Kyra Halland's Blog, page 20
June 8, 2015
Well, what do you know, it's a week into June already and I still haven't done the monthly wrap-up and look ahead. Basically, most of what I'm doing is still working on edits of To the Gap, book 4 of 
June 5, 2015
Friday 5: Five fantasy novels that influenced me
For this Friday: Five fantasy books/series (well-known and not so well-known) that influenced me. (links go to Goodreads, to first books in series. Covers shown are the editions I own.)1. The Prydain Chronicles, by Lloyd Alexander. The first epic fantasy series I ever read (that I can recall, anyway). A great starter series for kids, and also entertaining for adults. The struggle between good and evil, the colorful characters, the adventure, and the love story between Taran and Eilonwy (even as a child, eight or nine years old, I loved love stories) all caught my imagination and made me want more.
2. The Earthsea Trilogy, by Ursula K. LeGuin. My parents gave me a nice boxed set of this when I was 11 or 12, for my birthday or Christmas (they're close together). Magic and adventure on the oceans and islands of Earthsea with Ged, one of the greatest fantasy characters of all times. Ged was one of my book crushes when I was a tween (of course, I'm far too old for that sort of thing now *coughcough*). This introduced me to the idea of the wizard dedicated to that life (and to the concept of schools of magic), and contributed to my thinking that it wasn't fair that wizards didn't get to fall in love and if they did they could never do anything about it. Naturally, I was intrigued by what could have been the romance between Ged and Tenar. The relationship is finally continued in the 4th Earthsea book, Tehanu, but I had a lot of problems with that book, especially feeling like Ms. LeGuin changed her characters almost to where they were unrecognizable to suit the political/philosophical points she wanted to make in the book. So, for me, Earthsea stops with book 3 and I let my imagination take it from there. (I actually have three different sets of this series. The cover shown here is from that original boxed set. Down at the bottom you can see another cover that I have, and one I definitely do NOT have. Or want.)
3. The Riddle-Master Trilogy, by Patricia McKillip. Gorgeous prose and dripping with magic in a world where riddles hold the keys to ancient, lost knowledge, no one thinks there's anything strange about rulers who are hundreds of years old, ghosts and spirits walk the earth, and magic isn't a discipline, it's the fabric of which the world is made. Morgon, the farmer-prince, is another of the greatest fantasy characters ever (and another of my teenage book crushes), and the relationship between him and his betrothed Raederle is another great love story. (The cover on my original copy of book 1 is hideous. Get the very nice omnibus edition instead.)
4. Crispan Magicker, by Mark M. Lowenthal. I'll say it right now, yet another of my teenage book crushes. There are a lot of problems with this book, but the character of Crispan makes up for them. He's a wizard dedicated to the Order, naive and honorable, who has to go after his teacher Vladur who has become corrupted and put a stop to his evil plans. Along the way he is tested and tried and stretched, required to become a military commander and take lives, and ultimately has to risk losing everything that matters to him in order to protect the world. Really an awesome character. This book again brought up the themes of wizards dedicated to the practice, and to a formal order, and also risking losing everything you have and everything you are in order to do the right things. And again, why don't wizards get to fall in love and do something about it? There's a tantalizing hint about "a woman by an unknown sea", and Crispan clearly has a lot of adventures ahead of him, but no sequel was ever published. Which makes me sad. Long out of print, which also makes me sad, but used copies are available. I would love to see Mr. Lowenthal (also a prominent figure in intelligence and national security circles) get the rights back, republish independently, and write some sequels.
5. The Apprentice, by Deborah Bickmore. Yes! Fantasy with a real romance in it! Jaimah, the young apprentice/servant of the powerful sorceress Shayna, is drawn to and terrified by Corwyn, Shayna's mysterious and powerful new apprentice. When it comes to a showdown between Corwyn and Shayna over a powerful, dangerous spell, which wizard will destroy Jaimah and which one will save her? The kind of book I love to write (and love to read if I can find them), where the fantasy and the romance are in equal balance. This book was out of print for a long time, but now Ms. Bickmore has indie-published it in Kindle and paperback editions, hooray! Addendum: As you'd expect with a book that's been around for more than 45 years, A Wizard of Earthsea has been through a lot of covers, good, bad, and indifferent. Here are two that stand out:
Guess which one I like better?June 3, 2015
Why Fantasy-Western
My vision of fantasy-western (or, if you prefer, western fantasy) and how and why I got the idea to mash up the two genres. (This is based on two different but similar posts I wrote for Derek Alan Siddoway's blog and the Speculative Fiction Showcase. Since other people's blogs can come and go, I decided it's best to have something this important on my own blog as well. Also be sure to check out the other versions on those sites!)
Out of the dusty desert hills he rides into town, the nameless stranger astride a horse as toughened with hard experience as he is. The wide brim of his hat conceals his eyes and unshaven face in shade; his long brown coat, much patched and mended, blows open just enough to reveal the six-shooter holstered at his hip. He seems to be just another wandering gunfighter, but that gun can do things no regular gun can do, and, on a silver chain hidden beneath his shirt, a ring set with a blue stone glows with the strength of his magical power.
This is no ordinary gunslinger.
Meet Silas Vendine, the hero of my fantasy-western series Daughter of the Wildings. The fantasy half comes from high fantasy, which I define (and I know everyone has their own definition) as fantasy set in another world, with a heroic storyline, where magic is an essential element of the story.
The western part of fantasy-western comes from the traditions of the classic pulp westerns: the wide-open, lawless frontier, confrontations between good and evil, self-reliance, individual freedom and responsibility, the struggle to survive, and characters who are trying to make a new start in life or find justice, revenge, redemption, or just a ton of riches.
To me, fantasy and western were made to go together. There are so many places where the traditional elements of the two genres can come together to enrich and expand each other. Desolate and mystical landscapes; the struggle between good and evil; characters who don’t fit into ordinary society, epic journeys where simply surviving is a victory – you’ll find all of these elements and more in both fantasy and westerns. Silas Vendine, the gunslinger who is also a mage, fits into a long tradition of both fantasy and western heroes: the mysterious man with extraordinary skills and strengths, a loner, who has his own mission in life and his own moral code that doesn’t necessarily fit with the accepted conventions.
And it isn’t just the similarites between the two genres that inspired me to combine them. The contrast between the down and dirty struggle for survival that was life in the Old West and the otherworldly wonder of magic, and between the rough technology of the late 1800s and the traditions of magic and fantasy, are ripe with storytelling possibilities. In Daughter of the Wildings, I wanted to put the familiar western elements into a world that isn’t ours, where magic is pervasive and well-known. Gamblers play cards in the saloons – but the cards have names like Moon Mage and Star Dragon. The A’ayimat, the indigenous people of the Wildings, have blue-toned skin and golden eyes, and can understand any language that is spoken to them. Clocks with numbered hours, eyeglasses, and guns are the products of foreign science and are forbidden in the civilized, mage-dominated land of Granadaia. Cowboys herd cattle out on the open range while man-eating groviks – think furry alligators with rabbit-ears – roam the mountains. And on the night of the dark of the moon, when the eight gods hide their faces from the world, that mournful howling you hear could just as easily be a coyote, a demon, or lost and lonely spirit.
The landscapes of the West are another inspiration. I was born and raised in the West, and still live there. I love to set my favorite genre, fantasy, in the wide-open landscapes I grew up with, the snow-covered peaks, evergreen forests, grassy rangelands, and rugged desert hills and dry riverbeds. Mountains and deserts especially play an important role in my writing. Mountains are places where the earth and the heavens meet in a mystical joining, while in the desert, things are hidden, buried, waiting to be revealed by an angle of the light, a rainstorm, or fortuitous digging in the right place. Both mountains and deserts hold deep secrets and power and history, and demand the utmost in skill and courage of those who journey or live there.
Come join Silas Vendine and Lainie Banfrey on an exciting western adventure set in a world of fantasy and magic – or an epic fantasy adventure in a world of cowboys and gunslingers.
For availability and more information about the books, go to the Daughter of the Wildings series page.
Check the Books page for all sales outlets.
Out of the dusty desert hills he rides into town, the nameless stranger astride a horse as toughened with hard experience as he is. The wide brim of his hat conceals his eyes and unshaven face in shade; his long brown coat, much patched and mended, blows open just enough to reveal the six-shooter holstered at his hip. He seems to be just another wandering gunfighter, but that gun can do things no regular gun can do, and, on a silver chain hidden beneath his shirt, a ring set with a blue stone glows with the strength of his magical power.This is no ordinary gunslinger.
Meet Silas Vendine, the hero of my fantasy-western series Daughter of the Wildings. The fantasy half comes from high fantasy, which I define (and I know everyone has their own definition) as fantasy set in another world, with a heroic storyline, where magic is an essential element of the story.
The western part of fantasy-western comes from the traditions of the classic pulp westerns: the wide-open, lawless frontier, confrontations between good and evil, self-reliance, individual freedom and responsibility, the struggle to survive, and characters who are trying to make a new start in life or find justice, revenge, redemption, or just a ton of riches.
To me, fantasy and western were made to go together. There are so many places where the traditional elements of the two genres can come together to enrich and expand each other. Desolate and mystical landscapes; the struggle between good and evil; characters who don’t fit into ordinary society, epic journeys where simply surviving is a victory – you’ll find all of these elements and more in both fantasy and westerns. Silas Vendine, the gunslinger who is also a mage, fits into a long tradition of both fantasy and western heroes: the mysterious man with extraordinary skills and strengths, a loner, who has his own mission in life and his own moral code that doesn’t necessarily fit with the accepted conventions.
And it isn’t just the similarites between the two genres that inspired me to combine them. The contrast between the down and dirty struggle for survival that was life in the Old West and the otherworldly wonder of magic, and between the rough technology of the late 1800s and the traditions of magic and fantasy, are ripe with storytelling possibilities. In Daughter of the Wildings, I wanted to put the familiar western elements into a world that isn’t ours, where magic is pervasive and well-known. Gamblers play cards in the saloons – but the cards have names like Moon Mage and Star Dragon. The A’ayimat, the indigenous people of the Wildings, have blue-toned skin and golden eyes, and can understand any language that is spoken to them. Clocks with numbered hours, eyeglasses, and guns are the products of foreign science and are forbidden in the civilized, mage-dominated land of Granadaia. Cowboys herd cattle out on the open range while man-eating groviks – think furry alligators with rabbit-ears – roam the mountains. And on the night of the dark of the moon, when the eight gods hide their faces from the world, that mournful howling you hear could just as easily be a coyote, a demon, or lost and lonely spirit.
The landscapes of the West are another inspiration. I was born and raised in the West, and still live there. I love to set my favorite genre, fantasy, in the wide-open landscapes I grew up with, the snow-covered peaks, evergreen forests, grassy rangelands, and rugged desert hills and dry riverbeds. Mountains and deserts especially play an important role in my writing. Mountains are places where the earth and the heavens meet in a mystical joining, while in the desert, things are hidden, buried, waiting to be revealed by an angle of the light, a rainstorm, or fortuitous digging in the right place. Both mountains and deserts hold deep secrets and power and history, and demand the utmost in skill and courage of those who journey or live there.
Come join Silas Vendine and Lainie Banfrey on an exciting western adventure set in a world of fantasy and magic – or an epic fantasy adventure in a world of cowboys and gunslingers.
For availability and more information about the books, go to the Daughter of the Wildings series page.
Check the Books page for all sales outlets.
May 30, 2015
Book Review: Path of the Heretic
Path of the Heretic
(The Beholder #2) by Ivan AmberlakePath of the Heretic is the exciting follow-up to The Beholder, and I liked it even more than the first book (which I enjoyed very much). Months after the events at the end of The Beholder, Jason is still trying to come to terms with what happened, but the battle between Lightsighted and Darksighted is ongoing. The book starts off with a bang and continues at a fast pace as Jason tries to learn the truth about Emily, protect the human world from the Dark Ones, and keep himself from being killed or turned by Pariah. In between the exciting magical battles, Pariah and his gang plot to get to Jason and his friends, Jason attempts to solve the mystery of Emily, and characters live, die, change sides, and discover new things about themselves. The book is darkly moody and atmospheric, but I also appreciate the touch of romance from the man's point of view.
It had been a while since I read The Beholder, and Path of the Heretic dumps the reader right into the middle of the action, so while I remembered the characters from the first book (they're certainly memorable), it took me a while to get the hang of what was going on and remember some key points from the first book. But I stuck with it until I got it figured out, and the rest of the book was definitely worth it.
A more-than-worthy sequel to The Beholder, great reading for fans of urban/contemporary fantasy.
And I realized I never posted my review of book 1, The Beholder, so here it is!The Beholder (The Beholder #1) by Ivan Amberlake
Urban fantasy about a regular guy, Jason, who discovers that the terrible nightmares he's been having are real. He discovers that he's linked to a group, existing undetected in our society, of people with supernatural powers, and that he is a key weapon in the fight against evil.
The magic is complex, and the story is suspenseful. At times it reads a little like a video game, with explanations from one knowledgable source or another of things Jason needs to know alternated with challenges that he has to get through. But the action is thrilling and the battles kept me glued to the book.
I especially appreciated the romantic subplot written from the guy's point of view, seeing Jason's feelings for Emily, his guide through the magical world he's been pulled into, as they develop. I found it geniunely moving and well-done.
Highly recommended for fans of urban fantasy, or readers of epic/high fantasy who are open to trying something set in the real, modern world.
May 29, 2015
Friday 5: Things I do besides write
I haven't posted all week because I've been working really hard on
To the Gap
amidst a number of distractions and other things I've needed to pay attention to, but now it's time again for the Friday 5! This week: five things I do besides write. There are actually a lot more than five things I do besides write, but most of them are boring, like doing laundry and cooking dinner and exercising. So here are five of the more interesting things I do (this was actually going to be a whole series of blog posts, but I decided they're not really THAT interesting):
1. Play Pokemon. Okay, so I already did a whole blog post about this. But I wanted to mention it again, mainly so I can post this picture that I took of my Pokemon Y character in front of the Pokemon League in my pink and black sparkly bolero dress. I seriously want this dress IRL. I've since started on Pokemon Omega Ruby, and I don't think you can change outfits in it :(
2. Secretary in the children's program at my church. No, I don't sit in an office and answer phone calls, thank goodness. I don't even answer the phone at home unless it's someone I really feel like talking to. And I don't get paid; it's volunteer. Though I didn't actually *volunteer*; they asked me to do it. Basically, I'm in charge of handling paperwork and supplies and being organized. Which is kind of funny, because me being organized is in direct opposition to the natural order of the universe. If I ever get my act together and really get organized, it'll mean the end of the space-time continuum as we know it. But someone's got to do it, so it might as well be me. I enjoy it; I love being with the kids and enjoying how cute and smart and spiritual they are, but I don't have to actually wrangle them like the teachers do. This picture is from the beginning of the year, when I was redoing the teachers' binders with the lesson manuals and picture kits. I had to get this all cleaned up so my husband could do the taxes on this end of the table, but the other end is still covered with stuff I cleaned out of the supply closet and am trying to "organize".
3. Scrapbooking. I've been doing this for about sixteen years now. I'd never really been a visually creative person, so it's fun to have a chance to use those creative muscles. I even combined my two creative endeavors in a scrapbook page about my books:
Since I started publishing, I don't scrapbook as much as I used to. This is mainly because my scrapbooking table also serves as my writing table. Which means when I switch from one to the other I have to clean up after myself :P (I don't actually sew with the sewing machine, except for some mending once in a while. I mostly use it for decorative stitching on scrapbook pages.) 
4. Watch anime. I started with watching Pokemon with my boys when they were little, and moved on to Sailor Moon, and went from there. Here's my current DVD collection: 
I've watched a lot more than this (and I haven't gotten around to watching everything I own yet). I've watched Monster, which was good but shied away from being as mind-blowingly weird as it could have been, and FLCL (the first time I watched it, I had a nightmare that night about being a Rod Stewart groupie. Which was really strange because Rod Stewart just isn't on my radar at all. So if you go to watch FLCL, be warned), and Fruits Basket, which is cute, and Bleach up until about episode 5734 when the same battle had been going on for the last 300 episodes (seriously, let's move the plot along already!) and a bunch of others, mostly when they used to have anime on Cartoon Network late at night.
Sometimes I even make scrapbook pages about anime!
One of these times I still mean to tell the story of how Sailor Moon got me back into writing.
5. Feed my cats. I must have the world's most high-maintenance cats. Seriously. Here's a picture of Themselves in a rare moment when they aren't eating:
And now that I've told you what I do when I'm not writing, it's time to go write again. I should finish the second major revision of To the Gap today, then it's on to the fine-tuning and final editing stages. Still looking at a release date in July.
1. Play Pokemon. Okay, so I already did a whole blog post about this. But I wanted to mention it again, mainly so I can post this picture that I took of my Pokemon Y character in front of the Pokemon League in my pink and black sparkly bolero dress. I seriously want this dress IRL. I've since started on Pokemon Omega Ruby, and I don't think you can change outfits in it :(
2. Secretary in the children's program at my church. No, I don't sit in an office and answer phone calls, thank goodness. I don't even answer the phone at home unless it's someone I really feel like talking to. And I don't get paid; it's volunteer. Though I didn't actually *volunteer*; they asked me to do it. Basically, I'm in charge of handling paperwork and supplies and being organized. Which is kind of funny, because me being organized is in direct opposition to the natural order of the universe. If I ever get my act together and really get organized, it'll mean the end of the space-time continuum as we know it. But someone's got to do it, so it might as well be me. I enjoy it; I love being with the kids and enjoying how cute and smart and spiritual they are, but I don't have to actually wrangle them like the teachers do. This picture is from the beginning of the year, when I was redoing the teachers' binders with the lesson manuals and picture kits. I had to get this all cleaned up so my husband could do the taxes on this end of the table, but the other end is still covered with stuff I cleaned out of the supply closet and am trying to "organize". 3. Scrapbooking. I've been doing this for about sixteen years now. I'd never really been a visually creative person, so it's fun to have a chance to use those creative muscles. I even combined my two creative endeavors in a scrapbook page about my books: Since I started publishing, I don't scrapbook as much as I used to. This is mainly because my scrapbooking table also serves as my writing table. Which means when I switch from one to the other I have to clean up after myself :P (I don't actually sew with the sewing machine, except for some mending once in a while. I mostly use it for decorative stitching on scrapbook pages.) 4. Watch anime. I started with watching Pokemon with my boys when they were little, and moved on to Sailor Moon, and went from there. Here's my current DVD collection: I've watched a lot more than this (and I haven't gotten around to watching everything I own yet). I've watched Monster, which was good but shied away from being as mind-blowingly weird as it could have been, and FLCL (the first time I watched it, I had a nightmare that night about being a Rod Stewart groupie. Which was really strange because Rod Stewart just isn't on my radar at all. So if you go to watch FLCL, be warned), and Fruits Basket, which is cute, and Bleach up until about episode 5734 when the same battle had been going on for the last 300 episodes (seriously, let's move the plot along already!) and a bunch of others, mostly when they used to have anime on Cartoon Network late at night.Sometimes I even make scrapbook pages about anime!
One of these times I still mean to tell the story of how Sailor Moon got me back into writing.5. Feed my cats. I must have the world's most high-maintenance cats. Seriously. Here's a picture of Themselves in a rare moment when they aren't eating:
And now that I've told you what I do when I'm not writing, it's time to go write again. I should finish the second major revision of To the Gap today, then it's on to the fine-tuning and final editing stages. Still looking at a release date in July.
May 22, 2015
Alliterative weekday themes seem to be the thing now, so in the constant quest for blog post ideas, I came up with the idea of the Friday Five. Five what? Well, anything. Today, here are five snippets from To the Gap, book 4 of May 20, 2015
Book Review: Out of Exile
Out of Exile
, by Derek Alan SiddowayWhat if the medieval Europe of traditional fantasy took place in the American West? Out of Exile explores the combination of the two in an exciting story in a refreshingly different setting. We have the classic western story of a young man, Revan, whose home is attacked and his mother kidnapped, who sets out on a journey to rescue her, set in the high mountains, rugged canyons, and broad plains of the American West, along with the buffalo hunts and horse culture of the indigenous people, but with such familiar epic fantasy elements as bards, taverns, kings, knights in armor, a hint of magic, and mysterious beings who aren't quite human. And leprechauns. Okay, maybe leprechauns aren't quite standard fantasy fare, but they're a lot of fun. And pretty fierce warriors, too.
There's a lot of well-thought-out worldbuilding and history woven through the story. The story of the downfall of Revan's family and the wars that led to the present situation is told in short sections at the beginnings of several of the chapters, paced in such a way as to shed light on what's happening in the present part of the story and to build suspense towards revealing the identity of the mysterious and ominous White Knight. The story starts out simple but builds in richness and complexity, adding in a mysterious cavern, a woman who is dead but you get the feeling her story isn't over, a member of the band of inhuman beings who kidnapped Revan's mother who is in turn captured by Revan and his companions, a band of rebels, a stalemate that can only end in war, and the looming White Knight. There were a few minor issues in the narrative, such as pacing and clarity of action, and I would have liked a little more depth in the character development - though the characters are very engaging - and a somewhat stronger role for the numerous female characters in the story. I did like it that Revan's mother, whose background isn't explained much but who comes from what appears to be a female warrior culture (she's a Valkyrie), also embraces and cherishes her role as wife (though she's widowed now) and mother. Contrary to how they're often protrayed, kick-butt female characters can also embrace more traditional feminine characteristics, and I think this needs to be shown more often.
On the whole, I found Out of Exile to be an enjoyable, gripping story in a setting that's a refreshing change from the standard Fantasyland.
For more about medieval westerns, read Derek's guest post here.
May 18, 2015
Release of Ruins by Joshua Winning
I'm happy to announce that my buddy Joshua Winning (profiled here) has a new book out: Ruins, book 2 of the Sentinel Trilogy (read my review of book 1 here). I beta-read Ruins and, basically, it was awesome. The first book, Sentinel, was really good, and Ruins is a more-than-worthy successor. From my comments to Joshua: "I was never bored! Every scene was interesting and well-paced, and necessary to the story. I didn't find myself reading something and wondering why it mattered. Also, after that ending, you'd better get Inferno out fast!"So, it's good. Check it out on Amazon!
Ruins (The Sentinel Trilogy, Book 2), by Joshua WinningSecond instalment of the critically-acclaimed Sentinel Trilogy. In his desperate search for answers about the Sentinels, an ancient society of guardians that his parents once belonged to, fifteen-year-old Nicholas Hallow is tipped into a fresh nightmare of terrifying monsters - and even more sinister humans. As Nicholas is challenged to become a Sentinel, he must track down a mysterious girl with the help of a grumpy cat. Meanwhile, an uprising of evil threatens to destroy the Sentinels and send the world spiralling into chaos.
Learn more about the Sentinel Trilogy here.
About the Author:
Joshua Winning was born in Cambridge, but don't hold that against him. He's attempted to escape reality for most of his life by writing. As a child, that involved poring diligently over anything by C.S. Lewis or Robin Jarvis.
When he's not writing about Sentinels, Joshua can usually be found watching Buffy The Vampire Slayer, The Wire and Daria. He also works as a freelance journalist, writing about movies for Total Film, Little White Lies and movieScope.
Joshua currently lives in North London with his cat Mia. Unfortunately, she's not a great conversationalist, but he's working on it.
Release of Ruins by Joshua Winning
I'm happy to announce that my buddy Joshua Winning (profiled here) has a new book out: Ruins, book 2 of the Sentinel Trilogy (read my review of book 1 here). I beta-read Ruins and, basically, it was awesome. The first book, Sentinel, was really good, and Ruins is a more-than-worthy successor. From my comments to Joshua: "I was never bored! Every scene was interesting and well-paced, and necessary to the story. I didn't find myself reading something and wondering why it mattered. Also, after that ending, you'd better get Inferno out fast!"So, it's good. Check it out on Amazon!
Ruins (The Sentinel Trilogy, Book 2), by Joshua WinningSecond instalment of the critically-acclaimed Sentinel Trilogy. In his desperate search for answers about the Sentinels, an ancient society of guardians that his parents once belonged to, fifteen-year-old Nicholas Hallow is tipped into a fresh nightmare of terrifying monsters - and even more sinister humans. As Nicholas is challenged to become a Sentinel, he must track down a mysterious girl with the help of a grumpy cat. Meanwhile, an uprising of evil threatens to destroy the Sentinels and send the world spiralling into chaos.
Learn more about the Sentinel Trilogy here.
About the Author:
Joshua Winning was born in Cambridge, but don't hold that against him. He's attempted to escape reality for most of his life by writing. As a child, that involved poring diligently over anything by C.S. Lewis or Robin Jarvis.
When he's not writing about Sentinels, Joshua can usually be found watching Buffy The Vampire Slayer, The Wire and Daria. He also works as a freelance journalist, writing about movies for Total Film, Little White Lies and movieScope.
Joshua currently lives in North London with his cat Mia. Unfortunately, she's not a great conversationalist, but he's working on it.
May 13, 2015
Couple Interview: Silas and Laine
With three books out in the Daughter of the Wildings series, I figure it's time for a couple interview with Silas and Lainie. This is about book 3-ish, and virtually spoiler-free (except that they're together, which I don't consider a spoiler because the books are partly romance and because if you know any of my work, you know the hero and heroine always end up together):
1. How did you meet?
Silas: I had just arrived in Bitterbush Springs and found myself in the middle of a shootout. During the shootout I sensed a burst of magic close by. At the time, I was on the hunt for the source of some magical power I'd been sensing, so when the gunfight was over I went looking for the person the magic had come from.
Lainie: When the shooting started, I got scared and hid behind a barrel, and put up a magical shield. My brother Blake got killed in a shootout just a few months before, so it really scares me when the bullets start flying. When the shootout was over, Silas came over to where I was and asked me if I was okay, and escorted me on my errands in town in case there was any more trouble.
2. What was the first thing you noticed about the other person?
S: The first thing I noticed about Lainie, of course, was her power. Bright and strong and clean, with a feel or flavor to it that was different from the Granadaian power I was familiar with. When I first saw her, hunkered down behind that barrel, I took her for a boy, because of her slim build and the men's clothes she was wearing. As soon as I got a closer look at her pretty face and her figure, though, it was clear she was all woman.
L: He was tall, and so handsome, and looked just a little bit dangerous, but he was so kind and polite to me.
3. Did you know when you met that you would end up together?
S: No idea at all. I was just passing through on the hunt for a renegade mage. Since she was an untrained mage, my legal duty was to either send her back to Granadaia for training or Strip her of her power. I knew that neither of those options would endear me to her. And anyhow, marriages between mages have to be approved by the Mage Council, and I knew that a Wildings-born mage from a mostly Plain family would not be considered an appropriate match for me.
L: I had no idea, either. I was smitten with him almost right away, but he was just passing through town on business of his own; there was no reason for him to hang around and no reason why he should be especially interested in me.
4. What do you like best about the other person?
S: Well, she's smart, strong, brave, pretty, an amazing cook, an even more amazing lover --
L: (blushing) Silas!
S: But more than any of that, she's just.. her. She's Lainie. That's what I like best about her.
L: (still blushing) Silas is all those things - except handsome, not pretty, and not that much of a cook except for critter on a stick, as he calls it. But he's so kind to me, and so patient while he teaches me to use my power, and he sacrificed a lot to keep me safe. And also, I'm not sure how to say this, but he lives, you know what I mean? I mean, he'll think about things before he acts -- usually -- and see what the lay of the land is, but when he's ready he jumps right in and does it. He doesn't spend his life hemming and hawing off to the side. But yeah, mostly, he's him. And that's what I like about him.
5. What is something you enjoy doing together? (Besides the obvious!)
S: What else is there?
L: (blushing even harder) Silas, really!
S: We like doing pretty much everything together. Training in magic, traveling, hunting - we've taken a few jobs to track down missing family members and the like, shooting practice, bathing --
L: Oh gods, I'm so embarrassed.
S: Sorry, darlin'. *smooch*
L: But you get the idea. We're a team. We're partners. I can't think of anything we don't like to do together. Even lately, when money's been tight and we have to be on the lookout for other mages who might know about us and the laws we've broken and such, we'd rather be in it together than out of trouble and not together. You know what I mean?
6. How has the other person changed you?
S: Before I met Lainie, I was already committed to protecting the Plain settlers of the Wildings. But since I met her, it's become much more personal. Lainie isn't Plain, of course, but her Pa is, and the people she grew up among, and she's definitely of the Wildings, not of Granadaia. On the other hand, since the people in her own hometown tried to hang her for being a mage, I'm a little less patient with the Plain settlers' hatred of mages. I don't know if that's affected my commitment to protecting them, but I see them less as the victims in the struggle between mages and Plains than I used to. Mages have done a lot of wicked things, but Plains aren't entirely innocent, either.
The other way she's changed me is that I used to not be afraid of much of anything. But now the thought of her being hurt or killed or captured scares me to death. I wouldn't want to live in a world without her.
L: Silas showed me that not all mages are inhuman monsters with no heart and no soul, which is what I'd always been taught, and he helped me to accept my own power and be proud of who and what I am. He's teaching me to use my power to help people, not hurt them. My life has changed a lot, living on the run with him, on the wrong side of the mages' law, instead of still being at home, working on the ranch and marrying the man my Pa meant for me to marry. But I don't regret any of it.
7. What are the biggest differences between you? How important are these differences?
L: Well, he's from an elite family of Island mages, and I was born to Plain parents who don't have a lot -- I mean, for folks in the Wildings, my Pa does all right with his ranch, but he worked his way up from nothing and compared to a rich mage family in Granadaia, I guess we're still pretty poor. And Silas is thirteen years older than me and knows way more than me about a lot of things.
S: None of that seems very important, though. The biggest difference that matters is that she always wins at Dragon's Threes and I never do. She had to ban me from playing for money. Oh, and she can control powers found in the Wildings that I can't. That doesn't bother me; I think it's mighty impressive, and it's come in handy a time or two.
8. What do the two of you have in common?
S: Magic. A love for the Wildings, for the beautiful country out here and the freedom. A commitment to protecting Plain folks from mages who want to take away their rights and freedoms. A hope that one day, mages and Plain folk can live peacefully side-by-side in the Wildings. And our love for each other.
L: That pretty much covers it. Well, and we both like horses, and think the same things are funny.
9. What are the greatest challenges you have faced in your relationship?
S: Well, besides the fact that our marriage is illegal under Granadaian mage law, and I also broke the law by not making her go to school in Granadaia or Stripping her, and she can do a few things with magic that are supposed to be impossible and just in case they aren't they're also illegal, and we've got renegade mages and Plain folks trying to kill us and mage hunters hunting us, and we've spent a good amount of time homeless and broke... nothing, really.
L: I've almost lost him a few times, and I've almost died a time or two. It's scary, knowing how much danger we're in, but it also makes us appreciate each other more. No matter how bad things are, we're just glad to be together. And there was a time when I was afraid he didn't really want to be with me, he just got himself stuck with me because my Pa made him marry me. But he's showed me pretty well that isn't true and he does want to be with me.
10. What does your family think of your partner, and what do you think of your partner's family?
S: My family has not met Lainie, and likely never will, since I've pretty much cut myself off from all relations with them. I doubt they would approve of her, a Wildings girl born of Plain parents; her power came from her grandmother, the illegitimate daughter of a married mage and a Plain servant. As for her family, her Pa is a good man. I have a lot of respect for him, and I mean to keep the promise I made him to take good care of his daughter. Her mother and brother are both dead, but I'm sure I would have liked them as well.
L: My Pa didn't like Silas at first, because he's a mage. But after he rescued me from Carden and saved my life and put himself on the wrong side of the mages' law to do what was best for me, I think Pa started to respect him. If they had time to get to know each other better, I think they'd get on pretty well. Silas's family... I know he don't think much of them, and from what he's told me, they sound like the kind of mages I was taught to hate and be afraid of. But if they raised a son like him, I have to think they can't be all bad.
11. What role does magic play in your relationship?
L: Magic's what brought us together. Mages is what we are.
S: I would love her even if she wasn't a mage --
L: And I would love him if he wasn't a mage, too.
S: But working together so closely, and both of us knowing what it's like to have power and use it, I think that brings us closer together than we would be, otherwise.
12. What are your plans for the future?
S: Keep our freedom and stay alive.
L: Well, that, and it would be nice if we could find a place to settle down and live in peace, get some land of our own, raise some cattle. And if we could get the fertility block removed from Silas -- the Mage Council puts it on all mage children, and it can't be removed until the Mage Council approves their marriage -- if we could find a way to get the block removed and have some kids together, I'd really like that. I've always wanted to have children. But even if we can't, maybe we can find an orphan to adopt -- there aren't many, folks in the Wildings take care of their own, and if a child loses their parents, their other kin or friends and neighbors will step in and care for them. But if we could find one, we could have a family that way.
S: I'd like that, too, but first we have to stay out of the Mage Council's hands and not get ourselves hanged by any Plain folks.
13. "The whole is greater than the sum of the parts." How is this true for the two of you?
L: Working together, we've helped some people, and stopped some powerful and dangerous renegade mages. We've done some good.
S: Working together, teaching each other, loving each other, we make each other stronger. Like Lainie said, we're a team. We're partners. And together, we can do great things.
1. How did you meet?Silas: I had just arrived in Bitterbush Springs and found myself in the middle of a shootout. During the shootout I sensed a burst of magic close by. At the time, I was on the hunt for the source of some magical power I'd been sensing, so when the gunfight was over I went looking for the person the magic had come from.
Lainie: When the shooting started, I got scared and hid behind a barrel, and put up a magical shield. My brother Blake got killed in a shootout just a few months before, so it really scares me when the bullets start flying. When the shootout was over, Silas came over to where I was and asked me if I was okay, and escorted me on my errands in town in case there was any more trouble.
2. What was the first thing you noticed about the other person?
S: The first thing I noticed about Lainie, of course, was her power. Bright and strong and clean, with a feel or flavor to it that was different from the Granadaian power I was familiar with. When I first saw her, hunkered down behind that barrel, I took her for a boy, because of her slim build and the men's clothes she was wearing. As soon as I got a closer look at her pretty face and her figure, though, it was clear she was all woman.
L: He was tall, and so handsome, and looked just a little bit dangerous, but he was so kind and polite to me.
3. Did you know when you met that you would end up together?
S: No idea at all. I was just passing through on the hunt for a renegade mage. Since she was an untrained mage, my legal duty was to either send her back to Granadaia for training or Strip her of her power. I knew that neither of those options would endear me to her. And anyhow, marriages between mages have to be approved by the Mage Council, and I knew that a Wildings-born mage from a mostly Plain family would not be considered an appropriate match for me.
L: I had no idea, either. I was smitten with him almost right away, but he was just passing through town on business of his own; there was no reason for him to hang around and no reason why he should be especially interested in me.
4. What do you like best about the other person?
S: Well, she's smart, strong, brave, pretty, an amazing cook, an even more amazing lover --
L: (blushing) Silas!
S: But more than any of that, she's just.. her. She's Lainie. That's what I like best about her.
L: (still blushing) Silas is all those things - except handsome, not pretty, and not that much of a cook except for critter on a stick, as he calls it. But he's so kind to me, and so patient while he teaches me to use my power, and he sacrificed a lot to keep me safe. And also, I'm not sure how to say this, but he lives, you know what I mean? I mean, he'll think about things before he acts -- usually -- and see what the lay of the land is, but when he's ready he jumps right in and does it. He doesn't spend his life hemming and hawing off to the side. But yeah, mostly, he's him. And that's what I like about him.
5. What is something you enjoy doing together? (Besides the obvious!)
S: What else is there?
L: (blushing even harder) Silas, really!
S: We like doing pretty much everything together. Training in magic, traveling, hunting - we've taken a few jobs to track down missing family members and the like, shooting practice, bathing --
L: Oh gods, I'm so embarrassed.
S: Sorry, darlin'. *smooch*
L: But you get the idea. We're a team. We're partners. I can't think of anything we don't like to do together. Even lately, when money's been tight and we have to be on the lookout for other mages who might know about us and the laws we've broken and such, we'd rather be in it together than out of trouble and not together. You know what I mean?
6. How has the other person changed you?
S: Before I met Lainie, I was already committed to protecting the Plain settlers of the Wildings. But since I met her, it's become much more personal. Lainie isn't Plain, of course, but her Pa is, and the people she grew up among, and she's definitely of the Wildings, not of Granadaia. On the other hand, since the people in her own hometown tried to hang her for being a mage, I'm a little less patient with the Plain settlers' hatred of mages. I don't know if that's affected my commitment to protecting them, but I see them less as the victims in the struggle between mages and Plains than I used to. Mages have done a lot of wicked things, but Plains aren't entirely innocent, either.
The other way she's changed me is that I used to not be afraid of much of anything. But now the thought of her being hurt or killed or captured scares me to death. I wouldn't want to live in a world without her.
L: Silas showed me that not all mages are inhuman monsters with no heart and no soul, which is what I'd always been taught, and he helped me to accept my own power and be proud of who and what I am. He's teaching me to use my power to help people, not hurt them. My life has changed a lot, living on the run with him, on the wrong side of the mages' law, instead of still being at home, working on the ranch and marrying the man my Pa meant for me to marry. But I don't regret any of it.
7. What are the biggest differences between you? How important are these differences?L: Well, he's from an elite family of Island mages, and I was born to Plain parents who don't have a lot -- I mean, for folks in the Wildings, my Pa does all right with his ranch, but he worked his way up from nothing and compared to a rich mage family in Granadaia, I guess we're still pretty poor. And Silas is thirteen years older than me and knows way more than me about a lot of things.
S: None of that seems very important, though. The biggest difference that matters is that she always wins at Dragon's Threes and I never do. She had to ban me from playing for money. Oh, and she can control powers found in the Wildings that I can't. That doesn't bother me; I think it's mighty impressive, and it's come in handy a time or two.
8. What do the two of you have in common?
S: Magic. A love for the Wildings, for the beautiful country out here and the freedom. A commitment to protecting Plain folks from mages who want to take away their rights and freedoms. A hope that one day, mages and Plain folk can live peacefully side-by-side in the Wildings. And our love for each other.
L: That pretty much covers it. Well, and we both like horses, and think the same things are funny.
9. What are the greatest challenges you have faced in your relationship?
S: Well, besides the fact that our marriage is illegal under Granadaian mage law, and I also broke the law by not making her go to school in Granadaia or Stripping her, and she can do a few things with magic that are supposed to be impossible and just in case they aren't they're also illegal, and we've got renegade mages and Plain folks trying to kill us and mage hunters hunting us, and we've spent a good amount of time homeless and broke... nothing, really.
L: I've almost lost him a few times, and I've almost died a time or two. It's scary, knowing how much danger we're in, but it also makes us appreciate each other more. No matter how bad things are, we're just glad to be together. And there was a time when I was afraid he didn't really want to be with me, he just got himself stuck with me because my Pa made him marry me. But he's showed me pretty well that isn't true and he does want to be with me.
10. What does your family think of your partner, and what do you think of your partner's family?
S: My family has not met Lainie, and likely never will, since I've pretty much cut myself off from all relations with them. I doubt they would approve of her, a Wildings girl born of Plain parents; her power came from her grandmother, the illegitimate daughter of a married mage and a Plain servant. As for her family, her Pa is a good man. I have a lot of respect for him, and I mean to keep the promise I made him to take good care of his daughter. Her mother and brother are both dead, but I'm sure I would have liked them as well.
L: My Pa didn't like Silas at first, because he's a mage. But after he rescued me from Carden and saved my life and put himself on the wrong side of the mages' law to do what was best for me, I think Pa started to respect him. If they had time to get to know each other better, I think they'd get on pretty well. Silas's family... I know he don't think much of them, and from what he's told me, they sound like the kind of mages I was taught to hate and be afraid of. But if they raised a son like him, I have to think they can't be all bad.
11. What role does magic play in your relationship?
L: Magic's what brought us together. Mages is what we are.
S: I would love her even if she wasn't a mage --
L: And I would love him if he wasn't a mage, too.
S: But working together so closely, and both of us knowing what it's like to have power and use it, I think that brings us closer together than we would be, otherwise.
12. What are your plans for the future?
S: Keep our freedom and stay alive.
L: Well, that, and it would be nice if we could find a place to settle down and live in peace, get some land of our own, raise some cattle. And if we could get the fertility block removed from Silas -- the Mage Council puts it on all mage children, and it can't be removed until the Mage Council approves their marriage -- if we could find a way to get the block removed and have some kids together, I'd really like that. I've always wanted to have children. But even if we can't, maybe we can find an orphan to adopt -- there aren't many, folks in the Wildings take care of their own, and if a child loses their parents, their other kin or friends and neighbors will step in and care for them. But if we could find one, we could have a family that way.
S: I'd like that, too, but first we have to stay out of the Mage Council's hands and not get ourselves hanged by any Plain folks.
13. "The whole is greater than the sum of the parts." How is this true for the two of you?
L: Working together, we've helped some people, and stopped some powerful and dangerous renegade mages. We've done some good.
S: Working together, teaching each other, loving each other, we make each other stronger. Like Lainie said, we're a team. We're partners. And together, we can do great things.
