Summer Read-Along: Between Frames
We’re in the last bend now–though the series isn’t over yet! This week we’re reading Between Frames
Two fae is company, but a company of fae is trouble.
Which is exactly what we’ve got. Trouble, I mean. Well, and fae. Lots of fae.
Something or someone is stalking and killing high-level fae around Hobart—tearing out hearts and leaving a trail of bloody bodies behind. Fae don’t like it when they’re the ones getting killed, so of course they came to hire my owners.
Owners, you ask?
Hi. I’m Pet. No, that’s not my name. I am a pet.
My owners? They’re fae. Well, two fae and one stroppy vampire.
Welcome to the world Between.
***
We’ll discuss this book Saturday, June 29th, officially ending our Read-Along. But we’re going to close out with a bang! So, onto the interview section with W. R.
Kitty: If you don’t mind, could you explain more of the parallels between The Highwayman poem, and Athelas’ situation? (And perhaps could you tell us what was Athelas’ reaction was when he realized this?)
W. R.: As soon as I knew it was moonlight Upper Management had used to control Athelas, I knew exactly what it would take to set him free. For those of you who aren’t familiar with The Highwayman, it’s a highly coloured, highly romantic poem about a highwayman who falls in love with the Inn Keeper’s daughter, Bess. The police of the day come to realise that and set a trap for him at the inn, while tying up and gagging Bess with a musket beneath her heart. The only way she can warn him of the impending ambush is by pulling the trigger of that musket to give off a warning gunshot—killing herself in the process. She can save either her lover or herself.
So when Athelas is imprisoned in moonlight, he knows it will take the sacrifice of a life to set him free. Being twisty fae, he at first tries to accomplish this by killing the person he thinks is fake Pet. Once he is more or less certain that she is Pet, he knows she’ll have to kill herself willingly to save them both—or that he’ll have to kill himself to do the same. Of course, Pet, not being familiar with the poem, doesn’t know this.
And Athelas also knows that if he’s wrong, and she’s not the pet, he’s just killed himself for no reason at all…
Kitty: Ohhh, the feels! Yeah, I can see how this would make Athelas excessively unhappy, hahah! Next question–what has been the most fun about writing this series?
W. R.: The most fun about this series is writing Pet. There is a LOT of myself in her (more than with quite a few of my characters) but she does so much more, and she’s so much more inclined to run her mouth than me, that it’s just delightful to let her go.
Also, there’s a certain thread on my Facebook Author page that has been giving me life these days… 
