Choose Your Poison

Choose Your Weapon - Poison

Magical Potion Shelves by Fiulo

Welcome to my 2024, mini blog series on Weapons in Fantasy Fiction. Examples will include a range, from magical staffs, blades, bows and arrows, daggers, war dogs/horses, shapeshifters, curses and bare hands. In the case of Urban Fantasy and SteamPunk, a plethora of firearms enter the arena. 

There are hundreds of types of weapons and each can be, in fiction at least, embued with special powers, names and even personalities, like Sauron's One Ring. But a writer can't just reach into the grab bag and pull up any old thing...

They must choose their weapons wisely to reflect the culture and setting, the nature of the hero, accessibility, training, history and opportunity. Some weapons are immediate, like daggers, heavy rocks and martial arts. Others are slower-acting or may take intricate planning.

Here, I'm talking about poison. It isn't always quick on the draw, but it can be easier to get away with. 

Like many weapons, poison has been with us IRL (in real life) for a long time suggesting it requires research to weave into the story. The more familiar readers are with a topic, the easier it is for them to spot inconsistencies, and no writer wants those. They can throw the reader out of the story, and make them question everything the author says from then on (if they keep reading)!

Fortunately, there are thousands of years of documented history of poisoning to draw on. Within several hours of research, the writer can portray a convincing scenario of a fatal dose of, say, arsenic or strychnine. 

Yet again, an author with a bio-chemical background may do much better. Take Lydia Kang's A Beautiful Poison, for example, or  Maia V. Snyder's Poison Study. Also the bittersweet An Affair of Poison by Addie Thorley.

Not all poisonings are headliners though. Many authors incorporate poisonings into the story's background through secondary characters and side quests. I have done this myself in Crown of Bones and subsequent books in the series. Not only are the 'villains' playing with poisons, but the Healer savants are too. They not only mix potions to save lives but can use them in battle against enemies. Their phantoms are usually required for the process and often have extreme ways of administering the substance. 

Will they have antidotes on hand, in case of accidental ingestion, or even a change of heart? 

That's always going to be entirely up to the writer, of course. 

The most recent tale of poison I've read is Belladonna by Adalyn Grace - it's smoky dark with hints of gothic horror and romance....

What is your favorite use of poison in fiction? I'd love to hear about it in the comments!

xx Kim

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Choose Your Weapon Series 2024

Poison

The Perfect Storm

The Sword

Firearms

Ranged

Spells

Unarmed

Curses

Time Travel

Invisibility

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About Kim Falconer

Kim Falconer, currently 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 2024.

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

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

Choose Your Poison

Poison in a Bottle

As synchronicity would have it, the last three books I've read had much to do about poisons, toxic substances that caused grievous harm. Some of the results are accidental, some intentional, but what ties all three reads together is the way the poison itself becomes a character.

Sure, you could say that chemical/magical substances are just tools, good or evil depending on who wields them. But in these books, I found the alchemy so unique and essential to the plot that it warrants a life of its own. 

I'll highlight them here so you can judge for yourself if you want to partake. I liked them all very much, in different ways.

Poison Study by Maria V Snider -

Fantasy
Book one of nine in the Poison Study Series

In this dance with poisons, the hero, Yelena, convicted of murder, is offered the option of becoming a taste tester to the Commander of Ixia. The other choice is death. Being a taster means she's well housed and very well fed. Of course, it also means she will die at any moment if she can't identify a poison quickly.

There's another twist to the plot that keeps her from running away, an ingenious addition by Snider that keeps the story moving as well as elevating the poison to a supreme 'power over.'

Fabulous writing. I love how you can settle in for nine whole books in this series!


An Affair of Poisons by Addie Thorley

YA Historical Fantasy
Standalone

This debut story whisks us away to the time of King Louis XIV, focusing on a seventeen-year-old who is shocked when she learns the truth about her mother's once-revered Shadow Society. Mirabelle Monvoisin is an alchemist, after her father, whose love of chemistry and magic, life-saving and life-taking, brings to life the plants and herbs and elements she works with.

While she struggles with a life or death situation, she meets the
Royal bastard Josse de Bourbon, loathed by his father the Sun King but devoted to his siblings who are in desperate need of saving.

As the captions reads: "She’s a deadly poisoner. He’s a bastard prince. As sworn enemies, they form a tenuous pact to unite the commoners and nobility against the Shadow Society. But can a rebellion built on mistrust ever hope to succeed?"

A rich and entertaining read. It made me dust off a history book to learn more about the French Revolution.

A Beautiful Poison - Lydia Kang

YA Historical Fiction/Mystery
Standalone

I just realized this is one of the few non-fantasy novels I've read in some time. I was drawn to the author by reading her YA fantasy title - The November Girl - and although this story is very different, the writing is every bit as engaging and immersive.

Set in the early 1900s, in both the homes of upper-class New Yorkers and those less fortunate, we meet Allene, smart, educated, entitled and out to solve a murder mystery. She teams up with two old friends, the fragile and stunning Birdy, and Jasper, a young apprentice medical examiner at Bellevue Hospital. 

As the story deepens, I found myself guessing 'who done it?' but oh boy, was I surprised at the very end. Brilliant writing. Amazing toxins and characters so real it makes you cry. Set in the era of NY jazz and the Spanish flu... Highly recommended.

As I think on these three authors and how they have weaved their poisons into the plots, I am reminded of Paracelsus when he said:

Poison is in everything, and no thing is without poison. The dosage makes it either deleterious or healing... 

Have you read any books about poison lately? Authors, how do you use toxins in your books? I'd love to hear about it in the comments.

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Kim Falconer's New YA Fantasy Series is out in 2019 - The Bone Throwers. 

Also, check her urban fantasy out now - The Blood in the Beginning - and Ava Sykes Novel and the SFF Quantum Enchantment Series. 

You can find Kim on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.