In Dawn of Magic, the last book in my Worldweaver series, Coyote comes into full flower. (I’m working the final proofs now.)
When I set out to write the Worldweavers books, I wanted to write a story which was an American YA fantasy, to ground the stories that I would write firmly in the New World. I began by exploring themes in the Native American mythos.
Avatars of the gods and spirits from that mythological sphere became characters in my stories. Grandmother Spider, who plays an important role in the creation of the world in the rich mythology of the American South West, became a mentor for my young protagonist
And since every light has to have a shadow, the Trickster God, Coyote, ambled onto the stage with a hat-tilt and a wicked grin aimed in my direction.
Initially, he was something of a simple stereotype, a literary equivalent of a simple pencil sketch. He was there to fill the hole in the narrative which required a touch of malice, a touch of trickery, a touch of the dark side. But then, the Trickster in my novels slowly Tricked me into becoming…well, a real boy. He developed tics and mannerisms and habits. He always wore cowboy boots which were always dusty, he was given to flippancy.
For reasons initially known only to himself, he appeared to be working in cahoots with the enemy. And yet Grandmother Spider tells my protagonist, “Coyote will always be on your side.” And it is the joy and richness of this character that both of those are true, and true at once, and they don’t necessarily cancel one another out. Coyote is a Schrodinger’s cat of a character, both good and evil inside that box and you don’t know which until you actually open it up and look. (And often even then you are not sure. He is Coyote, after all.)
My version of Coyote became something larger and deeper, something that forced me to color outside the lines and to ask harder questions and to glimpse all sorts of shadows into which my insights threw only the dimmest of lights, just enough light to know that there was more shadow beyond its reach than I would ever be able to understand or really do justice to within the scope of my story.
In Dawn of Magic, Coyote CAME ALIVE. The book is Thea Winthrop’s apotheosis, where she faces her greatest fears and has to stand firm in the face of them; this is the story of the redemption of Nikola Tesla, and his transformation into something that even I had not seen truly coming.
And above all this is the story of Coyote, the Trickster, the creature who cares deeply about everything even while he pretends not to give a fig for anything at all, who trusts instinct and not reason and gives his whole existence up to the power of that truth, whose role in creation is to test the mettle of men and to bring out the best and the brightest in them when times to try their souls are thrust upon them but who does this work with equal measure of playful malice and unplumbed depths of empathy and love.
This is the Coyote I came to know, and my own life is the richer for it.
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Are you a bibliophile?
OK. Sure you love books, but are you a REAL bibliophile? How Well-Rounded Is Your Personal Book Collection? Buzzfeed wants to know.
Theyr’e talking real printed and bound paper pages here. How many of the 81 (yes, 81) following types of books do you own?
I got 70 out of 81. I fell down when it came to manga… 🙂
Test your bibliophile status HERE
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7 Reasons You Should Never Date Someone Who Doesn’t Read Books
As a person who was basically raised by books, Emma Lord writes, she cannot help but balk at dating non-readers.
I understand the sentiment. When I first started talking to a man online, I sent him one of my favorite books. He claims that I made it clear that if he didn’t like it, there would be no hope of a beautiful friendship. (He passed the test; he loved the book and he’s now my husband.)
Emma Lord, who is still single, says in Bustle, “I’m not sticking my nose up in the air at dating contenders because they haven’t read Proust or written a 17-page paper on some other dead guy…there is a book genre out there for everyone, and people who aren’t reading books are deliberately ignoring them and their brains are suffering for it.”
Read her reasons HERE
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15 YA Writers on Their Favorite Book for Adults
I wasn’t one of the YA authors asked, but I would have offered several books, including the one I sent as a test to my future husband, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by the British writer Louis de Bernières. I’ll tell you about some of my other favorites another time.
Writing for Flavorwire, Elisabeth Donnelly asked some of our favorite contemporary young adult authors about their favorite books for grown-ups. The results, which feature responses that are both sly and serious, range from coming-of-age stories to science fiction adventures.
For example,
Andrew Smith: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Jonathan Safran Foer
One of my favorite adult literary novels of all time is Jonathan Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. With rich prose and striking characters, the novel tells an inventive and enchanting story about the search for all things lost. It’s one of the very few novels I will read again and again.
Andrew Smith‘s books include Grasshopper Jungle and The Alex Crow, due in March.
Read the rest HERE
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Telephones in literature – quiz
It’s 100 years since Alexander Graham Bell inaugurated the US transcontinental telephone service, Greg Clowes writes at The Guardian. And to celebrate the occasion, he examined some memorable calls in literature. Can you get the right numbers for these questions?
The telephone – ‘a supernatural instrument’ according to one French writer. But who?
Take the quiz HERE
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THIS ‘n THAT
Chilling First Amendment Implications of a journalist’s five-year prison sentence
Read the article HERE
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Scarves growing on trees. To be harvested by those most in need of them. There are moments that people and their wacky and wonderful ideas really make me happy.
Hundreds of hats and scarves have been spotted in cities that are experiencing freezing temps this winter. The message attached to one scarf says: “I am not lost! If you are stuck out in the cold please take this to keep warm!”
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Quote of the Day
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Alma Alexander My books Email me
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