This is part of what has held up the closing chapter of Wild Side. At some 30K words it's pretty long. :) I suppose you are right. Instead of Urban Fantasy, it is more like Rural Fantasy. As for Cooter, well, you can't keep a good dawg down!

Thanks so much for your comment.
Big hugs
Grover

I'm happy you liked it. I rather enjoyed writing it. It was nice to revisit my memories of the old place and incorporate them into this yarn.

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Grover

is living in interesting times, but I do believe he's happy. :)
Thanks for your kind words.
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Grover

I've always found the melting process of America's melting pot of America fascinating. The mixture of European, Native Americans, and the usually unwilling immigrants from Africa made Colonial America a very nitty-gitty place. You can still see those influences in the Mid-Lands and Low Country of South Carolina. From the old dialects/accents to the old graveyards that history can be heard and seen.

Thanks for the comment!
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Grover

Thanks Beyogi. I perhaps should've spelled it out better. Subscribing to that theory that we're both male and female, Vivian had all the male removed leaving only the female parts. Given time it slowly will grow stronger. That's what the Loa was implying when she said if in time Vivian wanted to partake of their rituals, then she would be welcome. Wendy was much more protected and again I implied that she didn't have all that much maleness to her soul to start with making the removal far less traumatic.

Vodun has its light and darkness. In general terms it is positive, but there are dark sorcerers, bokor, and it was one of those I was writing about.

If I made any mistakes about the religious portions, it was not intentional. Like most things, it can be misused, and if anything I showed how the Loa and others balance the sheets at the end. He had his chance to reform and threw then away.

Sorry for the ramble. :)
Thanks for the comment
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Grover

You being a Low Country girl, I'm sure you got it. That mixture of the modern world, but beneath at its roots it's the same South that gave rise to both good and bad. Maybe I've listened to Charley Daniel's Wooly Swamp once too often. :)

Thanks for your kind words.
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Grover

I did the best I could with the research and from my own very limited experiences. My real inspiration for the Vodun parts were from one of my most favorite books and series. "Chase the Morning" by Michael Scott Rohan, and the rest of that series. I thought he did a great job at showing the relationships between worshipers and Loas in those stories. Plus its a wonderful fantasy universe mixing so many different genre's together.

I simply took the recipe and applied my own ingredients. :)

Thanks for your very enthusiastic comment.

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Grover

I'm rather fond of those gooey-sweet endings too! There's too much bad stuff going around in real life to write about it, although I will admit some stories do demand it. Happily this needed the Disney ending it got. ;)

Thanks for your comment!
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Grover

They say write what you know, but I'll go just a step further and say write what you feel. To stand on land your father and his father had tilled with their own hands watching the sunrise ... There's a connection.

The land does get into your blood. :)
Thanks for your kind words.
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Grover

Category selection is always tough for me. Yes, they do apply to the story, but they could also trigger bad things in unwary readers. Like Poet-Heather says, to really let the happiness shine your characters have got to work for it.

I admit I'm terrible at writing the intro blurb. That's why I usually rely on my tropic sentence to do the job. It is after all the intro to the story. But this time I had to overcome possible adverse reaction to those categories. I'm happy to see that it at least partially worked. :)

Thanks for your comment!
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Grover

Might I ask what part? It's hard for me to pick up on stuff like that since after all I already KNOW what's going to happen. Setting the scene, in a fantasy story, even a rural one, is tough. Many people aren't very familiar with that sort of background.

I'm still learning how to do this writing thing.

It is good to know it picked up quickly.

Thanks for letting me know!
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Grover

I'll have to come clean that the laughter I heard at our dear Hoodoo Doctor's end was Geoffrey Holder's as Baron Samedi. No one, and I do mean no one escapes or welches on a deal with the Baron. :) Strange how images and sounds from our childhoods forever influences us hey?

As for that Mattel Creepy Critter Maker I can neither confirm nor deny that such a toy was a part of my childhood. So maybe I did have my share of play-dough and plastic clay. You ever notice how when you mixed the colors they always turned this kinda gray color? :)

As for that Lil Kim video which one are you talking about, John?

Grover

Never threaten a mama and her baby! :) It's just that baby is going to have to mama's which is not that unusual in todays world although I dare say the details are a lot more complicated than the normal.

Papa was also my attempt at giving my bad guy more character and to explain why he did the things he did to the girls. I guess it worked out pretty well.

As always Maggie, it's the comments from my writing peers that are gold. :)

Thanks!
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Grover

I think I'm blushing. :) Papa needed comeuppance and he got it.
Thanks again!
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Grover

Just one ADHD afflicted muse who loves her caffeine way too much! As for dreams my latest story began as a dream. It was a little disturbing because it broke the fourth wall. You know I dreamed I was in the dream, dreaming. Hopefully it'll be ready for review next week.

Thanks for your so kind words and concern. And of course may your own dreams lead you to your heart's reward.

hugs
Grover