A Pooka Retrospective

Pride Promotions tour poster for Finn at MLR Press

I've been asked many times over the years where the idea for Finn came from. If my dear pooka friend and I were in a relationship? We'd have to use the "It's Complicated" status on Facebook. I've told bits and pieces of Finn's literary journey, but there are, perhaps, only two people out there who know the whole thing.

See, once upon a time, there was a lonely science fiction writer. She was lonely because she didn't have any other writers to play with and didn't have a clue about getting published. Critique groups were nice, but they were full of romance writers who wrote steamy stuff. Who would've thought? Since the SF wasn't getting a hearing, she decided to write some adult stuff, too, But she thought she should practice first...

There was a lovely fiction site at that time (we're talking about 2004-ish) called Double Moon where writers could share original fiction in the medieval castle setting and write scenes in pairs or groups. Sadly, Double Moon was abandoned shortly after one of the owners of the site passed. No trace of it left. But I did have a lot of fun there and one of the characters I wrote was the bastard son of a Spanish noblewoman and a river pooka. When I decided to try to write gay fantasy for publication and was casting around for something different (Elves? Nah, lots of those. Werewolf? Tons of those.) because of the playing around writing at Double Moon and because of an old amusement park ride that featured a pooka (Corkscrew Hill in Busch Gardens, VA, also no longer there) I returned to the Irish shapeshifter. Finn is a much different person than the powerful, elemental Ribero (the original character's father) was and more interesting, in my opinion.

So Finn was born. I was between publishers - my very first, Forbidden Publications, had closed due to the poor health of the owner. When I finished Finn and shopped him around, there were quite a few rejections. Not what we're looking for, sorry. Beginning to despair, I tried a last batch of queries and received an enthusiastic yes from Red Rose Publishing. (Cue the Sally Fields moment, "They like me! They really like me!") Did I do my publisher research? Yes - but I was stupid. I ignored some clear warning signs. By the time they had published Diego, the second in the Endangered Fae series, I knew things weren't right. During a well-publicized, drawn out meltdown, Red Rose's reputation tanked, and I hired a lawyer to wrest my rights back. Red Rose, several years later, has finally shut down.

But during this well-publicized meltdown, several other publishers were watching. One of them came to me and said "When you get Finn free, we want it." Silver Publishing. (Cue the ominous music.) They were new, but I did my research. They had a good team. I knew some of these people. I knew a lot of the authors signed with them. Good. This looked good. Well, you all know how that ended with Silver. I did get Finn free before the final implosion. My poor pooka was traumatized by now.

Then there was GRL 2013. The ever-busy, omnipresent Kris Jacen from MLR Press wanted to talk to me. To me? Really? But we scheduled some time during pitch sessions and yes, I was working on something for them. And yes, they were interested in Endangered Fae - the two Silver refugees, and the one I had briefly self-pubbed - if I promised a fourth one by June of the following year. I can do that, I said. Finn was much relieved and told me he liked Kris.

Here we are, a year later, and we have all four Fae books available for you, the whole story arc from Finn and Diego's first meeting to Diego's chance at redemption. The road has been crooked and strange, but the readers are why I've kept going. More Finn. Yep. I promised. Always good to have more Finn.

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A Gallery of Finns. From Red Rose to Silver to the current lovely cover from MLR.

A similar progression of Diegos...

The two Semper Fae iterations - please note that the wonderful Sara York took pity on me and made the first cover after I managed to make a couple of really horrid ones myself.

The newest addition to the series? Here we are:
No Fae Is An Island
Endangered Fae 4
MLR Press
cover by Winterheart Designs (Lex Valentine)

Amazon
All Romance

Three years ago, Danu banished Diego for a time from the human world. Three years and three days doesn't seem that long to be away from home but living among the wild fae can change a man and the human world returns the favor by changing while he's gone. There's a vampire on Tearmann Island's security force. A curious selkie's followed him home. So much to do to keep the world safe...but Diego's no longer sure he has the right to interfere.

Theo Aguilar started his vampire life on the wrong side of the law. He's killed and knows he's dangerous if he doesn't stay in control every moment. But the fae took him in and Prince Lugh has given him a position of trust. So when Diego and Finn are arrested on a diplomatic mission far from home, he knows his duty. He's striking out on his own to rescue them, a lone vigilante once again, this time for the good guys. The only glitch? The selkie, Limpet, can't seem to understand the alone par


Buy a Fae book, support a pooka and his author ;)

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