Ask the Author: Manfred
Answered Questions (3)
Manfred
My main inspiration comes from Fairytales, Romantic Poetry and the Old Ways. For me Fairytales are the original primordial tales, told by the Witches and wise women through the ages and represent the hand of the Fate weavers in our lives. In ancient Greece the three spinners are Klothos, the Maiden, she is the one who spins the life thread, Lachesis, the Mother, the one who measures the life thread and Atropos the Crone, the one who severs it. In the Wiccan Path these three Fates are the three aspects of the Triple Goddess who is represented by the three Faces of the Moon - New Moon or Maiden, Full Moon or Mother, Dark Moon or Wise Woman and Crone. There is a direct entymological link between the word Fate, Fey and Faery. And I have used a lot of Faery lore in my writings and stories. In MM and the Riddle of Night Opium, the three Fates are represented by the Three Fairy Queens in the tale - Apricot Lantern, the Nightshade Fairy and the Fairy of Providence. There are attributes of the Archetypal Triple Goddess - Maiden. Mother and Crone in all three Fairy Queens in my book. Of course, you will find the figure of the Fairy Queen as a symbol of Fate and the otherworld in many classic fairytales like Cinderella and Snow White. You will also find her in fantasy books like Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, where she appears as Galaldriel. Or in the Never ending Story where she appears in the figure of the childlike Empress.
My writing was also very influenced by Romanticism - all the great Romantic poets were heavily influenced by mythology, folklore and Fairytale motifs. At the same time, they were influenced by deep esoteric and occult writings like neo Platonism, Alchemy and Theosophy. William Blake for example had works by Swedenborg and Paracelsus in his collection. My new book Magic Mirabelle is very influenced by both of these traditions - Romantic poetry and Hermetic Philosophy and Alchemy. The eternal Quest for the Philosopher's Stone - perhaps Mirabelle finds it at the end of the book. I will let you decide that!!
My writing was also very influenced by Romanticism - all the great Romantic poets were heavily influenced by mythology, folklore and Fairytale motifs. At the same time, they were influenced by deep esoteric and occult writings like neo Platonism, Alchemy and Theosophy. William Blake for example had works by Swedenborg and Paracelsus in his collection. My new book Magic Mirabelle is very influenced by both of these traditions - Romantic poetry and Hermetic Philosophy and Alchemy. The eternal Quest for the Philosopher's Stone - perhaps Mirabelle finds it at the end of the book. I will let you decide that!!
Manfred
After this project, which has taken a lot out of me mentally and physically, I will take a few months rest and then I will rework one of my old fairytales. I have one or two possibilities in mind. And if I keep the story or stories within the Fairytale genre they will be novellas, about 100 pages at most. However, if I do a combined Fairytale and YA Paranormal Fantasy and Romance like I have done with Magic Mirabelle, the books will probably spill over into three hundred pages as well. But I don't think I will do that.
After this project, which has taken a lot out of me mentally and physically, I will take a few months rest and then I will rework one of my old fairytales. I have one or two possibilities in mind. And if I keep the story or stories within the Fairytale genre they will be novellas, about 100 pages at most. However, if I do a combined Fairytale and YA Paranormal Fantasy and Romance like I have done with Magic Mirabelle, the books will probably spill over into three hundred pages as well. But I don't think I will do that.
Manfred
Well, the idea for Magic Mirabelle and the Riddle of Night Opium first came to me not long after my son Tristan was born. I was suffering a severe lack of inspiration in my writing at the time but a few months after he was born I got the idea for the story - about a 12 year old girl, her mother and the new Baby who comes into the house and helps rekindle the spark of Magic inside her. I am not Mirabelle of course but that scenario is very close to how things were at the time. I was also reading lots of classic Fairytales and Fantasy stories during that time - Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, Mopsa the Fairy, HC Andersen and Grimm's Fairytales - So the idea of a girl who lived in a world of books is also partly based on my own experiences..
Around the time I was writing Mirabelle I was also reading some pretty deep books, such as Jung's Psychology of Alchemy, Arthur Waite's The Hermetic Museum, Israel Regardie's The Complete Golden Dawn System of Magic and of course The Chymical Wedding of Christian R. So the Hermetic influences make it different from other Fairytales - which is why I call it MM and the Riddle of Night Opium - A FAIRYTALE IN THE GOLDMAKING TRADITION. Mirabelle is a young Witch and several of the main characters - the Wizard Night Opium, the Father of Wishes and the wicked Lady Nightshadow herself - are all dabbling in the ancient art of Goldmaking and busily searching for the mystery of the occultum lapidem, the Hidden Stone or the Philosopher's Stone.
Around the time I was writing Mirabelle I was also reading some pretty deep books, such as Jung's Psychology of Alchemy, Arthur Waite's The Hermetic Museum, Israel Regardie's The Complete Golden Dawn System of Magic and of course The Chymical Wedding of Christian R. So the Hermetic influences make it different from other Fairytales - which is why I call it MM and the Riddle of Night Opium - A FAIRYTALE IN THE GOLDMAKING TRADITION. Mirabelle is a young Witch and several of the main characters - the Wizard Night Opium, the Father of Wishes and the wicked Lady Nightshadow herself - are all dabbling in the ancient art of Goldmaking and busily searching for the mystery of the occultum lapidem, the Hidden Stone or the Philosopher's Stone.
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