Suzy Davies's Blog: Book News - Posts Tagged "heroines"

It is well-known that the name of the author of “Harry Potter” books - J. K. Rowling - is such because Rowling wanted her name to appeal to boys who would read her books. Her publisher decided that to appeal to a young male audience, (as well as females,) who might be put off by the notion of a woman writing “their” books, it was better to use the initial “J” and add the “K,” perhaps for extra authority - Rowling did not have a middle name.

Any author of Young Adult Books has to make their own choices with regard to their pen name, if any.

But I have chosen to stick with “Suzy Davies” for my new release on Smashwords, “The Cave,” because if I am the only woman to write about the Thai Cave, (among a proliferation of male authors,) so be it.

My version of the Thai Cave story has all the so-called “masculine” elements of an action adventure story interwoven with a thread of mysticism and the supernatural.

In “The Cave” I bring bonds of family love, which the boys themselves acknowledge helped them through their challenges, to the foreground.

My book balances fact and fiction, thought and feeling, mind and body, the private sphere and public sphere, and questions gender stereotypes.

I have Hans Christian Andersen to thank for giving me the idea that mermaids helped the Navy Seals in their Heroic mission. The film, “Bend it Like Beckham” inspired me to create industrious Jintara, the heroine seamstress/artist in the story, who plays football as well as any boy hero. And little Lec, Jintara’s brother, and the hero of the tale, is strong and sensitive.

The Thai Cave could easily be reduced to a cliche - an epic tale of The Heroic - without acknowledging the women heroines whose power to love and to nurture brought those Wild Boars home.

Suzy Davies, Author, “The Cave” Copyright 2018, All Rights Reserved.

A Shaman flew o’er Bangkok
to a cave, when it was dark.
The wind it blew
through the black night,
and the Monsoon
fell, drop on drop.

She halted near a cave of magic,
where people say a princess, tragic,
took her life;
her love so deep,
and pools of water
are where she weeps.

The cave is but a royal tomb,
and blood runs
from the royal womb,
the lake’s waters,
a grave do make,
for men to drown
in waters’ wake.

The shaman’s vision saw it all
as drop on drop,
the rain did fall.
A stranger came
on a black steed,
to help her
in her hour of need,
“Sir,” said the shaman, “Please help me,
please. Tell the princess,
- set him free!”

The monk had eyes, honest and true,
he told the shaman
all he knew,
“Lek is safe,” he whispered soft,
then on his steed,
away did trot.

The horse’s mane
an ocean crest,
shone spectral light
where’er it went,
and thunderous hooves
made phantom sounds
that round the mountain
did resound.

And if you listen
on stormy nights,
some say you see them
as they ride,
through lush forests
near Tham Luang Cave,
where The Wild Boars
this History made.

Copyright Suzy Davies, 2018. All Rights Reserved. No Copying.