In the past few months, World Weaver Press has released the next two installments in Rhonda Parrish’s Magical Menagerie anthologies: Corvidae and Scarecrow. In Corvidae, “birds are born of blood and pain, trickster ravens live up to their names, magpies take human form, blue jays battle evil forces, and choughs become prisoners of war.” In Scarecrow, “ancient enemies join together to destroy a mad mommet, a scarecrow who is a crow protects solar fields and stores long-lost family secrets, a woman falls in love with a scarecrow, and another becomes one.” These two fascinating works feature many bright authors, and I had the opportunity to interview some of them.

This week I got to glimpse inside the mind of genius behind the magical menageries, writer-editor Rhonda Parrish. In the words of Sara Cleto, Rhonda is a “shapeshifter with talents to match her every incarnation- magpie tenacity for picking the shiniest submissions, nightingale notes for crafting tales, and bright, feline eyes for seeking out her photographic subjects. She balances on the knife-edge of darkness and light, a sorceress of both realms.”

Joseph Halden: How did you find the process of editing Corvidae and Scarecrow compared to the previous magical menagerie, Fae? Was it difficult to coordinate the two anthologies and make them work well with each other? Were there many surprises along the way?

Rhonda Parrish: It was significantly more difficult to work on two anthologies at the same time to focus on just one, more than twice as difficult actually LOL. I think part of that was just time management but a bigger part was what you refer to here–trying to make them work well together. It’s an interesting balancing act I’d never attempted before and it led to a lot of extra steps and work.

For example, not only did I have to solicit submissions from people to add diversity and fill in gaps (“Please, please, submit something that includes a corvid other than a magpie, crow or a raven.”), I also had to solicit story submissions for one book to counter balance stories in the other. Tricksy.

I enjoyed the challenge a great deal and I think the resulting anthologies are amazing but I am not going to do another set of paired anthologies any time soon–or if I do they’ll be released further apart LO

JH: Have all the magical menageries been your brainchildren? Is/are there any that are particularly dear to you?

RP: They have, which makes them all exceptionally special to me ☺ However, while I love all of them they are each dear to me for reasons unique to themselves as well.

Fae’s publication marks a turning point in my career as an editor and anthologist. That is the book which put my work on people’s radar and opened the door for the rest of the series.

Corvidae is an anthology I’ve wanted to do forever. I feel a connection to corvids that is both ridiculous and profound so being able to honor them in an anthology like this means a lot to me.

Scarecrow… Scarecrows are so wonderfully uncanny that I couldn’t resist the opportunity to do a collection all about them. Beyond that it’s got my favourite cover and contains what I consider to be some of the strongest stories from the series within its pages. I’m not sure if I’m supposed to say that in public but there ya go LOL

JH: What authors or stories spurred you as a child (or later) to delve into the rich magical fantasies you now share with the world?

RP: I was really lucky in that my mother never ever censored what I read and there were always books around the house. It resulted in a few awkward moments such as when I did a grade four book review on Christine but I am incredibly grateful.

I grew up on a super fun mix of romance novels, Stephen King, Choose Your Own Adventure, Dragonlance, Xanth, Shakespeare, VC Andrews and basically whatever fantasy and horror novels I could find in my local second-hand store.

These days my tastes remain pretty eclectic. I could talk about them for hours but I’m afraid to start naming names for fear I’ll forget someone and then spend hours being mad at myself LOL

JH: Do you look at the birds in your yard differently after doing these anthologies?

RP: I don’t think so, no. I’ve always felt pretty connected to corvids, especially the ones in my yard and neighbourhood (my husband refers to them as my soulmates and I think he’s only half-joking) so Corvidae didn’t make me look at them differently… but it did make me feel like I was honouring them.

JH: Why did you discriminate against Phasianidae birds when you put these works together?

RP: Well, I had to discriminate against a lot of birds when I put these works together because you’ve got to draw the line somewhere. I *do* love birds from the Phasianidae family though and you could certainly get a kick-ass cover for an anthology about them… Maybe you and I should co-edit an anthology filled with Phasianidae stories. Do you think there’s a market out there for those stories? ☺

JH: Do you have any advice for budding authors? Budding editors?

RP: “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.” That’s a quote from Samuel Beckett. It’s how I try to live my life (in fact I intend to get ‘Fail Better’ as my next tattoo) and I think it especially applies to writing or editing. Just don’t give up.

Sometimes it’s going to suck. It’s going to suck so bad and you’re going to wonder why you keep trying, keep banging your head against walls but sometimes… sometimes it’s amazing and you don’t get to experience those amazing bits if you give up.

JH: You’re a very active and ambitious writer/editor. How do you approach doing all the things, and stay sane?

RP: Want to know a secret? I’m not sure I’m doing so well at that sanity thing LOL

I’m still trying to find the balance. I go through this cycle where I take things on and take things on, and then I find a sweet spot where everything feels right. Timelines are meshing, I’m being consistently productive and things are going awesome and I’ll stay there for a while. And it’s wondrous… until it’s not.

Suddenly I’ve got too many things going on and not enough hours in the day. I feel like I’m drowning in projects so I start prioritizing, cutting back, trying to find the things which are really important to me and focus on them. Then I find another sweet spot and everything is working and I’m productive and feeling positive…

And then I have a great idea for a new project and a little extra time so why not? So I take that on. And the next thing, and the next thing, and the cycle starts over again.

As I get to know myself and my process the cycle becomes a bit less dramatic, less exciting to watch from the outside, and I get to spend more and more time in those sweet spots but still, sometimes it’s a struggle.

…on a more practical level–I use a whiteboard to keep track of all my projects, deadlines and to-do lists, I go through more Post-it notes than anyone else you’ve ever seen and I make a ridiculous number of lists LOL

JH: Any hint on what we can expect after the next installment, Sirens?

RP: I’m afraid not LOL I have ideas but it’s a rather long list and I haven’t had a chance to pick one and write up a pitch for World Weaver Press Editor-in-chief Eileen Wiedbrauk about it yet. Besides, right now I’m swimming (ha! I’m so funny) in SIRENS submissions so I’m just going to focus on them for a little bit, then we’ll see.

Thank you for your honest and thoughtful answers, Rhonda! If you want to see some of the fantastic projects she’s put together, visit her at www.rhondaparrish.com. And of course you can check out her magical menageries, Fae, Corvidae, and Scarecrow — available now! If you’re a writer looking to get involved, her next project SIRENS is currently open for submissions.

In the past few months, World Weaver Press has released the next two installments in Rhonda Parrish’s Magical Menagerie anthologies: Corvidae and Scarecrow. In Corvidae, “birds are born of blood and pain, trickster ravens live up to their names, magpies take human form, blue jays battle evil forces, and choughs become prisoners of war.” In Scarecrow, “ancient enemies join together to destroy a mad mommet, a scarecrow who is a crow protects solar fields and stores long-lost family secrets, a woman falls in love with a scarecrow, and another becomes one.” These two fascinating works feature many bright authors, and I had the opportunity to interview some of them.

The second is Kat Otis, who lives a peripatetic life with a pair of cats who enjoy riding in the car as long as there’s no country music involved. Her fiction has appeared in Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show, Daily Science Fiction and Penumbra eMag. Her story “Whistles and Trills” appears in Corvidae.

Joseph Halden: Your story hints at events happening on a larger scale than what we glimpse in Morgaine’s tale. Do you have any plans to expand on those ideas, or have you already?

Kat Otis: I haven’t made any specific plans to write other stories in this world, though it’s definitely a possibility.  I find twentieth-century history to be insanely depressing so it isn’t my go-to period for historical fantasy.

That said, part of the initial inspiration for this story was my research on twentieth-century spy pigeons.  I cannot emphasize enough how awesome spy pigeons are, especially when you’re trying to communicate information in a way that can’t be easily intercepted by the enemy.  Almost two thirds of the WWII Dickin Medals (the UK’s award to honor animals in war) were awarded to pigeons!  So there are definitely a lot of possible “spy corvidae” ideas floating around in my head and it’s likely that I’ll eventually write some of them.

JH: Can you give us your take on why the corvids in your story were on a prisoner transport?

KO: The Nazis attempted to purge Germany of all “undesirables” – most famously Jews, but also Roma, homosexuals, the mentally and physically disabled, and many others.  Alas, it doesn’t require a huge stretch of the imagination to lump their resident non-humanoid intelligent birds into the same category.

JH: How did you come up with the lines to separate the warring creatures in your alternate world?

KO: In general, the frost giants, corvidae, and sea serpents would prefer to keep to themselves rather than involve themselves in human infighting.  But the geographical proximity of the Axis powers to the Alps (where I imagine many frost giants live) provides a strong incentive for the Nazis to woo their various chieftaincies into a military alliance.  And the Nazi leadership has the requisite ruthlessness to give the frost giants whatever they want to make sure that alliance sticks…

The corvidae’s entrance into the war doesn’t involve unilateral support for the Allied side – the Nazis might have burned their bridges there, but they weren’t the only Axis power.  And a lot of corvidae are going to want to stay neutral, seeing this as a primarily human concern.

As for the sea serpents… if I ever get the desire to write a submarine story, then we’ll see.  I should mention I was just at a submarine museum a few weeks ago…

JH: Which side of the war would Phasianids be on?

KO: The dinner plate?  Okay, okay, seriously.  I think there would be Phasianids on both sides of the war.  Unlike my frost giants, who are limited to specific geographical regions, Phasianids are pretty much everywhere and would have evolved a variety of relationships with local powers during the war.  Each different species, and each species in each nation, would have different goals, motives, and politics.

JH: The details depicted in all the flight scenes are very authentic. Did you draw from any aviation experience(s) of your own, or was that just a result of good research?

KO: I come from a family of pilots, though I’m not a licensed pilot myself.  The last time I flew a plane, I nearly flipped it on take-off.  It’s extremely hard to keep a plane level when your co-pilot decides to open his bloody door, and no, I don’t care if the seat belt was caught in it!  Ahem.

Anyway, I’m glad the flight scenes come across as authentic as I spent several days picking various family members’ brains to make sure I got things right.  They’re not writers themselves, but they are extremely enthusiastic when I hijack family gatherings with things like, “Help me crash a plane!”

JH: Why do you think stories of the magical, the fantastic, are relevant to readers today?

KO: I think speculative fiction is vital to fostering readers’ imaginations and helping them see beyond the limits they’ve been taught to impose on themselves and the world around them.  I’m reminded, in this moment, of one of my favorite childhood movies – Flight of Dragons – where the wizard explains that things like the crystal ball inspired mankind to invent radio and television.  If we didn’t dream of dragons and winged men, would we have ever learned to fly?

When it comes to historical fantasy and alternate history, in particular, I think that these stories are vital in helping us understand past events and cultures.  They let us explore historical contingencies – the “what might have been” if just a few little details get tweaked – and reveal the extent of human uncertainty and agency in a history that readers tend to think of as somehow inevitable and foreordained.  They also let us explore the mind-sets of historical cultures; I don’t have to convince readers that people weren’t stupid for believing in X, Y, and Z, I just make those things real and then my readers willingly come along for the ride.  In general, if authors push the boundaries far enough, they can bring readers past their preexisting opinions and prejudices to a better understanding of the historical past and what it means for the present – and the future.

JH: You list many online forums as writer resources on your website. Have you been involved in any of these forums personally, and what can you share with us about the experience? Are you still active on them?

KO: I’ve been active on all the forums that I’ve listed on my website, though it’s been a while since I visited some of them.  Hatrack and Critters were the first online writing sites where I participated in on a regular basis.  The advice and support I got there led to me attending Orson Scott Card’s Literary Bootcamp and my first professional sale!  Absolute Write is my go-to forum whenever I need an expert to help me with some aspect of story research – there are some great folks there who are willing to answer all sorts of wacky questions.  It also has a much broader focus, for those people who aren’t solely SFF writers.

My current “home” forum is Codex.  It’s a wonderful resource, full of awesome people, and provides a good kick-in-the-pants to write by hosting a rotating series of contests.  Probably my favorite is the Weekend Warrior contest: for five weekends in a row, we have from Friday night to Sunday night to write a prompt-based flash fiction story, followed by a weekend in which the die-hards attempt to write a short story or novelette in the same length of time.  I’ve gotten a lot of great stories – and sales – out of that contest.

JH: What advice do you have for budding authors?

KO: Expect rejection.  I know, that sounds depressing, but I think it’s important for budding authors to know rejection is a fact of life for all writers who are out submitting their work on a regular basis.  It’s normal.  It doesn’t mean that your work is awful.  It doesn’t mean that you can’t write.  And it definitely doesn’t mean you should give up on your dreams.

Thank you for the realistic yet motivating words, Kat! Check out her story “Whistles and Trills”  in Corvidae, available now from World Weaver Press! You can also visit her at www.katotis.com.