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Cooking Up Magick blends cozy fantasy with epic adventure. What inspired you to bring these two styles together?
When I first started writing them, cozy wasn’t even listing as a genre. Sure, aspects of cozy books have always been around. But it wasn’t something that people were specifically looking for. In fact, when Legends and Lattes came out, I was so excited, because I finally felt like I had found a book that captured the heart of what I was trying to do. I wanted characters who felt like family being thrust into terrible situations. But I wanted to focus on the fact that even when things are falling apart around us, we still have friends, family, and community that can help us cope. I wanted to emphasize kindness as a strength. That compassion and empathy are essential when surrounded by horror.
Cooking is a cultural bridge. It brings
people together, and is a way of showing compassion. You feed the person who is
hurting, who is starving. Food communicates so many things: celebration, hope,
defiance, and rebellion. It seemed natural to me that my halfling chef would
use food as a way of communicating with the world.
As for Grace—you have to admit, a cast-iron pan makes a fantastic weapon. My
HEMA (historical European martial arts) instructor loved the fact that I used Grace
in such a way. He told me that if there were an intruder in his home and he was
near the kitchen, he would grab a cast-iron pan, too. Not a knife. A pan. It’s
solid, can be used as a shield against attacks, and if swung sideways, narrow
side forward, it makes the impact over a smaller area, leaving greater damage.
Also, I loved the image of a tiny halfling woman screaming like a banshee while wielding a cast-ron pan. It just felt right.
Paisley’s magick draws from love, hope, and kindness, yet it can heal or harm. What interested you about that conflict?
Paisley is by nature a peace-loving person. She loves people. The thought of hurting anyone horrifies her. She wants to help people, not hurt them.
I really wanted to show the psychological costs behind killing someone. I read an interesting book about the subject to inform how I wrote it. It’s called, On Killing by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman. So many books gloss over the emotional and spiritual scars that leaves behind. The good guy wins, yay! Never mind that the protagonist should be in therapy after. We’ll just pretend that part isn’t a problem. But killing anyone is a problem.
Just because someone kills someone in self-defense, or because the person was “the bad guy” in the narrative doesn’t mean that there shouldn’t be emotional conflict after. So when Paisley discovers she can use her love as magick to harm or kill someone, she is right to be absolutely horrified.
Whipclaw is a talking magickal cat with a rapier, missing memories, and plenty of attitude. How did you create her, and what makes her the right companion for Paisley?
Whipclaw was a rogue Tabaxi housecat variant
character I played in D&D just as the pandemic started. I absolutely loved
her. She was constantly saving everyone’s bacon, because I kept getting these
lucky rolls. Of course, she got a big head as a result. A well-deserved one, I might
add. She was so awesome, that I couldn’t let her fade into obscurity. I turned
her into Paisley’s familiar and gave her a fascinating backstory that had
absolutely nothing to do with the campaign I played. In a way, Rayleon is even
better now, because she has that backstory and is a very well-rounded character
with secrets and overall, is just a lot of fun.
She’s perfect for Paisley, because Paisley is the straight man to Whipclaw’s
humor. She’s a bit prim and Whipclaw feels free to say whatever she likes.
There is always room and need for a rogue in an adventuring party. Whipclaw
fills that role perfectly.
Paisley, Gunur, Torin, and Buckley each resist roles placed on them by their families or cultures. How did the idea of choosing one’s own path shape their stories?
I’ve always liked stories about oddballs because I’m a bit of one myself. The idea of gender-based roles always irritated me my whole life, and I thought they were stupid. I drove long-haul trucks for over five years, four solo, or training other women drivers. My husband stayed home with the kids while I was on the road. When women found out that I left my kids with my husband, they said things like, “Oh, I could never do that. I don’t trust that my husband could take care of them properly.” What? Why would you marry someone that you didn’t trust to be able to take care of your kids? To me, it was doubly sexist. A knock against me, since I wasn’t a “nurturing mother” and also against my husband, because men aren’t supposed to be nurturers. What a load of ___.
Brainstorming plots and interesting NPCs. Back in the
day, I often GM’d without any story pre-made. People would say, let’s play! And
I’d say, okay, what kind of character do you want to play, and what
setting/time period? And I’d wing something off the cuff. I’d ask folks to come
up with some kind of backstory, and I’d run with it. It was a lot of fun! But
yeah, learning how to develop stories impromptu, really helped me with plotting
and coming up with interesting side characters with their own motivations and
backgrounds.
Without revealing any spoilers, what can readers look forward to as The Dell Chronicles continues?
Whipclaw’s secrets! Of course, there will be lots more of Paisley’s cooking and training. We’ll learn more about our mysterious Idari Aralynn, the High Elf, as well. Oh, and we’ll meet more dragons!