The authors of the stories in Crazy Little Spring Called Love (order here) sat down to answer some questions for their readers. For links to the full list of interview questions, teasers, and more, visit the blog tour page.
About the book:
This delightful fantasy romance anthology features eight magical stories inspired by the awakenings and renewal of springtime. If you like fairies, djinn, gods and goddesses, druids, mermaids, magic, and true love, then this is the anthology for you.
What Prompted your Element “X”–Mermaids, Djinn, Fairies, etc?
Traci Douglass: When Hermes Met Eos is based on the old mythology stories. I tried to stay within the boundaries of those legends as much as I could, but did bend the rules a bit when necessary for my story needs. Call it romantic license.
Sheri Queen: Fairies heralding Spring with old magic seemed like a natural fit for the theme of renewal, but adding the twist of what would happen to a fairy whose wing no longer functioned and her self-confidence was damaged in the process, became the core of the story.
M.T. DeSantis: For a while, I was very stuck on what story to write for this anthology. One day, the phrase “djinn of the planter” popped into my head. Planters are related to spring, and djinns are creatures found in fantasy. I had my main character, and the rest just kind of filled itself in.
Cara McKinnon: I actually had planned to write a different story about reunited lovers that would fit with the “renewal” part of our theme. But after outlining and starting to write, I realized that I needed at least 25-30,000 words to do justice to the story. So I put that on hold and started a desperate search through springtime rituals and stories. I happened across a mention of a dawn goddess marrying a fertility god on the spring equinox and giving birth nine months later. Thus was a kernal of an idea formed. But I decided not to tell the story of the god and goddess, but rather of two mortals playing their parts in a ceremonial ritual.
L.J. Longo: I love mermaids, but at the same time, I’m super embarrassed that I like mermaids. Everything about me is pretty butch, until I start squealing over fish-women dolls. I’ve thought way, way too much about mermaids. How they would live, what kinds of societies they would have, how they would communicate, how they would have sex and give birth, etc. One of things I wanted to bring to the myth about mermaids is the idea that they are not actually half-fish. I thought it would be more interesting if like dolphins and seals, they had to surface for air and had a very real fear of drowning. So Svildna actually has a sleek brown tail and no scales.
Mary Rogers: I am Irish, from a family of immigrants. I grew up hearing the stories, the songs, the legends of Ireland, and learned early that magic (even if I don’t have any) comes in many forms. God and nature and magic were constants, and the belief that having one did not mean you couldn’t have the other.
Elsa Carruthers: I was taking some welding classes and my mind started to wander during a particularly boring lecture . . .
Thiss was lovely to read
Thanks! It’s a great collection of stories.