My life has changed remarkably since publishing my first book (Cosmic Consciousness by Mike Longmeadow, available everywhere. Wink, wink). In the last year, I’ve gone from wannabee artist to full-fledged author and ghostwriter. There have been so many changes, I still find myself constantly challenged to learn something new; about myself, about work, about life. Some days are better than others, as I dance between thrilling victories and gut-wrenching defeats. Although I’ve exposed myself to a slew of changes, one thing hasn’t changed, and that’s my desire to explore the invisible reality that surrounds us. This brings us to this week’s subject.
About three months back, I had an idea, a book that would include Fairies. But before I go any further, I must mark a pause. That will be the last time I use that term. I used it because it’s the common name given to those who live in Fae and to make sure everyone is on the same page about the beings I will talk about. To avoid their wrath (in some cases it can be frightening, other times, it will seem funny), the appropriate terms are good people, or fair neighbors, or fair folk. The variations are endless but suffice to say you would be well advised to use terms that flatter them. The reason I’m telling you this is because by researching the fair folk’s history, I discovered an entire universe that has been blinded by modern lights. Their existence was once revered and feared simultaneously, and my goal will be to re-establish that distinction with my book. When you move back past the Victorian era, a whole new world opens. Before the Victorian alterations, when the fair folk became winged child-friendly cuties, they were both small and tall, beautiful and ugly, and most of all had no wings. They were a varied bunch who lived peacefully in the forests surrounding the towns. Some were nice, others not so much. That’s what I will present to you in the next book. The current working title is “The Queen’s Rade”. The spelling comes from the ancient Celt. It is the excursion made by the fair folk’s queen, along with her entire court, when she visits the humans.
At this point, the book has taken form, but I must still work at finding a language that fits the fair folk. I want to represent them appropriately because they exist in a dimension made of ethereal energy that has no time; or rather, where time works differently. Also, the book won’t be placed in ancient times. There might be a flashback or two, but the story itself will be in the present. For this part of my research, a huge shout out to author Morgan Daimler for her books on Fae lore and history. If you’re interested in the existence of these magical beings, get her books now, it’s worth it. Her writings will be the basis for the fair folk characters that will populate the book. But to place all this in the present, I needed something else, and the universe provided that in the form of the Fairy Census. This is a census that was compiled between 2014 and 2017 to accumulate data on modern-day sightings of the fair folk. Simon Young, who conducted the survey, cataloged some five hundred fair folk experiences.
I’ve just begun to dig into this four-hundred-page monster, but hopefully, this census will help me tie the past and the present together and create a magical, if sometimes scary, world.