Looking forward to the week ahead, because… it is WORLD FANTASY CONVENTION 2023, my third year there, and I will be tuning into New Orleans from the comfort of my writing room. Really excited for so many inspiring panels, and conversations with readers and writers alike. And of course, I’m looking forward to being a panelist again, programmed on Friday’s, Just Who is the Villain panel. Buzzing – but more on that later.
Mia is the in-house monitor for season changes. From sun worshipper during the heatwave, to couch potato, taking to her red blanket when Autumn arrives.
After a summer of family grief and the upheaval that comes with it, summer passed in the blink of an eye or a hazy wave, dependent on the moment. So before all the leaves have disappeared from the trees, I thought I’d revisit a recent outing to a local reserve, lovely Dunsford.
We’re so grateful to Devon Wildlife Trust for maintaining these pockets of nature, an outing so magical it inspired a poem:
Dunsford; by Susie Williamson
Walk with me,
You who feels troubles plenty,
Weighed with thoughts of disconnection,
Bring your heavy steps,
Across the swathes of Clifford Bridge,
Spy the magic from afar,
Allow your mind, your thoughts and all that you are,
To embrace,
Open your heart to the wonders abound,
Dunsford Reverse, nature’s ground,
Where coppices grow, regrow, recycle, renew refresh,
Tune your senses to the cool, crisp clarity of nature’s drug,
Eyes wide to the magic like a heady rush,
In this place of vivid tones,
And transient joy through valley slopes,
Cast your eye,
Over crystal clear waters of the River Teign,
With a rushing flow felt deep within,
Your cells alive with the sounds of a watery dance,
Spy the slender pickings of a native dipper,
The distant tap of a kingfisher,
And in a moment your heart skips a beat,
To hear an otter’s indomitable squeak,
You pause,
Beneath the arched boughs of a sycamore tree,
A place of nature’s unity,
Leaves touch glassy water with the lightest kiss,
While tumbled-down steeples of jagged rocks,
Cloudy crystal granite shards defend the shores,
Watched by passing deer from slopes up high,
Through dappling fronds their furtive spy,
Grants a wish,
For those who look beyond the pale,
To where sun and moon cast dreamlike rays,
Too soon for springtime daffodils,
But climb woodland heights for magicked sights,
And long-tailed tits like dragonflies,
Acorns beneath giant ferns like trees,
Half-eaten in this woodland sanctity
Passersby,
Feel the brush of air from a tawnies wing,
The distant sound of a goosander’s song,
Climb through hazel, oak and hawthorn,
Barbs to give a friendly scratch,
While reaching heady woodland heights,
Breathe the view of this vast valley,
Home to bracken slopes and fallow deer,
And know, our connective tissue.
After a slight interlude, here is the promised Part Two, to follow my recent post entitled WorldCon 2022 Non-Conforming Women.
Whereas the first post looked at some favourite women on screen, there are some wonderfully inspiring books out there that go a long way to challenge the gender status quo and free all our characters up to be who they want to be. Representation matters and I’m all for subverting expectation to give unique stories and characterisation.
As for the question of how I explore gender in my own epic fantasy series, Blood Gift Chronicles …
Pausing to introduce my latest read:
Hadithi & The State of Black Speculative Fiction by Eugen Bacon & Milton Davis.
Worldcon 2022, aka Chicon was a wonderfully busy long weekend with an inspiring, eclectic mix of subject matter to delve into, explore, get lost, and re-emerge with fresh eyes and thoughts revitalised. It was also genuinely tiring, despite attending virtually, being based in Chicago and the time difference that brings, so plenty of late nights. And now I’m still on catchup, cramming in viewing as many panels as possible before they disappear into the ether.
Two days to go and I will be at Worldcon, the 80th World Science Fiction Convention which this year is being held in Chicago. Thanks to the wonders of technology, I’ll be tuning in from the comfort of my writing room. As well as being an avid spectator, I’m joining in with the programme, which involves taking the time to consider my work and perspectives.
And this Tuesday morning it’s all about dragons… which feature in my series Blood Gift Chronicles. Prior to the books, in the planning stages, I didn’t start out with the intention of writing dragons, although it’s possible that there was something happening in the sub-conscious. I mean who doesn’t love dragons? I remember the decision-making process, whether to go with something as familiar and perhaps obvious, or go for invention. Ultimately, I was drawn to dragons, or at least versions of them – as familiar as dragons are, I’m definitely going for a whole new angle.
I was thinking about the quote by Ursula Le Guin: “I do not care what comes after; I have seen dragons dancing on the morning winds.”
They are creatures that reveal an awe-inspiring feeling of other-worldly magic. They are the ultimate strength, the lesson in humility, the fact that there are things bigger than us, out of our control. But rather than the idea of going up against a dragon, trying to beat a dragon, the story develops into becoming a dragon, what that reflects in us, storylines analogous to loss, love, loyalty, grief and empowerment – the idea of ‘beyond this place, there be dragons’ – rather than an outer journey, thinking about an inner journey that someone might go through in transforming.
Back to Blood Gift Chronicles, and dragons don’t actually feature until the third book. Stories are told of them in the second book and the magic is alluded to, but it’s not until the third that we discover the big mystery of the dragons.
A final thought for now, the idea of dragons comes with a kind of melancholy, that idea of bordering on extinction – extinction of magic, and the fantastical, and creature extinction. That fits with some of the themes in the books, around wildlife and the environment. There are storylines around the interplay of capitalism and corruption and impacts on nature, and just generally, wildlife is a very visible backdrop throughout the books, almost with an identity of character in lots of ways. In fact, in book one it does take the form of a fantastical creature character.
Have you met the Mantra yet?
