Fictional? I Think Not.
by Susan Rooke
I’ve often read
about writers who become so consumed with their characters that these invented
people start to seem real. I used to think such tales were just charming hyperbole.
I changed my mind when it happened to me.
It was disconcerting
enough when my characters started speaking to me, confiding their desires,
their heartaches, their regrets. Acting in ways I didn’t expect, saying things
that moved the plot in surprising directions. Then one night when I was in the
middle of The Space Between’s
umpteenth revision, they really
turned the tables on me.
I’d spent a
lot of time that day on a scene featuring Lugo, Master of the Penitents’ Keep
(the Penitents are a faery tribe in the Space Between who’ve cursed themselves
with physical disfigurements). When I finally fell into bed that night, my
brain was overtired, but that still doesn’t quite explain the dream I had.
I was at the
service counter of an old-fashioned hardware store, waiting to pick up a small
appliance I’d left for repair. It was the kind of store with scarred wood
floors and dusty shelves displaying every part you’d ever need, whether to
repair your lawnmower or build a perpetual motion machine. The kind where every
employee knew the inventory by heart and had worked there at least thirty
years.
As I waited,
a group of eight or ten very odd-looking folk entered the store and moved past
me single file, their eyes averted. All were dressed in outdated clothing. The
men wore leisure suits and Nehru jackets; the women wore polyester pantsuits,
and had blue eyeshadow and teased, frosted hair. They looked strikingly
out-of-time in the 21st Century, as if they’d walked in off the set
of an old TV show.
They
wouldn’t look at me, but I felt certain they wanted me to notice them. When I
realized that each bore some physical abnormality, it dawned on me I knew them:
They were my Penitent characters. They’d tried to disguise themselves as
ordinary hardware store customers by dressing in a way they thought was
fashionable for humans. I was sure they’d come purposely to find me, but they remained
silent. Soon, they’d looped past me and left the way they’d come in. All except
one of them.
A man
wearing polyester bellbottoms and an open-necked shirt with an oversized collar
stopped before me. Unlike the rest, he gave me an appraising look. It was Lugo.
I stared at him, speechless.
Then he spoke to me.
“We just
wanted to make sure you’re as comfortable with us as you think you are.”
Before I
could respond, he turned and followed the others out of the hardware store.
I’ve had
some time to think about it, and Lugo, wherever you are, here’s my answer: I’m
not sure I was comfortable then. But
I am now. Thank you for letting me tell your story.
Meet the Author
Susan Rooke is a Pushcart-nominated poet and author of the forthcoming The Space Between Series. Her short stories and poems have appeared in publications such as The Christian Science Monitor and The Twilight Zone Magazine, among many others. She resides on a square of green, peaceful country not far from Austin, Texas, with her husband Glen, who runs a small cattle operation while Rooke writes fiction about angels and demons, monsters, faeries and dragons. Look for her fantasy novel, The Space Between: The Prophecy of Faeries on Amazon.
Connect with the Author: Website ~ Twitter ~ facebook
About the Book
Book Title: The Space Between: The Prophecy of Faeries by Susan Rooke
Category: Adult Fiction, 452 pages
Genre: Fantasy, Fairy Tale
Mellis, a courageous and resourceful young woman, is kidnapped from the human world and taken to the Space Between by a tribe of faeries called the Penitents. Because of guilt over an ancient sin committed by their angel ancestors against the Maker, the Penitents have cursed themselves with grotesque physical disfigurements. Mellis can help them reunite with the Maker and find their way back to redemption, but she would need to give up the life she's always known to remain in the Space Between.
As she struggles with this heart-wrenching decision, one of the Penitents, bent on revenge, commits a gruesome attack against the tribe, and they learn he has taken Satan--the Maker's greatest enemy--as his ally. All in the Space Between are facing grave danger. Will a long-awaited act of vengeance save them?
Susan Rooke builds a rich and fantastical world of angels and demons, monsters, faeries and dragons. Abounding with spirituality and humanity, this faery tale for adults has a cast of vivid characters you won't soon forget.
To follow the blog tour and read reviews, please visit Susan Rooke's page on iRead Book Tours.
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1 Comments
Thanks so much for hosting my blog post; it's been an honor and a pleasure!
ReplyDeleteSusan Rooke