Well, Rosemary and Rue has been on bookstore shelves for a month, and that means it's time for me to split off the Toby Daye FAQ into its own page. What questions would you like to see answered? I'm dividing them roughly, for now, into "series" (IE, publication dates, number of books, typos), "world" (Toby's world), and per-book, but this could change.
Please expect mild spoilers in the comments on this thread, with the stress being on mild. I won't answer FAQ questions that read like "on page 189 you say, but on page 317...," since that's way too much of a spoiler for a publicly-accessible website.
Um, I am wondering if the pronunciation that you have for kitsune is to differentiate between the animal and the type of fae? My mom mentioned it to me after I gave her the copy I bought for her. I've only ever heard that word pronounced "kit soo nay" (well sort of).
Nope. It's a "Seanan doesn't write things phonetically and had like three hours to generate a last-minute pronunciation guide and then nobody caught it" error. It's been fixed for the pronunciation guide in A Local Habitation.
Wow. I wondered the same thing and I was trying to decide if it was worth asking, and not only had it already been asked, it was the first question posted!
- Is there any correspondence between a region's folklore and the fae that live there? Most of the fairies living around your San Francisco seem to be things talked about in British or Irish folklore, with a few exceptions (the kitsune, for example), and obey most of those rules (for example, vulnerability to iron).
That's interesting...until now I hadn't noticed that there seems to be a recapitulation of British-European colonial ascendancy in the power structure of the SF fae.
I'm going to need to figure out how I could word this as an answer, but...
The correspondence is a combination of a) makeup of an area's mortal population, and b) length of time said mortal population has been there. So there are a lot of British and Irish fae in California, just because of the early settlement patterns. There are also a lot of German, Russian, and Spanish fae. (I use "fae" as a catchall for "supernatural being" in this universe, because a uniform descent is being posited. As a folklorist, I know this is naughty. As an author, I know that it's necessary.)
You'll find a lot of Chinese, Japanese, and Hawaiian/Pacific Island fae in parts of the Bay Area, but many of them tend to be more insular, and not terribly fond of the current administration (they were more open in King Gilad's time, as he was Tuatha de Dannan, and very into unity). The population of Indian, African, and Australian fae is small but growing.
Certain rules have also been unilaterally applied—almost everyone is vulnerable to iron, regardless of source mythology.
Maybe some general bits about the fae races would be fun and interesting and not too spoilery. Because there are places to look these things up, but a lot of them say differing things from each other; it'd be fun to know what definitions apply to Toby's world.
From things like "What are the Cait Sidhe/Daoine Sidhe/Twlwyth Teg (dear god I can never spell that one)/etc." to things like a brief description other races we don't see as much or at all, like the... I'm blanking on the proper name of the doglike Sidhe, and the fae cattle.
Also the monsters, like the barghests and the kelpies.
1. What's the significance of rosemary and rue? There's the suggestion that it's a bouquet put on the graves of dead friends, but is there more to it?
2. Would you please include the pronunciation guide in the online FAQ? Also, since most of the terms in the guide refer to various mythological creatures, I'd like to see an explanatory sentence or two to go with the pronunciation.
3. Do the rules for the Changeling's Choice only apply to changelings whose fae parent came out of a northwestern European tradition? Or is it the same for the children of mortals and fae from all over the Earth?
I'm trying to get a feel for the internal chronology - Toby was born in 1957, and made her choice at 7..okay. That's roughly 1964.
I have to assume Summerlands was the primary residence until around 1991 or so? (Of this, I am almost certain I'm wrong. Correct me.)
I also assume that residence underhill kind of removes you from this world completely for the duration. One of the things that kind of made my brain happy was working around the time gaps inherent in the story - it was nice. Time travel - bah! Lemme tell you about time travel....
So - from about 1964 to the early nineties in one go.
Technology-wise, you realize you skip 8-tracks entirely and go almost immediately to CD-Rom for what provides you music, neh? (That's only one way to look at this issue, BTW, if you have my brain.)
Computer technology also hops entirely from UNIVAC to microprocesssors so fast they're radio stations sitting on your desk. (For example.)
(Providing a soundtrack out of established works with these kinds of parameters would provide quite the challenge. You go from pre-Beatles to post-Zepplin and 'New Wave' is what was the old one again?)
So what I want is internal chronology clarification.
(And I'm too used to being called an idiot to take it very seriously - first response, and it's a total kneejerk - is 'takes one to know one.' Certainly, I'm an idiot - may I wish you sex?)
I really don't understand what you mean by "internal chronology clarification." Your timeline is pretty accurate, but Toby really didn't notice any of the jumps until the last one.
Finally got to reading the book (delayed by working approximately 43 hours a week, taking six semester units [in English classes, no less], and maintaining a romantic relationship).
Loved it, in no way was it too depressing/dark.
Questions are: 1. Why do the faerie parents have to go with the changling? Why can't the human spouses come with? Why can't the fae parent go back to the mortal world?
2. Did Toby ever tell Sylvester about his brother being in with the wrong crowd? If so, were there repercussions?
3. Were there repercussions for Sylvester's brother for Toby's transformation and imprisonment? How about Lily's? Why didn't her subjects go out and ask for help to break her free?
4. If a year and day are much the same to Lily, why did she take her imprisonment so harshly?
5. If Sylvester and Luna are such reasonable people, why are they blinded to their daughter?
6. Why would Cliff think Toby's a deadbeat, if she vanished off the grid for so long? Most deadbeat parents don't fake their deaths and vanish, never taking jobs or opening bank accounts. Everyone thought she was dead.
7. Won't the pure-blooded fae get upset over the fact that their queen is more or less trying to ignore the death of one of their own?
1) The human spouses can't come with because living in Faerie as a human is very, very hard, and most fae spouses just aren't willing to go through that. It's happened in the past, but it's an absolute one-way ticket; there is no going back, and if your human spouse freaks out, you get to kill them, too. The fae parents can go back, if they're willing to abandon their kids.
2) He knows. And good question.
3) Because while she was imprisoned, they completely forgot that she existed. They had no home.
4) Because her subjects had no home and no one to protect her.
5) Could you really look at the only child you were ever likely to have, the child that was broken by forces beyond your control, and go "whoops, can't be repaired, let's throw it out"? They're blind because they can't bring themselves to be any other way.
6) She looks exactly the same, doesn't have the magic to update her human disguise in a reliable way, and has absolutely no way to explain where she was. He thinks she's a deadbeat because there were always things that didn't add up. That's going to happen when you build a relationship on lies.
7) No. They all ignore death as much as they possibly can. Dying Just Isn't Done.
I never really got to know the Maine Coon as a breed until December 2008 (and got Alice from the first litter I met). Rosemary and Rue was written waaaaaay before then.
tired
September 30 2009, 14:24:27 UTC 7 years ago
Thanks.
Shanta
September 30 2009, 14:26:22 UTC 7 years ago
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September 30 2009, 14:53:32 UTC 7 years ago
How old is Toby?
Who are the "King and Queens" or "Lord and Ladies" that keep being referred to?
What are the different Faerie types equivalent to? Species? Breeds? Types? How similar/different are they to each other?
Is Toby a "faerie" or a "fae"? Is Faerie only the name of the world?
Does Faerie exist in other places besides the Bay Area? What is the ruler's role in each area?
September 30 2009, 21:13:40 UTC 7 years ago
September 30 2009, 15:04:46 UTC 7 years ago
September 30 2009, 16:36:03 UTC 7 years ago
Because they save rowan for the really BIG swears?
October 1 2009, 18:07:27 UTC 7 years ago
September 30 2009, 15:31:04 UTC 7 years ago
- Is there any correspondence between a region's folklore and the fae that live there? Most of the fairies living around your San Francisco seem to be things talked about in British or Irish folklore, with a few exceptions (the kitsune, for example), and obey most of those rules (for example, vulnerability to iron).
September 30 2009, 17:47:09 UTC 7 years ago
October 9 2009, 22:15:54 UTC 7 years ago
The correspondence is a combination of a) makeup of an area's mortal population, and b) length of time said mortal population has been there. So there are a lot of British and Irish fae in California, just because of the early settlement patterns. There are also a lot of German, Russian, and Spanish fae. (I use "fae" as a catchall for "supernatural being" in this universe, because a uniform descent is being posited. As a folklorist, I know this is naughty. As an author, I know that it's necessary.)
You'll find a lot of Chinese, Japanese, and Hawaiian/Pacific Island fae in parts of the Bay Area, but many of them tend to be more insular, and not terribly fond of the current administration (they were more open in King Gilad's time, as he was Tuatha de Dannan, and very into unity). The population of Indian, African, and Australian fae is small but growing.
Certain rules have also been unilaterally applied—almost everyone is vulnerable to iron, regardless of source mythology.
7 years ago
7 years ago
September 30 2009, 16:23:55 UTC 7 years ago
From things like "What are the Cait Sidhe/Daoine Sidhe/Twlwyth Teg (dear god I can never spell that one)/etc." to things like a brief description other races we don't see as much or at all, like the... I'm blanking on the proper name of the doglike Sidhe, and the fae cattle.
Also the monsters, like the barghests and the kelpies.
Maybe just a line each, or something.
September 30 2009, 16:46:26 UTC 7 years ago
7 years ago
7 years ago
September 30 2009, 18:58:44 UTC 7 years ago
2. Would you please include the pronunciation guide in the online FAQ? Also, since most of the terms in the guide refer to various mythological creatures, I'd like to see an explanatory sentence or two to go with the pronunciation.
3. Do the rules for the Changeling's Choice only apply to changelings whose fae parent came out of a northwestern European tradition? Or is it the same for the children of mortals and fae from all over the Earth?
4. Did you invent the rose goblins?
October 4 2009, 18:11:41 UTC 7 years ago
October 1 2009, 01:43:13 UTC 7 years ago
I am bad at thinking up questions. I think I'll just watch the others and enjoy.
October 1 2009, 18:07:56 UTC 7 years ago
October 1 2009, 19:24:16 UTC 7 years ago
I have to assume Summerlands was the primary residence until around 1991 or so? (Of this, I am almost certain I'm wrong. Correct me.)
I also assume that residence underhill kind of removes you from this world completely for the duration. One of the things that kind of made my brain happy was working around the time gaps inherent in the story - it was nice. Time travel - bah! Lemme tell you about time travel....
So - from about 1964 to the early nineties in one go.
Technology-wise, you realize you skip 8-tracks entirely and go almost immediately to CD-Rom for what provides you music, neh? (That's only one way to look at this issue, BTW, if you have my brain.)
Computer technology also hops entirely from UNIVAC to microprocesssors so fast they're radio stations sitting on your desk. (For example.)
(Providing a soundtrack out of established works with these kinds of parameters would provide quite the challenge. You go from pre-Beatles to post-Zepplin and 'New Wave' is what was the old one again?)
So what I want is internal chronology clarification.
(And I'm too used to being called an idiot to take it very seriously - first response, and it's a total kneejerk - is 'takes one to know one.' Certainly, I'm an idiot - may I wish you sex?)
October 4 2009, 18:12:30 UTC 7 years ago
7 years ago
October 2 2009, 00:49:27 UTC 7 years ago
ie. how did a mixed-blood get the throne, and how did Tybalt get/keep the throne?
October 7 2009, 19:45:48 UTC 7 years ago
October 15 2009, 21:03:32 UTC 7 years ago
Loved it, in no way was it too depressing/dark.
Questions are:
1. Why do the faerie parents have to go with the changling? Why can't the human spouses come with? Why can't the fae parent go back to the mortal world?
2. Did Toby ever tell Sylvester about his brother being in with the wrong crowd? If so, were there repercussions?
3. Were there repercussions for Sylvester's brother for Toby's transformation and imprisonment? How about Lily's? Why didn't her subjects go out and ask for help to break her free?
4. If a year and day are much the same to Lily, why did she take her imprisonment so harshly?
5. If Sylvester and Luna are such reasonable people, why are they blinded to their daughter?
6. Why would Cliff think Toby's a deadbeat, if she vanished off the grid for so long? Most deadbeat parents don't fake their deaths and vanish, never taking jobs or opening bank accounts. Everyone thought she was dead.
7. Won't the pure-blooded fae get upset over the fact that their queen is more or less trying to ignore the death of one of their own?
October 16 2009, 02:55:48 UTC 7 years ago
2) He knows. And good question.
3) Because while she was imprisoned, they completely forgot that she existed. They had no home.
4) Because her subjects had no home and no one to protect her.
5) Could you really look at the only child you were ever likely to have, the child that was broken by forces beyond your control, and go "whoops, can't be repaired, let's throw it out"? They're blind because they can't bring themselves to be any other way.
6) She looks exactly the same, doesn't have the magic to update her human disguise in a reliable way, and has absolutely no way to explain where she was. He thinks she's a deadbeat because there were always things that didn't add up. That's going to happen when you build a relationship on lies.
7) No. They all ignore death as much as they possibly can. Dying Just Isn't Done.
7 years ago
7 years ago
7 years ago
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October 20 2009, 06:08:35 UTC 7 years ago
October 20 2009, 14:49:24 UTC 7 years ago
I never really got to know the Maine Coon as a breed until December 2008 (and got Alice from the first litter I met). Rosemary and Rue was written waaaaaay before then.