“I have claimed that Escape is one of the main functions of fairy-stories, and since I do not disapprove of them, it is plain that I do not accept the tone of scorn or pity with which ‘Escape’ is now so often used. Why should a man be scorned if, finding himself in prison, he tries to get out and go home? Or if he cannot do so, he thinks and talks about other topics than jailers and prison-walls?”
I was honored, this past weekend, to do a panel with Victoria Schwab, #1 New York Times Bestselling author of This Savage Song, and Maria Dehvana Headley, New York Times bestselling author of Magonia, at the Southern Festival of Books. We started off with the question “What Is Fantasy?” and spent the entire hour and a half basically talking about that, both in general, and specifically what it means to us and within our books. 
It struck me that for each of us, fantasy is deeply personal and real–and very specific to each book or series. It contains magic or the unreal in some way, but that’s always grounded in a core “what if” statement that sparks an entire world based on something related to our own lives. Whether that’s a world layered on top of the present world, as is the case with Magonia or Compulsion, or the more unknown worlds like Victoria’s This Savage Song, all three of us agreed that above all things, fantasy must be genuine.“One day, you will be old enough to start reading fairytales again.”
“If something is there, you can only see it with your eyes open, but if it isn’t there, you can see it just as well with your eyes closed. That’s why imaginary things are often easier to see than real ones.”
“If you were trapped in an impossible situation, in an unpleasant place, with people who meant you ill, and someone offered you a temporary escape, why wouldn’t you take it? And escapist fiction is just that: fiction that opens a door, shows the sunlight outside, gives you a place to go where you are in control, are with people you want to be with(and books are real places, make no mistake about that); and more importantly, during your escape, books can also give you knowledge about the world and your predicament, give you weapons, give you armour: real things you can take back into your prison. Skills and knowledge and tools you can use to escape for real.”
“The use of imaginative fiction is to deepen your understanding of your world, and your fellow men, and your own feelings, and your destiny.”
Giveaways
TOUR SCHEDULE
10/17/2016- Just Commonly– Review-Compulsion
10/18/2016- Kayl’s Krazy Obsession– Guest Post
10/19/2016- Always Me– Review-Compulsion
10/20/2016- YA Book Madness– Guest Post
10/21/2016- The Young Folks– Review-Compulsion
Week Two:
10/24/2016- The Cover Contessa– Review-Persuasion (repost)
10/25/2016- Good Choice Reading– Guest Post
10/26/2016- Curling Up With A Good Book– Review-Persuasion
10/27/2016- Tales of the Ravenous Reader– Guest Post
10/28/2016- A Dream Within A Dream– Review-Persuasion (repost)
Week Three:
10/31/2016- Here’s to Happy Endings– Review-Illusion
11/1/2016- Two Chicks on Books– Guest Post
11/2/2016- Bookish Lifestyle– Review-Illusion
11/3/2016- Dark Faerie Tales– Guest Post
11/4/2016- Book Briefs– Review-Illusion
ABOUT THE BOOKS
compulsion
Simon & Schuster, Simon Pulse
ISBN: 18732883
Three plantations. Two wishes. One ancient curse.
Three hundred years ago, an ancient spirit cursed one of the founding families of Watson Island and gave the other two magical gifts that became compulsions. Arriving for the first time at her aunt’s plantation home, Barrie Watson finds herself haunted by the ghosts of a generations-old feud and hunted by forces she can’t see. With the help of Eight Beaufort, who seems to know what she wants before she knows herself, the last Watson heir starts to unravel her family’s twisted secrets. What she finds is dangerous: a love she never expected, a river that turns to fire at midnight, a gorgeous cousin who isn’t what she seems, and very real enemies who want both Eight and Barrie dead.
RT Book Reviews Top Pick & Editor’s Best ~ USA TODAY Must-Read Paranormal ~ Goodreads Best Books of the Month & YA Best Books of the Month
IndieBound | Barnes & Noble | Amazon | Book Depository | Goodreads
persuasion
Simon & Schuster, Simon Pulse
ISBN: 148141125X
As reporters chasing rumors of a stolen shipment of Civil War gold descend on Watson Island, Barrie Watson discovers more is buried at Colesworth Place than treasure. A mysterious, magical man claims the key to the Watson and Beaufort gifts and the Colesworth curse also lies beneath the mansion, and Barrie has no option but to help him find it. While she and Eight Beaufort struggle to make sense of the escalating danger and their growing feelings for each other, Barrie must decide not only whom to trust, but which gift is more reliable—Eight’s or her own. With the fate of the founding families at stake, she has to choose between what she feels deep in her heart and what will keep her loved ones safe.
IndieBound | Barnes & Noble | Amazon | Book Depository | Goodreads
illusion
Simon & Schuster, Simon Pulse
ISBN: 1481411306
Caged by secrets all around her and haunted by mistakes that have estranged her from Eight Beaufort, Barrie Watson is desperate to break the curse that puts her family in danger—without breaking the beautiful magic that protects Watson’s Landing. To do that, she must heal the rifts that have split the families of the island apart for three hundred years, unravel the mystery of the Fire Carrier and the spirits he guards, and take control of forces so deadly and awe-inspiring they threaten to overwhelm her.
With the spirits that cursed Watson Island centuries ago awake and more dangerous than ever, she finds an unlikely ally in the haunting and enigmatic Obadiah, whose motivations and power she still can’t read—or trust. His help comes at a price, however, plunging Barrie into a deadly maze of magic and wonder, mystery and intrigue that leads through history to places she never imagined she could go.
IndieBound | Barnes & Noble | Amazon | Book Depository | Goodreads
