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eledonecirrhosaI heard yesterday that Storm Constantine died a few days ago.
I'd wondered why she had gone quiet for a few weeks on the topic of Para Mort, her latest Wraeththu Mythos anthology, but put it down to lockdown, Xmas/New Year and/or maybe Brexity business paperwork taking up all her time. Alas, it was none of those.
Storm's Wraeththu Mythos books touched my life. I've read many of her other series, but those ones had the most profound effect.
I first read The Enchantments of Flesh & Spirit back in the 80s when it first came out. It was weird and different, with its hermaphrodite central characters, and it had a punky, post-apocalypse then building a new world vibe that I liked. I preferred 'bad-boy' Cal the 'co-star', to Pellaz the central character, but I wasn't alone in that.
But I didn't like fantasy much, because I'd read too many cookie cutter, bastard offspring of Tolkien & D&D, fantasy trilogies. So I swore I'd never read Any More Fantasy.
Then I found a second-hand copy of the 2nd Wraeththu volume (The Bewitchments of Love & Hate) in a comic shop, so I bought it and devoured it.
But I didn't like fantasy much, so swore I'd never read any more fantasy. Nope, definitely not.
So when the third book in the sequence came out I ignored it. And by 'ignored it' I of course mean 'bought it immediately'.
But I didn't like fantasy much, so swore I'd never read any more fantasy. Well, except those other books by Storm...
And, even though I'd re-read that first Wraeththu trilogy in the meantime, I kind of stuck to that 'no fantasy' oath for a while - which is sort of Anne McCaffrey's fault. You see, McCaffrey wrote some Pern books which returned to events already covered in earlier volumes, and pretty much included the same scenes, word for word, but with a different viewpoint character. I felt annoyed and cheated. So when I heard that Storm was returning to events covered in the earlier volumes I (foolishly) believed she'd do it the same way.
And, of course, because I don't like fantasy and was never going to read any more of it, ever.
Until there were announcements on RPG websites that there was going to be a Wraeththu Mythos RPG. Squeeing started. I grabbed the RPG book as soon as it was out (2005) and read it in one sitting on a loooong train journey. System-wise it wasn't any great shakes, but it was a fairly decent sourcebook to the early decades of Wraeththu Mythos. Hello Wraeththu universe, I've missed you!
Plot bunnies for games and fanfic started to breed. And lo and behold, there was already Wraeththu fanfic on t'interweb and a community on LiveJournal. So I bounced off to get The Wraiths of Will & Pleasure (which instantly ousted the earlier books as my favourite) and The Shades of Time & Memory, and devoured them and oodles of fanfic. The Ghosts of Blood & Innocence and The Hienama followed soon after.
Since then I've kept up with new Wraeththu books, and Andy Bigwood did me the most awesome favour by showing some of my fanfic to Storm. Who gave me a massive boost at a time when my mental health was not in a good place - by first telling Andy that I 'got' Wraeththu, secondly giving me feedback on my writing, and finally inviting me to submit a story to her Para Animalia anthology.
Squee with extra squee on top!
Storm was lovely to work with as an editor, and had such an uplifting attitude to fanfic. Her hermaphrodite hara have been an escape and a solace to me.
So do I read fantasy these days? Yes, and it is all because of Storm Constantine.
I'd wondered why she had gone quiet for a few weeks on the topic of Para Mort, her latest Wraeththu Mythos anthology, but put it down to lockdown, Xmas/New Year and/or maybe Brexity business paperwork taking up all her time. Alas, it was none of those.
Storm's Wraeththu Mythos books touched my life. I've read many of her other series, but those ones had the most profound effect.
I first read The Enchantments of Flesh & Spirit back in the 80s when it first came out. It was weird and different, with its hermaphrodite central characters, and it had a punky, post-apocalypse then building a new world vibe that I liked. I preferred 'bad-boy' Cal the 'co-star', to Pellaz the central character, but I wasn't alone in that.
But I didn't like fantasy much, because I'd read too many cookie cutter, bastard offspring of Tolkien & D&D, fantasy trilogies. So I swore I'd never read Any More Fantasy.
Then I found a second-hand copy of the 2nd Wraeththu volume (The Bewitchments of Love & Hate) in a comic shop, so I bought it and devoured it.
But I didn't like fantasy much, so swore I'd never read any more fantasy. Nope, definitely not.
So when the third book in the sequence came out I ignored it. And by 'ignored it' I of course mean 'bought it immediately'.
But I didn't like fantasy much, so swore I'd never read any more fantasy. Well, except those other books by Storm...
And, even though I'd re-read that first Wraeththu trilogy in the meantime, I kind of stuck to that 'no fantasy' oath for a while - which is sort of Anne McCaffrey's fault. You see, McCaffrey wrote some Pern books which returned to events already covered in earlier volumes, and pretty much included the same scenes, word for word, but with a different viewpoint character. I felt annoyed and cheated. So when I heard that Storm was returning to events covered in the earlier volumes I (foolishly) believed she'd do it the same way.
And, of course, because I don't like fantasy and was never going to read any more of it, ever.
Until there were announcements on RPG websites that there was going to be a Wraeththu Mythos RPG. Squeeing started. I grabbed the RPG book as soon as it was out (2005) and read it in one sitting on a loooong train journey. System-wise it wasn't any great shakes, but it was a fairly decent sourcebook to the early decades of Wraeththu Mythos. Hello Wraeththu universe, I've missed you!
Plot bunnies for games and fanfic started to breed. And lo and behold, there was already Wraeththu fanfic on t'interweb and a community on LiveJournal. So I bounced off to get The Wraiths of Will & Pleasure (which instantly ousted the earlier books as my favourite) and The Shades of Time & Memory, and devoured them and oodles of fanfic. The Ghosts of Blood & Innocence and The Hienama followed soon after.
Since then I've kept up with new Wraeththu books, and Andy Bigwood did me the most awesome favour by showing some of my fanfic to Storm. Who gave me a massive boost at a time when my mental health was not in a good place - by first telling Andy that I 'got' Wraeththu, secondly giving me feedback on my writing, and finally inviting me to submit a story to her Para Animalia anthology.
Squee with extra squee on top!
Storm was lovely to work with as an editor, and had such an uplifting attitude to fanfic. Her hermaphrodite hara have been an escape and a solace to me.
So do I read fantasy these days? Yes, and it is all because of Storm Constantine.
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