K.W. Taylor

12 December 2011 · 4:47 pm

Blog: Reimagined fairy tales

I’ve written my fair share of reimagined fairy tales. “Sparkling Teeth and Sacrifices” is essentially Snow White with vampires. In the pipeline, I have modern takes on Tristan and Iseult (“The Lovers,” soon to be appearing in Daily Love) and a Breton myth about a ghostly fisherman who kills people by a lighthouse (“Iannic-ann-ôd,” set for a January edition of Dark Fire Fiction). With a lot of my work, I try to invent my own mythology, but there’s something so deeply appealing about turning existing fables on their heads.

And I’m not the only writer with this fascination. Magazines and anthologies devoted to reworked fairy tales pop up all the time. Two of my favorite authors–Angela Carter and Joyce Carol Oates–both released entire collections of essentially feminist readings of monomyths. Anne Rice took it another step further with her Sleeping Beauty books.

So why do we do this? What’s the appeal? Is it a desire to drag your favorite childhood stories kicking and screaming into adulthood, to lay bare the essential weirdness of so many of them? To examine the source and remove the Disneyfication, leaving the gritty underbelly exposed?

I think it’s mostly about the appeal of speculative fiction overall. I write non-realistic work because I keep asking myself “what if…?” And sometimes that question comes when I’m feeling ornery and wondering just why Snow White was so pale or why the big bad wolf could talk. The whimsy of the fairy tale world? Or did vampires and werewolves lurk just at the corners of the imagination of the Brothers Grimm?

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6 December 2011 · 3:21 pm

Now available!

The short fiction anthology Once Bitten, Never Die has now been released by Wicked East Press! $16.99, ISBN #978-1617061653. Available from these fine retailers:

Featuring my short story, “Sparkling Teeth and Sacrifices,” as well as work by Heidi Lengwenat, Steven Gepp, William Greer, George Wilhite, Edward Ahern, Rob E. Boley, Jaimie Capelin, Ryan King, Suzanne Robb, Philip Roberts, Matt Kurtz, E. J. Tett, Stephanie L. Morrell, Henry Snider, John X. Grey, Milan Smith, Adam P. Lewis, Eric J. Guignard, Rebecca Snow, Quinn Hernandez, and Tara Sayers. Edited by Jessica A. Weiss.

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5 December 2011 · 9:20 am

Guest Blog: Holiday Charity Anthology

Guest blog from author and publisher Steven Saus. Spec the Halls is now available for purchase!

My name is Steven Saus; I’m an author and publisher. I run Alliteration Ink, where I both publish original work and also provide publishing services. This year, I’ve taken up the mantle of running Spec The Halls from Abra Staffin-Wiebe. There’s both a writing contest and a charity fundraiser. Right now, I’m doing a bit of a blog tour to support the fundraiser; each entry talks about something different, so you’ll want to stop by them all. You can see a full linklist of the guest posts at specthehalls.tumblr.com and read more about the whole project (and get the charity eBook) at specthehalls.com.

It’s really exciting to be doing an eBook as a fundraiser. It makes things a lot more flexible, especially in two big ways:

We can deliver more to donors without taking away from their gift. Ever wonder how much the wrapping paper, envelope labels, canvas totes, and unwanted “subscriptions” end up costing? I always thought it ironic that environmental organizations would send you unwanted paper calendars in the mail. When you get a tote bag for a mere $10 donation, either a large chunk of your donation is paying for the bag, or the bag was made in a sweatshop somewhere, or both.
That’s not the case here. With Spec The Halls, all of the proceeds will go to Heifer International. All of them.
Once I assembled the first eBook, the second didn’t “cost” any more to put together. Nor did the third. All of that money is going straight to the charity.
And what do I mean about “the proceeds”? Simple. Paypal charges some transaction fees. Amazon and the nook store also charge per-sale fees. I can’t make those go away – which is why it’s best if you get the eBook from specthehalls.com . But after those mandatory fees, every cent goes to the charity. Period.
I can let people donate on their own. You can’t write off the purchase of Spec The Halls as a charitable donation (just like you can’t for that yogurt that donates to breast cancer research). I’m not thrilled about that, but the effort and paperwork to make it happen was so far beyond my ability… well, let’s just say that Simon Canderous¹ would have been upset at the amount of paperwork. But I can do something that’s almost as good.
I can give you a copy of the eBook if you donate to Heifer International on your own.
Send me a copy of your reciept (dated after 1 Nov 2011, please) and I’ll gladly get you a copy of the eBook, just as if you’d bought it from me.
That’s something that would be simply impossible to do with a paper book fundraiser.

Go check out the Spec The Halls eBook, and enter this year’s writing contest!

This year’s edition of Spec The Halls is only available for a limited time, so act quickly to get your copy!

¹Don’t know who he is? Go check out Anton Strout’s books!

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23 November 2011 · 11:07 am

From the blog archives: “I just killed a character”

I originally wrote this mini-essay in January of ‘10, and reposted it on my tumblr in August of ’11. I think the philosophy behind it still holds true.

I just killed a character. A major character. This person, I spent months designing him, figuring out his backstory, his life, his appearance, his family, his educational and work history. I agonized over his name, mannerisms, and personality. I gave him touching moments with multiple coworkers and loved ones. I made him smart and heroic and awesome. And then I had him get killed in a fairly gruesome and upsetting way just a few sections short of the ending of my book.

This was not part of my outline or plan. It just sort of happened. And certainly I’m not on the final draft of my novel, nor do those reading it as a work-in-progress know I’ve done this. They will react, and whether this death stands may have something to do with their reaction.

But why did I feel the need to do this in the first place? I hate when writers I like do this. Albus Dumbledore. Ianto Jones. Anya Jenkins. All such needless deaths and each one was Not Cool. I sobbed like a freaking baby at every one, and I arguably care just as much about my character dude as Rowling, Davies, and Whedon cared about their characters, and they had to know that stuff wouldn’t go down smoothly with their entire audience either.

Why do something that, as a reader or viewer, bugs me? Because when you’re writing fiction, even if you’re not writing straightforwardly realistic literary fiction, you know that in order to resonate, there has to be something about the struggle your characters are facing that makes the stakes real. We can’t be invested if we suspect that someone’s going to swoop in and save the say ten seconds to closing credits. We have to believe this is life and death.

I’m writing an urban fantasy novel about grand struggles between forces of good and evil. For the forces of evil to never threaten the forces of good in a way that puts their lives in jeopardy is not realistic. I’m not writing for children. And while I’m writing characters who themselves are somewhat and sometimes comedic, this is not a comedy. It’s not a tragedy, either. It just is, and the people in danger have to feel like real people in danger. If danger is limited to getting a paper cut, or relegated to background people (“guest stars,” basically), then it will not touch the reader the same way as if a major supporting character bites it.

I’m shocked this happened, as sometimes when I’m writing I do deviate from outline and find the plot going somewhere surprising, even as it’s my fingers on the keyboard. But perhaps I’m a merciless god, because unless my little group of readers objects too vociferously, his death will stand.

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21 November 2011 · 3:35 pm

Awards and Nominations

Awarded the Featured Artist distinction at Weekly Artist for the week of April 2, 2012.
Nominated for a Best of the Net Award for short story “Phlegmatic,” 2011.

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21 November 2011 · 10:23 am

Bio

K.W. Taylor teaches college English in Ohio. From 2005 to 2008, Taylor was a television critic for the Dayton City Paper. She serves on panel review boards for literary arts grants and has led creative writing workshops for local arts organizations. Currently, Taylor is in the process of establishing a flash fiction slam event in her hometown. Her first novella, “We Shadows Have Offended,” was just released by Etopia Press. She also has a piece in the anthology Once Bitten, Never Die, now available from Wicked East Press. In early 2012, Taylor’s first short story collection, Curiosities and Creatures, will be published.

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