World Fantasy Convention Report

Sorry I haven't been around, but I literally haven't been around. (Although I have read all of your comments on the giveaway post!) I left on Thursday night for the World Fantasy Convention, held this year in lovely Saratoga NY, about 2  hours from where I live, which is one of the reasons I went when I was already traveling too much this year. I just got back last night.

It was an interesting con...the convention itself wasn't great (for a number of reasons too complicated to go into), but I got to spend time with some fabulous folks (including authors I knew from Facebook but had never met in person, as well as an old friend I hadn't seen since 2008), see the amazing art show, and eat WAY too much wonderful food. Here are a few highlights:

Either Magic the Cat was helping me pack or telling me not to go away again. Which do you think it was?

Dinner Friday night with Lucienne Diver, Nancy Holzner, Esther Friesner, Carol Berg, and a couple of other folks.

This was my dinner! Crab stuffed shrimp--YUM!

The hysterical Esther Friesner, charming C.S. MacCath, me, and the brilliant Carol Berg

 Getting to meet Esther Friesner and Carol Berg (two of my favorite authors) and spend time with them was such a treat! As was hanging out with the gorgous Lucienne Diver, and my old pal C. S. MacCath, who I met back in 2018 at Pantheacon. We're both in the Llewellyn Pagan Anthology together. She and I and Crystal Sarakas, another friend, may have hatched a sekret plan. Or not. I can't say.

Esther, Lucienne, me, and Carol Berg. It is clear that we were plotting something and Esther was setting it into motion...

Dinner Saturday night...or what was left of it. We went to the Boca Bistro, which was an amazing tapas and wine place. Best food evah!

Author pal and roommate for the con, Nancy Holzner. She was great company!

Naturally, I didn't make it home without some books. A few of those were given to attendees in a cool bookbag, and others I bought to get signed by Esther and Carol, or just because I didn't have them yet. Lucienne and I swapped books, because we each had the other's books only on Kindle.

To top the whole thing off, I got to have breakfast on Sunday morning with my sister Sarah, talented brother in-law Rich, and my much-adored niece Addy, who live nearby.

It was a lovely time, but I'm glad to be home with the kitties and getting ready to dive back into working on Baba #4. Plus, of course, Veiled Magic is out in a week! The KINDLE FIRE HD GIVEAWAY is still on for another three days, so be sure to enter if you haven't done so yet! (And the Tweet about it option can be used every day.) I'll be posting another giveaway soon, too!

Have you gone anyplace interesting lately? (Or, you know, eaten anything good or bought a cool new book?)

I'm a Cover Model! (For Witches & Pagans Magazine)

Whoo hoo! I can finally share some great news I've been sitting on for a while. (It's a little squished, but still fun.) I'm going to be a cover model!

No, not on the cover of one of my books (although there are folks who think that the picture of Barbara Yager, my first Baba Yaga, looks a bit like me on the cover of Wickedly Dangerous -- yes, my abs look *just* like that...snort). And not on the cover of Time Magazine as Witch of the Year, although really, I'm not sure why not.

This is what I'm talking about:

Witches & Pagans Magazine's Next Cover Girl. Look familiar?

Yes, that's me (and Magic the Cat, of course) on the cover of the upcoming issue of Witches & Pagans Magazine. Color me seriously excited. Possibly bordering on the ecstatic :-)

As some of you know, I write a regular column (Everyday Witchcraft) for the magazine, and I have been a dedicated reader for many years. So it is pretty thrilling to be featured on the cover and in the wonderful interview inside written by my Pagan author pal Ceallaigh MacCath (you may remember that I wrote the introduction to her fabulous collection of Pagan tales and poems, The Ruin of Beltany Ring and that we were both included in The Pagan Anthology of Short Fiction).

I'm very grateful to publisher/editor Anne Niven Newkirk for putting me on the cover, and for my friend Bobbie Hodges for taking thousands of pictures in order to get a couple of ones that were good enough for us to use without making me want to hide under the bed. (She also gave me the broom I'm holding in the picture.)

I hope that some of you will reward Anne's faith in me by making this the Most Popular Issue Evah. If you don't already have a subscription (what?!), you can get one, or preorder this particular issue by clicking on this link:
The Deborah Blake Cover Girl Issue!
Of course, the preorder price of $6.45 is a deal, so you know you want to get a copy. (Mom, I'm looking at you.)The magazine will be out in December.

And just for fun, here are a few of the shots we didn't use either for the cover or inside. Which one do you like best?

So tell me, are you going to be getting a copy of the magazine? (You don't have to, of course. I'll probably forgive you. Now Magic, on the other hand... Nah, just give her treats--she'll be fine.)

Guest Blogger: C.S. MacCath

I have been dealing with the Zombie Apocalypse since Saturday night (okay, it is just a really bad summer cold, but since it has eaten my brains, I feel that I can call it a Zombie Apocalypse with reasonable accuracy). I meant to put up a "Weedy Wednesday" post with pictures of the flowers from my yard, but it just didn't happen.

Luckily, I had a secret weapon waiting in the wings...a guest blog post by my author pal C.S. MacCath, who has just put out an amazing collection of Pagan poems and tales. Months ago, as she was preparing it for publication, she asked me if I would consider writing the introduction, and I was delighted to do so. Here is what I said:

I first met C. S. MacCath when we both took part in a Pagan short story contest put on by Llewellyn Worldwide and BBI Media. The winning entries, including ours, became part of a first-ever collection called The Pagan Anthology of Short Fiction: 13 Prize Winning Tales. The book was filled with Pagan-centric stories of every style imaginable; contemporary, fantasy, science fiction, even a western. Some of the authors went on to become successful multi-published authors. Others, no doubt, are still stirring their cauldrons of creativity, somewhere out there. 

But none of the writers I met impressed me so much as one: C. S. MacCath. Not only did I love her story, but I found the woman herself to be charming; warm and clever, witty and wise, earthy and larger-than-life. In the years that passed since that chance meeting at Pantheacon, where the awards were presented, I have followed her career with great interest.

My first impressions proved to be true, as both her real-life adventures and her writing endeavors continued to impress and amaze me. A Pagan who truly walks her talk, C. S. spends her time working for the betterment of our natural world, rescuing orphaned and injured wildlife, learning and advocating for the Scottish Gaelic language and of course, writing. Unceasingly supportive of other writers and Pagans, she walks her path with courage and conviction I have seen in few people and writes with a gift that is even rarer.

That anthology where our stories came together was intended to be the first of many. But alas, that particular dream did not come true. Sadly, there is very little out there in the way of fiction specifically written by Pagans for a Pagan audience or for those who are interested in learning more about us and catching a glimpse into our hidden ways. There are many nonfiction books on modern Witchcraft (some of which I’ve written), but until now, the lyrical, magical, spiritual voice of the Pagan author has gone largely unheard.

Thankfully, this collection changes all that. With C. S. MacCath’s vivid poetry and evocative, sometimes heartrendingly beautiful tales, Pagan fiction finally has a shining star to guide us to new worlds and give us a clearer look at the world in which we live. And that’s what I call magic.

Below, you will find her guest post; I hope that you will give her the usual warm welcome I have come to depend on from my fabulous readers. As a reward, I will give away a copy of The Pagan Anthology of Short Fiction (where you will be able to read the short story that won me 3rd place, and which led to the novel, PENTACLES & PENTIMENTOS, that eventually got me signed with my lovely agent, Elaine Spencer) to one random commenter.

Hit it, Ceallaigh--

Thank you Deborah, for your flattering introduction of my collection and for inviting me into your blog space! I’m delighted to be here.

Before The Ruin of Beltany Ring, there was The Pagan Anthology of Short Fiction and the purpose for its publication, the first and only Pagan Fiction Award. They sparked a conversation about literature by and for Pagans, and the term ‘Pagan fiction’ was coined. But even the anthology editors weren’t entirely certain what it meant, if Diana Paxson’s introduction is any indication, and those of us who write it continue to wonder whether or not our work can or should be classified as such. However, we do seem to agree that storytelling is integral to the preservation of a culture, and so the part of our writing that might be classified as Pagan fiction is an effort to tell stories that resonate with Pagan readers.

I write speculative fiction and poetry, which draws upon fantastical motifs to do its job. However, my Pagan writing takes its faith seriously; there are no cliché witches in my work. So while I might write a Pagan science fiction story like From Our Minds to Yours, the characters’ approach to the central conflict of the tale is not fantastical. Rather, it’s the sort of approach any Pagan might take, and the story invites the reader to have respect for it. Even when the bumbling Pieter Heinle brings the good word of the eddas to a new world in my alliterative poem Bringing Woden to the Little Green Men, the transformation that results does not diminish the value of Heathen belief and practice (though I confess to a bit of good-natured poking at Heathen lore hounds in the piece). Ultimately, whether a story or poem in my collection is speculative, its references to Pagan Gods, rituals and beliefs are not. They’re spiritual, and they speak to a part of the Pagan ethos that is not at all fictional.

Of course, not every poem and tale in The Ruin of Beltany Ring is specifically religious. All of the stories were written with Pagans in mind, and each of them first appeared in Witches & Pagans, PanGaia, newWitch and similar publications. The poems range a little farther afield; from the spiritual disconnection of Fetters to the divine melancholy of Hephaistos in my poem by the same name (Ηφαιστος), and most of them were published in speculative poetry journals. Still, wherever I’ve handled the cultural artifacts of my faith, I’ve endeavored to do so with care, even when I’m offering a critique. It’s a commitment I’m carrying forward into Petals of the Twenty Thousand Blossom, my novel series in progress, where Wiccans and Heathens alike will come to redefine their faith among an alien species and a powerful artificial intelligence on a new world.

And perhaps that’s the definition of Pagan fiction after all, that whatever the genre of the piece, the Paganism it presents is authentic and true to its own nature. At least, it’s the definition I work under, anyway. Thank you all so much for your time. I hope you enjoy The Ruin of Beltany Ring: A Collection of Pagan Poems and Tales, and I hope it prompts you to seek out other Pagan fiction.

Blessed be.

The Ruin of Beltany Ring may be purchased at: www.amazon.com/The-Ruin-Beltany-Ring-Collection/dp/1482535181/csma-20

C.S. MacCath may be found online at: csmaccath.com

Interview with C. S. MacCath

Here is my interview with the wonderful C. S. MacCath, my co-writer in The Pagan Fiction Anthology:


You were a finalist in the Pagan Fiction Award contest. How did you come to write a pagan-based short story, and is much of you other work pagan as well?
I've been writing short stories with Pagan elements throughout my writing career. For me, Pagan fiction isn't so much a genre like speculative fiction, horror or mystery as it is an application of our particular world-view to storytelling. Having said that, all of the fiction I've written has been Pagan-themed, either explicitly, as in the case of "From Our Minds to Yours," or implicitly, as in the case of "The Longest Road in the Universe," which is forthcoming in Murky Depths next March.
I think it's healthy for the literary community to be exposed to Pagan themes in what it publishes and reads. They allow a safe place of entry into Paganism that can be accessed from the private relationship between the reader and the text. From there, tolerance might follow. So though I try not to be didactic about the inclusion of my faith in my work, it's usually always on my mind when I write, and I hope it reads well for Pagans and non-Pagans alike.
How long have you been writing, and where can people find your work other than the Anthology?
I've been writing since I could pick up a pen, but I've only been publishing my work with regularity in paying markets since 2004. My bibliography can be found at: www.csmaccath.com/view/csmbiblio and from there, folks can look for what they want to read in the appropriate places. A recently published story that might be of interest to Pagan readers is "Akhila, Divided," which can be found in Clockwork Phoenix: Tales of Beauty and Strangeness, edited by Mike Allen. It's a science fantasy war story set in the far future at a monastery where various denominations of Paganism are practiced in combination with other faiths.
Your short story, "From Our Minds to Yours," is a disturbing look at a possible near-future scenario. How did you get the idea, and do you really think it could happen?
My husband brought the idea home to me one afternoon while he was in college a few years ago. He had been taking a course called "Computers, Ethics and Society" and was reading a book entitled Database Nation: The Death of Privacy in the 21st Century, by Simson Garfinkel. I believe he asked me, "What do you think would happen if people could become physically addicted to products?" After the long philosophical conversation that followed, I read the book as well, and then I did some research into current applications of nanotechnology. "From Our Minds to Yours" was the natural outgrowth of those things.
I wrote the story with the feasibility of the plot in mind. Right now, nanotechnology is used in everything from water reclamation to clothing manufacture. Given the current interpretation of Moore's Law, that the size and/or speed and/or functionality of a piece of technology doubles every eighteen months, and given a modest effort on the part of corporate lobbyists to legalize the relationship between nanotechnology and advertising, yeah, I think it's an absolutely realistic scenario in the next 25-50 years.
What would readers be surprised to learn about you?
I was born and raised a Jehovah's Witness.
You were able to go to Pantheacon for the presentation of the awards. What was your favorite aspect of the convention? [For readers who don't know, Panthecon is a huge pagan gathering held every February is San Jose, CA]
I very much enjoyed the oracular seidh hosted by Diana Paxson on Saturday night. I've been practicing various forms of divination for twenty-three years but have never encountered that particular configuration of group journey work and team divination before. I told Ms. Paxson afterward that it was interesting to see the weave between Michael Harner-esque shamanic practice and Northern European lore. And the seidh-workers themselves were remarkable, both in their stamina and in their accuracy.
Aside from your own, what was your favorite story in the Anthology and why?
I loved April's "A Valkyrie Among Jews," which placed first in the contest. I thought she juxtaposed Judaism with Paganism effectively, addressed some serious questions about the relationships between Pagans and non-Pagans and spoke to the transition between life and death both mythically and mundanely. It was a kick-ass story that was relevant to modern people of all faiths, and I hope it finds its way into the hands of folks who might need that safe place of entry into Paganism I mentioned before.
What are you working on these days and where can people contact you if they have more questions?
I'm currently working on a novel entitled Twilight of the World Sea People. It's the first novel in a trilogy entitled World Sea Legacy, which is itself part of a three trilogy/nine-novel space opera entitled Petals of the Twenty Thousand Blossom. I've pretty much ceased production at present on any short stories for the sake of the novels, but I'm hoping to write a few by the end of next year for a collection I'm piecing together entitled Spirit Boat. We'll see how that goes, though. Folks can contact me by using the contact form at www.csmaccath.com/contact, which drops messages into my primary e-mail account.