A is for Anahid

Dear readers, in preparation for the upcoming release of Starflower, I am going to write up my usual A-Z blog posts detailing aspects of Moonblood. Be forewarned: These posts may contain SPOILERS!!!!! If you have not yet read Moonblood, I would recommend skipping! Don't want to ruin any plot-points for you.

So, to get this thing started, allow me to introduce you to Queen Anahid of Arpiar.

Anahid was a character I'd written about before turning my pen to Moonblood. Several years ago, after writing Heartless (and while in the process of finding first and agent then a publishing house for that first novel in my series), I took a step back in time and drafted a novel called Goblin Son. A novel set five hundred years before Heartless. It opened like this:

The Queen of Arpiar bore twin sons, but only one could inherit the kingdom, so she was faced with a choice.

"No," she said to her two handmaidens, Sosi and Anahid, when her labor was complete and both babes were swaddled in gold-edged linen. Her handmaidens were her only attendants in that dark chamber, both sworn into her service with vows so strong that should either girl ever break her word, she would fall dead upon the spot. "No, I do not wish to hold them. Not yet." She motioned the bundles offered her away, refusing to so much as look at them. "Bring Zada the Soothsayer to me."

Those of you who have read Moonblood will immediately recognize the parallel openings . . . the queen of Arpiar upon her birthing bed . . . newborn children untouched by their mother . . .

But in Moonblood, the former queen's handmaiden has become the queen.

This backstory is hinted at in the pages of Moonblood. Do you remember? The statue of the old queen of Arpiar, whispering her angry secrets to her granddaughter, Rose Red?

"I told Sosi to kill it . . . Sosi was too squeamish for that kind of work. Anahid was better. But a queen? Faugh! He's made her pretty enough, I'll grant you, but she'll never have the force to rule  Arpiar!" (Moonblood, p. 164-165)

So Queen Anahid, we learn, has a long and bloody history with Arpiar, from back before her husband, King Vahe, was even born! A history which, we know, includes her love of a young knight named Diarmid.

Regret and repentance do not always walk hand in hand.

Queen Anahid wore guilt like weighty chains about her neck, but repentance was far from her. Thus she inflicted upon herself all the torments of love forsaken and the bitterness of slavery under the King of Arpiar. It seemed just punishment for her sins . . . for the lives she had taken as the old queen's slave. For the atrocities she had committed at the bidding of monarchs; first the queen, now King Vahe. She suffered every day, hating each moment of her life, waking or sleeping--for even her sleep was plagued with nightmares.

But it was punishment meted out by herself alone. And in that, she found a grain of satisfaction. (Moonblood, p. 185)

Anahid, we see, is so twisted up inside with bitterness and resentment, it is difficult to find any shred of goodness left inside her. The one redeeming light in all her life is that daughter she bore: Princess Varvare. For this daughter, she risks everything, fleeing even to the mortal world to find sanctuary for her tiny newborn.

She closed her eyes and placed hand upon her daughter's heart. "With all the love I have to give," she murmured, "though that is little enough." (Moonblood, p.12)

Her bitterness has driven her too deep for her to allow any grace for herself, however. Even the gentle call of the Prince of Farthestshore fails to move her, though we must guess that once she had followed his Path. See what she says to the yellow-eyed dragon who was once Diarmid:

"I want you to go from Arpiar. I want you to return to the Prince's Haven. Return to that place where we met so long ago, and where you loved me once. Find the Knights of Farthestshore and warn them of my husband's plan." (Moonblood, p. 186)

Yes, she once communed with the knights and knew safety at the Haven of the Prince. How she came to this dreadful state of power and slavery we do not yet know. But perhaps, one day, I shall have an opportunity to tell you . . .

What did you think of Queen Anahid? Do you think she and Rose Red share any characteristics?

Moonblood Giveaway: The Review Iteration

Dear readers, I think while you all are patiently waiting to hear the results of the Fan Fiction Contest, we should have another giveaway to pass the time. Are you game?

This one will play like this:

1. You write a review for any one of the Tales of Goldstone Wood on Amazon. If you have already done this for all three of the released titles, no worries! You can write a review for Barnes and Noble or CBD.com or any other major reviewing site.

2. You let me know that you have done so and where you've posted this review. I will then add your name to the name-drawing!

3. TWO WEEKS from today, I will draw a name at random, and that person will win a free, autographed copy of Moonblood!

4. If you have already written a review for one of the books, that does not count for this particular giveaway. But there are other books to review, so why not write up one of those?

Don't worry if you feel as though "you don't know what to say" in a review. Any review, however simple, helps me out. And you don't have to write an essay or anything! First you give a star rating. Then you write something about the story, what you liked and why you think someone else might like it too. That's it!

A basic rundown of the ratings is 5 star = I LOVED it! 4 stars = I really, really enjoyed it! 3 stars = I liked it! 2 stars = I didn't like it. 1 star = I hated it.

I make a point of not reading my reviews . . . the negative ones upset me too much, and you can't help seeing those when you look! So I won't be reading over your shoulder as you post reviews. If I feel the need to check and make certain reviews are actually posted, my husband will check for me!

Public reviews like this are an important part of a writer's career. The more reviews I have on amazon, the more people are likely to stop and look at the books. So in this way, you all can help with my career by getting the word out there for me!

Please take the time to share this blog post on your  facebook walls so that other folks will hear about this giveaway and have a chance to participate. Thank you, and good luck!

Friday Tidbits

Tease Your Reader

Good fiction is all about the tease of your reader's desires.

Your reader wants to see certain things happen to your character. Your job, as the writer, is to not give the reader what she wants . . . or not completely. Dangle enticing story-bits before your readers' eyes and lead them in crazy ways so that they are always just grasping at that satisfaction they long for! If you give them satisfaction too soon, they'll be bored and walk away.

This teasing game begins from chapter one, paragraph one, sentence one. It's a good place for a writer to begin practicing, because the whole macrocosm of the story tension is reduced into the microcosm of that little opening.

Here's an example from a wonderful manuscript I had the privilege of critiquing not all that long ago. Here is the opening paragraph as the writer initially wrote it:

"The Academy was set in the center of a wide plateau. It erupted from the head of the island, so high that all that could be seen from the valley were the four spires of the towered halls. As the car drove slowly up the winding road, the trees became less wild and more cultivated. The grass was flawlessly green across the wide fields that hemmed the campus in, only giving way to the sea at the cliffs. From a distance, the stone square of building appeared as a carefully planned fortress.

Lima gasped at the sight of it."

Good stuff going on here, interesting imagery, and a character introduction. Verbs like "erupting" and similes like "fortress" create a sense of drama and possible danger. But . . . is it enticing?

Look what happens with a very simple rearranging of the sentences using almost the exact same wording:

"All that could be seen from the valley were four spires erupting from the head of the island. As the car drove slowly up the winding road, the trees became less wild and more cultivated, grass flawless green across the wide fields, giving way at last to seaside cliffs. From a distance, the stone square of the central building appeared as carefully planned as a fortress.

The Academy. Lima gasped at her first sight of it."

See the difference in tension build up? From the start, the reader is made to ask questions which leads him into the story.

"All that could be seen from the valley were four spires erupting from the head of the island. ("All that can be seen of what? What are these spires for?") As the car drove slowly up the winding road, ("Who's driving this car?)" the trees became less wild and more cultivated, grass flawless green across the wide fields, giving way at last to seaside cliffs. From a distance, the stone square of the central building appeared as carefully planned as a fortress. ("A fortress? What is this place?")

The Academy. (Oh, okay!) Lima gasped at her first sight of it. (Hmmm. I wonder who Lima is?)"

What would a rearranging of your own first sentence and paragraph do? Tease those readers of yours! Dangle curiosities before their noses! Can you create more immediate tension? Get your reader asking some key questions? Foreshadow the perils to come?

And . . . CLOSED!

All right, my friends, the deadline for the first-ever Tales of Goldstone Wood Fan Fiction Contest (2012) has come! All the submissions are in, awaiting a last-minute streamline formatting . . . then it's OFF TO THE JUDGES!

After a month of judgerly work, the winner will be announced on September 1st, so keep your eyes open. That winner will receive a free copy of Starflower (as soon as it releases) and any other Tales of Goldstone Wood title of his/her choice. Exciting times, my friends!

I would like to take a moment to thank all those who submitted work. I was blown away by the creativity that kept flowing into my inbox over the last two months. Some of them moved me to laughter . . . some of them moved me to tears . . . at least one of them inspired me during a period of major writer's block . . . and all of them demonstrate a love of storytelling that is fresh and fun and exciting.

So thank you, those of you who participated. The rest of you, be sure stop by on September 1st and in the weeks following to read these fabulous stories!

Your Weekly Fairy

Flower Fairies

When you take a moment to look at the fairies listed as part of Queen Titania's entourage in A Midsummer Night's Dream, one can guess at the ancestry of the Flower Fairies: Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Mote, and Mustardseed are nothing if not Flower Fairy names!

But the Flower Fairies as we know and love them today really got their chance at literary life under the illustrative pen of Cecily Mary Barker.

This lovely young woman suffered from epilepsy which prevented her from going to school. So she schooled at home and spent a great deal of her time studying art, especially the art of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Fairies were a popular theme in Victorian society. Queen Mary (who owned the most MAGNIFICENT doll house EVER) was particularly interested in all things fairy. And she was a tremendous fan of Cecily Mary Barker's work!

 Ms. Barker was a devout Anglican . . . which pleases me since my husband was raised Anglican, and we attend and Anglican church. She illustrated Bible stories and hymn books for children, but her most famous work will always be her Flower Fairies.

These childlike little imps, while completely magical, have a very natural air in their garden settings. According to Ms. Barker's stories, every time a seed drops, a Flower Fairy is born.

This baby grows along with the flower and tends it, watering it and chasing away pests. While having other adventures along the way, of course!

Cecily Mary Barker's beautiful fairies have inspired many variations since. My first encounter with Flower Fairies came from the picture book The RunawayFairy by Molly Brett, who was heavily inspired by Ms. Barker's works.

This was, quite possibly, my favorite picture book growing up. I just adored the story of Rose and her quest to save her rose garden! And I always watched for flower fairies in the beds of my mother's sumptuous English garden, especially among the pink climbing roses.

I even tried disguising myself as one of their kind . . .

never with any luck, alas!

These days, my love of Flower Fairies continues strong. I have a lovely collection of Cecily Mary Barker fairy Christmas ornaments that decorate my tree every year:

I also have an extensive collection of fairy figurines and pictures from my childhood, saved up and tucked away in the attic. For someday, if God blesses me with a baby girl, she might just like Flower Fairies too . . .

So what about you? What Flower Fairies have you encountered?

"Sploosh" Pie

This weekend I baked a "Sploosh" Pie for my darling Rohan, and I wanted to share it with you.

"What is a Sploosh Pie?" you ask.

"Sploosh" comes from the Newberry Award-winning novel, Holes, by Louis Sachar. If you have not read it, I recommend that you should! Rohan and I just listened to the audio version on our trip down to Orlando for the Christy Awards, and it kept us laughing and entertained even at the dragon-eaten hour of 3 am when we were on the road. An important story facet is a certain woman and her brilliant knack for canning spiced peaches . . . which, through a variety of circumstances I hate to give away, end up being known as "Sploosh."

So this is a Sploosh Pie . . . otherwise known as a Spiced Ginger-Peach. I invented it based off a can of amazing spiced peach preserves my lovely sister-in-law recently gave us, and I think it turned out well.

If you'd like to give a whirl, here's the recipe.

Crust: Use your favorite pie crust recipe. I used my mum's recipe which is:
2 cups flour
2/3 plus 1 Tbls shortening
1 tsp salt

Cut with two forks or pastry cutter until dough resembles course meal.

For this pie, I also added:
Add 2 tsps cinnamon,
2 tsps ground ginger
2 Tbls sugar

Once your mixture resembles course meal, add 4-5 Tbles water. (This time of year is so humid in NC, I actually only used 2 Tbls and it was plenty)

Roll into a ball and refrigerate until ready.

Filling:

2/3 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup minced FRESH ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3 pounds medium peaches

Mix sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice and spices in large bowl. Bring medium saucepan of water to boil. Drop in 3 peaches at a time; blanch 1 minute. Transfer peaches to bowl of cold water. Using small sharp knife, peel 1 peach. (I found the longer I let the peaches sit in the cold water, the easier the peel came off.) Cut peach in half; discard pit and slice thinly. Stir peach slices into sugar mixture. Repeat with remaining peaches. Let filling stand until juices form, at least 30 minutes and up to 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375°F. Roll out larger dough disk on lightly floured surface to 13- to 14-inch round. Transfer to 9-inch-diameter deep-dish pie dish. Spoon in peaches and ginger filling.

Preheat oven to 375°F. Roll out smaller dough disk on lightly floured surface to 11-inch round. Using ruler as aid, cut dough into 1/2-inch-wide strips.

Roll out larger dough disk on lightly floured surface to 13- to 14-inch round. Transfer to pie dish. Roll out smaller dough disk on lightly floured surface to 11-inch round. Cut dough into 1/2-inch-wide strips.

Arrange some of dough strips atop pie, spacing 3/4 inch apart. Form lattice by arranging more dough strips at right angle to first strips, spacing 3/4 inch apart. Trim overhang of bottom crust and lattice strips to 3/4 inch. Fold under and crimp edge decoratively.

Bake pie until crust is golden and filling bubbles thickly, covering edge of crust with foil if browning too quickly, about 1 hour 20 minutes. Cool pie to room temperature before serving. 

 The most important part of this recipe is the FRESH minced ginger. This was what my sister-in-law recommend based off her experience with her peach preserves. You want the little chunks of ginger in your pie, not ground ginger.

This pie just supplanted my Apple Caramel Cranberry pie for the coveted honor of My Husband's Favorite. And I have to admit, I think I might prefer it myself . . . it truly was amazing! Next time, I plan to add a tsp of nutmeg and a half-tsp of allspice, possibly leaving out the cinnamon altogether, just to see what happens.

Let me know if you make it and how it turns out! A delectable, summery treat.

Weekend Reminder!

One last reminder, dear readers! Tuesday night at 11:59pm is the cutoff for this first-ever Goldstone Wood Fan Fiction Contest. Submissions have started pouring in fast and furious, and don't let yours get left behind.

So far I've seen tales of humor, tales of heartbreak, tales of loyalty and loss. I've seen writing styles everywhere from lyrical to exuberant, short-and-sweet to long-and-epic . . . and everything between!

So don't miss out. I want to see your creativity at work as well. And if you want to jump in last minute, that's fine too . . . you can find the rules here.