The Winged Child
by Henry Mitchell
GENRE: Fantasy
BLURB:
An adult fairytale about a girl who might know how to fly, a neurobotanist who might be a dragon, an innkeeper who might be a machine and a politician who might be the antichrist.
Millicent McTeer grows to adulthood in Ashton, an Appalachian tourist town, convinced she knows how to fly. With a new president in power, the life Millicent knew changes. The government has spies on every corner, coercing citizens to follow the new order. As the country descends into anarchy, Millicent is drawn into political activism by her professor and becomes an exile.
In the Laurel Creek Containment District, separated from the chaos of the Atlantic American Republic, she finds a new life. As she develops her unique abilities and leads the exiles, incursions from the outside world threaten to destroy the tranquil life they have built together. Will Millicent reclaim her reality and discover the peace that has eluded her?
Buy links:
Excerpt:
“Do you have wings, Dad?”
“Sure I do. Runs in the family.”
“So, why don’t you ever fly?”
Joshua shot her a convincingly wistful glance. “Grownups aren’t allowed to fly in this country, Angel. Otherwise, on special occasions, like birthdays, I just might.”
“That would be showing off,” said Millicent, affecting her mother’s stern expression.
“I suppose it would, but that didn’t stop you trying, did it?”
Millicent couldn’t summon a proper retort, stared intently at the road ahead.
Joshua rescued her from silence. “Anyway, grownups can’t fly, except on airplanes. It’s the law.”
“Then, I don’t want to grow up,” declared Millicent. “Ever.”
“I truly hope you don’t,” said her father, watching the truck in front of them turn without flashing a signal. “I hope that when you become a woman grown and strong, you are still my little girl inside.”
Millicent found no more words to say over the next two blocks until they turned onto McTeer Street. Ahead, she could see Hillhaven, the inn that had been run by their family ever since her great-grandmother Alice inherited it from her employer and life-long friend, who had no family of her own to whom she could pass it on.
“Will you always be my dad?” Millicent asked, gazing up at her father, who kept his eyes on his road.
“I’ll always be your dad, Angel,” he said. “Ever and ever amen.”
That sounded to her like an impossible promise. “Even when you are dead and gone?” she asked, using a phrase she’d overheard from one of the guests at the inn.
“Nobody’s ever dead and gone, Angel.”
Interview with Henry Mitchell
How did you become involved with the subject or theme of your book?
Millicent McTeer, the protagonist was the subject of a short story, Precocious, about a little girl who was convinced that she could fly.
The novel began as a simple story about childhood and growing up. Current events and undisciplined reading as I was writing introduced the subjects of neurobotany and politics. We are living in dangerous times for children, and also a crisis moment offering unlimited horizons to expand human experience. Amid the decline of Western Civilization, we see opportunities to reclaim our kinship with the Earth and all her children, human and other-than-human. I realized that I wanted to write about these issues, too, find a way for Millicent, and for all of us, to hope for our future.
What were your goals and intentions in this book, and how well do you feel you achieved them?
My initial intention was to write a good story about a character I liked. I believe I achieved that. Whatever message the novel may carry beyond that is up to the reader to discern. Every tale gets re-written in the mind of each person who reads it. To succeed, a novel needs a good writer and a good reader. I’ve done my best…
What was the hardest part of writing this book?
The hardest part of writing any book is letting the story go where it wants to go, and not where the writer wants to take it. Writing a tale requires a great deal of listening.
What did you enjoy most about writing this book?
Reading each day’s output to my wife. She knows things I don’t.
Were there alternate endings you considered?
I did consider alternate endings as they came in sight, but they would have made it a different story. I kept this one against all advice to the contrary.
Can you share some stories about people you met while researching this book?
Most of the “research” on The Winged Child amounted to going about my life, walking on mountains, listening to my neighbors’ banter and argument, prowling used bookstores. I was doing some reading at the time on neurobotany, not related to the novel, but it crept in. I discovered that Thomas Rain Crowe, author of Zoro’s Field, had, unbeknownst to me, lived just over the ridge from my house for several years. Stefano Mancuso (the Nation of Plants, Brilliant Green), Annie Martin (The Magical World of Moss), Lisa Dempster (Neon Pilgrim), Martin Shaw (Courting the Wild Twin), Reg Darling (Still Life with Politics), Colin Tudge (The Tree), Joanna Macy (Greening of the Self) Bill Plotkin (Wild Mind) were all influences, I think. Mostly, The Winged Child is a novel about things I know from the heart.
What genre of books do you enjoy reading?
I’m not partial.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Henry Mitchell reads and writes in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.
He has written five novels and two collections of short stories.
5 comments:
Thanks for hosting my Winged Child today.
Thanks for hosting!
Sounds like an interesting book.
Thank you for sharing this interview, great questions asked and answered
Happy Friday! I hope that you have enjoyed your book tour and I wish you the best of luck in all of your future endeavors. I have enjoyed getting to know you and your work throughout this tour and I am looking forward to reading your books. Have a great weekend!
Post a Comment