Fantasy Author chat: Mary C Kehoe, Water Magic & Deep Lore | Mythic Mirror Ep 36

Transcript

Speaker: What happens when water makes you go mad and what is the

Speaker: Welcome to Mythic Mirror, a podcast for lovers of fantasy who want to live meaningful and magical lives. I am your co-host, Carolina Carter. And I'm your host, Mary Sikiho.

Speaker: And today i will be leading this podcast because we are spotlighting Breaking Inlands, Mary's first book, which by the time this podcast comes out, it will have launched on Kickstarter. And you can go directly to the link and buy from her so that we don't have to involve any third parties like Amazon or anything else.

Speaker: Mary, how are you feeling? feeling very, very excited. Have you had a surreal moment at like, oh my gosh, I wrote a book? So I've been creating the the mock-up for the hardcover.

Speaker: And the paperback. So seeing, even though it's not even real yet physically in my hand, even just seeing the covers on books and and having people talking to me, it already feels like it's a little bit in the wild.

Speaker: Just the amount of people that we've been talking to in the last two weeks of just out on the street talking about fantasy books and how many people get so excited For, yeah they don't know me and they, you know, but they love fantasy. So even just that, I already knew that the the fantasy reader community is a beautiful one to be a part of, but getting getting to experience it from the author side is really fun.

Speaker: Yeah, that's been really cool. We've been going about town, inviting people, putting up posters, talking to people about fantasy. Is there anything that you, is there any goal for Saturday that you're like, I really hope this happens? Or is it just the fact that you are launching it? Is that enough? Do you feel good?

Speaker: Just launching it is exciting enough, but I would really love to actually get it funded day one. that would be That would be just because then I can enjoy the rest of the campaign and it's all just about, you know, how many stretch goals can we get to and how cool can we get the project to be?

Speaker: Oh, we can get it to be very cool. I'm very confident in us funding on the first day. um We've got a lot of people excited about this book. For somebody, though, who knows absolutely nothing about this book, how would you describe it in 30 seconds? Wait, five, four, three, two, one.

Speaker: Go. This is a book about a society that thinks touching water will make you go mad and a girl who so stops ignoring the call of the water and discovers suppressed magic and blackmail going on and all sorts of sinister plots.

Speaker: That's right. You did it in under 30 seconds. How'd I do? As someone who's read the book. I think that was great. i as i've I thought you covered it If I were to add anything ah on this adventure, she finds her found family.

Speaker: But that's why I wouldn't add anything, Mary, because I'm not a writer. She finds her found family. She magic's the magic. she The magic gets magic. The found family gets found. The water is wet. The mysteries are not mysteries anymore.

Speaker: The water is wet. Do you remember what the original spark was for this story or this any moment where you were like, I have to write this book? I do remember the spark for the story. It was the idea about water. If people made water forbidden because of the magic it held and what that would do and how would that society be.

Speaker: So that was the first spark. And I originally started it as just, ah I was writing another book and decided that I didn't know enough and hadn't lived enough for the book idea that I had. So I was like, oh, I'll just play around with this little idea and, you know, get better at writing and live more of my life. So I'm a more enriched person to write a book with.

Speaker: Yeah. And so then that one became this main four book series that I'm launching my author career with. Incredible. What kind of reader do you imagine is going to absolutely devour this book?

Speaker: The type of reader. I think it's readers who will love fantasy that has a rich world and a feeling that you are are stepping into a lore that already exists. If you could compare your book to three other books, movies, or shows, you don't have to do three of each, just pick and choose, what would you choose?

Speaker: See, I know I need a very easy answer for this, and I don't have one yet. I think, um you know, even though, okay, Catherine Arden's books, the Winter Night Trilogy, even though those are based in this world, and mine is a not this world, i think hers has a similar...

Speaker: feel with the the folkloric aspect and the lore um and her the the characters feel a little similar to me in their wanting to step out of the the cultural societal role that they've been given and how they don't quite fit into that society that they were born into Yeah, for books, we've talked about how the Twisted Crown duology has some similarities in maybe like atmosphere and vibe um in the sense of found family and just ah twisting.

Speaker: I don't want to give anything away. ah Secrets. Secrets. This society has secrets. This, exactly. All good societies do, right?

Speaker: And bad. Was there ever a moment while you were writing this book where you thought, I can't finish this? i never so i never gave up permanently, but there were times when you know just, I would say that's it's never a good sign when you think about your characters and you think, oh, my poor Rilke. Oh, my poor characters. They've been abandoned. ah and And once you've stopped writing or rewriting, as my case would be,

Speaker: For long enough, it feels like i I just feel guilty when I would think about it. So it'd be yeah i have to get back to that and I have to fix it and I have to keep going. um But I always knew I would because the story was worth it. I have a sister specific question for you.

Speaker: um And it's a little hard to phrase because you know I've already read it. But what do you think I understand about you as a person now?

Speaker: now that I've read the book that I didn't understand before? Oh, I want to ask you that question. Well, I asked you first. I think the...

Speaker: I think I put a lot of myself into the main character. that's a little vulnerable to admit. um So there's, I mean, I'm not, she isn't me, but there are definitely things I understand keenly about her, I should say.

Speaker: So if you understand Rilke, you may, and don't know, understand me a little better. I don't know. You're my sister. Now now people are going reading and trying to figure out what part of this is like her and what part isn't.

Speaker: She's a witch. but um I had the very unique experience while I was reading it of it being so you and then also just getting completely immersed in it and forgetting that you were the one who wrote it.

Speaker: um And just being like it was just I was just reading a good book that I really liked and couldn't wait to get back to and couldn't wait to finish um and would just get lost in it.

Speaker: Yes. yeah

Speaker: Let's see. I want to talk about the characters, but obviously no spoilers. Who's your favorite character?

Speaker: Or is that a spoiler? I think it is because think know your favorite characters. Yeah. i but You do not. You don't know me all. do too. You told me. Well, how about this? Since we've already talked about Rilke and how you put a lot of yourself into her, if Rilke could tell us one thing about herself that she would never admit out loud, what would it be?

Speaker: That's funny because an editor was telling me I needed to put more of her emotions into the book. And I discovered that that was hard for me.

Speaker: he'll like she's that She's not a whiner. She's not going to just be whining in her own head about things. Right. She's a Pisces. She wouldn't want you people to know these things. She's private. She gives it to herself. Okay. She won't even admit to herself that she's feeling these things. Yeah, exactly. Leave her alone.

Speaker: That is an interesting thing because when you first meet her, she is definitely in a kind of chronic disassociative state. So... feeling things is not something she, you know, she's, that's always kind of like, oh, pushed away.

Speaker: So wait, the question was what she would want to tell someone? ne Well, what's the thing that she could tell us about herself, but that she would never admit out loud? Oh, right, right, right. Okay. Well, you do get this from the book. It isn't something she admits out loud, that she's lonely.

Speaker: So that is a huge part of this book and a a drive in the beginning Being lonely is something that actually helps her risk society's censure and madness because she doesn't see losing what she currently has as a huge risk.

Speaker: here Now, on the podcast, you and I talk a lot about world building and magic systems. So let's get into that a bit with this book. um As you built this world, was there anything that you took inspiration from? or did it mostly just come to you?

Speaker: And while you're thinking about that, were there any mythologies that you studied up on? Was there any um folklore that you looked into that was sort of the inspiration?

Speaker: but So there is a little hint of kind of Atlantean type feel to this because of the they Their society right now that you first meet is a few generations forward from what they call the rending. So something catastrophic happened to a huge chunk of land um just a few generations back.

Speaker: And now these people have decided that it's a myth. It didn't happen. Gods don't exist. Magic isn't real. and

Speaker: So they're kind of in the, they're ah they're a gas lamp society on the cusp of the steam age. They're just starting to get into steam adventure inventions. So it's that kind of a feel of a society. And then they are faced with the deep lore that they have developed.

Speaker: The people alive today haven't purposefully forgotten, but they are the outcome of the people who did purposefully repress that history. So it's got a little bit of a feel of that.

Speaker: And, you know, there are so many different takes on Atlantis, so I don't know that that's really a ah but it's a feeling, you know, I think so many cultures have the story of the flood and have the story of this great catastrophic event that took out what they saw as their whole world, and so I've taken that and kind of moved it up in the timeline, so instead of coming from, you know, a ancient time,

Speaker: people are walking around with carriages and skirts and pretending that nothing happened. a And I think because because it is such a cross the world, you know, there's something there's something in the in the soul memory that responds to the idea of this lost civilization.

Speaker: Yeah, definitely. And um you did create a religious structure for this book as well. Can you talk about that at all? Yes, I can. So these, I've been calling them the lost gods. or they In the book, they are called the lost gods because at the time of the rending, they disappeared. So it used to be that they kind of influenced of the world and the devotees of the gods, so like the priests and priestesses, could... have their god magic and actually interact with the gods on some level. And, you know, the higher you went in the order, the more interaction you had. And then because of what was going on and what happened at the rending, they're gone.

Speaker: And so we've got, let's see, we've got nine as in why deities.

Speaker: And their magic is starting to come back and we don't know why. And then we also have um the earth gods who are also having to do with magic who did not get, who weren't lost but are very rare to be seen or interacted with now.

Speaker: And the people of the Gaslamp Society, they do believe in them or they do not? They do not.

Speaker: They don't believe in any of the gods. Nope. No gods, no power, just the earth that they stand upon. What aspect of this book took the most research in order to write? If you could spend one day inside your book's world, where would you go and where would you absolutely refuse to go?

Speaker: Oh, that's tough. In the beginning, I would have said I refused to go to the farmlands and the towns that she grows up in because there's more interesting places in the world.

Speaker: And by the end of writing that book, I kind of loved it. So I see it's it's worth probably the first place I would go is the Duraknor Mountains, which is where the Temerok live.

Speaker: And she meets a Temerok, who is one of my favorite characters. And little a So you don't get to, the reader doesn't get to go there in this book, but you will in book number two.

Speaker: Do you know your release schedule for all four books? Sorry, I just interrupted because you said for book two. i I want to do one a year is my goal. That's good to know. We'll see if I can hold to that because I got to get writing. I know. What are you doing?

Speaker: Hang up. Start writing. It's hard being your publisher and your author. i mean, and the author. It is. But you're doing great. Oh, thank you. Yes.

Speaker: I apologize. I interrupted you mid-question, so I think you were going to say where you actually would never go in your world. ah Probably the breaking room. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's good. I'd never go there.

Speaker: This is not giving away anything. The breaking room in this world is where they break live water in order to make it not dangerous. So if you touch live water, raw water.

Speaker: called life water. We don't call it raw water. um You go insane. So in order to keep society safe, each house has a breaking room where they bring in water and they break it in order to be able to use it and drink it. And the process is secret, known only to the breaking guild.

Speaker: I think we should take a moment to do our Discworld Delight before moving on. Our guesses for this week's Discworld Delight going postal.

Speaker: That would be correct. Very good for this week's Discworld Delight. A slab of plaster crashed onto the floor. Lord Felmett spun around, and this time his grip lifted the fool a foot off the floor.

Speaker: among the very many lecture Among the very many luxuries the duke had dispensed with in his life was that of ignorance. He liked to feel he knew what was going on. The glorious uncertainties of existence held no attraction for him.

Speaker: It's the witches, isn't it? He growled. Oop, that wasn't the end of the sentence. his left cheek beginning to twitch like a landed fish. That was the end of the sentence.

Speaker: Perfect. Nailed it. Almost nailed it. Definitely didn't blow

Speaker: All right, I'm going to shoot you some rapid fire questions, which I categorize us as tell us without telling us. So what is the biggest emotional question at the heart of this book?

Speaker: Belonging, identity, and sacrifice. Beautiful. What is something readers should pay attention to? Ooh, uh... No spoilers.

Speaker: What is something readers will miss the first time reading this book? Well, i can't tell you that. Okay. What is a detail that will mean something different after you finish the book? See, now I'm thinking of details that'll mean something different when you finish the series. Oh, don't say it. Don't say it. What's something you can tell us that will make people want to immediately start reading? Gee, I wish I knew.

Speaker: I knew that, I'd be telling everybody. You're going to love this book. If you're a fantasy reader, you will love this. And you know what I love about fantasy readers is there's nobody who's like, well, I've had enough.

Speaker: That was enough fantasy books for my lifetime. You're always voraciously looking for the next read. And i love that about them. And I'm very excited for people to discover your book, Mary.

Speaker: Me too. You know, I can say ah from what I have heard from readers, what people, why they loved the book and, and you know, continued continued to read it.

Speaker: are, let's see, the characters that they just absolutely loved them and wanted to stay in their world with them and the world itself.

Speaker: And the we definitely get some fast paced. starts It starts off gentle but it gets fast paced and high stakes pretty quick. So it's not, ah it's, yeah, that's all I'll say. let's all

Speaker: as the world meets and falls in love with these characters, how worried should our family be about recognizing themselves in your book? Not to. There is the dad of the family that she becomes a part of reads aloud, which is something our dad would do for us.

Speaker: So ah that came about because a it just totally works with his character as well. But also I was thinking about how we learn about our own lore in the world.

Speaker: And so then having that be a way in which Rilke learns about things that her society has forgotten and and finding it out in a way that we would have found out, you know, or she would have found out too if if her people were not so closed off.

Speaker: So that actually, some of that, what he reads there,

Speaker: I read a lot of the two things. And so the so the poetic Edda from Norse mythology and also the songs to the gods in Greek mythology.

Speaker: So my gods aren't like either of those, but the way in which I was, I was looking at the way in which cultures taught about their gods and spoke to their gods.

Speaker: So that was some research that I did. That's very cool. As you researched that and you discovered what you discovered, were there any new rituals that you added into either your daily life or your writing process?

Speaker: um I definitely take time to kind of honor the unknown of where these stories come from. I think, you know, we've talked about on the podcast before my a life with philosophy of shut up and get out of the way.

Speaker: So, you know, I think everyone throughout the world can come up with different words for God or muses or angels or, you know, the universe, whatever, whatever word people feel comfortable with, or no word at all. ah But making room for that and and honoring it and finding ways to invite the story in and letting it be

Speaker: Something important in its own right. What was it like having me read this book? Were you nervous, excited? Was there stuff you hoped I'd noticed that I didn't?

Speaker: That's a hard one to do without spoilers. Were there things that you knew I'd miss? No, I have thoroughly enjoyed having people read the book and and just getting to hear where they think the story is going to go.

Speaker: Their honest reactions to different moments and characters. Aurora, our youngest sister, would be texting me while she was reading it and she would just get so righteously angry.

Speaker: it was very enjoyable. Yeah. And there's something you said, which is a spoiler, so I won't tell anyone.

Speaker: But it is it made me feel like, oh, I did that right. i did that character right. so it was in And I think you're the only one who has um commented upon this character and the arc, I should say.

Speaker: So anyway, yeah. um Yeah, so it's been it's been an absolute blast too to ah you know hear what people like and what they don't like. Mostly they don't like the characters I don't want them to like. so I would say people who have listened to this podcast know that i tend to make some wild guesses that genuinely most of the time turn out to be wrong. that was There was no exception in this book. I made my guesses and I had my anxieties about what was going to happen. i was dead wrong. It's beautiful. ah hum

Speaker: Okay. So as we said,

Speaker: when people are listening to this, we'll have already had the book launch. We will have already funded in one day. We will have already gained many, many, many new readers.

Speaker: um However, as you listen to it, the Kickstarter is still up and is still going. So I do want to chat a little bit about the different tiers and when people can expect their gifts and books and all the wonderful things that just help you enter into this world. And i would just like to add all of these, i keep saying prizes. What am I trying to say?

Speaker: um rewards all of these rewards are perfect for autumnal cozy season burr months so mary take it away tier one what do we have so we start out with the e-book and every version of this book including the e-book is signed so yes and um Yeah, so you'll get the signed e-book and the digital art pack.

Speaker: Very cool. Yeah. And um so that's the first level. And then up from that, you have the paperback, which comes with stickers of two of the God symbols.

Speaker: Both of these are ones that are referenced in the book, and one is rather central to ah one of the plots in the book. Mm hmm.

Speaker: So that's the paperback and then you get the paperback bundle, which includes coloring pages and um character art. Awesome.

Speaker: Yeah. And then you get the hardcover. So both the paperback and the hardcover have sprayed edges. So art on the on the edges of the pages. And then also the hardcover has color illustrated end pages. So one will be the character art and the other one will be a surprise.

Speaker: Oh, cool. And yeah, so then um then the hardback bundle, which you can you know get with the art packs of the coloring pages and the prints. And then we get into this two specialty boxes. And these are the ones that I am really most excited about because i have the Temerock box, which has a leather bookmark with the Temerock God symbol.

Speaker: And then it also comes with a signature blend of the Temerock spice specifically for the drink that is made in this book.

Speaker: Awesome. So, yeah. And then, and that's a spiced hot, a hot, you know, like a, yeah, a hot tea with milk. I mean, you don't have to put milk in.

Speaker: I would. but And it traditionally does have it. um And then for the top tier has all of the things. So it has the spice mix and the leather bookmark and the art print stickers. And then, oh, there's another little art box.

Speaker: Paper, you know, a normal bookmark that everyone will get physical books. Very cool. And oh, and then this top tier also has a leather journal with the other symbol.

Speaker: this The one central to Rilke's own story. on the cover. And this one is, umm I'm super excited about it. It is the, so both the leather journal and the bookmark are made in Washington state.

Speaker: And then the other little gift that comes along with the top tier Rilke collection is this essential oil blend with Very cool. Made specifically for this book. And if you see here, that I don't know if it's focused, but um that are that is a symbol of all the God symbols put together.

Speaker: So is that was... That is so cool. Yeah, that was a moment for me where i had created and designed all of the symbols for the gods individually. And then I was figuring out how to display them.

Speaker: And I already knew that I wanted the father and the mother God symbols to be able to be linked. So I'd done that. And then I was looking at the rest of the symbols. And I just thought, what if what if all of them could become one symbol? So I just started layering them on top of each other.

Speaker: and it just started working. That's so cool. In like kind of an almost eerie way. Speaking of, you know, when you just respect the story and give it space, I finished and I looked at it. i was like What have I done?

Speaker: i think I've created a religion. That feels real to me. Yeah. So cool. Yeah. So I'm, I'm, I am just so thrilled to be getting to share not only the book with people, but these, like these immersive pieces that people can interact with and hold and live with and, and have, you know, become a part of their world. And it's the lore from the book that is now real.

Speaker: So cool, Mary. As I said on my post, I am endlessly proud of you. Well, thank you. I'm very excited. When when can people expect um their rewards to arrive? November. So I will be the final proofing.

Speaker: It's going to my proofer in November. mid-September. will be getting it back mid-October, right before our darling sister's wedding. So I may be bringing my book to be looking at, making sure everything's ready.

Speaker: um And then, yeah, as soon as i I have that back from her and I've put in all the corrections, then it goes to the printer and then comes back to me. i sign it. i package everything up and send it off to everyone.

Speaker: So if you have a fantasy reader in your life who you're not sure what to get them ever for Christmas, this would be a very cool book. I mean, gift. And both.

Speaker: Get them a little package for Christmas. And I know some people already who want to be buying one for themselves and one for someone else. So I will have, that's one of the add-ons. too So you can pick your reward level and then add on a paperback.

Speaker: Very cool. Well, i already know that my spark of the week is going to be Saturday. getting I know how hard you've worked. I know how much you've put into this. And getting to finally see that come to fruition is absolutely going to be my spark the week.

Speaker: Me too. ah If I'm picking a spark of the week that's already happened in at recording time rather than showing time, um I just picked up this oil today.

Speaker: So it's got um a mock-up label. So the real label will be a little bit more, I mean, you can't tell. It'll be a little glossier and stuff. But ah yeah, just seeing this in real life, seeing it come together.

Speaker: And this is the first physical product that has arrived. The leather and the book, the leather bookmark and journal I should be getting in the mail today or tomorrow.

Speaker: And so this is a huge spark. This is the first physical thing that's that's really here. It's in my hand. And um I'm just, um I'm so excited.

Speaker: Someone asked me earlier if I was nervous and really the only thing that I'm scared of has is already not happening it was thinking about it earlier you know before I had finalized all the plans and really made it happen I was the idea of not publishing at this point is so much scarier than thanks yeah yeah uh absolutely yeah at this point I'm just excited as always we are so grateful to be spiraling through this universe with all of you it's not always easy but no good story ever is