Marly
Youmans
Registered User
(7/23/04 11:39 am)
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Novels using American folk ways and legends
Terri Windling suggested that I mention my tales of Adantis on the
SurLaLune board. At www.marlyyoumans.com you can visit pages for
"The
Curse of the Raven Mocker" (a fall 2003 book from Farrar,
Straus & Giroux) and "Ingledove"
(forthcoming from FSG in 2005.) While listed as a "book for
young readers," the one that's already out has been reviewed
as a good read for adults as well.
Both books weave elements of Cherokee legend (heart-eating shape shifters, powerful river serpents, the Little People) with the folk ways and witch beliefs of the early European settlers to the Southern Appalachians. The country of Adantis, hidden in the mountains, springs from the crossing of the two cultures. In the first book, Adanta and her friend Tass go in search of her mother, stolen by a Raven Mocker, and her father, who has left home to look for a Cherokee healing lake. In the second, Ingledove and Lang tangle with Witchmasters, a shape-shifter, and the Little People.
The "Raven Mocker" page has a link to Steve Cieslawski's dream-laden surrealist oils at CFM Gallery in New York, as well as reviews and an interview. The jacket illustration at the top of the page marks Steve's last foray into book illustration, because he's doing well with his one-man shows at CFM and wants to concentrate on his paintings. The "Ingledove" page has semi-final flap copy and some unused illustration proposals by the Brazilian illustrator, Renato Alarcao. We needed two, and he gave us more than a dozen! There's another of his sketches near the foot of the home page.
Regards,
Marly
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