Guest Blogger: Morgan Keyes
Many thanks to Lynn, for allowing me to visit and tell you about my middle grade fantasy novel, Darkbeast. Due to the generosity of my publisher, Simon & Schuster, I will give away a copy of Darkbeast to one commenter chosen at random from all the comments made to this post by 11:59 p.m. EDT tomorrow night.
In Darkbeast, twelve-year-old Keara runs away from home rather than sacrifice Caw, the raven darkbeast that she has been magically bound to all her life. Pursued by Inquisitors who would punish her for heresy, Keara joins a performing troupe of Travelers and tries to find a safe haven for herself and her companion.
Darkbeast, the novel, has its roots in a short story that I wrote for an anthology edited by Julie Czerneda. The rules for the anthology were fairly wide open – the only requirement was that every fantasy story had to have a child and an animal. It didn't take me long to meet Caw, to invite him into Keara's story, and to build the world where Darkbeast now transpires.
But as I wrote the more complex novel, I started to think a lot about darkbeasts. I understood what they were, how they functioned. I knew that they took on the evil thoughts and bad deeds of their companions, that children brought their mistakes to their darkbeasts. In exchange for confession, the children were forgiven, sent back into the world with a figurative clean slate.
Darkbeasts are, by definition, charismatic – they have a unique charm that pulls their children to them. They inspire their humans to divulge deep secrets, to share great shames. They embody a psychic bond. Caw, an attractive raven, fit that description perfectly.
And yet, most children are eager to be shed of their darkbeasts. They want to forget the mistakes they've made, the various ways that they have stumbled amid society's expectations. Keara is special because she loves her darkbeast.
I started to consider what other animals would serve as darkbeasts. What creatures would best reflect the negative emotions passed on by their humans? What beasts would embody all those bad feelings and thoughts? What animals were most likely to be pressed into service for the role of "scapegoat"?
Spiders. Lizards. Toads. Snakes.
Before long, I had carved out literary space for over a dozen darkbeasts – each one more disliked than the last. The animals' inherent lack of charisma drove home their religious function. The children's distaste for their animals made even more sense. The novel allowed me to be more subtle, more complex than I could be in the short story.
When Keara spares Caw, she sets herself on a new journey, traveling literal and figurative paths that she's never crossed before. As part of her growth, she finds herself meeting other darkbeasts, grappling with her some instinctive dislike or – in the case of snakes, for example – outright revulsion. Her story is, in part, a recounting of how she deals with those emotions.
What about you? You can discover your darkbeast here:
http://www.morgankeyes.com/?page_id=17
What do you think of your animal companion?
Morgan can be found online at:
http://www.morgankeyes.com
http://www.facebook.com/morgan.keyes.author
Darkbeast is for sale in bricks-and-mortar and online bookstores, including: Amazon | B & N | Indiebound
Morgan Keyes grew up in California, Texas, Georgia, and Minnesota, accompanied by parents, a brother, a dog, and a cat. Also, there were books. Lots and lots of books. Morgan now lives near Washington, D.C. In between trips to the Natural History Museum and the National Gallery of Art, she reads, travels, reads, writes, reads, cooks, reads, wrestles with cats, and reads. Because there are still books. Lots and lots of books.
In Darkbeast, twelve-year-old Keara runs away from home rather than sacrifice Caw, the raven darkbeast that she has been magically bound to all her life. Pursued by Inquisitors who would punish her for heresy, Keara joins a performing troupe of Travelers and tries to find a safe haven for herself and her companion.
Darkbeast, the novel, has its roots in a short story that I wrote for an anthology edited by Julie Czerneda. The rules for the anthology were fairly wide open – the only requirement was that every fantasy story had to have a child and an animal. It didn't take me long to meet Caw, to invite him into Keara's story, and to build the world where Darkbeast now transpires.
But as I wrote the more complex novel, I started to think a lot about darkbeasts. I understood what they were, how they functioned. I knew that they took on the evil thoughts and bad deeds of their companions, that children brought their mistakes to their darkbeasts. In exchange for confession, the children were forgiven, sent back into the world with a figurative clean slate.
Darkbeasts are, by definition, charismatic – they have a unique charm that pulls their children to them. They inspire their humans to divulge deep secrets, to share great shames. They embody a psychic bond. Caw, an attractive raven, fit that description perfectly.
And yet, most children are eager to be shed of their darkbeasts. They want to forget the mistakes they've made, the various ways that they have stumbled amid society's expectations. Keara is special because she loves her darkbeast.
I started to consider what other animals would serve as darkbeasts. What creatures would best reflect the negative emotions passed on by their humans? What beasts would embody all those bad feelings and thoughts? What animals were most likely to be pressed into service for the role of "scapegoat"?
Spiders. Lizards. Toads. Snakes.
Before long, I had carved out literary space for over a dozen darkbeasts – each one more disliked than the last. The animals' inherent lack of charisma drove home their religious function. The children's distaste for their animals made even more sense. The novel allowed me to be more subtle, more complex than I could be in the short story.
When Keara spares Caw, she sets herself on a new journey, traveling literal and figurative paths that she's never crossed before. As part of her growth, she finds herself meeting other darkbeasts, grappling with her some instinctive dislike or – in the case of snakes, for example – outright revulsion. Her story is, in part, a recounting of how she deals with those emotions.
What about you? You can discover your darkbeast here:
http://www.morgankeyes.com/?page_id=17
What do you think of your animal companion?
Morgan can be found online at:
http://www.morgankeyes.com
http://www.facebook.com/morgan.keyes.author
Darkbeast is for sale in bricks-and-mortar and online bookstores, including: Amazon | B & N | Indiebound
Morgan Keyes grew up in California, Texas, Georgia, and Minnesota, accompanied by parents, a brother, a dog, and a cat. Also, there were books. Lots and lots of books. Morgan now lives near Washington, D.C. In between trips to the Natural History Museum and the National Gallery of Art, she reads, travels, reads, writes, reads, cooks, reads, wrestles with cats, and reads. Because there are still books. Lots and lots of books.
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