{"id":4669,"date":"2011-05-29T05:46:38","date_gmt":"2011-05-29T09:46:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/2011\/05\/25\/"},"modified":"2011-05-29T05:46:38","modified_gmt":"2011-05-29T09:46:38","slug":"immortal-blues-the-wrap-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/?p=4669","title":{"rendered":"Immortal Blues: The Wrap Up"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I sat down to write “Immortal Blues”, I had a few thoughts that all managed to converge to turn into the story you (might have) read. <\/p>\n

1. There\u2019s so much great stuff in Urban Fantasy right now. I really want to be a part of that. <\/p>\n

2. There\u2019s way too much great stuff in Urban Fantasy right now, I\u2019m not sure there\u2019s anything original left to write. <\/p>\n

3. What happened that we now depict Fairies as \u2026well, Fairies? The Fae (or Fey) of legend were the original Bogey Men. They were the threats lurking outside the door that kept your kids in line. They were awe-inspiring, amazing, frightful, sometimes beautiful, sometimes hideous, often capricious and far more complex than the few stories most of us have been left with today. <\/p>\n

So that made up my mind, I really needed a bad-ass Fae Detective. <\/p>\n

That having been decided, my next struggle was how to handle all of the Fae lore. To put it succinctly, there\u2019s a lot. It\u2019s predominant in the history of Celtic culture, but differs greatly in Irish, Scottish, English and Welsh folklore (not to mention the presence of Fae in the mythology of other cultures). <\/p>\n

Mostly I went with the great writings of W.B. Yeats and his tales of Irish Fairy and Folklore. However, even that is just a set of individual stories with some overlap, but not a consistent mythology. So I set out to build my own. <\/p>\n

If you come across something in my story that makes you go, \u201cWait, that\u2019s not what a _______ is!\u201d Then that\u2019s almost certainly my fault, because I put my own spin on it. <\/p>\n

To be more precise, I went with the foundation that the Sidhe at the heart of the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann were old lesser gods and goddesses in their own right, but subject to the Pagan goddess, Dana. The lesser or less regal Fae were their subjects, sometimes reluctantly. <\/p>\n

As other cultures and religions came to dominance among the Celtic nations, the old myths were partial consumed by Christianity and partially discarded. Fae lore is the same. <\/p>\n

Christianity gave us a rich character with a touching history in Saint Brigit of Kildare. However, for the Irish people of the time, they already had a Brigid. She had been a Pagan goddess for centuries. <\/p>\n

Today we know that Christianity, in an effort to be accepted by the masses, tried to integrate itself as closely to their existing religions as possible; co-opting holidays, saints, holy sites, etc. <\/p>\n

Knowing that, I wondered, so what happens if you accept that Brigid wasn\u2019t just a goddess, co-opted by Christianity, but instead was a willing participant in the transition from one religion to another. <\/p>\n

I took that willingness to change, and adopted it as the schism which fractured the Fae courts into Dark and Light (Seelie and Unseelie). In touching upon the two courts, I had moved firmly over into the Scottish Fae lore, rather than Irish. However, as I said, I wanted to try to bridge the different mythologies into one coherent history and mythology. <\/p>\n

Now that I had a mythology I was happy with, I was ready to write a story about a bad-ass Fae detective. Of course, any time you have someone who is a bad-ass, it\u2019s hard to write a compelling story about them that remains engaging, because they just bad-ass their way out of the problems you throw at them. <\/p>\n

So what do you do? You take it all away, but leave them with a glimmer of hope, and that\u2019s “Immortal Blues”.<\/p>\n

Did you miss “Immortal Blues”? Want to relive it? Here you go!<\/em><\/p>\n

Immortal Blues: Part One<\/a><\/strong>
\nWelcome to part one of the nine part fiction series \u201cImmortal Blues\u201d by Greg Bullard. In our first installment there is gun fire, spanakopita, classic blues music, and eventually a decision to visit The Crone.<\/p>\n

Immortal Blues: Part Two<\/a><\/strong>
\nWelcome to part two of the nine part fiction series \u201cImmortal Blues\u201d by Greg Bullard. In part two we meet The Crone, Isabella, and her granddaughter Marisela. In search of answers do we instead get more questions?<\/p>\n

Immortal Blues: Part Three<\/a><\/strong>
\nWelcome to part three of the nine part fiction series \u201cImmortal Blues\u201d by Greg Bullard. Returning to the scene of the crime offers few new insights aside from the fact that our killer means business.<\/p>\n

Immortal Blues: Part Four<\/a><\/strong>
\nWelcome to part four of the nine part fiction series \u201cImmortal Blues\u201d by Greg Bullard. In the latest installment blues music reappears and leads the way to a discussion of why a demon might kill you.<\/p>\n

Immortal Blues: Part Five<\/a><\/strong>
\nWelcome to part five of the nine part fiction series \u201cImmortal Blues\u201d by Greg Bullard. Ready? Fight!<\/p>\n

Immortal Blues: Part Six<\/a><\/strong>
\nWelcome to part six of the nine part fiction series \u201cImmortal Blues\u201d by Greg Bullard. We say good-bye to The Crone, Isabella, and hello to a frenemy from the past.<\/p>\n

Immortal Blues: Part Seven<\/a><\/strong>
\nWelcome to part seven of the nine part fiction series \u201cImmortal Blues\u201d by Greg Bullard. Aine Marina hangs around long enough to create more questions than answered and again, shots are fired.<\/p>\n

Immortal Blues: Part Eight<\/a><\/strong>
\nWelcome to part eight of the nine part fiction series \u201cImmortal Blues\u201d by Greg Bullard. The end game approaches. Motivations are revealed, as well as the blues man.<\/p>\n

Immortal Blues: Part Nine<\/a><\/strong>
\nWelcome to the ninth and final installment in the fiction series \u201cImmortal Blues\u201d by Greg Bullard.<\/p>\n

$\"\"$ <\/a>About Greg Bullard:<\/strong>
\nGreg currently resides in Austin, TX, trying to do his part to Keep Austin Weird<\/a>. While his wife, Julia, and daughter, Emily, both work hard to keep him on his toes, it is Julia\u2019s red editing pen that does the most work. When he is not muddling his way through some fiction, he usually writes about What Greg Eats<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"