I’ll be ushering in autumn this year by attending Hal-Con…as an author! In years past, I’ve gone to “the biggest, geekiest sci-fi convention in Atlantic Canada” with my family and had a total blast, so I’m SUPER excited to be one of this year’s featured authors. Of course I also have a ton of burning questions…Which Kiki’s Delivery Service t-shirt do I wear? How do I keep my cool while fan-girling over Tamora Pierce? What’s my limit when it comes to buying new D&D dice? Hopefully I’ll get that all figured out before I go. If you’re headed to Hal-Con, …
Category: Witchy Wednesday
In certain circles in the 19th century, drinking tea was considered a dangerous habit. More specifically, working class women were discouraged from engaging in the practice because if they were taking time from their daily chores to congregate around a pot of tea, it could only mean that they were up to no good. In short: “Sipping tea was once thought of as a reckless, suspicious act, linked to revolutionary feminism.” (Alison Aubrey, for npr.org) No wonder I love it so! My love affair with tea began in my early 20’s. Up to that point, I hadn’t given it much …
I love ravens. A “conspiracy” of them dwells in the woods behind my house. When I stand on the balcony outside my writing studio in the loft of our barn, my “perch” puts me nearly eye to eye with them. I talk to them daily and delight in any squawk, chortle, tuck or caw the give in reply. They may not always respond, but they’re always watching. It was inevitable that one of these intelligent, beautiful creatures would come to inhabit the pages of one of my novels. Enter, Perdu, the magical raven who lives with The Witches of New York. For fear of spoiling his part in the story, …
On Monday I posted a six second video teaser of this amazing thing-ma-jig on Facebook and Twitter. The video was shot from the back, where all you could see were the inner workings of the contraption, rather than its swanky facade. I’m pleased to announce that this lovely contraption (designed and constructed by my talented husband, Ian McKay) has now been installed at The Box of Delights Bookshop in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. As you can see from the placard that graces its front, it’s being used to issue tickets for the upcoming launch of The Witches of New York at …
I’m reclaiming the word witch. To do so, I’ve got to take things all the way back to its roots…which are, much like the way we regard the word itself—shadowy, misunderstood and not completely clear. Even renowned scholars of etymology can’t quite agree on how it first sprang up, but they all admit its origins are tantalizingly old, stemming from times and places where those labelled with the word witch were revered rather than reviled. Here are just a few of the earliest meanings to be found in the word’s possible origins: One who bends (like a willow,) one who dances and makes mysterious …
As I head into to the final rounds of edits of The Witches of New York, I’ve been thinking of the bits and pieces that will, for lack of a better word, “bookend” the novel. I’ve had the dedication chosen for a little while as well as a list of people I want to thank in the acknowledgements, but I’ve just now settled on two quotes for the epigraph, and started writing my Author’s Note. Not surprisingly, there’s one woman’s name that will appear in both—Matilda Josyln Gage. Who? Born in Cicero, New York in 1826, Matilda grew up in …