Into the Dread Forest . . .

by Nancy


Today we welcome back YA author Gillian Summers and her alter-egos, Michelle Roper (below left) and Berta Platas (below right). They're celebrating the launch of The Secret of the Dread Forest. This is half-elven Keelie Heartwood's third outing and the final book of the Faire Folk Trilogy.


Welcome, y'all! For those who aren't familiar with the Faire Folk, who is Keelie Heartwood, and why is she in the Dread Forest?




Michelle: Keelie Heartwood is a California girl, who discovers while living with her Dad on the Ren Faire circuit that he's an elf, and that makes her half-elf. The Dread Forest is the home forest for her father's tribe of elves.





Berta: Keelie initially doesn’t want to leave California or live with her father, and especially dislikes the Renaissance Faire. She has a lot of changes in store!



How has Keelie changed over the course of the trilogy?

Michelle: She's gone from a grieving teenager, totally overwhelmed with her new magical abilities and the discovery of the elves to someone who is learning and accepting her place in her new world.

Keelie's journey begins when she arrives at the Renaissance Faire, and she
tree allergy she's had all her life turns out to be tree magic inherited from
her tree shepherd father, Zekeliel Heartwood. As Keelie opens herself to her
magic, she discovers more and more about the trees, and her elven side.
As she learns how to balance her magical abilities with the trees, she also
grieves the loss of one parent, and getting to know her father, along with living
in a new environment. It's a lot to throw at a kid, but she handles it.

The Tree Shepherd's Daughter is the first book in the Faire Folk trilogy. It starts when fifteen year old Calilfornia girl, Keelie Heartwood has to go and live with her father on the Ren Faire circuit, after she loses her mother. At the Renaissance Festival, Keelie experiences another world within the Renaissance world, she discovers magic and that her father is an elf. And that means--she's not totally human.

Into The Wildewood continues Keelie's story as she travels with her Dad to an upstate New York Renaissance festival. She is still grieving the loss of her mother, adjusting to life with her father, and discovering her magic. To complicate matters, the elves are getting sick, the forest is not well, and the Wildwood unicorn, the forest guardian is dying.


A hawk figures prominently in this book and earlier ones. What inspired you to use it?

Michelle: At the Georgia Renaissance Faire there are raptors who cannot be released into the wild. I thought as a character, Keelie could relate to an injured hawk. Keelie is grieving for her mother and her old familiar life. An injured hawk has to grieve for its freedom and for the life it once had.

Berta: Yes, the hawk’s frustration mirrors her own. Because the hawk is half blind it can no longer hunt or fly well. Keelie identifies closely with Ariel the hawk. Hawks are so beautiful, and can be so strong and deadly. We saw Keelie’s potential that way as well. Her growing powers, if she chooses to accept them and learn to use them, will make her a force to be reckoned with. If she doesn’t learn, she’ll be just as injured as Ariel.


There's no Ren Faire in this book, as there was in the first two. What takes its place?

Michelle: We have lots of fun things taking the place of the Ren Faire. The setting of the Dread Forest allows readers to see the home forest of the elves. There is a 'human' town that borders the Dread Forest, and we created some fun characters, including a tattoo artist who reside in this unique place and befriends Keelie.

Berta: We wanted to have a Ren Faire in each book, but there was no way to cram one into this story, and it was a story that we had to tell before we went on with Keelie’s adventures. The next book definitely has a festival, as do the next two, but as Michelle said, there’s plenty of exciting stuff happening in this one. Lots more magic, for one thing.

Keelie seems to be having some romantic issues. Can you tell us a little about those?

Berta: Keelie has an ugly surprise waiting for her in the Dread Forest. I won’t say anything more about that. I will say, though, that she gets to spend much more time with Sean than she has before, since he’s not working. Elves are such workaholics. Who knew? He’ll be in the Redwood forest with her in book four, as well.

What unusual goodies do you have on Gillian’s website?

One way we connect with readers is by adding to the published stories. Gillian's website has a map of the fair from The Tree Shepherd's Daughter, and we're putting the finishing touches on a map of the fair from Into the Wildewood because readers requested it. For Into the Wildewood we also posted paper dolls of Knot the cat with various outfits, suitable for the color, cut and paste kid in all of us! At Halloween last year we posted a short story on our blog about Knot's visit to the elven pumpkin patch. As you can imagine, no good came of it.

Besides Keelie’s further adventures, what’s ahead for Gilian Summers?

We plan to write stories about Keelie's friends, too. Laurie, her old friend from California, and Raven the herb lady's goth daughter, will get stories, and so will her new friend in the Dread Forest.

What has been happening with Gillian Summers since you were here last year?

Seems as if it was just the other day! Had we announced the continuation of the series then? We’re doing three more Keelie books! We just finished an appearance at TimeGate 2009, a science fiction and fantasy convention where we hosted a launch party for The Secret of the Dread Forest, and were surprised by a group of kids who made a role playing game of The Faire Folk for a school project! It’s based on Dungeons and Dragons rules, and it’s amazing! What a huge amount of work and dedication, and so much fun! We’re wrapping up our May contest this weekend. We have two autographed copies of the new book to give away on our blog, and on June 20th we’ll be signing at the Norcross Hilton on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard at 2:30 pm, joining several other authors. The public is welcome! Romance Bandit readers don’t have to enter our contest – we have an autographed copy for you to give away here (much better odds, believe us).

For more about Gillian Summers and Keelie's adventures, visit Gillian's website.

Do you remember teenage angst? Do you like the outdoors or are you, as Keelie starts out, much more at home at the mall? If could have a magical power, how would you use it?

With The Faire Folk

by Nancy

Today we welcome Gillian Summers and her alter-egos, Berta Platas and Michelle Roper, to the lair. Gillian writes the popular Keelie Heartwood paranormal YA series. The first book, The Tree Shepherd’s Daughter, came out in 2006 and was quickly optioned for film, and the second, Into the Wildewood, came out this June. Welcome, Gillian!

Keelie’s adventures take place in an unusual setting but one many banditas and our buddies love. Could you tell us a little about it?



(Michelle) Keelie’s adventures take place in a Renaissance Faire, where the atmosphere lends itself to magical fun. I’ve been attending the Georgia Renaissance Festival for over fifteen years as a mundane and in costume. I love it. You can suspend belief and pretend you’re somewhere else. And as a writer my mind swirls with ideas, and I start going, what if?




(Berta) I'm a big fan of Ren Fairs, too, and I love the diversity of people that inhabit the real fairs. We decided that each faire would have a different theme, as real Ren Faires do, so the first one is pirates, and the second one is Robin Hood. The only thing we didn't add was kissing wenches. We'll have to put them into a future book!


Keelie makes an unusual discovery about her heritage. Can you give our readers a peek without spoiling the revelation in the book?



(Michelle) All of her life, Keelie thought that her one pointed ear was an accident of birth, something to endure, like her very unusual allergy to trees. When she goes to live with her father at the Renaissance Faire, she discovers that he has two pointed ears, and that her allergy to wood is altogether something different. She eventually discovers that her father is an elf, which makes her half elf and explains the one pointed ear. That tree allergy turns out to be something totally different from anything she ever dreamed it would be.


(Berta) We thought the contrast of a mall-loving girl from a big California city getting stuck in the woods with a father she barely remembers would be conflict enough! Then she finds out she's not entirely human, and it answers a lot of questions for her.




Her father’s pet gives Keelie fits. How did you come up with him and his antics?

(Michelle) Knot was based on my cat, Jean Luc. He would stalk me whenever I walked in our backyard. He would stare at something in the woods, his eyes would dilate, and he’d bolt up a tree as if something invisible was chasing him. He’d be walking along minding his own business, then take off in a run like his tail was on fire. I finally concluded the fairies were chasing him. He’d done something to them, and they were after him. That became the basis for Knot and his antics.

(Berta) Jean Luc's antics seem totally normal to me. Cats are so schizo. My cat Blender likes to be ON whatever I'm working on, whether it's cutting out a costume. He loves to trash tissue patterns, wrapping himself into them like a burrito. He enjoys laying across my computer keyboard, checking out everything I put into my mouth, and when he's bored, he swats Woody the golden retriever across the nose. Woody obligingly chases him, and usually is the one who gets into trouble for knocking stuff over. That Knot was more than a mere cat was easy to believe.

Of course, considering that both of you are Georgia Romance Writers, there’s a love interest. But the path of true love doesn’t run smooth here, either.

(Michelle) No, Keelie has some ups and downs with her love life just like any teen girl, except she has to deal with the fact the elf she likes is a lot older than her, even though he looks her age.






(Berta) Keelie's totally new to the romance stuff, and she's surrounded by dashing pirates and hunky guys in armor! Even though she's just lost her mother, she's distracted by the handsome elf who seems to like her right back. In the last book of the trilogy, we were set to say goodbye to Keelie, but then we discovered that our publisher wants three more books, starring Keelie! She's going to be a busy girl, and we have to come up with more Ren Faires and romance.

There seems to be a touch of Gossip Girls or Mean Girls in this series. Was that accidental or deliberate?

(Michelle) I’m the mother of two daughters, ages 26 and 19. I’ve been through the teen drama with them, and I think it’s just a part of life dealing with mean girls. There are going to be girls you like in school and girls you don’t like. I think it’s something our readers can identify with— having to deal with a bully, or someone who is less than nice. You have to find a way to handle it. Keelie does with the help of her new friends and the family she finds at the Renaissance.

(Berta) I remember my teen years very well, and I recall that high school was torture one day, heaven the next, depending on who talked to me, whether my locker jammed, and what heinous glop was served for lunch (and whether I could ditch it without being seen). Mean girls were a part of it, although I was never bothered by any. Gossip Girls and Mean Girls are fun to read because everyone loves a good villain.

There’s also a bit of falconry in Tree Shepherd’s Daughter, while Into the Wildewood features a unicorn. How did you decide which fantasy motifs to include?

(Michelle) Berta and I sat down and plotted out the books. The hawk and the unicorn are an evolution of the characters and settings from the original plots. We talked about what we liked in the Ren Faire, and we both love the Birds of Prey show. Having an injured hawk, like Ariel, who couldn’t live on her own, resonated with Keelie’s situation. When she first arrives at the Renaissance Faire, she feels trapped, and when she meets Ariel, she identifies with the hawk. They couldn’t be free. Keelie wanted her Mom back, and Ariel couldn’t fly. Keelie wants to see Ariel have her freedom.

(Berta) Yeah, what Michelle said. Also, Keelie's magic grows with each book. Maybe by book six she'll be befriending dragons. Just kidding.

In Into the Wildewood, a purple dragon figures prominently. Was there any particular inspiration for that?

(Michelle) Yes, there was a goofy purple dragon at the Georgia Renaissance Festival with big googly button eyes greeting the little kids at the gates. The image of the purple dragon stuck with me as we plotted Into the Wildewood. I kept thinking about Keelie being stuck in a suit like that at the Renn Faire, so I put her in one.

(Berta) And a right smelly suit it is, too!

Keelie’s love of shopping, and the trouble it causes her in Into the Wildewood must appeal to many teenage girls. Don’t you both have teenaged daughters?

(Michelle) Yes! My daughters are older but at one point for a year or so during their teens, malls, shopping, and Starbucks were essential to their social existence. One daughter loved Old Navy, and the other daughter loved Hot Topic, but they always found their way to the bookstore. However, now my thirteen year old son hates the mall except for going to the bookstore.

(Berta) My daughter is 14 and loves the mall, although she's just as comfortable buying t shirts online at Threadless. Her goal is not to look the same as everyone, but to look different, albeit cool. It's a balancing act, and I'm not sure I have a grasp of "coolness" when it comes to clothes. The best part of being a writer as that we can declare an outfit to be adorable, and each reader interprets that her own way!

You’re both members of Georgia Romance Writers and have writing interests beyond Gillian’s. Can you tell us a little about them?

(Michelle) I’m in the midst of revising two young adult novels, Whitney Wilbur Wipes Out and Jessie Fairechild’s Ride, and a middle grade fantasy, Odin’s Code. When I can’t stand writing about teen drama, I sneak off and work on my time travel.

(Berta) We both have so many projects! We're in the same critique book, which is how we ended up partnering on young adult books, so we get to read each other's "other lives." I write Latina women's fiction, and my next book, Lucky Chica, is about a lottery winner and will be out in January from St. Martins. There's more information on my website. I'm currently finishing the edits on a book about an accidental tarot reader, and I'm in the middle of writing a Pygmalion story about a photographer and a faux cowboy. Michelle and I also have a couple of non-Keelie books mapped out. We'll just have to clone ourselves.

Our guests are giving a copy of either The Tree Shepherd's Daughter or Into the Wildewood (winner's choice) to one commenter today. For more about Gillian Summers, visit her website.

Readers, have you ever been to a RenFaire? What did you like or dislike? What do you like about fantasy set in the real world? About teenage characters?

Michelle, Berta, and Gillian will be appearing at DragonCon over Labor Day weekend (www.dragoncon.org). If you’re there, catch them on a panel or at their 10 am Saturday book signing and say hi.