eSpec Books interviews L. Jagi Lamplighter, contributor to The Best of Bad-Ass Faeries, edited by Danielle Ackley-McPhail, currently funding on Kickstarter as a part of the #Make100 campaign.
eSB: What is your idea of a bad-ass faerie?
LJL: A fairy that has a noir attitude rather than the more delicate eerie mood common of folk tales.
eSB: Can you tell us a little about your story, “Not-So-Silent Night”, that was selected for The Best of Bad-Ass Faeries?
LJL: A friend of mine was once at a book signing when a somewhat unkempt stranger came up and began regaling her with a story idea—I cannot recall if he wanted to write it himself, or wanted her to write it for him. The idea was Santa Claus in a dog fight with Nazis on Christmas Eve.
I loved the idea. When the time came to write a Bad Ass Faerie story, I remembered this charming idea and started doing a little research. The unheralded efforts of the WAC were being discussed at the time. The two ideas kind of clicked. From there, it was a matter of picking what kind of fairy to have join the fun. I love gremlins, but having them as the attackers seemed appropriate. Somehow Shauna O’Shaughnessy and Tom-O’-Thunder were born.
eSB: What would your fae character’s signature drink be and why?
Irish Whiskey, to be sure.
eSB: What do you like most about The Bad-Ass Faeries series, and why?
I like several things. One, fairy tales are a favorite story form of mine. This series provided a chance to put them before the reading public again. Two, there is a vibrancy and charm that comes from updating a classic and bringing it into a more modern way of thought.
eSB: What kind of challenges did you find writing for this series?
For me, the hardest part was the bad attitude. As a lover of fairytales, I like the eerie, mystical mood that comes with the genre. Making my fae loudmouthed instead of gracious and tricky was difficult.
eSB: What is your first recollection of faeries growing up?
It goes back so far, I can’t recall the start. But I have a clear memory of being seven years old and making a fairy house—the way other people make bird houses—out of old pie tins and other knickknacks. (In retrospect, I wonder why we thought a fairy would want to live in a metal house, even if it was aluminum.) We put it up in the woods, so faires or brownies could find it and make a home.
eSB: What interested you in writing for this series?
I loved the idea from when Danielle first mentioned it, well before she eve started on the first book. Urban fantasy had not even begun yet as a genre. It sounded like an idea that would resonate with readers.
eSB: Tell us something about yourself that is bad-ass.
Alas, nothing about me is bad-assed. ;-P
eSB: Do you have any plans to expand your story…or write in the same universe? If so, what more can your readers expect?
I have not thought of expanding this particular story. Though I do hope someday to write more about Santa Claus.
eSB: What are some of your own works readers can look for?
The Books of Unexpected Enlightenment have been described as “Fringe meets Narnia at Hogwarts.” The Prospero’s Children series is a modern sequel to Shakespeare’s The Tempest, with mystery and humor. A couple of my short stories that appeared in various Bad-Ass Faerie anthologies were set in this background.
I am in several recent anthologies including God, Robot, Forbidden Thoughts, Mythic Orbits.
I also have an anthology of my own short stories—including some that first appeared in the BAF anthologies—called In The Lamplight. It is published by eSpec Books!
eSB: What projects of your own do you have coming up?
I am hard at work on The Awful Truth About Forgetting, book four of The Books of Unexpected Enlightenment. I am also working on several short stories.
L. Jagi Lamplighter is the author of the YA fantasy series: The Unexpected Enlightenment of Rachel Griffin. She is also the author of the Prospero’s Daughter series: Prospero Lost, Prospero In Hell, and Prospero Regained. She has a brand-new short story collection, In the Lamplight, out through eSpec BooksShe has published numerous articles on Japanese animation and appears in several short story anthologies, including Best Of Dreams Of Decadence, No Longer Dreams, Coliseum Morpheuon, Bad-Ass Faeries Anthologies (where she is also an assistant editor) and the Science Fiction Book Club’s Don’t Open This Book.
SOCIAL MEDIA USER IDs
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/ljagilamplighter/
Twitter – lampwright4
Gab – @Arhyalon
Amazon Author Page – https://www.amazon.com/L.-Jagi-Lamplighter/e/B0028OGMLM
Blog Address – http://www.ljagilamplighter.com/
Roanoke Academy for the Sorcerous Arts: http://lampwright.wixsite.com/roanoke-academy
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