Rebecca’s story “How Kpodo and Lishan Met” appeared in our The Best of Luna Station Quarterly anthology and today we’re sharing getting to know her, and the inspiration for the story.
First off, please tell us a bit about yourself. Have any super powers or secret talents?
I write, I garden, and I bake, and I wrote some more. I do have one secret talent: I make a mean chocolate banana bread. 🙂
Can you tell us a bit about what inspired your story in the anthology?
I initially wrote “How Kpodo and Lishan Met” in response to the call for submissions to a new Sword and Sorceress anthology. I wanted to avoid the usual pseudo-Medieval European setting, so I started scanning my book shelves and realized that I did not have a single book set in any kind of fantastical Africa. So, that’s what I wrote. 🙂 When the story was rejected, I immediately sent it off to LSQ.
What have you been up to lately? Do you have any books out right now? Are you working on anything new?
I just released my first short story collection, A Witch Among Wolves and Other Pagan Tales through Asphodel Press. I’m working on a variety of new short stories, and a paranormal romance featuring a Finnish hereditary spirit worker called “The Curse of the Nightingale.”
I’m always fascinated by where and how people work. What is your writing setup like? Any tools you enjoy using?
I plunk myself down on the couch with the tv running in the background — unless it is too distracting, in which case I pull on my earphones. I usually have a baby name book sitting close by, and other resources as needed (mythology encyclopedias, magical correspondences, et cetera).
Most writers are lifelong readers and books tend to be important to them. What books or stories have most influenced your life (genre stories or otherwise)?
Lloyd Alexander (fantasy), Karen Armstrong (theology), KJ Charles (paranormal romance), Diane Duane (sf/f), John Michael Greer (theology), The Brothers Grimm (fairy tales), Homer (mythology), Trina Schart Hyman (children’s books), Karl Kerenyi (mythology), Josh Lanyon (mystery), CS MacCath (sf/f), Robin McKinley (fantasy), CL Moore (sf/f), Ovid (mythology), Ginette Paris (psychology), Catherynne M Valente (sf/f), Kris Waldherr (mythology, children’s books), Patricia Wrede (fantasy), and Jane Yolen (children’s books), among many others.
Where can we learn more about you and your writing?
Eternal Haunted Summer is the Pagan ezine which I edit, and I keep it updated with all of my publications.
I can also be found through Bibliotheca Alexandrina, where I serve as editor-in-chief and through Asphodel Press
Thanks Rebecca! We’ll be sure to keep an eye out for “The Curse of the Nightingale”!
If you’re intrigued by the inspiration behind “The Curse of the Nightingale”, consider getting yourself a copy of The Best of Luna Station Quarterly: The First Five Years and read it for yourself, along with the other forty-nine awesome stories and gorgeous cover art by Julie Dillon.