A To Z Blogging Challenge 2023: Folk Tale And Myth In Fiction - L Is For Charles De Lint And Margo Lanagan

 Charles De Lint is a prolific Canadian fantasy writer, who focuses on myth and legend and - well, fairies - in his work. 

The novel closest to the theme of this A to Z is Jack, The Giant Killer, published in 1987 and still available on Amazon and Apple books. It is an urban fantasy version of the fairy tale, in which the Jack of the title is a girl called Jacky. The Wild Hunt ride on motorbikes and there are the Seelie and Unseelie courts, all in Ottawa. And, of course, there are giants. 

But there is a lot more to his work. He has done far more books than I can list here - and I’m still reading them. So let’s just talk about a few. 

His fiction mixes Celtic with Native American myth. In one of his novels, Moonheart, the Celtic spirits have come to North America and taken over from the indigenous spirits, who have withdrawn into the Otherworld. The heroine, who runs a bookshop, meets Welsh bard Taliesin, a hero of Celtic mythology, who made his way to North America centuries ago and is still around. She is a heavy smoker, so when she meets a Native American being and offers her a cigarette, it is considered sharing sacred smoke! 

I loved this book, which, among other things, introduced me to some wonderful folk bands such as Silly Wizard. 

He is best known for his Newford series, books and short stories,  set in a small town somewhere in North America. It is filled with magic of more than one kind. The local park is a forest of Faerie. Native American spirits wander in and out. Best of all, the town is full of writers, artists and musicians and you can take your pick of concerts by Celtic bands any time of the week. I have to say, if Newford was a real place I’d move there tomorrow. 

Charles De Lint is a musician himself. He met his wife when she came to him for mandolin lessons. I once attended a convention at which he was the guest of honour and he and his wife performed for us. They did a more informal jam session in the hotel foyer with one of our local musicians, a harper who carries her instrument everywhere. I believe he has been in a Celtic band in his time. So it’s easy to see why he would slot music and the arts into his fiction. 

By the way, I had the pleasure of doing a panel on YA and children’s fiction with him at that con.

Margo Lanagan is an Australian writer who has done some fiction with fairy tale backgrounds.

The one which is best known is Tender Morsels, a YA novel based on Snow-White And Rose-Red. In the fairy tale, two girls live in the forest with their mother. They are kind to a (talking)bear who is a prince under an enchantment. They are also helpful to a dwarf who, however, is ungrateful each time they help him. Eventually the dwarf gets his comeuppance and the bear is turned back into a prince. 

Tender Morsels expands on the story, with a back story for the mother, the bear and the dwarf. It got into trouble in the U.S when it first came out because of those dark back stories. It is a wonderful book anyway. Available at all good book web sites.

My favourite of her works is called Sea Hearts in Australia and The Brides Of Rollrock Island outside Australia. It won a Children’s Book Council of Australia Award for Older Readers the year it came out.

It’s not based on a specific folk tale, but you are probably familiar with the stories about selkie women who can’t return to the ocean because their human husbands have stolen and hidden their seal skins. Then a child finds the hidden seal skin and the wife leaves her human family and returns to the sea.

This novel, set on a Scottish island in the 19th century, begins by asking what might happen to descendants of these seal women centuries later. In this case, a girl who is a descendant has the power to bring women out of the seals which live around the island and makes a nice living out of it. 

These women are basically Stepford Wives if you can imagine those as having feelings. They are beautiful and obedient and all the men want one. Eventually the human women leave the island and the only women are selkies. There is no other choice for boys because any girls born to the selkie women have to return to the sea as seals, unable to live on land. In the end, it’s the decision of the teenage boys to help their mothers, not an accident.

It’s a beautiful and touching novel, well worth a read. Fortunately it’s still available, in ebook, print and audiobook. Buy it!