The Magic of Mark Budman

 I just finished the most delightful book by Mark Budman, The Shape-Shifter's Guide to Time Travel.

It is suitable for any age, not just YA. The main character, Rose, travels to the last land of magic in the modern world, fictional Temnova, as an exchange student. She teams up with the Prince of Talents, an advanced shape-shifter named Gavrilo. Together they must go back in time to find an antidote to a drug that suppresses the power to shift. The government has imprisoned the rebel leader and only the antidote can free her and aid their cause to overthrow the totalitarian dictatorship.

The narrative voice makes the characters and setting come alive in a truly divine way. I'd give it six stars if they were available. 

Mark Budman is a first-generation immigrant. His fiction has appeared in Catapult, Witness, World Literature Today, Mississippi Review, The London Magazine (UK), McSweeney’s, Painted Bride Quarterly, and elsewhere. He is the author of the novel My Life at First Try, published by Counterpoint, and co-editor of immigration-themed anthologies published by Ooligan Press, Persea, and the University of Chester (UK). One of his short story collections from Livingston Press received a starred review at Kirkus and another received an honorable mention by the Forward Indies 2022 Award.

I had the pleasure of chatting with him about his writing career.

1.  What led you to your path as a writer?

As soon as I learned the letters, I began to put them together, and I enjoyed the process so much that I switched to assembling words. The sentences came a little later. By the time I progressed to novels, I immigrated to America and had to learn another language.

2. Are you a plotter, pantser, or combination?

A pantser all the way. That is why my pants need replacement more often than the rest of my wardrobe.

 3. How has your background as an immigrant informed your writing?

I answered a bit in #1 but in addition, I consider myself a champion of immigrant fiction and as such I co-edited an immigrant-themed anthology and penned an immigrant-themed novel and two short story collections. All were moderately successful. For someone who learned English at the age of 30.

4. What was your inspiration for The Shape-Shifter’s Guide to Time Travel?

I love fantasy. I love the what if question. I asked myself, what would happen if two people with disparate powers fell and love and combined their powers? What if this would have happened in an oppressive country like my native Soviet Union?

5. Is there anything you would like your readers to take away from this book?

Be young in spirit and adventurous no matter how old you are. And have a good friend. They come in handy. Just come in handy for them as well.

6. You write multiple genres. Do you have a favorite?

Magic realism is my number one love. To combine realistic and surreal in one believable blend. If you make it real, what can be more magical?

7. What is your advice for someone who dreams of writing?

If you have a wish, don't squish it. Work hard and turn the naysayers into admirers. 

8. Do you have a favorite author or two?

Mikhail Bulgakov. I reread his Master and Margarita several times. I imagined myself both of them but not at the same time.

9.  What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

Watch fantasy shows. Currently, it's Foundation.

While I believe anyone can learn the craft of writing, some are just born with natural wit and story-weaving capability that sets them apart. Mark Budman is a natural. In addition to devouring the Shape-Shifter's Guide to Time Travel, I have his book The Armor Thieves on my Kindle to read next. Pick up your copies today!

https://www.amazon.com/Shape-Shifters-Guide-Time-Travel-ebook/dp/B09BBY2QYG/r

https://www.amazon.com/Armor-Thieves-Mark-Budman-ebook/dp/B0BN7182CD/

In a country ignored by most search engines, Andrey and Nina, a brother and sister, take opposite sides in a civil war. Both wear the pieces of an ancient queen’s armor protecting them and only them from any modern weapon and from each other. They both are brilliant and attached to their causes. He’s twenty. She’s eighteen. He’s a modest archivist. She’s a rising star in the Secret Police. He’s a newbie superhero, and she’s a novice super-villain. He loves her. She hates him and his friend Vesna. She wants to fight. He has to fight. Only one can win but many can lose as a result.

I look forward to reading many more stories from this talented author. 

A Few of My Favorite Paranormal Novels

Edited with New additions to my paranormal favorites (2023)

The Shapeshifter's Guide to Time Travel by  Mark Budman

Rose, an 18-year-old American time traveler, comes to the totalitarian Temnota as an exchange student. Many people in this country are Talents—the shape-shifters. Rose finds out that a captured rebel leader is locked up in a high-security prison, awaiting execution. Without their leader, the rebels will be annihilated. Rose can travel in time without any machine, and she can transport people with her. She takes her classmate and friend Gavrilo, the prince of the good Talents, back to the past to find a way to free the prisoner. The Senior Major of the country’s Secret Service, the king of all evil Talents, stands in their way. Rose and Gavrilo fall in love while fighting him, and now their resolve and commitment are tested in battle.

First up is friend and crit partner's release Remembrance by Rita Woods. It is a fantasy take on the underground railroad. You can read my interview with her here: https://bloodredpencil.blogspot.com/2021/02/the-path-to-publication-with-rita-woods.html

Remembrance…It’s a rumor, a whisper passed in the fields and veiled behind sheets of laundry. A hidden stop on the underground road to freedom, a safe haven protected by more than secrecy…if you can make it there. Ohio, present day. An elderly woman who is more than she seems warns against rising racism as a young nurse grapples with her life. Haiti, 1791, on the brink of revolution. When the slave Abigail is forced from her children to take her mistress to safety, she discovers New Orleans has its own powers. 1857 New Orleans—a city of unrest: Following tragedy, house girl Margot is sold just before her promised freedom. Desperate, she escapes and chases a whisper.... Remembrance. 

I am looking forward to her new release in 2022, The Last Dreamwalker. Loved, loved, loved the early drafts. Rita has one of the most amazing narrative voices I have ever read. This book has been released and it is just as good as I hoped. Layla Hurley returns to the Gullah islands where she must face off with a crazed ancestor in a fight in each other's dreams. Five stars.

Follow Rita Woods on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Rita-Woods/e/B07ZXLWBRV/r

I am not usually one for zombie stories or civil war tales, but I love Justina Ireland's narrative voice and adored her main character, Jane, in Dread Nation and its sequel Deathless Divide. 

Jane McKeene was born two days before the dead began to walk the battlefields of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania—derailing the War Between the States and changing the nation forever. In this new America, safety for all depends on the work of a few, and laws like the Native and Negro Education Act require certain children attend combat schools to learn to put down the dead. But there are also opportunities—and Jane is studying to become an Attendant, trained in both weaponry and etiquette to protect the well-to-do. It's a chance for a better life for Negro girls like Jane. After all, not even being the daughter of a wealthy white Southern woman could save her from society’s expectations. But that’s not a life Jane wants. Almost finished with her education at Miss Preston's School of Combat in Baltimore, Jane is set on returning to her Kentucky home and doesn’t pay much mind to the politics of the eastern cities, with their talk of returning America to the glory of its days before the dead rose. I have not read her backlist, but there are quite a few to choose from including tales from the Star Wars franchise. I look forward to more fiction from her pen.

Follow Justina Ireland on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Justina-Ireland/e/B009BXOJ1S

Natasha Mostert's Season of the Witch is one of my favorite witch tales of all time.  

A computer hacker, Gabriel Blackstone is also a remote viewer who can read other people's minds. Asked to find a friend's son, he enters the orbit of the mysterious Monk sisters. But he uses his gift only reluctantly, until he is contacted by an ex-lover who begs him to find her stepson, last seen months earlier in a mysterious house in Chelsea. Gabriel becomes increasingly bewitched by the house, and by its owners, the beautiful and mysterious Monk sisters. Morrighan and Minnaloushe are direct descendants of Elizabethan occultist John Dee. Gabriel knows one is a killer, but which one?

In The Midnight Side, Isa de Witt receives a phone call from her cousin Alette, only to fins she has been dead for two days. She travels to London to solve her cousin's murder and get revenge.

In Windwalker, Justine Calloway moves into a deserted English mansion and becomes obsessed with the family who lived there and they with her. 

In Dark Prayer, Jennilee suffers from dissociative memory disorder after witnessing the dramatic murder of her mother at the age of five. Her mother, Julianne, together with four friends, were working on strange scientific experiments involving the manipulation of memory molecules. Jennilee’s fugue state manifests another entity named Eloise. Can she learn to control the voices in her head and unlock the secrets from her past?

I highly recommend them all. Follow Natasha Mostert on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Natasha-Mostert/e/B000APMG9I?

I am a bit late to the game, but I finally got around to reading the books in Alice Hoffman's Practical Magic series.  I had watched the star-studded movie, but the books are much richer and span several generations of Owens women. For more than two hundred years, the Owens women have been blamed for everything that has gone wrong in their Massachusetts town. Gillian and Sally have endured that fate as well: as children, the sisters were forever outsiders, taunted, talked about, pointed at. Their elderly aunts almost seemed to encourage the whispers of witchery, with their musty house and their exotic concoctions and their crowd of black cats. But all Gillian and Sally wanted was to escape. One will do so by marrying, the other by running away. But the bonds they share will bring them back—almost as if by magic.

The second book in the series is The Rules of Magic. For the Owens family, love is a curse that began in 1620, when Maria Owens was charged with witchery for loving the wrong man. Hundreds of years later, in New York City at the cusp of the sixties, when the whole world is about to change, Susanna Owens knows that her three children are dangerously unique. Difficult Franny, with skin as pale as milk and blood red hair, shy and beautiful Jet, who can read other people’s thoughts, and charismatic Vincent, who began looking for trouble on the day he could walk. From the start Susanna sets down rules for her children: No walking in the moonlight, no red shoes, no wearing black, no cats, no crows, no candles, no books about magic. And most importantly, never, ever, fall in love. But when her children visit their Aunt Isabelle, in the small Massachusetts town where the Owens family has been blamed for everything that has ever gone wrong, they uncover family secrets and begin to understand the truth of who they are. Yet, the children cannot escape love even if they try, just as they cannot escape the pains of the human heart. The two beautiful sisters will grow up to be the memorable aunts in Practical Magic, while Vincent, their beloved brother, will leave an unexpected legacy.

The third book in the series is Magic Lessons which traces the centuries-old curse to its source, Maria Owens, who was accused of witchcraft in Salem, and matriarch of a line of the amazing Owens women. In the 1600s, Maria is abandoned in a snowy field in rural England as a baby. Under the care of Hannah Owens, Maria learns about the “Nameless Arts.” Hannah recognizes that Maria has a gift and she teaches the girl all she knows. It is here that she learns her first important lesson: Always love someone who will love you back. When Maria is abandoned by the man who has declared his love for her, she follows him to Salem, Massachusetts. Here she invokes the curse that will haunt her family. And it’s here that she learns the rules of magic and the lesson that she will carry with her for the rest of her life. Love is the only thing that matters.

The fourth book in the series, The Book of Magic was released this year. You can read my review of it here: 

https://bloodredpencil.blogspot.com/2021/04/magic-lessons-by-alice-hoffman.html

The Owens family has been cursed in matters of love for over three-hundred years but all of that is about to change. The novel begins in a library, the best place for a story to be conjured, when beloved aunt Jet Owens hears the deathwatch beetle and knows she has only seven days to live. Jet is not the only one in danger—the curse is already at work. A frantic attempt to save a young man’s life spurs three generations of the Owens women, and one long-lost brother, to use their unusual gifts to break the curse as they travel from Paris to London to the English countryside where their ancestor Maria Owens first practiced the Unnamed Art. The younger generation discovers secrets that have been hidden from them in matters of both magic and love by Sally, their fiercely protective mother. As Kylie Owens uncovers the truth about who she is and what her own dark powers are, her aunt Franny comes to understand that she is ready to sacrifice everything for her family, and Sally Owens realizes that she is willing to give up everything for love.

Hoffman has an extensive back list. I have not read all of them yet, but am working on it. 

Follow Alice Hoffman on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Alice-Hoffman/e/B000AQ05CC

 

Brenna Yovanoff was one of my serendipitous finds. Her books are quirky and captivating and include: 

The Replacement  Mackie Doyle is The Replacement - left in the crib of a human baby sixteen years ago. He has been raised among us. But he is not one of us. Now, he must face the dark creatures of the slag heaps from which he came and find his rightful place - in our world or theirs.

The Space Between  Everything burns in Pandemonium, a city in Hell made of chrome and steel, where there is no future and life is an expanse of frozen time. That's where Daphne--the daughter of Lilith and Lucifer--waits, wondering what lies in store for her. Will she become a soulless demon like her sisters? Or follow in the footsteps of her brother Obie, whose life is devoted to saving lost souls on Earth? But when Obie saves a troubled boy named Truman from the brink of death and then goes missing, Daphne is catapulted on a mission to Earth, with Truman as her guide. As Daphne and Truman search for Obie, they discover what it means to love and be human in a world where human is the hardest thing to be.

Paper Valentine For Hannah, the summer is a complicated one.  Her best friend Lillian died six months ago, and Hannah just wants her life to go back to normal. But how can things be normal when Lillian’s ghost is haunting her bedroom, pushing her to investigate the mysterious string of murders?  Hannah’s just trying to understand why her friend self-destructed, and where she fits now that Lillian isn’t there to save her a place among the social elite. And she must stop thinking about Finny Boone, the big, enigmatic delinquent whose main hobbies seem to include petty larceny and surprising acts of kindness. With the entire city in a panic, Hannah soon finds herself drawn into a world of ghost girls and horrifying secrets.  She realizes that only by confronting the Valentine Killer will she be able move on with her life—and it’s up to her to put together the pieces before he strikes again.

Fiendish When Clementine was a child, dangerous and inexplicable things started happening in New South Bend. The townsfolk blamed the fiendish people out in the Willows and burned their homes to the ground. But magic kept Clementine alive, walled up in the cellar for ten years, until a boy named Fisher sets her free. Back in the world, Clementine sets out to discover what happened all those years ago. But the truth gets muddled in her dangerous attraction to Fisher, the politics of New South Bend, and the Hollow, a fickle and terrifying place that seems increasingly temperamental ever since Clementine reemerged.

Her stories are modern-day fables reminiscent of the Brothers Grimm. The plots are slight, but her glorious use of language and description makes up for that. Paper Valentine was my least favorite. The other three I could not put down.

She has written a prequel for the Max character from the Netflix Stranger Things television series titled Stranger Things: Runaway Max. This must-read novel, explores Max's past, the good and the bad, as well as how she came to find her newfound sense of home in Hawkins, Indiana

Follow Brenna Yovanoff on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Brenna-Yovanoff/e/B003VKZBT6/

Now that the Christmas gifts have been opened and it's time to begin a new year of reading, hopefully you received gift money to get a head start on your TBR pile.  

Join in me 2022 for more educational articles on the craft of writing and books to add to your reading list.

Check out my Story Building Blocks series and website for the writer in your life at www.dianahurwitz.com. There are many free tools, articles, and forms to get you started on your writing journey or dig you out of a hole if you become stuck.

And though it lacks magic, practical or otherwise, pick up the Mythikas Island series for the adventure

lover. Diana, Persephone, Aphrodite, and Athena undergo a survival exercise on a deserted island to earn a seat on the ruling council of Mt. Olympus.

Follow me on Amazon for more books on the craft of writing: https://www.amazon.com/Diana-Hurwitz/e/B002BOC3HQ 

 

 

A Few of My Favorite Fantasy Novels

Fantasy vies with mystery for my favorite genre. I love the unique worldbuilding and characters. 

In which I marvel at A. R. Kahler's Immortal Circus series. I have since enjoyed his Ravenborn and Pale Queen Rising series. He has a new series out which I just added to my TBR pile Runebinder. 

http://dianahurwitz.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-magic-of-voice-and-r-kahler.html

In The Immortal Circus, Vivienne finds herself part of Queen Mab's immortal circus and along with the intriguing Kingston, a stage magician with real magic, and new friend Melody, she must find the culprit behind a series of deaths that should be impossible. However, the answer she seeks might reveal more about her own bloody past—and future—than she bargains for.

In Ravenborn, Keira goes to a boarding school for magical students deep in the woods of Michigan to hide. But when students start dying, she is the only one who can stop the killer.

In Pale Queen Rising, royal assassin Claire is sent to the Immortal Circus, one of the many places where “Dream” is harvested from the imaginings of mortals. There she must find the culprit who is causing Dream to mysteriously disappear before the Winter Kingdom’s supply is depleted enough to threaten its very survival.

In Runebinder,

Tenn is a Hunter in a dystopian world filled with Howls and the powerful Kin who make him their pawn in a war of magic versus humankind where the stakes are his friends, his life, and the entire world.

Follow A. R. Kahler on Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/A-R-Kahler/e/B006N8JB12

In which I praise Sarah J.Maas's Throne of Glass series:

http://dianahurwitz.blogspot.com/2019/08/review-of-throne-of-glass-by-sarah-j.html

Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince Dorian and offered her freedom so long as she acts as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she'll serve the kingdom for three years and then be granted her freedom. Her trainer, Westfall is a harsh taskmaster and sparks fly.

The Court of Thorns and Roses was equally enjoyable. 

Feyre lives in the human world but always wonders what life is like on the other side of the wall where magic resides. She kills a wolf in the woods and is taken to a palace where shifter faery Tamlin rules.  She becomes his captive and is at first captivated. When taken prisoner by Faerie Queen, she meets the villainous Rhysand. But enemy becomes ally and Feyre becomes the most powerful weapon in the war between worlds. 

Follow Sara J Maas on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Sarah-J-Maas/e/B0070291GK

In the Shattered Realms series  by Cinda Williams Chima, Adrian sul’Han, known as Ash, is a trained healer with a powerful gift of magicand a thirst for revenge. Ash is forced into hiding after a series of murders throws the queendom into chaos. Now he’s closer than ever to killing the man responsible, the cruel king of Arden. With time running out, Ash faces an excruciating choice: Can he use his powers not to save a life but to take it? Abandoned at birth, Jenna Bandelow was told that the magemark on the back of her neck would make her a target. But when the King’s Guard launches a relentless search for a girl with a mark like hers, Jenna assumes that it has more to do with her role as a saboteur than any birth-based curse. Though Jenna doesn’t know why she’s being hunted, she knows that she can’t get caught. Eventually, Ash’s and Jenna’s paths collide in Arden. Thrown together by chance and joined by their hatred of the ruthless king, they will come to rescue each other in ways they cannot yet imagine.

In the Seven Realms series, Adrian sul’Han, known as Ash, is a trained healer with a powerful gift of magic—and a thirst for revenge. Ash is forced into hiding after a series of murders throws the queendom into chaos. Now he’s closer than ever to killing the man responsible, the cruel king of Arden. With time running out, Ash faces an excruciating choice: Can he use his powers not to save a life but to take it?  Abandoned at birth, Jenna Bandelow was told that the magemark on the back of her neck would make her a target. But when the King’s Guard launches a relentless search for a girl with a mark like hers, Jenna assumes that it has more to do with her role as a saboteur than any birth-based curse. Though Jenna doesn’t know why she’s being hunted, she knows that she can’t get caught.

Eventually, Ash’s and Jenna’s paths will collide in Arden. Thrown together by chance and joined by their hatred of the ruthless king, they will come to rescue each other in ways they cannot yet imagine.

Follow Cinda Williams Chima on Amazon: 

https://www.amazon.com/Cinda-Williams-Chima/e/B001JS6VP0

In the Blood and Ash series by Jennifer Armentrout, Poppy is kept in seclusion as the next "maiden." Waiting for the day of her Ascension, she would rather be with the guards, fighting back the evil that took her family, than preparing to be found worthy by the gods. But the choice has never been hers. When Ahen Hawke, a golden-eyed guard honor bound to ensure her Ascension, enters her life, destiny and duty become tangled with desire and need. He incites her anger, makes her question everything she believes in, and tempts her with the forbidden.

I have not yet worked my way through the rest of her list of series, but I will. 

Follow Jennifer Armentrout on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Jennifer-L.-Armentrout/e/B004E5J5N0

In Leigh Bardugo' Grishaverse series, starting with Shadow and Bone, the capital has fallen. The Darkling rules Ravka from his shadow throne. Now the nation's fate rests with a broken Sun Summoner, a disgraced tracker, and the shattered remnants of a once-great magical army. Deep in an ancient network of tunnels and caverns, a weakened Alina must submit to the dubious protection of the Apparat and the zealots who worship her as a Saint. Yet her plans lie elsewhere, with the hunt for the elusive firebird and the hope that an outlaw prince still survives.  Alina will have to forge new alliances and put aside old rivalries as she and Mal race to find the last of Morozova's amplifiers. But as she begins to unravel the Darkling's secrets, she reveals a past that will forever alter her understanding of the bond they share and the power she wields. The firebird is the one thing that stands between Ravka and destruction—and claiming it could cost Alina the very future she's fighting for. The first book of this trilogy has been made into a television series as a mash up with Six of Crows.

In Six of Crows, in my opinion the best part of the Grishaverse, Ketterdam is a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can't pull it off alone. Like any good Con/Heist story he has a magnificent crew: six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist. Kaz's crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction—if they don't kill each other first.

The Grishaverse continues with the duology King of Scars which follows Nikolai Lantsov who was attacked during the battle between the darkling and Alina and now has a secret and a goal: to rebuild his shattered kingdom. Nikolai must find a way to refill Ravka’s coffers, forge new alliances, and stop a rising threat to the once-great Grisha Army. Yet with every day a dark magic within him grows stronger, threatening to destroy all he has built. With the help of a young monk and a legendary Grisha general, Nikolai will journey to the places in Ravka where the deepest magic survives to vanquish the terrible legacy inside him. He will risk everything to save his country and himself. But some secrets aren’t meant to stay buried—and some wounds aren’t meant to heal.

I have her new book Ninth House on my Kindle.

Follow Leigh Bardugo on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Leigh-Bardugo/e/B005ZZ8XQS

A new discovery well worth your time, Jack Castle's Stranger World series, a fantastic SciFi/Fantasy series. I describe it as if  Alice in Wonderland and Westworld had a baby. George Stapleton is killed in Afghanistan in 2012, but wakes up and finds himself in a Strange World dystopian theme park and must save his daughter and find his wife in this six book series.  One of the most engaging fantasy worlds I have read. Quick paced and fun for all ages. I devoured all six books in a wonderful book binge week. 

Follow Jack Castle on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Jack-Castle/e/B01068ZUPA

Stay tuned for Science Fiction recommendations next week. 

A Tale of Two Dystopias

I recently read these two series back to back. The first is Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken.

In Darkest Minds, the US government inserted a chemical into the water system which gave children different powers as they approached adolescence, if they survived at all. Their solution was to put them in camps to "heal them." Parents were told it was a viral outbreak and, fearing their children would die, had to turn them over to be cured. Of course, the government had other plans. Each child developed a different power and was assigned a color at the prison camps: Greens were ultra smart. Blues were telekinetic. Reds were fire throwers. Yellows could emit electrical charges and affect electrical systems. Oranges could control minds.

Ruby (one of the few Oranges left alive) and her allies Chubs, Liam, and Zu attempt to avoid recapture to free the kids still being held in camps. They encounter various antagonists along the way with the overall goal of overthrowing the main antagonist, the corrupt president who weaponizes them instead of "curing" them.

Bracken's effective descriptions of kids forced into camps resonates with our daily news. It is a chilling reminder that once we accept any justification for imprisoning people, it can lead to further justifications for doing so.

She deftly captures teenagers forced to grow up before they should have to in a world where adults can't be trusted.

The second series, Insignia by S J Kincaid, dispenses with illusions of government and openly places the power where it really resides: with corporations who own the most resources and have the most money. Multinational corporations control the solar system and use taxpayer funded militaries to fight a proxy World War III in space.

Tom Raines is a scrawny fourteen-year-old outlier with high level virtual reality gaming skills. He is drawn into a government program where teenagers are implanted with neural enhancements that give them superior strength and senses and neural ports that allow them direct access to computers.

His contempt for authority and rules gives him an edge when fighting. But it also makes him the perfect weapon against the multinationals.

Kincaid does an excellent job of crafting realistic teenage interactions between Tom and his friends Wyatt, Vikram, and the opposition's best, code name "Medusa." They may be thrust into an adult situation, but they still read like teens. I think she did an excellent job of presenting a young man's point of view and voice.

With anxiety-provoking daily headlines, one might ask, "Why read dystopian fiction. Isn't it depressing?"

My answer is this: they give me hope that heroes will emerge and send the message that we can save ourselves if we have the will. I need to see the good guys win.

When I started my young adult series Mythikas Island back in 2008, I had the same message in mind: that the children are our future and they have the power to change it, no matter how badly the adults have corrupted it.

We need to invest in our young people instead of dismissing them. They are far stronger, more creative, and more impassioned than they get credit for. They can make a difference. It encourages me to see so many young activists, inventors, and business entrepreneurs making waves in our world today. I salute and stand with them.

Crafting Creatures: Angels and Demons

Demons are largely associated with the judeo-Christian concepts of heaven, hell, god, and the devil. Angels abide in heaven with god, demons exist and are at the beck and call of satan, who was himself a "fallen angel."

There are many different versions of the tales from the Bible to the comic book characters Lucifer and Constantine. They can include spirits, succubi, incubi, seraphim, and cherubim. They can be human-like or monsters. The battle between good and evil makes for high stakes fiction.

Here is a list of questions to consider when crafting your angels and demons.

1. Where did their powers originate? Have they been around since time began or was there a point of origin? Are they the children of Eve, Lilith, God, Satan, etc.? Is there more than one type of angel or demon?

2. What is your construct of the story world? Are you basing it on the Judeo-Christian demons and angels or other mythology such as ancient Babylon, Inuits, native American lore, Buddhism, Islam, or Zoroastrianism?

3. Is a demon born or formed? What happens when demons or angels and humans reproduce, if they can? Can demons and angels reproduce with each other?

4. Are angels and demons immortal? If so, at what point do they stop aging or how do they age? Are they always born and made as adults? Do they physically age?

5. Can angels or demons be killed? If so, how and what happens when they die? Can they be banished from the earthly realm by a spell or ritual such as exorcism?

6. Do they have vulnerabilities such as religious icons or objects?

7. Are there costs associated with their powers? Is their energy drained? Do they need to "recharge" by some method?

8. What can your angels and demons do?

Control the elements of fire, air, water, earth
Grow or wither people, plants, or nature
Move things with the mind, wave of the hand, or incantation
Transport/teleport things or people
Telepathy
Mind control
Move through time and space 
Kill, maim, or make others ill with their bite
Heal wounds, regenerate, or reanimate
Enhance senses: sight, smell, taste, hearing, touch
Superhuman powers such as excessive strength, speed, agility, intelligence
Shape shift
Fly
Powers of seduction

9. Do they reside only in heaven or hell and visit or can they live in the human realm?

10. Are there objects or rituals that attract them, bind them, or exorcise them?

11. Can they consume human food? Do they need any form of nourishment?

12. What is their hierarchy? Who do they answer to or do they have some autonomy?

13. Are they representative of a specific religion that binds them to codes of behavior? Are they bound by loyalty or vows?

14. Who sees them? Everyone everywhere? Certain groups or places? Only certain sensitive people or targeted individuals?

15. Do they have paranormal allies or enemies?

16. What do they look like? Do they have a supernatural appearance that is hidden by magic, spells, or glamours?

17. Do they have pointed ears, wings, tails, birthmarks, skin lesions, or tattoos? Are they short or tall? Beautiful or hideous? 

18. Are their wings retractable or always out?  What do their wings look like? Can they shape shift at will or is something required for them to do so? Do they become animals?

19 Do they have specific clothing, robes, armor, weaponry, jewelry items, etc.? What happens to their clothes if they shape shift?

20. Can they summon food, clothing, shelter, and other aspects of human living at will to appear human?

21. Are they battling for the fate of humanity or more distant observers who are not supposed to interfere? 

22. Do they have specific tasks such as bringing the dead to heaven or hell or exacting reward or punishment on living humans?

23. What rules must they follow and what happens if they break them?

Further reading:

Worldbuilding: Myths and Legends

The Fantasy Skeleton

The Horror Skeleton

The Thriller and Suspense Skeleton

Demonology Wikipedia List

Demonology Jewish Encyclopedia

Deliriums Realm List of Demons

List of Angels and Fallen Angels

Hierarchy of Angels

You might also be interested in: 
Story Building Blocks Build A World Workbook in print and ebook, 
Story Building Blocks Build A Plot Workbook Fantasy in print and ebook
Story Building Blocks Build A Plot Workbook Horror in print and ebook
Story Building Blocks Build A Plot Workbook Thriller & Suspense in print and ebook

Crafting Creatures: Fae

Fair folk are among the oldest of legends. In some lore, they are wise women skilled in the magic of the natural world. They have been associated with the elements of earth, fire, air, and water. In others they take the shape of winged sprites, elves, etc.

There are several well-known elements of fae tales: Shakespeare's Oberon, Queen Mab, and Tatania in A Midsummer Night's Dream, the summer and winter courts, seelie and unseelie courts.

Little people, or fair folk, include: fairies, pixies, imps, goblins, elves, gnomes, brownies, elementals, and other mystical people. Faery is sometimes an alternative realm existing separate from the mortal world.

Here is a list of questions to consider when crafting your Fae world.

1. Where did their powers originate? Have they been around since time began or was there a point of origin? Are they the children of Eve, a demon, or other god? Is there more than one type?

2. What is your construct of the fairy world? Are you basing it on the summer and winter courts, the seelie and unseelie courts, an alternative realm, or a place on earth hidden from humans?

3. Are you basing your fae on a specific folklore? What are the elements you wish to include?

4. Is one born a fae or can a fae be made? What happens when fae and humans reproduce, if they can? Can fae species reproduce with each other?

4. Are the fae immortal? If so, at what point do they stop aging or how do they age? Do they need spells or potions to prevent physical aging?

5. Can the immortal fae be killed? If so, how and what happens when they die?

6. Do they have vulnerabilities such as iron?

7. Are there costs associated with their powers? Is their energy drained? Do they need to "recharge" by drinking nectar or feeding off the energy, emotions, or dreams of humans?

8. What can your fae do?

Control the elements of fire, air, water, earth
Grow or wither people, plants, or nature
Move things with the mind, wave of the hand, or incantation
Transport/teleport things or people
Telepathy
Mind control
Move through time and space 
Kill, maim, or make others ill with their bite
Heal wounds, regenerate, or reanimate
Enhance senses sight, smell, taste, hearing, touch
Superhuman powers such as excessive strength, speed, agility, intelligence
Shape shift
Fly
Powers of seduction

9. Do they reside only in Faery and visit or do they live in the human realm?

10. Are there objects that repel them or draw them in?

11. Are they reliant on food, nectar, or other nourishment to live?

12. Is there a hierarchy or controlling body such as a court, queen, king, etc.?

13. Do they have a religion or worship a god or demon?

14. If born a fae, especially in the human realm, do they live like normal human children and adolescents or are they sent to special schools or universities or have tutors?

15. Who knows about them? Everyone everywhere? Certain groups or places? Are they hiding in plain sight?

16. Do they have paranormal allies or enemies?

17. Are they an accepted part of society or must they hide in the shadows? Are they persecuted or the rulers? Have they infiltrated power positions?

18. What do they look like? Do they have a supernatural appearance that is hidden by spells or glamours? Do they have pointed ears, wings, tails, birthmarks, skin lesions, or tattoos? Are they short or tall? Beautiful or hideous? Are their wings retractable or always out?

19. Do they have specific clothing, ceremonial robes, jewelry items, etc.? What happens to their clothes if they shape shift?

20. Do they have familiars or control animals such as deer, birds, butterflies, or other animals?

21. Do they live and work like normal humans or do they have vast stores of wealth? If so, how did they come by it - magic or amassing human fortunes? Or can they simply summon everything at will including food, clothing, housing, etc.?

Next week, we look at crafting angels and demons.

Further reading:

Worldbuilding: Myths and Legends

The Fantasy Skeleton

The Horror Skeleton

The Thriller and Suspense Skeleton

Fairies

Celtic Fairies

Gods and Monsters: Fairy and The Fae

You might also be interested in: 
Story Building Blocks Build A World Workbook in print and ebook, 
Story Building Blocks Build A Plot Workbook Fantasy in print and ebook
Story Building Blocks Build A Plot Workbook Horror in print and ebook
Story Building Blocks Build A Plot Workbook Thriller & Suspense in print and ebook