Special Guest Danika Dinsmore! on her Narine of Noe Blog Tour

Today we get an author interview AND a book excerpt!

I am very excited to help promote the fourth book in Danika Dinsmore's Faerie Tales from the White Forest series. These are great middle-great adventures about a magical world full of fascinating creatures. Here are my reviews of Brigitta of the White Forest, The Ruins of Noe, and Ondelle of Grioth.

In Narine of Noe, Danika does one of my favourite things: she takes us back in time to to learn the truth about the Ancients and the devastating events that destroyed their world. Narine is a young fairy who thinks she knows her destiny, but when everything she knows is turned upside-down she is suddenly left on her own to figure out how to save the world.

Here's how Danika Dinsmore answered my questions about the book and about herself:


You’ve said that you have a six-book series planned out. Was a prequel always included in that plan? What made you decide to go back 1000 years and tell this story at this stage in Brigitta’s journey?

The prequel was not actually part of the original plan. The idea crept up on me as I was writing the first three books, because I had had to come up with so much back story for those books. As the back story became more and more vivid, I realized it, too, needed telling. 

I honestly can’t say why I decided to write it in the middle of the series. I just knew it was the right time, and I tend to trust my intuition. I think it provides a lot of answers that are important before Brigitta's journey continues. It also helps us realize what great sacrifice the Ancients made and what's at stake if Brigitta should fail in reuniting Faweh. 

Ruins are so cool and evocative. Brigitta visits the Ruins of Noe in book 2, and now in book 4 we get to see what Noe was like. Have you visited any real-life Earth ruins? If you had a time machine, is there a particular set of ruins you’d love to visit in the past to see what they were like?

Ruins are definitely evocative and I've seen my share. My first were the ruins of Ayutthaya in Thailand, which I absolutely loved. I've also visited Athens and Crete and the ruins there were mind-boggling, especially Knossos, Europe's oldest city (first settlement was 9,000 years ago). They made our North American concept of "old" appear so quaint. I also loved Tikal in Guatamala, and I've been to a few Anasazi ruins in Colorado and New Mexico. I'm sure there are more I'm forgetting. I'd love to travel back in time to Ayutthaya or another ancient South Asian culture.  

How do you conceive of the differences between Narine's world and Brigitta’s? Narine's world has different magic (I saw it almost like different technology), different social structures, different architecture and fashion—what did you use as inspiration to create this precursor society?

I can't point to anything specific as an inspiration for the precursor society, other than I knew it had to be more advanced and more connected to the rest of the world. The Ancient Faeries were the keepers of the elements, the caretakers of Faweh. The White Forest faeries were "lesser" faeries who had been rescued by the Ancients during the Great World Cry (which I now refer to as the "faerie apocalypse") and placed in a protected realm. White Forest faeries do not have the magical abilities of the Ancients and are by no means worldly. They are still a young civilization - much more primitive.
Narine lived before and during the "apocalypse," and Brigitta lives in the "post-apocalyptic" world. It would be like if our own world experienced an apocalypse and everyone had to start over in these isolated communities. Since the White Forest Faeries had been cut off, I knew their society would have grown its own way rather than imitating the Ancients' ways. The fun of Brigitta's story is reconnecting all these ancient cultures that existed together in Narine's time.

Your settings are always so detailed and real, despite being completely fantastical. Did you use real-Earth settings as the basis for any of the locations in Narine’s world?

I actually try not to, lol. I have lived among forests for so long that I fear the forests in my stories will "dull" if I use my earthly ones for inspiration. I have to keep re-imagining them so that they appear fantastic in my mind. I guess my "uul trees" were partially inspired by banyan trees. And Lake Indago possibly by Lake Louise in Alberta.

Did you love fairies as a child? Is there a book or movie or painting or anything you remember sparking your fascination? Or did that happen as an adult?

The funny thing is that I had absolutely no fascination with fairies / faeries as a child. I loved stories and I loved fantasy books. I devoured all the Wizard of Oz and Chronicles of Narnia books. And I had no interest in faeries when the idea of the story popped into my head. Brigitta and Himalette just asked to be written. I didn't even consider myself that interested in faeries as I was writing the story itself! I was just interested in the characters and their world. 

Have you tried to recreate any fairy food using Earth alternative ingredients?

I have! I've made two different versions of Pippet's pipberry juice and have also made batches of triple lyllium succlaid and gundlebean stew on occasion (I use lentils because gundlebeans are hard to come by)

Well I, for one, would love to see those recipes!

I've got an exciting look at Narine of Noe at the end of the post. (If you've read the other books, you will be intrigued by the character Narine meets in this scene!)

Anyone interested in writing a review for any of the White Forest books may contact Danika at danika.dinsmore@gmail.com for free ebook copies. Mention you saw this posted on Kim’s site. :-)

You can connect with Danika in the following realms:

Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/authordanikadinsmore
Facebook White Forest Series Page: https://www.facebook.com/whiteforestrealm
Website: danikadinsmore.com
Twitter: @danika_dinsmore

Meeting the Drutan Newling

As the two faeries dipped down toward the river, the newly sparkled forest dropped from sight. When they reached the valley proper, they pulled next to a cliff to stay out of the wind. Though Narine could no longer see the glowing section of forest, the sky shone brighter above it. Mesmerized by the peculiar light, Narine nearly missed the oddly-shaped silhouette standing at the top of one of the cliffs, but a howling from that direction caught her attention. She stopped and hovered in the air, watching the strange beast’s movements.

Shaped like a small gnarled tree, it shook in the moonslight, barky branch arms reaching out to the skies. At first Narine thought it was simply the wind shaking and howling behind it, but then she realized the keening came from the tree-like creature itself. It released one final low, haunting moan and pulled back into the forest.

In its place, a wee beast stood at the edge of the cliff, lurching in the wind. Far below it, the river cascaded over a series of slippery rocks. Narine gasped as the creature toppled toward the edge.

"Look out!" she cried, and Thorze turned around.

"On the cliff!" Narine called to her father, pointing to the top of the ridge where the small creature twisted and turned. "It’s going to fall!”

“Narine!" called Thorze, several wingbeats downriver, but she didn’t have time to stop and explain to him that the beast was in peril.

She sped up the cliffside until she reached the top and the strange creature snapped into view. She gasped as the little beast tumbled forward, and she extended her arms to catch it . . . but it didn’t fall.

Like a sapling rooted to the earth, even as it slumped forward it was anchored in place. Its two brown arms embraced its own body, limbs extending into fingers with protruding rootlets winding and tangling around its back. Within the twisted roots, its hard, ridged skin shone in the moonslight.

"There, there." She clasped its barky shoulders.

"No!" her father called to her from below. "Wait!"

But it was too late. As she straightened the beast up again, its eyes popped open. The little thing blinked several times into Narine’s face and then let out a cry. Its black eyes watered over, and Narine was pulled into their murky wetness. Something stirred inside them, and she drew forward . . .

. . . she was gazing down from a crumbling cliff, across a dark and choppy ocean . . . Under the water, a shadow headed toward her . . . No! Not a shadow . . . something solid, massive, and formidable . . .

“Narine!" a voice cut through the darkness, shaking her back to the present.

She swung her head around, not sure where she had just been.

"Are you all right?" Thorze pulled Narine’s face to his, examining her eyes.

"I… I… think so…" She looked back down. The creature was slumped sideways. "What happened?"

"I put her back to sleep," said Thorze gravely. "Come."

"But, what…why…" Narine tried to recall what had just transpired as her father turned her away.

"It’s a newling Drutan." He rubbed her arms. "We must leave her be.”

It took immense effort for Narine not to turn back around again; she felt such an ache for the beast. If she could only look into its eyes again. Maybe even hold it in her arms.

"What’s a Drutan?" she asked instead.

"A very rare creature." Thorze pulled his daughter closer and guided her back off the cliff. Her body, still stunned, let his sturdy one hold them both up. He gave her a squeeze. "Let us hope we have not disturbed her destiny."

"Her destiny!" Narine gasped, now fully awake.

She glanced down at her hands as if they had betrayed her all on their own. Some High Sage Mentee she was. How could she have just grasped the newling Drutan without even thinking?

Thorze stopped several wingbeats away and rotated his daughter around, holding her tightly across the shoulders. She didn’t know whether it was to comfort her or restrain her, but she accepted his warmth gratefully. They watched as a few of the creature’s roots unraveled and gathered themselves up again, twisting around and around and tucking themselves away inside her bound body.

“Drutan newlings soak in the moonslight energies to acquire a destiny," Thorze explained. "When a Drutan first opens its eyes to the moonslight, its initial tears transform to moonstones, which, over time, reveal its destiny."

"I disturbed her sleep!" Narine’s voice caught in her throat. "She opened her eyes!"

"You didn’t know," Thorze said.

She waited for her father to tell her everything would be fine, and her heart sank a little more when he did not.

"Where did her parents go? Maybe we can find them? Maybe they can help?”

He shook his head. "Both her father and mother have gone away. They are solitary beings. They will most likely never meet again."

"But what will happen to her?"

"She will live a very long time, and, as she grows older, her tree energy will emerge, and she will slowly transform, until one day, many season cycles from now, she will root into the earth, as tree-like as any in the forest before you.”

“But won’t she be lonely?" Narine asked. "Won’t she be scared?"

She could not imagine being born into a very long life without any parents or family or friends. What would the Drutan do by itself all day? Who would comfort her? Who would pass on Drutan knowledge and tell her Drutan stories?

"It is their way." Thorze gave her one last squeeze, but it was little solace. "Come, let us continue our journey to investigate this strange shimmering. I promise, Narine, there’s nothing else we can do. All she needs is her moonslight, and the rest will take care of itself. Drutans are born wise.”

MMGM: Ondelle of Grioth, by Danika Dinsmore

I'm excited today to announce a book launch that's happening tomorrow: local author Danika Dinsmore is launching the third book in her Faerie Tales from the White Forest series.

I reviewed the first two books here and here. Ondelle of Grioth continues the story of Brigitta, young faerie of the White Forest who has a large destiny on her small shoulders. The fate of the White Forest is at stake, but no one believes Brigitta is carrying Elder Ondelle's memories and knowledge. Brigitta is sure she knows how to prevent the coming crisis, but if no one will listen to her she'll have to take matters into her own hands. Again.

Danika has created a complex, believable world full of fun, tangible details. Her faerie society and mythology are entirely original, giving surprising depth and texture to sparkly little people with wings. (I've never been much of a faerie fan, but I can get behind the White Forest faeries!) Ondelle of Grioth adds to our understanding of the mythology and sees Brigitta struggling more as she realizes the extent of the burden laid on her by Ondelle.

In celebration of Ondelle's imminent launch, Danika agreed to answer a bunch of random questions, in which we discover her rabid Dr. Who fandom, her deep and wide-ranging love of poetry, and her eclectic desk decorating scheme:

1. Brigitta carries the memories of Ondelle with her, and they surface whenever she needs to learn a piece of knowledge. If you could choose someone's memories and knowledge to carry with you, who would it be? (Fictional or real)

Hands down, Doctor Who! (although that might completely blow my puny human mind)

2. Brigitta travels through a lot of inhospitable wilderness on her adventures. What sorts of wilderness have you travelled through? Are you more of a city girl or an outdoor adventurer? 

I like adventures of all shapes and sizes, although I used to spend a lot more time in the actual wilderness and traveling to offbeat places. I’m game for a live transmedia experience or a day in snow shoes. My husband and I like to bike-camp whenever we can.

3. What's on your desk right now?

Ummmm…. stuff? I actually have a very large desk. “L” shaped. It’s probably never moving from my office because it weighs a ton. 

I have an IN box, which I’ve realized I should change to an OUT box, because nothing ever leaves it. 

I also have an obsession with file folders. It gives the illusion that I’m organized. I’ve got 3 file folder holders on my desk stuffed with files on everything from writing projects to conference workshops to tax information.

Also: a dictionary I rarely open anymore thanks to my computer, a hat sporting the word PURE, desktop Cranium game, photo of my parents, caricature of my husband and me, basket of scratch paper, crystal faerie, faerie clock, stuffed monkey, stuffed gecko, Pillsbury Doughboy timer (for timed writing exercises), pens in holders, stapler, fasteners, reminders, binders, set of runes, box of business cards, small painting of orchids that I bought for my Dad when I was 12, massive notebook for current WIP, some journals, some exquisite corpses I drew with the kids, my Geek Girl Con panel name plate, and a bit of orgonite (mysteriously left for me on my book table at FaerieWorlds last year).

Yeah, it’s a big desk.

4. Dark chocolate or milk? 

Dark! (but I won’t turn away milk chocolate if you’re offering)

5. Is there a fictional character you wish were real so you could be best friends? 

See #1. 
(Or any of the Doctor’s companions. They’d all be fun. And I think River Song and I would get along splendidly)

From my own series, I’m drawn to Ondelle. She’s both tragic and wise. I think we would have been good friends. 

6. It's National Poetry Month! Do you have a favourite poem, or favourite poet? 

I actually have an MFA in poetry, and used to produce the Seattle Poetry Festival, but to pick a favourite poem or poet would be impossible. I will tell you it was due to an interest in Allen Ginsberg and the Beats that I ended up at Naropa University. I wrote my thesis on the experimental work of Bernadette Mayer. Studied under Anne Waldman, Andrew Schelling, and Anselm Hollo. And I have a soft spot for Neruda, Frank O’Hara, Toi Derricotte, Rumi, Joanne Kyger… and now I am feeling quite GUILTY because of all the neglected books of poetry on my shelf. Oh, poetry, how I have abandoned you… 

(Ginsberg’s “Father Death Blues” gets me every time. I have a framed and signed hand written print of it on my wall. He used to sing it and play his harmonium.) 

7. How many more books in the White Forest Chronicles (can you tell us?) Do you know how it all ends?

There are meant to be six, but several fans have asked for a book about Brigitta’s little sister Himalette. They really like her and she doesn’t really have much page time in the rest of the series. So, I’m thinking about adding her story. 

I DO know how it all ends. And although that has changed over the past few years, I’m pretty satisfied with the current version. And nobody, not even my publisher, knows what that is yet!

Thanks, Danika! Here's Allen Ginsberg, (and here's the lyrics):



For more Marvelous Middle-Grade books, go see what's up at Shannon Messenger's blog!

Danika Dinsmore and the Ruins of Noe Blog Tour

First off, doesn't Danika Dinsmore have an awesome name? She could totally be a character in her own novels. And you'll soon see she's every bit as beautiful and interesting as her name sounds, because she's my very first ever Blog Tour Author!

Danika is blog touring to promote the second book of her Fairies of the White Forest series. I reviewed Brigitta of the White Forest on Monday, and now it's time to look at Ruins of Noe.

Faweh is an imaginary world (on a completely different planet: I know 'cause there are two moons!) populated by fairies and tree people and earth people and sprites and giant carnivourous caterpillars and horned Huggabeasts and . . . there's a Lexicon to help you keep them all straight.

The White Forest is a protected realm on Faweh where fairies live out their destinies guided by the Ancients. It's peaceful, idyllic--and threatened. Brigitta has already had to leave the Forest once to undo a terrible curse; now her experience makes her the best fairy to travel even further away from her comfortable home, to seek an ancient artifact in the Ruins of Noe.

The Ruins of Noe is deeper and more satisfying than Brigitta of the White Forest. Brigitta loses her innocence in the first book; in this book she loses much more. Everything she believes is called into question. But Brigitta is resourceful and determined, and she gains interesting new allies. I liked the society of warring fairies she encounters, with all its opportunities for complications and complexities. I liked Queen Maab: very evil! Loved the Nhords (otherwise known as Huggabeasts, for good reason). I liked that the ending isn't all neatly wrapped up: there's definitely room for a sequel. (Don't worry, it's not a cliffhanger!)

But you don't really want to hear what I have to say. I asked Danika to do a quickie interview, and she responded with way more than I was expecting! Turns out she's intelligent and well-read and watches movies I've never heard of! (But she's a Dr. Who fan, so we must be soul-mates anyway.) (Sorry about the funny fonts: it's what happens when you cut and paste from Microsoft Word into Blogger.)

Is there a book you read as a child that made such an impact on you that you remember the circumstances of reading it?

This is an odd memory, actually. I had found a lost dog. A little old chihuahua. His side teeth were missing, so his tongue stuck out on one side, and he was always shaking. He wouldn’t leave my side. I called him Mr. Dingleberry. And NO, I didn’t know what dingleberry meant.

It was the summer after 6^th grade. My brother’s 8^th grade social studies teacher had given him the book Coming of Age in Mississippi by Anne Moody to read over the summer. He gave the book to me. I sat in a chair outside in front of the garage in the sun with Mr. Dingleberry and read the book from cover-to-cover. I loved the book, but it disturbed me at the same time. It made me think about the cruelty of humans and also the courage. I remember feeling grown-up for reading such a serious and important book.

Oh, yes, then Mr. Dingleberry’s owners came and got him.

What's a recent book you read that made you go "Hmmm" (in a good way!)?

semi-recent:  Libba Bray’s Going Bovine

most-recent: Spiritwalk by Charles de Lint

Favourite recent-ish movie? (Or favourite all-time movie)

How about I just show you my tastes by listing 10 of my favourite films as fast as I can think of them. Ready, set . . .

What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (one of the few films I like better than the book its based on) 
The Adventures of Buckaroo Bonzai Across the 8^th Dimension

Donnie Darko
Heathers
Wings of Desire
The Ice Storm
Lost in Translation
Schizopolis
The Sweet Hereafter (loved both book and movie)
Dead Poet’s Society
Trust (Hal Hartley’s)

Oh, wait, I think that’s 11.

Strangely my favourite movies are not generally speculative fiction. I mostly like character-driven and quirky dark dramedy.

[I'm guessing Danika would like Meg Rosoff's books]

Literary crush (Mr. Darcy? Aragon? Chrestomanci?)(Those may or may not be some of my literary crushes!)

I’m such a geek. I have both an author crush on John Green and a literary crush on Colin Singleton. It’s the anagram thing. Yeah, I know, not even on the map. Smart and funny do it for me every time, though.

If I had to pick someone in the fantasy realm it would be, hands down, Brashen Trell from Robin Hobb’s Liveship Trader’s series.

Favourite heroine (could be book, movie, comic book . . .)

Right now it’s Amelia Pond from the Dr. Who TV series. She’s awesome. Matt Smith as Dr. Who is awesome. Together they are the inside of an awesome pie and Rory is the flakey crust (in a good way).

[Yes! Go Rory and Amy! Woot!]

Would you rather go to the moon or travel up the Amazon?

To the mooooon!!!

Do you like to cook or bake? If so, what's a favourite go-to comfort food you like to make? 

For an I-need-dessert-right-now thing, the 5 Minute Chocolate Mug Cake is perfect. I use ½ the sugar, btw, and it tastes just fine. And rice flour. And sometimes soy or almond milk. Just google 5 Minute Chocolate Mug cake and you’ll find fifty recipes for it.

I’m warning you, though. Chocolate cake in 5 minutes is a dangerous thing.

(I bet you thought that was going to be a one word answer, huh?)

You say you're currently working on a pop space opera (which sounds fabulous, by the way!). It's pretty much at the opposite end of the speculative fiction spectrum from the White Forest: would you say you read more sci fi than fantasy, or vice versa, or is it about the same?

I’d say it’s about the same, but it depends upon a person’s definition of sci-fi. I’m not a purist and I don’t read a lot of hard sci-fi. I like everything from steam-punk to dystopian and most of the sub-genres in between. The only things I don’t generally pick up are splatterpunk or urban/gothic fantasy involving vampires or warewolves. I just haven’t found that many that I can get excited about (except the original Interview with a Vampire and I’m actually reading Dracula right now). Zombies don’t do it for me either. [Ah, but what about zombie unicorns by John Green?] Here's a great sub-genre list.

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Thank you Danika! I've gotta go get me a John Green novel, and 5 Minute Chocolate Cake? Why did I not know about this!

Get to know Danika even better on her blog, The Accidental Novelist.

Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday AND Canadian Book Week

I'm back! (I knew I couldn't keep up that blistering once-a-week post schedule.) It's two-for-one day here at Dead Houseplants,* because I've got a great middle-grade read that's written by a local Vancouver writer.** Not only that, but she's a regular MMGM-er, so you all probably know about her. Danika Dinsmore just launched the sequel to Brigitta of the White Forest, and I'm going to be a stop on her Ruins of Noe blog tour next week (my first ever blog tour--yay!) But for anyone out there who isn't familiar with the White Forest tales, here's the first book.

(In the interests of full disclosure, I have to say that I've met Danika, and she's a wonderful person, so that may have influenced my opinion of the book. But I'm really not a big fan of fairies, so that probably cancels out the first influence.)

Brigitta of the White Forest is about fairies with wings who live in trees and have magical seeds and make potions from flowers, and when I was twelve and in my rainbows and unicorns phase this would have been right up my alley. Now that I'm old and cynical I prefer my adventures to have less sparkle and more substance--and Brigitta delivers.

Dinsmore creates a rich and complex world (so complex it requires a glossary!) that takes the sparkly appeal of wings and flowers, and grounds it in a convincing society. Brigitta's father is an Inventor, her mother is a Feast Master, and her aunt is a Chronicler. Brigitta is waiting for her own destiny markings to appear on her wings, and she is nervous as she contemplates the possible roles she might play in White Forest society. But destiny sometimes has strange twists, and when a curse strikes the fairies of the Forest, Brigitta and her annoying little sister have to journey outside the Forest to save them.

There are monsters aplenty, and good that looks evil and evil that looks good, and magic of all sorts, big and small. Dinsmore is endlessly imaginative, and the White Forest and the world beyond it are full of original creatures and creations. Dinsmore's world has a strange, mythical history that is only hinted at in this first book, but it gives Brigitta's adventures a sense of mystery and significance.

This is a fun read that will definitely appeal to girls in their fairy/unicorn/magic phase*** but also has enough epic excitement to interest fans of series like Warriors and Gregor the Overlander. (I can't promise that a boy will read it, though!) I suspect that pipberry pies and tigermint teacakes are the right analogy for this book: you'll have to visit the White Forest to try them and find out!

Don't forget to go to Shannon Messenger's blog, where she links to all the other Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday-ers.

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* Where we try to make up for all our deficiencies in the most efficient way possible.

** If I wanted to extend my 100-mile diet to books, (which we might have to do after the coming apocalypse (see my previous post on toilets)) she would count!

*** Tell me girls still have this phase, (closely followed by all things horses): tell me it hasn't been completely eclipsed by vampires and fallen angels.