Back from the dead with some big questions

 Hello Dear Readers!

Amanda here and back from the dregs that was 2024. Last year kicked my butt, but this year is starting off a little better? I made sure to open the front and back doors of my house at midnight on New years to let the old energies out and the new energies in, and I think it worked. 

As part of a life-refresh, I started asking myself why I do I write. Why do I stay up late and dream up characters and world? Why do I write paranormal? Why not romance or high fantasy? Why Shifters? Why not Elves or Angels?

And just to add to my imposter syndrome, why do I write about a creature that has been written about a million times before?  Especially when you’re working with the supernatural. Both my book series deal with primarily with shapeshifters (and maybe a few fairies and demons stuck in there too). 

When I started writing, I wanted to call them Shifters partially because there was something sexier about calling them shifters, and partly because saying were-panther tends to get a snicker in response. It’s all the same trope of magic. So in my mythos, the shifters are humans who harness magic to shift into an animal. Their animal is mostly determined by who bit them OR, fun turn of events, sometime called a soulshift when the animal matches their spirit and not their bloodline. The moon pulls at them and heirloom silver is their weakness.

But it all sounds pretty familiar, right? It’s hard to get something original about a creature that appears in every single culture across the world. So something about them must be appealing to our deeper self, right? Why do we find shapeshifters so damn alluring?

There's only one reason, right? We like the danger. Even with a human consciousness, those are still some damn big claws. That edge keeps us on our toes, ready to fight or flee. We like that it’s a wild animal trying to get out. We like that they can smell our fear. We like that they have basal core temperatures of 100 degrees (at least mine do) because it means for a lot of no-shirt time. It is a simple and universal attraction.

 But if you want to go deeper, I guess we could also look at this through a Jungian lens about  seeking to understand the animal side of ourselves. Our myths about were-creatures stemmed from a fear that our animal selves will take over and expose who we really are.  In Diaries and Truth, the animal only exposes who they really was, even if they wasn’t ready to be that yet.

So, if our animal selves expose who we really are and our attraction to them is based on our fear of knowing the truth about ourselves and others, what would your animal be? I know you’ve thought about it. Would you be the proud lioness who guards her pride fiercely? Would you be a black lab who is loyal until the moment of death? Are you a Panther?

Amanda Arista

Author of Diaries of an Urban Panther series and The Merci Lanard Files

www.amandaarista.com

@pantherista

From the Backlist: "Character Development and Pacing" -- by T Frohock

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T Frohock is the author of two fabulous Los Nefilim novella series. The first is a trio of linked novellas; the second a novel trilogy. And lookout for her standalone Miserere which is being rereleased on 21 January -- we think that rocks, too.

This post centers on The Second Death, the third of the linked novellas, but the ideas in terms of character development are gold for all writing, particularly (but not exclusively) in its longer forms.

Character Development and Pacing--Make Room for Quiet Moments

by T Frohock

... One thing readers seem very unified about is the relationship between Diago and Miquel, and the quiet family moments that involve Diago's son, Rafael. These are what some readers might call the boring bits, but I never do. I place these familial scenes within the story, not just for character development, but also to help the pacing.

When I worked in radio--many, many, many years ago--I was told to think of the musical segments as waves. Begin with a soft tune, then choose songs that gradually build the tempo until the third or fourth song was upbeat and fast before moving the pace back toward softer music.

The technique was all about pacing the music so that the sounds would be pleasing to the listener. We do the same thing in stories by making the action rise and fall in a logical manner.

Even in shorter works, such as novellas, readers need a little breathing room between the action scenes, or in cases such as The Second Death: Los Nefilim, Part 3, before the action takes off. Most often, I use these scenes as a break from the action, but every now and then, I start the story with them, especially in one like The Second Death.

The logic behind beginning with an intimate scene in The Second Death was to bring the reader back up to speed with what had transpired in Without Light or Guide: Los Nefilim, Part 2 while adding enough new content to keep the reader engaged. My key to making these scenes work is keeping them short and intimate through the use of dialogue.

In this snippet, which is about 600 words, I am reminding the reader of how other members of Los Nefilim view Diago, and by extension daimons, through the peripheral character Lucia, an angel-born Nefil who hates daimons. Since I didn't want to give any spoilers, I had to choose one of the more innocuous conversations for this post.

For those new to the series: Rafael is Diago's six-year-old son, and Miquel is Diago's partner.

Diago followed Rafael into the bathroom and picked up his comb.

“No! No!” Rafael ran his wet fingers over his unruly locks. “You don’t need to comb it, Papa. I’m Gitano.” He shook his head. “My hair is wild like my spirit.”

“Wild spirits in this house comb their hair.” Diago grabbed a towel and wiped his son’s damp fingers. Stray hairs drifted into the sink’s basin and joined those of Miquel and Diago. He wiped the strands off the porcelain. “It looks like a family of bears lives here.”

Rafael giggled and raised his arms over his head, hands clenched like claws. He roared until the comb snagged a tangle. “Ow!”

Diago leaned forward and kissed his cheek. “Then stay still. Even bear cubs don’t wiggle when their papas comb their hair.” 

“Bears don’t comb their hair.” The child’s busy fingers found a chip in the sink’s porcelain. “When I’m grown up, I’m never combing my hair.”

“Don’t you want to look nice for Ysa today?”

He picked at the sink’s scar. “I want to stay home today.”

“You can stay with Lucia and Ysa for a little while.”

Rafael said nothing.

“Don’t you like playing with Ysa?”

“Yes.” Rafael rubbed his thumb around the chip.

“So?” Diago worked his fingers through a snarled lock and held his breath. Had he and Ysa fought? A generous girl, Ysa could sometimes be overbearing, but Diago had never known her to intentionally hurt another person. “Why don’t you want to go?”

He shrugged.

Diago kept his tone even as a suspicion caught up with him. “Is it Lucia?”

A moment passed and Diago thought Rafael wasn’t going to answer him. Finally, his son nodded.

“And what does she say?” Because it was Lucia, it had to be something out of her vicious mouth.

Another shrug. “Just things.”

“What kind of things?”

“She said I should never go to Morocco, because I am small and dark like a monkey. She said someone would see that I am daimon and stuff me in a bottle and make me a jinni. Then she laughs like it’s a joke, but her eyes are all hard and mean.”

Jesus.

Lucia. Ysabel’s governess made no secret of her hatred for Diago, which was fine with him, but taking her pettiness out on Rafael was a step too far.

Diago was careful to keep his anger out of his face and voice. He didn’t want Rafael to think he was upset with him. Instead, he took his son’s shoulders and gently turned the child so he could see his face. He realized a river of tears would be preferable to the hurt he saw in Rafael’s eyes. “You know what? You can come with us this morning. I’ll bet Father Bernardo has someplace where you can sit and draw pictures while we talk, hmm?” He smoothed Rafael’s hair and glanced into the hall to see that Miquel had joined them. How much had he heard?

Diago didn’t have long to wonder.

Miquel came into the bathroom and stood behind Diago. “Pick him up.”

Diago lifted Rafael so he could see himself in the mirror. Three faces, three shades of skin that passed from Rafael’s light gold to Diago’s tawny flesh, and finally Miquel’s dusky brown.

Miquel made a great show of assessing their faces. “You know what, Rafael? I am darker than you.”

“Miquel is Gitano, too,” Diago whispered in Rafael’s ear. “And everyone thinks he is very, very handsome.” Including me, he thought as he examined his lover’s reflection.

A ghost of a smile touched Rafael’s mouth.

“And your papa is part daimon like you,” Miquel said. “No one has stuffed him in a bottle and made him a jinni.” He reached around Diago to touch Rafael’s chin. “No one is going to mistake us for monkeys, or jinn.”

“That’s right,” Diago said. “We’re a family of bears.”

Rafael gave a soft roar and the mischievousness returned to his eyes.

Quiet moments don't have to be boring. Just remember to use them to keep the story moving forward and the reader will remain engaged. This particular snippet precedes a very violent scene, which has a lot more impact, because the reader is allowed to experience a gentler moment with the family prior to the violence. By seeing how Diago, Miquel, and Rafael interact here, their subsequent actions, and the risks they take, are believable to the reader.

The other overriding theme that runs through this section is Diago's dual nature, which is an important part of the story. While Diago is growing more comfortable with both his heritage and his place within Los Nefilim, he is sacrificing the daimonic side of his nature in order to fit in. Before it's over, Diago will be forced to rely on his daimonic nature to deceive an angel. In doing so, he discovers the birth of a modern god—one that will bring about a new world order from which no one can escape.

The Second Death is coming ...

The year is 1931.

The city is Barcelona.

The war between the angels begins in earnest.

Whose side are you on?

To read the original post in full, click here.

And to find out more about the author, her books, and what she's working on now, go here. 

A New Year -- & A Little Change on the Supernatural Underground

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The New Year is a time for changes, so here at Supernatural Underground HQ we're making some changes around time. :-D

Nothing too major "at all, at all", just Kim, Amanda, and Helen changing their regular posting days.

Helen has the shortest step: she's slipping from the 1st to the 2nd. Amanda, who was on the 3rd, will now be posting on the 12th -- while Kim is moving from the 16th to the 22nd. 

Kim

Nicely spaced, for a trio of author that likes to work together -- so "watch for them" on the new days!

Amanda

We'll keep y'all posted on any other changes, as and when they arise. 

Helen

And in the spirit of change, adventure, and ringing in the new, if there's a topic or theme you'd really like Team SU to post on, please do leave a comment with your wishes or suggestions. We'd love to hear them!

Happy New Year!

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Happy New Year, dear Supernatural Underground-ers!

I wish you all the very best for 2025, including -- since it's our core SU mojo -- more great stories of the fantastical and fabulous that I hope will prove as inspiring and awesome to you, as the photo is to me. :-)

'Middle Earth' territory -- South Westland, New Zealand 

I'm looking forward to having more fun with fantasy themes this year -- and with friends-in-writing :-) -- but in the meantime, join me in relaxing, chillaxing, and enjoying the holiday! 

From the Backlist - Bells Bells Bells

 

Christmas Night by Juli Snowwhite

 

For our final Supernatural Underground Backlist post of the year, we all wanted to wish you a wonderful Holiday Season, however you gather and celebrate!

This holiday wish is from a post of Dec 24, 2016 where we give you The Bells by Edgar Allan Poe.

The Bells

Hear the sledges with the bells--- Silver Bells!
What a world of merriment their melody foretells!
How they tinkle,tinkle,tinkle, In the icy air of night!
While the stars that oversprinkle
All the heavens seem to twinkle
With a crystalline delight;
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells
From the bells, bells, bells, bells,Bells, bells, bells,---
From the jingling and tinkling of the bells.

- Edgar Allan Poe -

See the entire post here... 

See you in 2025!

 

Choose Your Weapon -- Espionage

Arcane, set in the League of Legends universe, Ekko is on a spy mission of deadly concern. 

Happy Holidays, everyone!

For the final post in the Choose Your Weapon series, I want to explore one of the most complex, and possibly most intriguing weapons at an author's disposal- Espionage.

espionage

/ˈɛspɪənɑː(d)ʒ/

noun

noun: espionage

The practice of spying or of using spies, typically by governments to obtain political and military information.

By this definition, the usual arsenal of the spy ranges between futuristic weapons al la Bond, stealth vehicles and the key to it all, information.

Yes, information becomes the weapon. If you aren't convinced, consult Sun Tzu.

The Art of War

The Art of War, by Sun Tzu (circa mid-5th Century), is the oldest known military treatise and a classic study of rivalry and competition. It has 13 chapters, each devoted to a different set of warfare-related skills. For today, it's the 13th chapter that interests me the most - The Use of Spies.

Sun Tzu said: Raising a host of a hundred thousand men and marching them great distances entails heavy loss on the people and a drain on the resources of the State... Hence the use of spies... This is called "divine manipulation of the threads." It is the sovereign's most precious faculty. 

The First Spy-Fi Novel

Even though Sun Tzu wasn't writing fiction, there are subgenres devoted to this style of storytelling. For example, The Spy by James Fenimore Cooper, published in 1821, is considered the first spy novel. It's set during the American Revolution and based on the exploits of Harvey Birch, an American secret agent. 

But the first Fantasy spy novel is considered to be "The Princess and the Goblin'', published in 1872. Complete with intrigue, camouflage, trickery and twists, Spy-fi is defined as media that centers around the adventures of a protagonist working in secret to gain hidden information. Usually, these adventures involve defeating a rival superpower or singular enemy in a fantasy or futuristic world setting--outer space, undersea, alt history/time and/or Shagrala-esk locations in the world.

Contemporary Spy-Fi

Little has changed over the last two centuries of Spy Fiction, other than writing style and the increase in female, or even non-gendered main characters. The essential ingredients remain the same: a combination of Fantasy, Mysteries and Thrillers, and some form of espionage as the main weapon wielded.

Consider the titles below and thank you Silvana Reyes Lopez for your insights too!

Incendiary

Set in a world inspired by the 15th-century Spanish Inquisition, Incendiary is a great example of espionage.

Renata has a magic ability that makes it easy to steal memories from people. She has lived a thousand lives. Yet, she only wants to live freely on her own.

Part of a rebel group, Renata now has to infiltrate the royal court in order to rescue the leader of her unit. But the palace harbors difficult memories for her, and the prince inside those walls is ready to have her blood. 

Judgment Night by C. L. Moore 

Moore’s novella begins with an ironic meet-cute.

Juille, the princess of a galactic empire, is incognito on a pleasure planet, where she meets Egide, the similarly incognito leader of the space barbarians (yes, space barbarians) at her father’s proverbial gates. Their dance of will-they-or-won’t-they-topple-each-other’s-domains twists through double crosses, divine audiences, and the use of ancient superweapons, but the book ends by asking why a galactic empire should even continue to exist.

On the way to answering that question, Moore gives us an array of “high fantasy” prose that keep us riveted in the genre. For example, the ship came to a velvety stop; the worldbuilding is neatly bound up in deep time with immense scale; and a female anti-hero who’s strong, complex, and sympathetic. She's also bad to the bone...

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

Laia is a slave. Elias is a soldier. Neither is free.

Under the Martial Empire, defiance is met with death. Those who do not vow their blood and bodies to the Emperor risk the execution of their loved ones and the destruction of all they hold dear.

In this brutal world inspired by ancient Rome, Laia lives with her grandparents and older brother. The family ekes out an existence in the Empire’s impoverished backstreets. They do not challenge the Empire. They’ve seen what happens to those who rebel.

But when Laia’s brother is arrested for treason, she is forced to make a decision. In exchange for help from rebels who promise to rescue her brother, she will risk her life to spy for them from within the Empire’s greatest military academy...

Dragon by Steven Brust 

Over the years, Brust’s antihero Vlad Taltos has been involved in a lot of espionage and trickery, but in the eighth book we get that epic fantasy classic: a war

The beauty of Dragon is how petty, small, muddy, and unimportant that war is. Vlad, the supremely competent assassin and sometimes mafia boss, has to pretend to be a normal foot soldier in order to get close to an enemy. He’s utterly out of his element: uncomfortable, bored, and terrified. As the story wraps up, it expertly combines the satisfaction of a plot well-executed with dark satire and just a touch of sadness at such a useless loss of life.

All this is told in Brust’s spare and almost Hammett-like first-person prose, which describes epic fantasy figures and eldritch magic weapons as though they’re everyday nuisances...

Warcross by Marie Lu

Emika Chen is desperate for some quick cash to pay her rent, so she decides to hack herself into the global sensation Warcross, a video game that took the world by storm. She soon realizes she just hacked herself into the opening game of the international Warcross championship, making her an overnight sensation.

Convinced she’s going to get arrested, she’s surprised when she gets a call from the game’s creator, the young billionaire Hideo Tanaka, offering a deal she cannot refuse. 

***

Care to share your favorite Spy-Fi book or film? We'd all love to hear about it.

xxKim :)

***

The Complete Choose Your Weapon Series 2024

Poison

The Perfect Storm

The Sword

Firearms

Ranged

Spells

Unarmed

Curses

Time Travel

Invisibility

Espionage

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About Kim Falconer

Kim Falconer, also writing as AK Wilder, has released Crown of Bones, a YA Epic Fantasy with Curse of Shadows as book 2 in the series. Currently, she is working on the third book, out in 2025.

Kim can be found on AKWilder Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and KimFalconer.com. 

Throw the bones, read your horoscopes or Raise Your Phantom on the AKWilder.com site See you there!

A Farewell to Our Year of Villainy & Its Grand Finale

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Yep, it's a wrap on our recent Grand Finale and the Year of Villainy in Fantasy -- chiefly fantasy books, although I think a few outliers may have crept in from film and shows. :D

I include the full list of Year of the Villain posts below -- but I've particularly enjoyed the recent Grand Finale and joining with AK Wilder and Amanda Arista to feature a villain from each of our writing.

Just to recap, the three posts were:

AK Wilder & Rhiannon in Curse of Shadows

Rhiannon tells herself she commits her villainy "for the good of the realm."

Kim's wonderful 'Amassia' series

And then we had:
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Amanda Arista & Spencer Haverty in Diaries of an Urban Panther

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Spencer, yeah well -- he slithers into our heroine's life in the guise of a lie...

Amanda's fun & feisty 'Urban Panther' series

Then finally, I gave you:
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Helen Lowe & Arcolin from Daughter of Blood

Arcolin is evil with a human -- and handsome -- face.

The dark & magic-laden 'Wall Of Night' series

And that's the wrap -- three takes on villainy, rolling up the Year of Villainy in style, with some 'Fun With  Friends' along the way.

I'll leave you with that 'Compleat' List -- from 'go' to 'whoa':

Previous “Year of the Villain” Posts:

January:      Ushering in 2024 -- & the Year of the Villain

February:    The Year of the Villain #1: The Lord of The Rings Pantheon

March: The Year of the Villain #2: Ursula Le Guin & “Earthsea”

April: The Year of the Villain #3: Tigana and Brandin of Ygrath

May: The Year of the Villain #4: Elidor and Formless Evil 

June: The Year of the Villain #5: When the Hero Is Really A Villain

July:  The Year of the Villain #6: When the Author Messes With Your Mind

August:  The Year of the Villain #7: The Evilest Of Them All

September: The Year of the Villain #8: Secret Villains

October: The Year of the Villain #9: Once Were Heroes

November: The Year of the Villain #10: Villainy Among Friends

December: The Year of the Villain #11:  A Grand Finale of Villainy --

Rhiannon in Curse of Shadows  
 
Spencer in Diaries of An Urban Panther

                         Arcolin in Daughter of Blood

~*~

About Helen Lowe:

Helen Lowe is an award-winning novelist, poet, and lover of story. With four books published to date, she is currently completing the final instalment in The Wall Of Night series.

Helen posts regularly on her “…on Anything, Really” blog, monthly on the Supernatural Underground, and tweets @helenl0we.