) to games (World of Warcraft, Dungeons & Dragons, StarCraft, Command & Conquer) to movies (Cars, Resident Evil, Kung Fu Panda, Aliens, Night of the Living Dead, Serenity) to comic books (prose featuring Spider-Man, Thor, the Hulk, the Silver Surfer, the X-Men, etc.), as well as in his own original universes. The latter includes fantastical police procedurals in the fictional city of Cliff's End, starting with the novel Dragon Precinct, and including several more novels and a mess of short stories, one of which, "House Arrest," will be reprinted in The Best of Bad-Ass Faeries, having appeared in the inaugural anthology in that series ten years ago. Keith also writes the Super City Cops series of cop stories set in a city filled with superheroes, urban fantasy tales set in Key West featuring Cassie Zukav, weirdness magnet, and 2017 will see the debut novel featuring Bram Gold, a nice Jewish boy from the Bronx who hunts monsters, A Furnace Sealed. Find out less at Keith's web site at DeCandido.net.


Click to purchase these books:

Mythical Monday #65

Art work by: @Burntlaughter on Twitter

It seems there are many books influenced by or based on Myths and Mythological Beings.

There are many different Mythology's and Mythological Beings recorded. Some are very popular and well known, others not so much. There are many similar beings, yet different depending on the culture it’s based in.  The definition of Myth covers about anything in the Urban Fantasy/Fantasy realm to me.

I’ve invited authors to share briefly the Mythological being or Myth that influenced their character(s) or story, or what their character(s) are based on influencing their books.  Hosting here, one author and being or myth per week.

Writing the Violent Fairy

I had never heard of a filandiere before Danielle Ackley-McPhail assigned me the faeries of the realm of spirit for a Bad-Ass Faeries anthology. From the list, I chose the name because it sounded interesting, wispy and ethereal.

According to Mostropedia.org, a filandiere consumes creativity. She draws nourishment from art, music and other evocations of the mind and heart. Those are food to this kind of faerie. If there is no inspiration, then the faerie goes hungry.

I decided to write a story in which a creator and a filandiere had a symbiotic relationship. Ninette, the faerie, was Marcel’s agent. Like any agent, she took fifteen percent of everything, including the creative spirit that went into his work. At the same time, she inspires him, giving him experiences that he uses to inform his work, experiences that no one else can ever have.

Like many humans, when a filandiere doesn’t get enough to eat, she gets cranky. That rebounds upon her hapless client. But because of her powers, she can provide him with the inspiration he needs to keep going. It’s a devil’s bargain for Marcel as well as Ninette. They are tied together in a mutually supportive but abusive relationship. I found it interesting to write, as I could easily see where a desperate writer would make such a bargain for fame, fortune – and food. Their relationship is functional and fruitful, but you can’t really call it a healthy one.

Because the name of the faerie was French, I set the story in the French Quarter of New Orleans. I know or knew plenty of writers and musicians who live and work there. Creativity booms, although many of the creatives eke out a marginal existence. Marcel is one who was raised from relative poverty. He wants to let go of the being who both succors and sucks from him, but he can’t. She’s the only thing keeping him writing.

Curiously enough, Monstropedia.org was the only place I found an entry about filandieres. I have never found another reference (at least in English). Monstropedia has disappeared from the web. Like a faerie, it has vanished away, leaving only a memory, but it was an inspiration to me when it existed.


Back the campaign:  Make 100: The Best of Bad-Ass Faeries

Visit me on the web at:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jodylynn.nye
Twitter: @JodyLynnNye
Goodreads: Jody Lynn Nye
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Jody-Lynn-Nye/e/B000AQ0B5I/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1486753979&sr=1-1
Site: Jody Lynn Nye

Mythical Monday (51)

It seems there are many books based on or influenced by Myths and Mythological Beings.

There are so many different Mythology and Mythological Beings recorded. Some are very popular and well known, others not so much. There are many similar beings, yet different depending on the culture it’s based in.  The definition of Myth covers about anything in the Urban Fantasy/Fantasy realm to me.

I’ve invited authors to share briefly the Mythological being or Myth that influenced their character(s) or story, or what their character(s) are based on influencing their books.  Hosting here, one author and being or myth per week.

This week we have:

Urban Fantasy author 
Bethany Herron

Talking about Nickar.

Bad-Ass Faeries: Nickar

"With the dawn of refinement, and progress of education, many innocent creeds and sweet associations have passed away; and we are of those who deeply lament that this change, not for the better, has come over the spirit of nations."
- Fairies, by Miss M.L. Beevor, from The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction (February 2, 1833)

I graduated from college with a Literature degree... which was not super helpful when I got a job driving a freight train. It made sense at the time. I wanted to write, and I decided I'd be more successful if my day job was as far from writing as possible. On top of that, there was an anachronistic bent to it that greatly appealed. Trains (and train engineers) seemed as far removed from modern day as stovepipe hats and corsets, and equally romantic.

Miss Beevor's words on faeries sparked that same olde feeling. Her article popped up as I was searching for my next story, and I was immediately drawn to her description of the nickar, "...fairy of rivers and lakes, where, like the Scotch kelpie, he raises storms and derives a savage satisfaction from the wreck of human life."

I probably shouldn't admit this on a Mythical Monday, but while I love pulling inspiration from mythology, I'm a firm believer in tweaking the myths to meet my story. After all, the actions of humans have always had a bearing on faerie; our belief, or lack thereof, has the power to create or destroy entire races of fae. Still, the fact that a water faerie was trying to jump into my railroad world (a world full of fire and steel) surprised me.

The more I researched the nickar, though, the more it made sense. They are quite a bit like mermen, but nastier: fish-tailed faeries who delight in destruction and mayhem. In this day and age, what mean old water faerie wouldn't try to take out a diesel-breathing steel monster who encroached on his territory?

Pashi, the nickar in my story Fairyland Local #2413, has an even stronger motivation. Pashi's been alone, for ages, and making trouble is the only form of entertainment the faerie has. Until Jones, a bridgetender with a bum knee, shows the nickar another option. (And introduces the lonely Pashi to a thriving fae-hobo underground, but that's another story.)

Would the traditional bad-ass nickar found in Teutonic mythology actually hop a freight train and take up the hobo life? Probably not. But times change and myths evolve, and Pashi is going to fit right in.


Author Bio:
Bethany Herron has always straddled strange worlds, working as a freight train conductor, non-profit fundraiser, and mad scribbler. She lives and works out of Oakland, California.

Find Bethany Herron:
Website: http://www.bethanyherron.com
Twitter: @BethanyHerron

Book Description:

Bad-Ass Faeries: It's Elemental
The Bad-Ass Faeries are back and they are in their Elements!

Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Spirit...It's time to get down to basics, for the fae answer to a natural order.

In L. Jagi Lamplighter's On Rocky Ground, Mab, Mephisto, and Erasmus go to the mountain to pay a debt, but can they pacify the earth before the mountain comes down around their ears? In James Chambers' The Flying Rock, Daniel seeks to give his son and daughter a taste of childhood magic before they grow too old to embrace such things, but the winds blow as they will and he soon wonders will his children even see another day. In James Daniel Ross's The Legend of Buck Cooper and the Child of Fire it only takes a spark to start a fire, but what will it take to stop one? Buck Cooper and the brigade must stave off the flames of a war most don't even realize is being waged. In N.R. Brown's Melia's Best Wave an oceanid decides she's ready for bigger things, like tackling the deadliest stretch of coastline anywhere. Will she conquer the Mavericks or wipe out for all time? In Jody Lynn Nye's Fifteen Percent Marcel Dorner learns it's best to get into the spirit of things when your literary agent is a filandiere, or more than just your career might not survive...

Joined by Kimberley Long-Ewing, Judi Fleming, Danny Birt, Peter Prellwitz, DL Thurston, James R. Stratton, Patrick Thomas, Bethany Herron, Keith R.A. DeCandido and Lee C. Hillman, these authors make it clear why one doesn't mess with Mother Nature...or Bad-Ass Faeries.

Purchase At:
 

Mythical Monday (49)

It seems there are many books based on or influenced by Myths and Mythological Beings.

There are so many different Mythology and Mythological Beings recorded. Some are very popular and well known, others not so much. There are many similar beings, yet different depending on the culture it’s based in.  The definition of Myth covers about anything in the Urban Fantasy/Fantasy realm to me.

I’ve invited authors to share briefly the Mythological being or Myth that influenced their character(s) or story, or what their character(s) are based on influencing their books.  Hosting here, one author and being or myth per week.

This week we have:

Urban Fantasy author 
Jim Stratton

Talking Japanese Samurai, Tengu, and Tanuki.

Hi all,

I’ve been doubly blessed of late. Danielle Ackley-McPhail recently accepted my Japanese samurai fantasy for the next Bad-Ass Faeries anthology, It’s Elemental, due out this May. (For those of you living under a rock, this is the fourth installment of the award-winning anthologies featuring faeries, pixies, and their ilk.) And now Melissa Hayden has invited me to enlighten you good folks on some of the marvelous creatures that populate this next installment of Bad-Ass Faeries in her Mythical Monday blog feature.

It’s Elemental follows along the path of its predecessors, highlighting the magical creatures that share this mundane world of ours, bringing with them magic and wonder. It’s Elemental goes a step further than the others by bringing you fifteen tales of the elemental creatures in five groups; earth, air fire, water, and spirit. More important, the mystically creatures featured in this installment are drawn from the rich tapestry of myths and folklore of many cultures.

My own humble tale is about a young samurai lady, daughter of the ruler of a realm, and how she defeats and befriends a tengu, and his pet, a tanuki. The story occurs during the age of the warlords in ancient Japan, when bloody war was a constant presence, and the plotting and strategizing of the daimyo lords make Machiavelli look like a Pollyanna. Into this steps a tengu courtier from the court of the king of the tengu with a challenge for the lord of the land’s warriors.

Both of these creatures have been part of the rich Japanese folklore for well over a thousand years. Tengu first appeared in popular tales in the 8th century and are described as either bird-like or dog-like. Over the centuries they evolved in the tales from pure elemental demons, ethereal and ghostlike, into tall, powerful beasts with blue or red skins and long noses. They are formidable warriors, skilled and near unkillable, who delight in teasing and challenging we mortals. They especially love to plague Buddhists monks whose faith isn’t as firm as it should be. In one tale, a tengu tricks a gullible fool to hike deep into the wilderness with false dreams of hidden riches, then carries the monk to the top of the highest tree in the forest and leaves him there as night is falling.

Tanuki are a lighter-hearted creature in the folktales, resembling furry badgers with a mischievous, jolly demeanors and a taste for harmless pranks. They are master shape-shifters, famous for hiding from us mundanes as ordinary household objects. One tale tells how a silly tanuki sneaks into a farmer’s home to steal the sweet rice cakes the farmer’s wife has prepared for farmer’s mid-day snack before she leaves for the day. When the farmer comes in from the fields, the tanuki hides by transforming himself into an iron tea pot. Unfortunately, the farmer wants tea with his rice cakes and puts the tanuki teapot on the fire. What followed is a proper farce reminiscent of the keystone cops. However, all ends well with the tanuki and the farmer becoming fast friends.

In my own tale, “Ties That Bind”, Ajiro No Akume, a retainer of the King of the Tengu, appears at the keep of the Daimyo Murikami Takeyoshi to challenge his samurai to a duel to the death. The Daimyo’s young daughter Kiku unexpectedly accepts the challenge and defeats the mighty beast with trickery when it’s clear the clan’s samurai would be slaughtered. As part of the wager, she wins a tenuki, the King of the Tengu’s personal pet that Ajiro is charged with keeping for his Lord. So Ajiro is bound to the little girl by honor, and by his fear of what his Lord will do to him if he learns his courtier was beaten by a tiny mortal child. And so their adventures begin.

Bad-Ass Faeries: It’s Elemental will be released at Balticon at the end of May. If you are there, drop by the Dark Quest Books launch party (Sunday, May 25, from 7pm to 9pm in the Con Suite), buy a copy and say hello to the authors and editors. If you can’t, visit http://www.darkquestbooks.com/store/product-info.php?pid174.html and order your copy today. Enjoy!


Author Bio:
Professionally, James R. Stratton is a government lawyer with twenty plus years experience litigating child abuse cases. Vocationally, he has been writing science fiction and fantasy tales for ten years with over twenty-five publications and counting. His recent appearance has been in three of the Big Pulp anthologies, Dead Souls published by Morigan Books and Rum& Runestones published by Dragon Moon Press. Most recently he is broke new ground personally as both a co-author and co-editor with the inestimable Robert E. Waters of the anthology Fantastic Futures 13 published by Padwolf Press in May 2013. Plan on meeting Danielle, the editor, and the other authors at the official launch at the Baltimore Science Fiction Convention this May.

Cover Reveal: It's Elemental and Transcendence

Aaaah, now these are sweet little finds. Awesome new covers to ogle at. I'm going to have to keep an eye out and get these.

Both of these are anthologies, but with different authors and stories.

It's Elemental

Bad-Ass Faeries #4

Edited By:  Danielle Ackley-McPhail

Due Out:  May 23, 2014

Description:

The Bad-Ass Faeries are back and they are in their Elements!

Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Spirit…It’s time to get down to basics, for the fae answer to a natural order.

In L. Jagi Lamplighter’s On Rocky Ground, Mab, Mephisto, and Erasmus go to the mountain to pay a debt, but can they pacify the earth before the mountain comes down around their ears?

In James Chambers’ The Flying Rock, Daniel seeks to give his son and daughter a taste of childhood magic before they grow too old to embrace such things, but the winds blow as they will and he soon wonders will his children even see another day.

In James Daniel Ross’s The Legend of Buck Cooper and the Child of Fire it only takes a spark to start a fire, but what will it take to stop one? Buck Cooper and the brigade must stave off the flames of a war most don’t even realize is being waged.

In N.R. Brown’s Melia’s Best Wave an oceanid decides she’s ready for bigger things, like tackling the deadliest stretch of coastline anywhere. Will she conquer the Mavericks or wipe out for all time?

In Jody Lynn Nye’s Fifteen Percent Marcel Dorner learns it’s best to get into the spirit of things when your literary agent is a filandiere, or more than just your career might not survive…

Joined by Kimberley Long-Ewing, Judi Fleming, Danny Birt, Peter Prellwitz, DL Thurston, James R. Stratton, Patrick Thomas, Bethany Herron, Keith R.A. DeCandido and Lee C. Hillman, these authors make it clear why one doesn’t mess with Mother Nature…or Bad-Ass Faeries.

Transcendence

By:  Danielle Ackley-McPhail

Due Out:  October 2014

Description:

What Will You Discover Between the Darkness and the Light?

When the mortal coil wears thin and the great unknown draws nigh you might spy the narrow gap between the mystical and the mundane. You might even notice they’re looking back.

Transcendence takes a hard look at humanity in nine tales of difficult choices, great rewards, and journeys beyond expectation.

• In Skippy, Don does not like what he sees in the mirror…but will he survive it?
• A Fury finds form—and retribution—in The Kindly One.
• If I Had the Chance takes do-overs to a new level.
• Aisa has a death-ly choice to make in The Misses Moirai.
• Ruby Red sweeps you away in a dance on the edge of madness.
• Purgatory is when you think you’re damned…hell is when you are right…
• Fredrich tries to drown his sorrows in Stoli and Solitude.
• For Camirel finding purpose means total transformation in Emberling.
• Transcendence…where you look into the heart of a star and find yourself.

The extraordinary awaits… will you step beyond the bounds of commonplace existence?

I read one Bad-Ass Faeries anthology and loved it. I picked up a second one and need to get time to dig in. Now, I want this one too! And the sounds of Transcendence, very interesting. Sounds like one to think on. That eye really draws my eyes!

You can add Transcendence on Goodreads now too.

Mythical Monday (44)

It seems there are many books based on or influenced by Myths and Mythological Beings.

There are so many different Mythology and Mythological Beings recorded. Some are very popular and well known, others not so much. There are many similar beings, yet different depending on the culture it’s based in.  The definition of Myth covers about anything in the Urban Fantasy/Fantasy realm to me.

I’ve invited authors to share briefly the Mythological being or Myth that influenced their character(s) or story, or what their character(s) are based on influencing their books.  Hosting here, one author and being or myth per week.

This week we have:

Fantasy author 
L. Jagi Lamplighter

Talking of Gnomes and Oreads.

Of Gnomes and Oreads: the Magic of the Mountain


Mountains. They rise like majestic kings, white-crowned with robes of royal purple and deep blue. The air atop them is different from ordinary air. To be atop a mountain is to breathe magic. One cannot blame our earlier generations for believing that they were full of mythical creatures.

Heck, some mountain dwellers believe that today!

Some of my best childhood memories of magic involve mountains. My family used to spend two weeks during the summer in the White Mountains in New Hampshire, possibly the most magical place in America. One could hardly hike the evergreen-studded slopes without feeling the hush of enchantment.

The locals all believed in magic—or at least in the spirit of it. They told us stories of the spruce trolls who dwelt on the mountainsides, and when you drove under overpasses, you were instructed to knock on the ceiling of your car to honor the trolls who lived under the bridges. Otherwise, they would come at night and play tricks on you.

But the greatest magic of all—which still remains with me today, decades later—was my very first glimpse of mountains themselves.

My brother and I were sitting in the back of our family sedan. We had driven nine or ten hours—a millennia of time to a child that age—and we were very eager to reach our destination. To our delight high rounded humps reaching a quarter of the way up the horizon appeared in front of us. We cheered.

Our parents hushed us. Those were not the mountains, they explained. Those were just the foothills.

I am not sure I believed them at the time. How much larger could mountains be?

Then we saw them—looming so high above us that that the rounded foothills seemed like toddlers beside an adult. They appeared out of the gloom like phantoms, sharp pale peeks wreathed in slate blue and purple.

Even today, over four decades later, I can still remember how amazing that first glimpse was.

So it is easy for me to imagine that the mountains themselves are magical. When I was young, I though they were probably the back ridges of some sleeping monster, a dragon or a really big Godzilla. As I grew older, I read stories of rock trolls and storm giants. I recall a picture I loved—I believe it was from an unpublished story by Muppet-master Brian Froud—of a boy and a young troll walking together and coming upon the troll’s grandmother, a face in the side of the mountain with a waterfall running off her nose. I thought that picture one of the most enchanting things I had ever come upon.

When the time came that, in my series, Prospero’s Daughter, I wanted to honor my magical childhood memories by making some to the spirits of rocks themselves, I did some research to discover what mythical being the ancients believed lived in the rocks. I discovered that in the fifteenth century, the Swiss alchemist Paracelsus had noted down the four elemental beings. He reported that salamanders lived in the fire, sylphs lived in the air, the water was inhabited by undines, and in the earth lived…gnomes.

Gnomes? You’ve got to be kidding me!

Aren’t they those guys in red hats who live in comfortable Hobbit-holes or appear in statue form in photos of famous landmarks? Or, at the very least, ugly-guys from Oz who are afraid of eggs?

I had such a clear mental image of the Gnome book, depicting the happy lives of these little men in their pointy red caps, and of ceramic lawn gnomes, that my imagination balked at the idea that these creatures—so much like Hobbits or dwarves—could be the spirits of rocks, much less the majestic mountains themselves.

Researching farther, I discovered that there is no record of the word gnome before the time of Paracelsus. Scholars believe the word may have come from geonomes—literally “earth dweller”. He claimed these creatures could move through the earth the way men moved through air.

That was exactly what I wanted. A spirit that could move through the rocks, through the mountains the way dryads move in and out of trees.

But not gnomes.

Which brought me to oreads.

In ancient Greek legends, oreads were mountain nymphs. In truth, they were the nymphs of the conifers that grew on the mountains, but because they were referred to in numerous places as “the nymphs of mountains” I felt it was not an unfair stretch do decide that there might be a being who was to rock as dryads were to trees—able to step in and out of them at will.

In my Prospero’s Daughter series, one of the premises is that there is a secret organization called the Orbus Suleimani that protects mankind from the dangers of the magical world. In my background, the Orbus Suleimani had altered Paracelsus’s work, replacing the “real” word oread with a the word gnome. Their reasoning was that calling upon oreads was dangerous—they could cause earthquakes—but gnomes were harmless.

Thus I acknowledged both the historical place of gnomes before they became the playthings of garden fanciers and yet was able to give my rock spirits a dash of dignity.

In my short story, On Rocky Ground, which will appear in the anthology Bad Ass Faeries Four: It’s Elemental, I made the oreads much like dryads or nymphs. They spoke and acted like young women, flirtatious and coy. I chose this behavior for this particular story because it was meant to be humorous. In my imagination, however, the oreads are more like the humpback whales of the earthen world—vast and slow with deep voices, like the rumbles made by elephants or the songs of whales.

Maybe someday, I shall have a chance to write a story that will feature these vast, gentle, rocky souls as I picture them. Perhaps, there will even be a place in that story for a grandfather oread, as impressive as the majestic peaks I recall from that first moment, when my brother and I gazed up at the towering, purple-clad phantoms with their snowy crowns.

Maybe, like a mountain surrounded by humble, squat foothills, I’ll even give Grandfather Oread a few gnomes to scurry along beside him. Gnomes do remind me a bit of foothills.


Author Bio:
L. Jagi Lamplighter is the author of The Unexpected Enlightenment of Rachel Griffin, as well as the Prospero's Daughter Trilogy (Prospero Lost, Prospero In Hell, and Prospero Regained).She has also written a number of short stories, articles on anime, and is an author/assistant editor in the BaddAss Faeries series.

She is a graduate of the St. John's College in Annapolis, MD. When not writing, she switches to her secret identity as a stay-home mom in Centreville, VA, where she lives in fairytale happiness with her husband, author John C. Wright, and their four darling children, Orville, Ping-Ping, Roland Wilbur, and Justinian Oberon.

For more information see: http://www.ljagilamplighter.com/


Author Links:
Site:  http://www.ljagilamplighter.com/
Twitter:  @lampwright4


Purchase Books: (click the image)


....

Mythical Monday (33)

It seems there are many books based on or influenced by Myths and Mythological Beings.

There are so many different Mythology and Mythological Beings recorded. Some are very popular and well known, others not so much. There are many similar beings, yet different depending on the culture it’s based in.  The definition of Myth covers about anything in the Urban Fantasy/Fantasy realm to me.

I’ve invited authors to share briefly the Mythological being or Myth that influenced their character(s) or story, or what their character(s) are based on influencing their books.  Hosting here, one author and being or myth per week.

This week we have:

Fantasy author Danielle Ackley-McPhail

Talking of Road Gremlins.

The shadows are populated by the creatures of myth. They writhe and seethe and bubble with a myriad of fae lurking there, waiting for the unwary, the uninformed, the incautious… We mortals often think we spy them, out of the corner of our eyes, but it takes a special vision to truly see. Most only imagine they do in the suggestive twilight populated by their fears, for folklore and legend are filled with tales of faerie folk. Some benign, most not.

We’ve many of us forgotten that in this modern day. We make the error of thinking of faeries and other such creatures as cute and kind and of the venue to entertain children. Yet the truth of those tales echoes in our collective hearts, even when our minds insist they are only stories.

The folly! Tales of the fae were whispered in days of old, cautionary tales to warn children to be good and kind and stay safely clear of the domain of the fae.

Out of this fading of caution has come a need.

A need to re-educate mankind in the true nature of the fae. I have risen to that need, along with my compatriots: L. Jagi Lamplighter, Lee C. Hillman, and Jeffrey Lyman.

Who am I? Danielle Ackley-McPhail… And who are we? The chroniclers of the Bad-Ass Faeries.

In the course of our efforts to remind humanity of the prudence of caution regarding the fae I have become familiar with a peculiar little beastie by the name of Smear. No…this is not a new type of fae. Smear is a road gremlin, an adaptation of a species long cautioned against in ages of yore, and more modern times as well. In World War II they were known only as gremlins, creatures with a penchant for sabotaging airplanes, machines, anything with gears and moving parts, constructed by man. Anything. Airmen and mechanics alike knew they fought on two fronts, against the enemy and the gremlins.

Little did the airmen coming home know that there nemeses would follow. As the returning soldiers left their aircraft behind some of them found new ways to feel like they were flying: motorcycles. With wind in their hair and maneuverability and speed at their control, they once more dressed in their leathers and this time took to the roads. And so did their gremlins.

See, the fae are adaptive, they blend in to avoid the notice of the mortal realm, and so seldom remain true to form. Gremlins became road gremlins and motorcycles or cars became the targets of opportunity.

In The Halfling’s Court: A Bad-Ass Faerie Tale I chronicle a rare look at a road gremlin, reflecting its environment to better work its mischief. Within that tale, Lance Cosain, the Halfling leader of the Wild Hunt Motor Club, shares his first-hand knowledge of this belligerent little creature:

“Skin as grey as asphalt, with an oily, rainbow shimmer. Hair long and thick and spiny, like a porcupine mated with a box of nails. A thick white line ran down the center of their faces, like war paint, and along their arms were thick, black squiggles. Like tats or tribal markings, only with the dull gleam of tar snakes. Each finger was like a spike, reminiscent of those found at toll booths and security gates, only jointed.”

Lance mastered the road in that encounter, but just barely, and not without sacrificing both his ride and a bit of skin and flesh. He walked away with a limp and respect for an adversary he could only stand up to, but not triumph. After all, the road remains long after the biker’s moved on.

As with any tale of the fae, that respect is the key. That and a judicious use of caution.

The fae are often reflections of their environment and jealous of their territory. Prudent mortals have taken precautions. Bikers, mostly, knowing the weakness of the fae, have taken to attaching small metal bells to their bikes, the ringing painful to the gremlins’ ears. The magic of said bells works in two ways:

1. Should a bike already be infested with gremlins the ringing bell will catch them up, trapping them within until the sound drives them mad and they fall away.
2. If the bike is clean, the ringing warns the road gremlins away, preventing them from boarding and working their mischief.

And if the bell is given out of love by one person to another the magic is doubly strong as love has ever been protection against fae of any nature.

So consider, before you bestow on someone that old Irish Blessing “May the road rise up to meet your feet…,” if that truly is a good thing or not…Better, perhaps, to remind your friend or loved one to respect the road, and gift them with a gremlin bell all their own.


To learn more about The Halfling’s Court please visit www.sidhenadaire.com/books/HC.htm

You can read an excerpt at www.sidhenadaire.com/books/HC-EX.htm.

Author Bio:
Award-winning author Danielle Ackley-McPhail has worked both sides of the publishing industry for longer than she cares to admit. Currently, she is a project editor and promotions manager for Dark Quest Books.

Her published works include five urban fantasy novels, Yesterday's Dreams, Tomorrow's Memories, Today’s Promise, The Halfling’s Court: and The Redcaps’ Queen: A Bad-Ass Faerie Tale. She is also the author of the solo science fiction collection, A Legacy of Stars, the non-fiction writers guide, The Literary Handyman, and is the senior editor of the Bad-Ass Faeries anthology series, Dragon’s Lure, and In An Iron Cage. Her work is included in numerous other anthologies and collections.

She is a member of the Garden State Speculative Fiction Writers, the New Jersey Authors Network, and Broad Universe, a writer’s organization focusing on promoting the works of women authors in the speculative genres.

Danielle lives in New Jersey with husband and fellow writer, Mike McPhail, mother-in-law Teresa, and three extremely spoiled cats.

In her down time she concocts her own cookie recipes (Spirited Delights), gets crafty, and makes costume horns. All the spaces in between are filled with reading…lots of reading!

If you want to know more about what fun I had with Irish myth I invite you to check out the Eternal Cycle trilogy or The Bad-Ass Faerie Tale series. Free excerpts of each book can be found on my website:
Yesterday's Dreams http://www.sidhenadaire.com/books/YesterdaysDreams-EX.pdf
Tomorrow's Memories http://www.sidhenadaire.com/books/TomorrowsMemories-EX.pdf
Today's Promise http://www.sidhenadaire.com/books/Today’sPromise-EX.pdf
The Halfling's Court http://www.sidhenadaire.com/books/HC-EX.pdf
The Redcaps' Queen http://www.sidhenadaire.com/books/RQ-EX.pdf

Find Danielle Ackley-McPhail:
Websites: www.sidhenadaire.com
Blogs: http://lit_handyman.livejournal.com, http://damcphail.livejournal.com, http://badassfaeries.livejournal.com
Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/DMcPhail
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/#!/danielle.ackleymcphail
Amazon author page http://www.amazon.com/Danielle-Ackley-McPhail/e/B002GZVZPQ/
Goodreads http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/989939.Danielle_Ackley_McPhail


Pick Up Danielle's Books At:
On Amazon:
   

Barnes & Nobles:
Bad-Ass Faeries
Just Plain Bad
In All Their Glory
The Halfling's Court

Book Depository:
Bad-Ass Faeries
Just Plain Bad
In All Their Glory
The Halfling's Court

Book Review: Bad-Ass Faeries

Bad-Ass Faeries
Just Plain Bad

By:  Edited by Danielle Ackley-McPhail, and written by numerous authors

Publisher:  Mundania Press

Publish Date:  May 2008

Format:  Paperback, Trade size 281pgs

Genre:  Urban Fantasy, Fae

Series:  2nd in Bad-Ass Faeries anthology collection

Recommendation:  Oh yes!  Amazing faery tales that could be considered dark fables.

Book Synopsis:
Don't worry about things that go bump in the night; count yourself lucky if these fae give you that much warning.  In the finest tradition of the original Bad-Ass Faeries, this collection delves into the darkest corners, exploring every tough and terrifying aspect the legends of faeries ever claimed...and then some.

Lose yourself in twisted tales of homicidal faerie clowns.  Read on in fascinated horror as a faerwolf is born, and unwise parties-of-the-second-part come to rue deals made with a different kind of devil.  Here is where you discover just how many faerie tales never even get a glimpse of Happily Ever After...

My Thoughts and Summary:
Normally I review each story in an anthology individually to give you a feel of what's in the book and what to look forward to.  This one is hard to do that with as there are so many stories here.  AND what makes it even harder, is I found I enjoyed just about all of them!

These tales gave me a feel of the dark faery tales of old, some set in more recent time frame, that have not been sugar coated for children.  They are wonderful!

The book has four sections: Rebel Fae, Rogue Fae, Shadow Fae, and Enforcer Fae.

I liked the Rebel Fae section, but found I really enjoyed one story particularly. 
Party Crashers  by Trisha Wooldridge & Christy Tohara
A crew are working as a special unit going in for a Sidhe bank robber, one who has the ability to control minds and does so in his game with humans to make the transfer money to his accounts along with collecting artifacts from museums.

I enjoyed the Seelie/Unseelie feel and the surprise in the end about Cameron.  I wondered in the end of this story if there are more short stories with this cast of characters, or at least with Cameron and Monica and their secrets.

I found Rogue Fae was the section to really catch my eye, with several of the stories.  These stories where darker, mysterious, and more fighting.
A Clear-Cut Case  by Elaine Corvidae
Adaira visits detective Sorcha Barrow and Dr. Elizabeth DaTarn (both fae) curious about the strange circumstances of her husbands murder, the why he was murdered and some innards where missing.

I really liked how the world was drawn through the words of action in the story.  And there is a mystery! Unseelie style. :)

Whisky Sour  by Skyla Dawn Cameron
Juliette smells him, the one regret, coming but ignores her instincts.  The one voice she'll never forget orders a Whiskey Sour and repeatedly asks to talk to her in private.  Finally Juliette agrees to talk to Toby, to get rid of him.  Toby needs her help to retrieve something.

Okay, so I'll admit, this story is the reason for me picking up this anthology, along with a few other new authors I wanted to sample.  But I found I loved Jules!  Her character grew into her powers in this short story.  She's a smart woman, and knows how to take charge.  Jules is fae, with a little extra something else now mixed in, no thanks to the history with Toby.  I enjoyed the quick action and hope to meet Jules again in the future.

Zwischenzug  by Lorne Dixon
Vassili plays chess with a little fairy friend, Penni, in his funeral home, when his nephew shows up with Vassilli's deceased brother and a rather large man responsible in the trunk.  When things go bad for Vassilli, Penni goes to ask Zwischenzug for help.

This story created a whole new creature for me, Zwischenzug.  This story has a mafia feel to it.  There is also lots of fighting and blood but in the end I found it touching and sad.  I have to say this story was very well written to draw me in like this.

Pixie Dust  by Steven Earl Yoder
Aysa goes to a voodoo master for help.  Here in Louisiana she is tormented and now harmed by the mean local rogue fae, she is looking for protection and Bosun helps her.

Aaaa, now this one.  This one has a feel of the dark old fairy tales.  One that has a moral and a tale that could become one to pass on to your children, when they are older.  See this one does not have the shiny endings we have grown accustom to in our fairy tales.  Wonderful!

Shadow Fae
Do You Believe?   by C.J. Henderson
men of supernatural dealings meet at Narkane, a neutral place for all demensional beings to met and do business, to chat it up of happenings and tell each other stories.

In this one, one of the men tells a story of how there is a faery cockroach.  Yes, sounds gross, but I loved this tale.  The story teller weaves it so good, the man believes it, and I could see why.  I could have believed the whole creation too.  lol.

Within the Guardian Bell  by Danielle Ackley-McPhail
Lance had to leave Suzanne's side to do club business and now speeding home on his motorcycle.  The close call from a passing car jingles the magic bell Suzanna gave him for protection.  Smear a road gremlin doesn't like Lance, or his little bell, and decides to go after the two, to crush them.

Oh, I know I'm not suppose to like Smear, but I just love the little single minded gremlin. lol.  And he tries his best.  I also found I wanted more of Lance and Suzanne.  I really liked the feel around them.  Another story I will have to see if I can find more stories about.

The Seelie Seven  by Lee C. Hillman
Robin and Spike are thieving fey who have been caught and only chance to live freely is to become part of a military special mission, in retrieving a stolen item from the Unseelie.

I want to see the Seelie Seven again!  Where this story ended it could be possible to have another story out there as well.  I loved the mix of the guilty party with their last chance to make good for a free life again.  The mission is dangerous and they might not make it.  This story was full of action, and deceiving.  I liked it!

Enforcer Fae
Shadowcutting  by Steven Mangold & Jason Franks
After getting cut, literally, on his latest job Theo wakes in the hospital with a new card from DB Armory in his wallet.  going to check this 'person' out, with his broken Glaive, he finds he likes the Shadowcutter sword.

I liked the story with this sword.  It's a special fae sword that cuts to kill your enemies through their shadow.  But something is going on with Theo, every time he uses this sword.  Theo is growing to like the power he has with the sword, but not realizes what it's doing to him in the process.  Interesting tale.  Again one not with an ending we are so accustom to, but I loved it.

Twilight Crossing  by John Passarella
Ray, a talented bouncer at a local tavern, senses trouble when a new young visitor arrives, sitting at his own table peacefully.  Shortly after the young mans arrival three trouble makers come in and they begin a fight.  Ray ends up learns more about himself that he had forgotten about.

Oh I like the mystery behind the unknown, forgotten past.  The way Ray 'knows' things about the knife used and slowly remembers a life he didn't know he had.  I enjoyed the tavern atmosphere, fighting, and the writing style of the author in this one.

~~~~

All in all I really enjoyed these stories.  There were 20 stories in total here, and all are very good reads.  I tried to not to over do it, but I ended up mentioning 10 of the 20 stories.  And there where others I wanted to tell you about as well.


I purchased this book for my own enjoyment.

Who? What? Where? (46)

Who are you with? Where are you at? What's happening?

Share with us just a little bit of what is happening in the book you are reading, right where you are now.

Just a tiny taste of what's happening, remember try to not give spoilers of the book.

(This is a new meme I'm going to try and will tweak as I go. And please don't laugh at my lame attempt at drawing. ;D )

I'm with four men, all of supernatural dealings, in Narkane a supernatural neutral ground for all from different dimentions.  Listening to the story about the cockroach faeries!  I know, sounds bad but not really...at least yet. :)

Do You Believe?
Bad-Ass Faeries
Just Plain Bad
Anthology

Teaser Tuesday (99)

Teaser Tuesday

is a weekly event

Sponsored by MizB of Should be Reading

Here's how it works:

Grab the book you are currently reading (anything at all)

Open the book to any random page.

Share 2 teaser sentences from anywhere on the page

Please Make Sure They Are Not Spoilers!

(Don't Give Too Much Away)

Just enough to pique our interests.

This Week:

Bosun didn't seem interested in volunteering any more details, and Aysa wasn't interested in asking.  She was just glad to have some form of defense against the gang of Fae that wouldn't leave her alone, whatever it might be.

Pixie Dust
By:  Steven Earl Yoder
135pg
Bad-Ass Faeries Just Plain Bad
Anthology

Who? What? Where? (44)

Who are you with? Where are you at? What's happening?

Share with us just a little bit of what is happening in the book you are reading, right where you are now.

Just a tiny taste of what's happening, remember try to not give spoilers of the book.

(This is a new meme I'm going to try and will tweak as I go. And please don't laugh at my lame attempt at drawing. ;D )


I'm back! :) All ready to get back in so I just started a book, more an anthology and only in the first story.

I'm with a rock and roll star, Gorge, as he just finished an interview and found a dragon pixie spying on him.  The other fey are curious to see what he has planned, and so am I!  He's got big plans for tonight with his new rising song.  I'm curious to see what it's to do for him since he's exiled.

Bad-Ass Faeries
Just Plain Bad

Way of the Bone
By:  James Chambers

Throwback Thursday (25)

Let's talk about those books already on the shelves, yours or the stores.

I have a post for books I'm looking forward to coming out;

Looking Forward To...

But what about all those wonderful books that are ALREADY on the shelves.

Whether it be on your shelf waiting to be read or on the shelves in the stores waiting for you to give it a good home.

So, I thought I would share a book a week that is just waiting for me to travel through it's world.

Now... where do I start? Lets go by Published Date on the books...

This Week:

This is a new book on my shelf, but going by Publish Date it's an older book as it was published in 2008.  I found this book thanks to Skyla Dawn Cameron.  Yes, she is one of the authors in the book.  But I enjoyed her book of Bloodlines.  Not only the characters but the world and writing style.  So I'm looking forward to reading this anthology as there is a short story from a small side character from Bloodlines.

The authors here are:

Danielle Ackley-McPhail

James Daniel Ross

Elaine Corvidae

Skyla Dawn Cameron

L. Jagi Lamplighter

Phil Brucato

Jeffrey Lyman

Lee C. Hillman

Jonathan Passarella

Goodreads Synopsis:

Do you like to Dance with Danger? Well now's your chance! Don't worry about things that go bump in the night; count yourself lucky if these fae give you that much warning. In the finest tradition of the original Bad-Ass Faeries, the twenty tales in this collection delve into the darkest corners, exploring every tough and terrifying aspect the legends of faeries ever claimed...and then some. Lose yourself in twisted tales of homicidal faerie clowns, one man's gladiatorial stand against Earth's overlords, and a desperate mother's confrontation with the fiercest pirates above the Seven Seas...not to mention dry land. Read on in fascinated horror as a faerwolf is born, and unwise parties-of-the-second-part come to rue deals made with a different kind of devil. Here is where you discover just how many faerie tales never even get a glimpse of Happily Ever After... Forget about misunderstood; these faeries are Just Plain Bad!