Wednesday Wonders

It's time for another Wednesday Wonder, y'all! Today's Wonder is from the story of one of my dearest friends...



Author Bio.
Clara Diane Thompson (also known as Clara Darling) is an eighteen year-old fantasy writer who hopes to be a published author someday. She lives in the swamps of Louisiana with her loving family and very confused frog that resides in the birdhouse outside.



Character Bio.

     Doctor Nicholas Kinkly is a marine biologist in the seaside town of Tranquility. By day he does his regular duties as a biologist, and by night he hunts sirens that have escaped from the sea and are wreaking havoc upon the sleepy little town. His job is to capture the murderous sirens and return them to the sea to be judged by their sisters. The young Doctor lives a life of excitement, but even he can become susceptible to the wiles of the mer-folk.  


Normally, I ask which character wants to be interviewed and I email the interview to them. But today, Nicholas got to be my first character to be gmail chatted! It was very exciting.

Interview:

Nicholas: Hullo, Writer dear. This is Doctor Nicholas Kinkly. It's awfully nice of you to want to talk to me!
 
 Hello, Doctor! It's nice to talk to you. :) You are a marine biologist, I believe?

Nicholas: Yes. Marine Biology is what I do most of the time. Studying ocean life and all that. It's terribly interesting.

  Is it particularly dangerous? Your day job, I mean.

Nicholas: Not...particularly, no. Although a shark did take a snap at me once.

  How exciting!

 Nicholas: I suppose it was rather exciting now that I think about it!
 But for the most part I stay out of the water. At least until nighttime.

And then?

 Nicholas: And then the whole ocean changes. It becomes dark and mysterious and completely frightening. I love it! Anyway, I love going for a swim at night, especially when there's a full moon out.

 You're not afraid of mermaids catching you? :o

Nicholas: Mermaids? No. Sirens are another story.

  Ooh have you caught one?
 
Nicholas: Several, actually...I say, I really shouldn't be telling you this. It's classified, you see.

 You can't even tell me one story? A short one?

Nicholas:  Oh, I suppose. Just so long as you don't put it up on a blog or anything.

     Well, it was late one evening when I first met her.

     I was going out for my first midnight swim and I had just arrived at the beach. There were a few people scattered here and there in the darkness, but no one was anywhere near me. There was a rather large cliff next to me, but I didn't really even notice it at the time.

    But then I heard a scream. Two figures, I presumed they were women, were at the top of the cliff, struggling with each other. And then one girl fell over the edge, dragging the other girl with her.

 

Oh my...

 

Nicholas: It was horrible. I, being quite manly and brave, dove in after them both.

 

(he PAUSED here can you believe that) Then what happened??

 

Nicholas:  And then I don't remember anything else. I woke up on the shore the next morning, battered and bruised, and in desperate need of some hot tea. But I recieved a letter from a dolphin. (Don't ask. I'm not even sure how it delivered the letter either.) The letter told me to look for enchantingly beautiful women and return them to the sea by whatever means. The next day I got some helpful supplies (including some ear plugs that keep out the siren's songs!) and I got to work! The mermaids pay me quite well...and it's a good job. Quite exciting, I mean.

 

That is AMAZING!

 

Nicholas: Yes it was, rather.

 

 Have you found the enchantingly beautiful women yet?

 

 Nicholas: Oh, gosh yes! They're practically everywhere. Once you've gotten used to looking for them, it's quite easy. They aren't just beautiful...they're frightening. And when you find a frightening and beautiful woman, you know she's a siren.

 

 Wait, you mean sirens walk among us?

 

Nicholas: Didn't I just say that? Oh. Sorry if I didn't. I do tend to get ahead of myself. To answer your question, yes, they do. Actually, that sounds like a jolly good name for a book! "Sirens Walk Among Us"...that's rather catchy, isn't it? 

 

 Eye-catching, I'd say. I'd pick it up in a heartbeat!

 Have you told anyone about your discovery? Any close friends or is it a secret?

 

Nicholas: It's mostly a secret. But I did tell my dear old friend May Pruitt about it. Well, I had to because a siren had found her way into May's house. Now that she knows, she wants to become my personal assistant! She might have a hard time of it, though; considering she's a rather fragile  old lady. Well, all old ladies are fragile...Please don't tell her I said that!

 

 I won't, I promise. 

 

Nicholas: Good. She acts like a grumpy old eel when I try to protect her from something dangerous! Don't tell her I said that, either.

 

 Ha ha Oh no I wouldn't! But I believe it.

 

 Nicholas: Thanks!

Well, dear Doctor, it's been almost an hour since we started talking! The time has flown!

 

Nicholas: By Poseidon, it certainly has! Thanks for the chat and all that. It's been quite lovely. But remember...this is top secret. If you ever find yourself around Tranquility, please pop in and have a cup of tea with me! I'd love to show you round. Perhaps we could even go hunting sirens together. You seem like you would enjoy it.

 

 I will! That sounds like something I would enjoy immensely. Thank you so much for your time! Until we meet again!

 

Nicholas: Goodbye Writer of Ponderings! It's been quite nice getting to know you.

 

 

I had a delightful time interviewing him, and I can't wait to interview someone else! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did chatting him!

-The Writer

 If you want to have your character interviewed in a Wednesday Wonder or a Saturday's Villain, email me at the thewriterofponderings@gmail.com We'll set up a date and I'll interview your Wonder/Villain!

 

Goddess Tithe Cover Reveal!!

I had posted this when I was supposed to...but on the wrong blog!! So sorry, Ponderers!
Enjoy!!



 Author Bio:

Anne Elisabeth Stengl makes her home in Raleigh, North Carolina, where she lives with her husband, Rohan, a kindle of kitties, and one long-suffering dog. When she’s not writing, she enjoys Shakespeare, opera, and tea, and practices piano, painting, and pastry baking. She studied illustration at Grace College and English literature at Campbell University. She is the author of the Tales of Goldstone Wood, including Heartless, Veiled Rose, Moonblood, Starflower, and Dragonwitch. Heartless and Veiled Rose have each been honored with a Christy Award, and Starflower was voted winner of the 2013 Clive Staples Award.








Back Cover Copy:

The Vengeful Goddess 
Demands Her Tithe

When a stowaway is discovered aboard the merchant ship Kulap Kanya, Munny, a cabin boy on his first voyage, knows what must be done. All stowaways are sacrificed to Risafeth, the evil goddess of the sea. Such is her right, and the Kulap Kanya's only hope to return safely home.
Yet, to the horror of his crew, Captain Sunan vows to protect the stowaway, a foreigner in clown's garb. A curse falls upon the ship and all who sail with her, for Risafeth will stop at nothing to claim her tithe.
Will Munny find the courage to trust his captain and to protect the strange clown who has become his friend?



Cover Design Intro:

I had the fun of designing this cover—finding reference photos, inventing the composition, applying the text, etc.—but the actual artistic work was done by talented cover artist Phatpuppy (www.phatpuppyart.com), whose work I have admired for many years. It was such a thrill for me to contact and commission this artist to create a look for Goddess Tithe that is reminiscent of the original novels but has a style and drama all its own.

The boy on the front was quite a find. I hunted high and low for an image of a boy the right age, the right look, with the right expression on his face. Phatpuppy and I worked with a different model through most of the cover development stage. But then I happened upon this image, and both she and I were delighted with his blend of youth, stubbornness, and strength of character! It wasn’t difficult to switch the original boy for this young man. He simply is Munny, and this cover is a perfect window into the world of my story.

You can’t see it here, but the wrap-around back cover for the print copy contains some of the prettiest work . . . including quite a scary sea monster! Possibly my favorite detail is the inclusion of the ghostly white flowers framing the outer edge. These are an important symbol in the story itself, and when Phatpuppy sent me the first mock-up cover with these included, I nearly jumped out of my skin with excitement!



Intro to Illustration:

There are eight full-page illustrations in Goddess Tithe featuring various characters and events from the story. This is the first one in the book. I decided to share it with all of you since it depicts my young hero, Munny the cabin boy, under the watchful eye of his mentor, the old sailor Tu Pich. Munny is on his first voyage, and he is determined to learn all there is to know about a life at sea as quickly as possible. Thus we see him utterly intent upon the knot he is learning to tie. Tu Pich is old enough to know that no sailor will ever learn all there is to know about the sea. Thus he looks on, grave, caring, and perhaps a little sad. He might be looking upon his own younger self of many years ago, fumbling through the hundreds of difficult knots his fingers must learn to tie with unconscious ease.
I enjoyed creating all the illustrations for Goddess Tithe, but this one was my favorite. I love the contrasts of light and dark, the contrasts of young and old . . . youthful intensity versus the perspective of age.


Excerpt from the Story:
Here is an excerpt from the middle of the story. In this scene, Munny has been ordered to Captain Sunan’s cabin to clear away his breakfast . . . an unexpected task, for a lowly cabin boy would not ordinarily dare enter his captain’s private quarters! Munny hopes to slip in and out quietly without attracting the captain’s notice. But his hopes are dashed when Sunan addresses him, asking how their strange, foreign stowaway is faring:

__________

“And what do you make of him yourself?”
Munny dared glance his captain’s way and was relieved when his eyes met only a stern and rigid back. “I’m not sure, Captain,” he said. “I think he’s afraid. But not of . . .”
“Not of the goddess?” the Captain finished for him. And with these words he turned upon Munny, his eyes so full of secrets it was nearly overwhelming. Munny froze, his fingers just touching but not daring to take up a small teapot of fragile work.
The Captain looked at him, studying his small frame up and down. “No,” he said, “I believe you are right. Leonard the Clown does not fear Risafeth. I believe he is unaware of his near peril at her will, suffering as he does under a peril nearer still.”
 Munny made neither answer nor any move.
“We will bring him safely to Lunthea Maly, won’t we, Munny?” the Captain said. But he did not speak as though he expected an answer, so again Munny offered none. “We will bring him safely to Lunthea Maly and there let him choose his own dark future.”
“I hope—” Munny began.
But he was interrupted by a sudden commotion on deck. First a rising murmur of voices, then many shouts, inarticulate in cacophony. But a pounding at the cabin door accompanied Sur Agung’s voice bellowing, “Captain, you’d best come see this!”
The Captain’s eyes widened a moment and still did not break gaze with Munny’s. “We’ll keep him safe,” he repeated. Then he turned and was gone, leaving the door open.
Munny put down the pot he held and scurried after. The deck was alive with hands, even those who were off watch, crawling up from the hatches and crowding the rails on the port side. They parted way for the Captain to pass through, but when Munny tried to follow, they closed in again, blocking him as solidly as a brick wall.
“Look! Look!” Munny heard voices crying.
“It’s a sign!”
“She’s warning us!”
“It’s a sign, I tell you!”
Fearing he knew not what, Munny ran for the center mast and climbed partway up, using the handholds and footholds with unconscious confidence. Soon he was high enough to see over the heads of the gathered crew, out into the blue waters of the ocean. And he saw them.
 They were water birds. Big white albatrosses, smaller seagulls, heavy cormorants, even deep-throated pelicans and sleek, black-faced terns. These and many more, hundreds of them, none of which should be seen this far out to sea.
They were all dead. Floating in a great mass.
Munny clung to the mast, pressing his cheek against its wood. The shouts of the frightened sailors below faded away, drowned out by the desolation of that sight. Death, reeking death, a sad flotilla upon the waves.
“I’ve never seen anything like that.”
Munny looked down to where Leonard clung to the mast just beneath him, staring wide-eyed out at the waves. “How could this have happened? Were they sick? Caught in a sudden gale? Are they tangled in fishing nets?”
There was no fear in his voice. Not like in the voices of the sailors. He did not understand. He did not realize. It wasn’t his fault, Munny told himself.
But it was.

____________





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-The Writer