There's never any telling what a witch may do.
Books help soothe us, inspire us, inform us, distract us, thrill us, terrify us, amuse us. Etcetera. I love to read all sorts of stories. Turns out I like to write all sorts, too.
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SEVEN FOR A SECRET, the first novel I finished a couple of years ago, is not soothing. It's a story about trauma, hubris, psychological abuse, misuse of authority, the urge to violence, and the terrible burden of trying to love one's family no matter what. The characters are nearly all demon-bred witches with varied magical powers, none of which keeps them from making terrible mistakes. There is bloodshed. Children suffer PTSD. It's set in 1955, in postwar northern England, and terrible things that happened during WWII are still fresh in people's minds. The story is narrated by Gerry, the eight-year-old child most affected by events in the books, describing his life from the perspective of an older (and even slightly wiser) man looking back.
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I don't think I realized quite how nasty all that was, when writing it, but it felt right, given the set of characters I'd created. They are likeable (I think) and also dangerous. Some of them have done terrible things but it's brushed off and forgiven by those who love them, partly owing to social expectations: It's okay if this person has done terrible things...the results were worth it! They did it for the best reasons! And children take that in, and some of them learn to also accept it, and others do not and never will.
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NOT WHOLLY LOST came about when I decided the extended family wanting a big old coven house to share was the sort of dream-come-true that they deserved, but that it shouldn’t be as simple as just, you know, buying a big old house. I wrote some stuff to that effect for a later book (which will be Lucky Thirteen, see below), but decided I wanted it to happen sooner in the ongoing saga. I wanted LOTS of complications, both heartwarming and slightly sinister.
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And one day, while riding the bus, Maisie Hopton’s voice suddenly popped into my head, and the rest of the story just followed naturally given how well I know my witch elders! They do try to be nice, but they do want what they want…
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THE RAGE OF CALIBAN is, I hope, more amusing and inspirational. The book takes place ten years after SECRET, and includes many of the same characters. SECRET is set in 1955, CALIBAN in 1966. Lots and lots of things have happened to those characters since then, both good and bad. Gerry, the narrator of SECRET, is mentioned as “Morgan’s baby brother” but not by name, and does not actually appear. That was deliberate, as Gerry tends to take over a room once invited inside. His brother, sisters and father are major characters, however, and his Manchester aunts and uncles, and even his English grandmother.
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The main character, Phoebe Starwood, married Gerry's older brother Morgan in 1964 (the wedding takes place in a future book that will be titled GIRLFRIENDS AND BOYFRIENDS AND OTHER BAD HABITS). She alludes to the wedding having been a bit of a disaster because of Gerry, but she and Morgan remain happily coupled and now have an adorable and very loud infant daughter. I guess in a way the whole book is a spoiler for stuff that happens between SECRET and NOT WHOLLY LOST, though I tried very hard to keep spoilers to a minimum! Or, should I look at it as building anticipation for those intermediate stories…?? (See below for more about those!)
Phoebe is one of the favorite characters I’ve ever created. I love her. She’s clever and messy and complicated, and she allows me to show off some of the stuff I learned while majoring in fine arts in college. Telling the story from her point of view was a joy--mainly since I have spent YEARS writing in Gerry's POV, and since Gerry is a bit of an idiot I feared I was never going to write from a relatively normal person's POV otherwise!
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JUST IN CASE YOU HAPPEN TO CARE ABOUT SUCH THINGS...there are prominent LGBTQ characters in this story, who are good and valued people. This includes Gerry, who is decidedly bi. Actually, such characters are in ALL the Magpie books, but of varying importance in the stories. Many are part of the main families. Their sex lives are sometimes part of the plot, sometimes not. They simply exist. Many of them have kids, who are loved and valued. My demon-bred witches are extremely open-minded about sex. They like sex a lot. They approve of love in all forms it may take (as do I, the author). HOWEVER I do not write explicit sex scenes...not because I don't like them--I love explicit sex scenes in other people's books! I read lots of romances!--but I don't see the need for them in these stories. I prefer hints and innuendo for my characters. (And believe me, my characters do have sex, and plenty of it. Just not always with the right people at the right time.)
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I’m working on three VERY long books that happen between SECRET and CALIBAN. All are told from Gerry’s POV, and document his adventures between 1960, when he turns thirteen, and 1965, when the massive mess he’s made of his life really catches up with him. LUCKY THIRTEEN, GIRLFRIENDS AND BOYFRIENDS AND OTHER BAD HABITS, and HELLHOUND ON MY TRAIL will show up…eventually. Most of this extended story is written, not yet properly stitched together. Working on it! THIRTEEN is definitely next up!
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Phoebe and Morgan’s wedding takes place in GIRLFRIENDS. Other characters in CALIBAN, including Lizzie and Daphne, show up in GIRLFRIENDS and HELLHOUND. Saying anything else would be spoilers…
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Here however is a TEASER for LUCKY THIRTEEN:
Worst birthday party ever...
Witches are everywhere / Cheeky witch teenagers are everywhere / Apparently, demons are everywhere too
Oh so many demons / Nobody needs this many demons / Unconventional anti-demon measures are taken
Confused corgis / Oh so many dogs / Hope you like dogs / And demons / And cousins
Disturbing midnight rituals / Menacing grandmother / Shrooms! / Moral debates over life and death
Clash of the witch queens / Skulduggery
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BY THE WAY:
My explanation for my (extremely fictional) demon-bred witches is that long ago, demigods (offspring of humans and godlike beings, see many ancient mythologies) kept mating with mortal humans gifted with a certain amount of fortitude. (The Biblical Nephilim are a lot of people's favorite example. See also ancient Greece and ancient Ireland, etcetera.) My characters believe that some of those offspring went and did great deeds in the mortal realm—both good and bad—while others withdrew to the Otherworld of wherever they lived, and marinated in magical power and became what many mythologies think of as demons. A lot of magically gifted people ran into all sorts of trouble, and over the centuries their numbers rose and fell and rose. They learned to escape persecution, they developed new cultures within their families and clans, and now and then mated with demons to bring fresh magic powers into their blood lines. Non-human magical beings also exist, but are largely unseen by non-witches—these include the Loch Ness Monster, various owls and foxes, and at least one Black Dog (of English legend). I have a lot of fun with this idea.
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One of the fun notions I have is that pretty much everything strange and wonderful in human history can be blamed on (extremely fictional) demon-bred witches and (extremely fictional) demons. Legendary godlike rulers of early civilizations? Demon-bred. Alexander the Great? Demon-bred. Leonardo da Vinci? Demon-bred! Yetis and Bigfoot? Demons. Loch Ness Monster? Demon! I love watching ultra-stupid "documentaries" on cable and pointing out that blaming witches and demons makes perfect sense in the vast majority of mysteries...my spouse has learned to live with this. No wonder I love him so much.
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DID I FORGET TO MENTION...I FORGOT TO MENTION...
Besides LUCKY, GIRLFRIENDS and HELLHOUND, I'm also working on a related book called THE STINK OF MAGIC.
I'm excited about this one! It takes place in 1966, and features Gerry's Uncle Trevor Llewellyn, who is a gay antiquarian bookseller living with his husband in Oxford UK, and Trevor's ex-dominatrix daughter Agnes Thorne-Ashburn, who works in their family-run bookshop. (An older, slightly wiser Gerry also makes an appearance.) An unexpected person enters the bookshop one fine autumn day...and all hell breaks loose.
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