The Author and the Wind... -- guest post from Danielle E. Shipley

The first of today's posts comes from Danielle E. Shipley, author of the Wilderhawk Tales series, whom you may recognize from Fairy Tale Fortnights-past (see: our interview with her, her post on walking a mile in fairy tale shoes, or her piece of flash fiction, inspired by One Eye, Two Eyes, Three Eyes); today she rejoins FTF with a new guest piece, called The Author and the Wind and a chance to win a prize pack! And keep an eye out on A Backwards Story, too, where she'll be visiting us again with a character interview and more chances to win!

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As I sit tapping away at my laptop, I imagine the air changes – smelling of rain, hazing with fog. A breath, heavy and warm, blows across the back of my neck.

“Hello, Author.”

I startle. “Austeryn! What brings the Wind of the South my way?”

He gusts around to appear before me, materializing out of the misted air into the form of an eerily handome man. Beneath eyes an inscrutable blank, he smiles. “It has reached my ear that you have lately released my book to the world.”

“Your book, huh?” It never fails. You give a character so much as a minor role to play, and they think it’s all about them. “I’d say it’s as much Liliavaine’s as yours. Especially given that she’s the one the book is named for.”

“True,” he agrees, “there would be less of a story without her. But ask yourself, would there be any at all without me?”

I reflect, tracing the plot’s events backwards. Where did it all begin? The storm, I recall.

“Exactly,” he says, for reading my mind comes easy to those who are part of it. “No storm without a wind, no story without a storm – at least, not in the case of ‘The Surrogate Sea’.”

“You’re not the only wind for the job,” I point out. “Aquinore’s renowned for his fearsome blizzards, and Euroval for weather disasters full of enough thunder and lightning to strike a person deaf and blind.”

“And yet, you chose me,” says Austeryn, his head canted to a too-innocently inquiring angle. “Why is that?”

“Do you know, I can’t remember precisely.” I frown, trying to think back. “I suppose I was looking at things from Lily’s perspective. She wanted someone superhuman to steal her heart. So I looked at the Sky folk available to choose from. The kings’ hearts were spoken for. The North Wind?” I shake my head. “One has to wonder if he even has a heart. And we were working off of ‘The Little Mermaid’, here. Where’s the room in a sea-centric plot for the desert-like Wind of the East?”

Austeryn raises an eyebrow. “Base your writing decisions on meteorlogy, do you?”

“I base them on a lot of things. More than anything, though, I came to realize something about you. Of all the winds, and for all your wicked, wily ways, I do believe your heart has the deepest capacity to truly love.”

“Do you, now,” he says, his tone as blank as the eyes that stare, unblinking, through strands of his black hair wafting across. “And why do you suppose that is?”

I tip my ear toward my shoulder in a shrug. “Something to do with your connection to the Great Sea, perhaps. Nothing says ‘deep’ like the deep. So whether or not Lily actually ended up falling for you, I figured you had the best chance of keeping everyone guessing.”

The corner of his mouth curls up into a smirk. “I do pride myself on being difficult to predict.”

“That you are. But I had high hopes for your romantic success with Denebdeor’s princess. Leave it to a beauty to forge an unlikely bond with a beast.”

His smirk widens. “Were you rooting for me, Author? ‘Wicked, wily ways’ and all?”

“Not saying I was, not saying I wasn’t,” I say, returning my attention to the laptop. “But if I did happen to be rooting for the villain, it wouldn’t be the first time.”

Chuckling, Austeryn releases his hold on human form, slipping back into invisibility. “The villain, you say,” his voice lingers beyond the slow stilling of the air that signals his departure. “We shall see whether our readers agree.”

Our readers, now. So be it. If he’s willing to share the claim, so am I.

****GIVEAWAY****

Possessed with the Fairy Tale Fortnight spirit, Danielle has offered up a chance to win a prize pack centered around the latest of the Wilderhawk Tales novels, The Surrogate Sea!  Winner will receive:

• 1 paperback copy of The Surrogate Sea!
• 1 set of signed bookmarks!
• and 1 limited edition, behind-the-scenes booklet!

This giveaway is INTERNATIONAL and ends April 22nd at midnight, EST.

To enter, make sure you are registered on the FTF giveaway registry, and then fill out the Rafflecopter form below.
Good luck!
PLEASE NOTE: As with a number of giveaways in FTF, there are entry options that may not yet be live to earn (ie "comment on X review" but the review is not live yet); we WILL direct you back to earn those entries when the posts go live, so you don't miss out. Promise!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Want more fairy tales? Return to the main schedules by clicking here for The Book Rat or here for A Backwards Story