Okay, I’ve had enough of a rest. I turned in my novel and my three short stories, and I narrated a few audiobooks, and then I just PLAYED AND PLAYED. Now it’s time to get back to writing until my edits come in.
So… back to FIDDLE, anyone? Been a minute.
…Like, I wrote the first draft in 2019, and the first half of the second draft in 2020, and then Saint Death’s Daughter, Dark Breakers, The Twice-Drowned Saint, and Negocios Infernales happened. And also Saint Death’s Herald, still currently happening.
But still. Can’t play Slay the Spire INFINITELY, can I? Well… I CAN, but… THAT DOESN’T GET FIDDLE WRITTEN. Or re-written, as it were.
Do you know about Fiddle?
It’s kinda rom-com romp set in the Dark Breakers/Desdemona and the Deep world, but instead of, like, the “Gilded Age” of most of the Dark Breakers stories, not to mention Desdemona, it’s… like… in the 1980’s-equivalent of that world. LOL.
P.S. The walls between the Three Worlds fell down sometime in the 60’s-equivalent (called the “Ymbeglidegold”), so now the goblins, gentry, and humans are all mingled together, in with the occasional demonspawn.
So. That’s nice.
I’ve just reorganized my Table of Contents. It’s kind of like an outline. It gives me a structure, anyway.
Act I: Dida + Istat = L0v3
Scene 1 Best of All Sisters
Scene 2 Goblin Favors
Scene 3 Okay, So He’s Pretty Okay
Scene 4 Thorn in the Dark
Scene 5 The Way of the White Widow
Act II: Ghilbrenna the Abyssborn
Scene 1 Demonspawn
Scene 2 Fexting
Scene 3 Lenscraft
Scene 4 Hen Night
Scene 5 Orca Goons
Act III: Three Weddings and a Rocket Launch
Scene 1 Deep Lords and Clade Queens
Scene 2 The Lost Basilica: Wedding One (Gentry Tripartite renewal of vows)
Scene 3 Oracles for the Unwary: Wedding Two (Dida and Istat)
Scene 4 Third Times’s the Boom: Wedding Three (Ghilbrenna and Squiddy)
Scene 5 SS Vespel Nest
Finale: Vessel Infernal
Internal illustration for Dark Breakers’ “Susurra and the Moon”, art by Brett Massé.
Why did I use this “Susurra” image to illustrate my FIDDLE blog, you ask? Why, because the gentry of the Valwode, second world down on the three-petal World Flower, live a LONG-ASS TIME.
And some characters you might have met and loved in DARK BREAKERS and DESDEMONA are alive and well in FIDDLE.
Here’s a StoryBundle for YOU! “The Twisted Folklore Histories StoryBundle!”
Here is the blog with all the relevant details ($5 for 4 books, $20 for all 12), which books are bonus, and so on. It is curated by none other than our own Mike Allen of Mythic Delirium!
I read Shadow Atlas in 2022 and thought it was so beautifully put together! I’ve read several Eugen Bacon stories, and loved every one. I’m gaga for anything Angela Slatter aka AG Slatter, as you probably know by now. And that ISOBEL YAP COLLECTION OMG.
And look–in addition to some of my books, there are my Mythic Delirium publishing buddies: Theodora Goss, Barbara Krasnoff, and Yukimi Ogawa! Also very excited to see Elwin’s collection! I mean! AMAZING STUFF!
HERE’S THE FULL LIST OF WHAT YOU’LL GET!
Chasing Whispers, Eugen Bacon (Raw Dog Screaming Press) Shadow Atlas: Dark Landscapes of the Americas, Carina Bissett, Hilary Dodge and Joshua Viola, eds. (Hex Publishers) Dark Breakers, C. S. E. Cooney (Mythic Delirium Books) The Twice-Drowned Saint, C. S. E. Cooney (Mythic Delirium Books) Dance on Saturday: Stories, Elwin Michael Cotman (Small Beer Press) The Collected Enchantments, Theodora Goss (Mythic Delirium Books) The History of Soul 2065, Barbara Krasnoff (Mythic Delirium Books) Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women, Lee Murray and Geneve Flynn, eds. (Raw Dog Screaming Press) Like Smoke, Like Light: Stories, Yukimi Ogawa (Mythic Delirium Books) A Feast of Sorrows, Angela Slatter aka AG Slatter (Prime Books) Blood Mountain: Stories, Brenda S. Tolian (Raw Dog Screaming Press) Never Have I Ever: Stories, Isabel Yap (Small Beer Press)
It has now been, let’s see, a fortnight–is it? HOLY MOLY–since A Sinister Quartet came out with Mythic Delirium.
For those of you who are only hearing about it for the first time, let me tell you a little about it. It’s a book of four long-form fiction stories (one short novel: mine; three novellas, by Jessica P. Wick, Amanda J. McGee, and Mike Allen respectively), all dark fantasy or horror, with a few common themes like sibling relationships, familial love, monstrous beings (both of the human and otherworldly varieties), and the old Mythic Delirium standby: “beauty and strangeness.”
The four of us authors have done a variety of things to boost our signal. And hey, all you other authors out there, whose books are coming out in the Time of Covid: we feel ya!
Also, we feel that there are so many more important things going on in the world right now–not only the pandemic, but the protests, especially about Black Lives Matter and police brutality–that making too much noise, joyful or otherwise, about our work just feels weird. Other signals to boost right now! BOOST ‘EM TO THE SKY!
Some of the fun stuff we’ve done can be found on Mythic Delirium’s website, along with the store where you can buy the book! Mike Allen writes:
“Mythic Delirium Books is now an affiliate at Bookshop, a new bookselling website born in January 2020 that directs a portion of every sale toward assisting independent bookstores. (Hat tip to Jessica Wick for this development.)
(You can also buy the book most anywhere books can be bought!)
Other fun stuff includes:
A Big Idea post at John Scalzi’s website–in which we all interview each other A Reddit Ask Me Anything–in which people… DID! A Booze and Books Feature–in which we, the authors, were guest bloggers and invented cocktails and mocktails! (Or got our friends to do it for us.) Spotify Soundtrack Playlists–in which we all created soundtracks for our stories, and Amanda made us images for each. (Click on each image; it’ll take you to the Spotify link!) A Zoom reading, with all of us reading excerpts, plus Q and A at the end An excerptof “Twice-Drowned Saint” on the New Decameron Project (and if you’ve not heard of THAT, do you have a treat in store!) An excerpt of “Viridian” on Amanda’s blog A pajama party–in which my mom, my husband, and I all dressed up in my mother’s pajamas, and I read them an excerpt of Twice-Drowned Saint, but really the star, as ever, is the cat. Whose name is “Lil Guy Fawkes.” Not my cat. My brother’s cat. But I love him.
MOST LATELY, what I’ve done is put together all the recipes I’ve made–or rather, pilfered–over the last few months, based on our stories, and posted pictures of them here for you, and a few light links.
I hope you enjoy!
SMOOCHES AND SWEET DREAMS–ONLY DREAMS NOW–BUT ALSO, YEAH, MAYBE DON’T READ A SINISTER QUARTET LATE AT NIGHT, LAST THING BEFORE BED…
C. E. E. Cooney
And now for the RECIPES!
(CW: for possible trypophobia)
The Twice-Drowned Saint: Being a Tale of Fabulous Gelethel, the Invisible Wonders Who Rule There, and the Apostates Who Try to Escape Its Walls, by C. S. E. Cooney
“Chocolate Bug,” or “The Eleven-Eyed Brownie” Ingredients: Extra Gooey Brownie Mix, Candied Eyeballs, Lemon Garish
(follow recipe on the box, plus your own mischievous ingenuity)
An Unkindness, by Jessica P. Wick
“Heart of a Unicorn (or Lost Prince) Galette“ Ingredients: Pichuberries, strawberries, phyllo dough, honey, butter
“Bluebeardy Pie” Ingredients: Pie shell, blueberries, sugar, forbidden key, blue ribbon, red rose, ruby goblet
(follow the Epicurious recipe for the most part, but we bought our crust, like lazy writers)
The Comforter, by Mike Allen
“Meat Pancake Thingie”
(follow Anita Allen’s recipe… below)
Anita Allen‘s MEAT PANCAKE THINGIE
“As always, preheat oven 325 degrees The first set of ingredients varies by desired density, etc. Nothing is exact.
Toppings ingredients: 7 Oz ( about 1/2 a small jar) Ragu pizza sauce 1.5 cups pizza cheese blend 6-7 button mushroom stems 2 sweet mini peppers ( or hot if you prefer) 5-7 yellow cherry tomatoes
Cooking instructions: Mix like meatloaf. On a cutting board, press out flat like a patty, about 1/4 inch thick. Flip over onto lightly greased or sprayed broiler pan. Smooth lightly (if you press it into the pan you won’t get it out easy to serve it. You want to use a broiler pan so the fats drain out.) Layer on pizza sauce (about 7 Oz Ragu) 1.5 cups pizza cheese blend: spread to the edges. 1.5 Oz mini pepperoni 6-7 button mushroom stems cut cross wise to make “BUTTONS” 2 mini sweet peppers (Hungarian sweet peppers or hot peppers). Cut crosswise to make rings. 5-7 yellow cherry tomatoes, cut crosswise and wedged into pepper rings, then spread on top.
Publishing is so funny; Desdemona and the Deep came out from Tor.com not even three months ago, but it seems in some ways it was another lifetime.
…Another season, anyway, and the world rolls on. It debuted in the bright heart of summer, and now it’s the first day of October.
But in many ways, Desdemona really is an Octobral book, isn’t it, with its goblins and bargains, its tithes and transformations. I hope that this October and for many Octobers to come, readers will discover Desdemona for the first time, or take it out for a re-read, or use it as a basis to play dress up! That Alyssa Wynans cover is such a perfect palette for autumn!
Here are some pictures from both my book launches, and some gorgeous fan art that my beloved friend Caitlyn Paxson made for me as a present. WHAT A GIFT!
Also to celebrate, I received news of three great reviews for Desdemona today all from Locus Magazine, October 2019 issue! One from Liz Bourke, one from Amy Goldschlager (for the audiobook), and one from Rich Horton!!!
Yikes! I let my subscription Locus lapse in the furor of summer: TIME TO RE-UP!
Here are some snippets:
“C.S.E. Cooney won the World Fantasy Award for her collection Bone Swans. She has a strong – even glittering – track record with short stories, but Desdemona and the Deep is her first book-length work . . . At any other length, it would lose something of its impact: shorter, and it would not have time to build up the momentum for its series of punches; longer, and the effect of its short, sharp, furious poetic dismantling of assumptions would be diluted away from its pointed achievement . . . Desdemona and the Deep is an eloquent, elegant novella about power, art, consequence and change. It’s also pleasantly queer and drunk on language, which appealed to me deeply. I recommend it.”
– Liz Bourke, Locus
“Professional audiobook narrator Cooney . . . reads her own tale with joy and confidence. She is delighted to tell you her story and you will be delighted to hear it. Cooney also does a great drunk voice, and some really fun character voices. I particularly liked the voice of the assistant to Desdemona’s mother; it reminded me a lot of Jane Horrocks’ character Bubble on Absolutely Fabulous, if Bubble were American and somewhat smarter. Edgy, romantic, earthy, and colorful.“
– Amy Goldschlager, Locus (audiobooks)
“I’ve been looking forward to C.S.E. Cooney’s Desdemona and the Deep for quite a while, and having arrived, it doesn’t disappoint . . . The best thing about this book is the prose – lush images and glorious words mix in a sometimes comic and sometimes earnest olio. . . There is always the music of the writing, and the comic coloration, and the engaging and just awakening Desdemona to keep us entranced.“
– Rich Horton, Locus
And now some PICTURES!
This first gallery is from my first launch at the Savoy Bookshop and Cafe in Westerly, Rhode Island, where I lived for five years. So many people helped with this event! My friends even decorated the store to look like the Valwode!
My husband, Carlos Hernandez, Cos-Playing the Umber Farklewhit
One of my best friends, Miriam Grill, director/actor, as the Sun
My dear friend Moss Collum, as a goblin
A wonderful and supportive work colleague!
My husband and mother, Sita, as Eldritch Companions
Author Paul Magnan, as Goblin and/or Black Hole!
Elissa, the wonderful events coordinator! And Carlos!
Artist Betsie Withey and writer/editor/translator/comedian, Julia Rios: goblins
Goblin (poet/authoress) Jessica Wick
The Savoy ordered this REALLY BIG DESDEMONA POSTER!
And here’s the second launch, at the GLORIOUS Astoria Bookshop in Queens, where I currenly live. This place is wonderful! Please check it out if you get the chance! Well-worth an adventure!
Astoria Bookshop does GREAT chalkboard art
I’ve never seen so many copies of my book in one place!
My beloved Delia Sherman, authoress.
I am . . . a dynamic reader.
Editor Ellen Datlow, and yours truly, C. S. E. Cooney
This was the first series I’d done wherein a fellow author heard me read some of my own work at a convention and, understanding that I narrated for Tantor Audio, specifically requested me to read his work when Tantor bought the audio rights to his books. What an amazing boost to my confidence! I will always be grateful. These are big, sprawling, unpredictable adventures with everything from dinosaurs to fairies to high tech trains to cannibal houses to dragons to laser guns. Okay, maybe not laser guns. But maybe not NOT laser guns too. It’s an interesting world full of colorful characters. This was also the first instance that, after a few weeks in the recording booth, I happened to glance in the mirror, and was surprised by the sight of my own face. I’d been so immersed in Aubry’s world for so long that I’d forgotten what I looked like, and expected to see a different character’s face instead of my own. Time in the “Whisper Room” can be very strange!
1. Prelude to Mayhem 2. Static Mayhem 3. Mayhem’s Children
Fate Weaver Series By ReGina Welling, Erin Lynn
Narrator’s Opinion: What I Like About This Series
After I recorded the first book in this series I got a note back requesting me to be a little more “funny.” This was such a challenge; how to be vocally funny? They are indeed funny, fast books, full of witches and wisecracks, gods and gallivanting. I wanted to do them justice. One of the things I tried was really “activating my cheekbones”–basically, smiling while talking. Relax, have fun, but also concentrate on varying the vocal levels, so as to help the jokes land better and more naturally. And there were many jokes! These are glib, sassy books–even occasionally steamy! Sort of a mash-up of a mystery, a matchmaking rom-com, mythology and good ol’ fashioned MAGICK.
1. Match Made in Spell 2. All Spell is Breaking Loose 3. To Spell and Back
Grimm Agency Series By J.C. Nelson
Narrator’s Opinion: What I Like About This Series
This is one of your put-upon protagonist must-save-the-world series, with a lot of interference from those who wish to invade, rule, and/or destroy it. It’s in the vein of, say, Buffy or Supernatural–taking place in a world like ours, except . . . paranormal. Now, I recorded these a while ago, but I remember I had SO MUCH FUN with the voice of one of the main villainnesses in particular: I believe, the Faerie Queen. She was French. Plenty of action, some romance, some friendships made through rescue and then through work, and MANY monsters to fight!
1. Free Agent 2. Armageddon Rules 3. Wish Bound
Cat’s Eye Chronicles By T.L. Shreffler
Narrator’s Opinion: What I Like About This Series
First of all, the author of these books was just so sweet to work with, very communicative. I rarely have a chance to interact with the author, and for fantasy books especially, I really crave contact! Since I write fantasy, and since so much of the language of fantasy is invented, I want to make sure I am interpreting the writer’s vision as close to correctly as, well, an interpreter can! Second of all, I really enjoyed voicing the Harpies. You heard me: there are are harpies. Third, I started getting a little crush on Crash/Viper, and let me tell you, there’s nothing quite like living in the voice of your latest crush.
This, again, was pretty early on in my narration career, but I do remember that author Tony Peak was SO AWESOMELY PROMPT and COMMUNICATIVE in his response to my request for pronunciations. I mean, I think he overnighted them to me via email. That was extremely helpful, because this is a sci-fi novel, with many kinds of planets and peoples. I remember this book had many female characters, including the protagonist–there was, in particular, a soldier (a captain? a general?) whom I particularly liked, and loved every time I got to voice her. I also remember noticing the strong colors of this book: lurid, alien, beautiful neons, like a favorite weird movie remembered from a 1980’s childhood. Also, I recall the sensation of being slightly cold the whole time I was recording: since the cryosleep chamber plays an enormous role in the plot!
The Rattled Bones By S. M. Parker
Narrator’s Opinion: What I Like About This Book
Now, this was a really interesting read–and one I’d’ve read on my own had I just picked it up at random to read for pleasure. It’s YA and it’s a mystery–and it’s also a ghost story. There are horrific elements: historical racism (really awful stuff, and sensitively researched, I thought) and vengeful spirits. This is also a book about grieving. The teenaged protagonist Rilla Brae is QUITE powerful: a young lobster-boat captain. I’ve never read a protagonist like her before. I really loved her, and her grandmother, and her strange, wild, maritime adventure. I remember there was a complicated friendship, a realistically unsatisfying relationship–followed by a much better one. And so many cool things about MAINE!
Starlings By Jo Walton
Narrator’s Opinion: What I Like About This Book
Ah. Ah! I have already blogged separately about narrating Starlings, because it was SUCH an experience! If you are interested, please read it at this link.
Suffice to say, this book was an HONOR and a HOOT to narrate, and I was SO EXCITED to have the chance! Not only did I get to do a good bulk of the stories (with my co-narrator Rudy Sanda doing the others), but I got to narrate the poetry. AND A WHOLE ONE-ACT PLAY! WITH ALL THE VOICES! I never felt so much like Mel Blanc in a Looney Tunes cartoon in my whole life!
Mad Hatters and March Hares By Ellen Datlow (editor)
Narrator’s Opinion: What I Like About This Book
If you stan Lewis Carroll, I think the stories in this book will both feed your obsession and challenge it.
As with the above-mentioned book, Mad Hatters and March Hares was another of those rare works that blew my skull apart at the sutures to try and voice. (Co-voice, actually, with the fabulous Eric Michael Summerer.) In addition to being an audiobook narrator, I also write fantasy; I even had a story in this particular anthology, my first work published under Editor Ellen Datlow, another scion of the genre! Also as with Starlings, I was so anxious about doing right by these stories–not least because I either knew or held in high esteem most of the authors–that it was one of the most difficult books I’ve ever narrated. Nothing shows me my own limitations as a voice actor so ruthlessly as being given something so beautiful and varied and brilliant to narrate that I almost can’t bear it. But I was the one on the ground, and I did my absolute best–sweating the entire time!–and I will forever be humbled to have had the chance.
Bone Swans and Desdemona and the Deep By C. S. E. Cooney
Narrator’s Opinion: What I Like About These Books
Well, these two books are my own works–which sold to Tantor Audio and Recorded Books respectively. Bone Swans: Stories is my collection, and won the World Fantasy Award in 2016. Desdemona and the Deep was just released in July of this year (2019). The collection, comprising five novellas/novelettes, runs a gamut of flavors: from sword and sorcery, to a couple re-told fairy tales, to a fantastical murder mystery, to . . . something that’s just plain nightmarish carnival weird. The second is a standalone work juuuuuust longer than a novella (word count-wise) but meant to be one nonetheless.
They both are full fantasy books, all of the stories taking place in different secondary worlds. Although: HINT–the story called “How the Milkmaid Struck a Bargain with the Crooked One” in Bone Swans takes place in the same land as Desdemona and the Deep, only the latter is several hundred years in the future, in the equivalent of our “Gilded Age.”
I wish I were a full-cast of Academy Award-winning actors, each with their impeccable timing and distinctive voices and emotional surprises. I wish I could match in the air what these works sound like in my head. But I have to say, I also love, love, love, love, love narrating my own work. I have read aloud from my stories my whole life to anyone who would sit still long enough to listen: my mother, my brothers, my best friends, and now–my husband–and the idea that I am also reading my own work aloud to people I may never meet is deeply satisfying and warming.
C.S.E. Cooney 