FAE
Edited by Rhonda Parrish
Release date: July 22
Synopsis:
Meet Robin Goodfellow as you’ve never seen him before, watch damsels in distress rescue themselves, get swept away with the selkies and enjoy tales of hobs, green men, pixies and phookas. One thing is for certain, these are not your grandmother’s fairy tales. Fairies have been both mischievous and malignant creatures throughout history. They’ve dwelt in forests, collected teeth or crafted shoes. Fae is full of stories that honor that rich history while exploring new and interesting takes on the fair folk from castles to computer technologies and modern midwifing, the Old World to Indianapolis. Fae covers a vast swath of the fairy story spectrum, making the old new and exploring lush settings with beautiful prose and complex characters. Enjoy the familiar feeling of a good old-fashioned fairy tale alongside urban fantasy and horror with a fae twist.
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***Mini Interviews***
Liz Colter author of “The Last King”
What was the inspiration for your Fae story?
The primary inspiration for “The Last King” was my fondness for the ancient “Ballad of Tam Lin,” though I had a lot of fun throwing a variety of other characters from fairy into this story as well.
Was this your first foray into writing fairy stories?
Not at all. My unpublished novel, “Thiery’s Sons,” is about the uneasy coexistence of elves and mortals. To summarize the novel: Eighteen years ago an Elven woman’s seduction left Tristan with a half-blood son and a ceaseless yearning for her. Her return reveals the rest of her plan, one which traps Tristan and his realm between two deadly armies.
If yes, is this a subject you think you’ll be likely to write about again?
Definitely! I’m currently shopping a short story with True Tom as the main character where Tam Lin makes an appearance again. I find it interesting that some scholars believe Thomas the Rhymer and Tam Lin were the same character in the earliest versions of the stories.
Amanda Block author of “Antlers”
What was the inspiration for your Fae story?
For some time, I had been mulling over three separate ideas: an original tale influenced by English folklore (I had ‘featuring stag?’ written in my notes), a story about someone being imprisoned in a garden, and an environmental fairy tale. When I realised they would fit together very neatly, the rest of Antlers quickly followed.
Was this your first foray into writing fairy stories? If no, why do you write fairy stories? What is it about them that appeals to you?
I would actually say that most of my writing is influenced by fairy tales. There are many, many reasons I like using them, at least as a starting point, but perhaps the principle one is this: I believe fairy tales are stories stripped down their purest and most basic form. Generally, there is no room for psychology or backstory, lengthy descriptions or character development – only plot. Philip Pullman, who recently reworked some of the world’s most famous stories in Grimm Tales for Young and Old, has said that a fairy tale is ‘made out of events’.*
As such, I find them a very useful writing tool. There are so many directions in which to take them: Snow White, for example, could be told from the mirror’s perspective, could be set in space, could evolve into an entirely different yarn about poison…But even if the fairy tale is turned upside down, or forgotten entirely in the development of the new fiction, I think at least beginning with a story structure that has been passed down hundreds of years, and that has survived countless retellings, can only serve to enhance and strengthen an original piece of writing.
Outside of your own writing, who is your favourite fairy character? What is it about them that makes them special?
I have always been fascinated by the eponymous hero of J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan. First of all, and most obviously, he’s completely impossible: ‘the boy who wouldn’t grow up.’ But even aside from that, he’s a complex riddle of a character, who veers from heroic and carefree (‘I’m youth, I’m joy, I’m a little bird broken out of the egg!’) to tragic and morbid (‘to die would be an awfully big adventure’). I’m always surprised that Barrie’s play is only just over a century old – there is such a mythical quality to the idea of a boy blessed (and doomed?) with eternal youth.
Adria Laycraft author of “Water Sense”
What was the inspiration for your Fae story?
I wanted to write about the lesser-known native people of the American southwest, and the Kawaiisu gave me the perfect history and setting for the story I had in mind (desert, water shortages, stories of the Otherworld, and belief in spirits).
Was this your first foray into writing fairy stories?
No.
What is it about them that appeals to you?
Stories of magic, fae, and all things Otherworld have fascinated me my entire life. What appeals to me is that sense of more going on than we are aware of. I always want to remind myself to look beyond my assumptions and limited vision.
Do you believe in fairies?
While I have no personal experience seeing the Little Folk, some very close and trustworthy people in my life have seen both fairies and ghosts, so who am I to disbelieve?
***Authors***
With an introduction by Sara Cleto and Brittany Warman, and new stories from Sidney Blaylock Jr., Amanda Block, Kari Castor, Beth Cato, Liz Colter, Rhonda Eikamp, Lor Graham, Alexis A. Hunter, L.S. Johnson, Jon Arthur Kitson, Adria Laycraft, Lauren Liebowitz, Christine Morgan, Shannon Phillips, Sara Puls, Laura VanArendonk Baugh, and Kristina Wojtaszek.
Kelsey Ketch 
Reblogged this on Sophi's Garden.
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