Thankful, Thoughtful, Thirsty Leslie Soule

By Leslie Soule

            Thankful: I’d like to thank the person who dressed up as a werewolf at the RT Convention. Whoever you are, please know that you made my RT experience more enjoyable. I’d like to think it was one of the Mr. Romance contestants hidden under all that fur. I first saw you in the hallway in front of Club RT, and though I tried to act casual, well…you were a werewolf standing there in the hallway of the Westin Bonaventure. And you growled at me, and I growled back. Rawr, you big sexy beast!

            Thoughtful: So I got to meet Robert Roman in person at RT, and he got me thinking about the idea of world-building in my stories. With Fallenwood, my characters are a group of misfits. Now, I love those old claymation Christmas movies, and especially the part where our heroes journey to the Island of Misfit Toys. However, the moment Robert mentioned the word “archmage”, it sent my thoughts in a million directions as I considered the interactions of people in the training of someone to be an archmage. I realized that what was missing from Fallenwood and from my stories was group interaction and history. Well, it’s tough building an imaginary world from nothing! But I’m going to be working on a sequel and there’s always time for expansion on old ideas. 

 

            Thirsty: I love tea. I love it so much that I’ve hooked up an electric burner in my bedroom and have a kettle on it, so I can have tea going whenever I want. I love tea so much that I wanted to create a special kind for Fallenwood – rakeih (pronounced raka). I wrote it as a “frothy berry drink”, though it is really more like a berry tisane. Anything tea-like that does not actually include the tea leaves of the camellia sinensis plant, is actually a tisane. Thus, mint teas and chamomile teas are not “tea” technically – they are tisanes. I am always thirsty to try new teas! So if anyone has any suggestions, please send them my way!