Creating a new world
Shannon Delany
Sing it with me: "A whole new world..." I'm going to have that Disney tune stuck in my head now!
I loved building--well, really DISCOVERING--the world of Weather Witch. I think it is a process of uncovering something that already exists in the darkest recesses of someone's mind more than constructing something--at least in Weather Witch.
The Weather Witch world was unearthed thanks to my love of Philadelphia, storms, and ghost stories. I knew I wanted something that incorporated all those things so I found the bits of Philadelphia I love most (other than South Street), dug through the ghost stories, and asked myself: What if you could control the weather?
It's a pertinent question, especially for a farmer like myself. But the job of an author is to take it further.
What if people could control the weather? What are the risks and rewards? What would the government do?
What would the world become?
The answers are actually relatively simple--the danger of such control is HUGE. Your obnoxious neighbor's having a picnic? Rain them out. Mad at somebody? Strike them with lightning. Want to grow perfect roses? Provide just the right amount of rain even if it screws up the vegetable garden nearby.
And that's when the world starts to really develop.
Surely not EVERYONE should have such powers! They must be regulated and controlled to protect us from ourselves and each other, right? Luckily there is a government to do such things. And if control means controlling people a little more firmly than they might like... If it means enslavement... Well, surely it's for their own safety. For their own good. Right? I mean, it is only a FEW people that are Weather Witches, so what's the harm as long as you protect the majority? So what if you personally benefit? You have a hard job, finding Witches... You should be rewarded! Besides, they're only Witches...
And then you start to see the comparisons in your world and the real one. How many people said of the African slaves who helped build the farms of our country, "They're only savages..." How many said of the Irish slaving in the Pennsylvania coal mines, "Well, that just starve because of the potato famine back home..." How many stepped aside in the time of Hitler and said, "Well, it's only the gypsies. Only the homosexuals. Just the Jews. Austria. Czechoslovakia. Poland... Oh, crap!"
And suddenly you realize no matter how many different ways you try to trick out a fictional world that there's only really ONE world and it always starts here. With our world, our hearts, our souls and our fears.
That's how I unearthed Weather Witch--with what ifs. Simple enough! But what if EVERYONE could control the weather?
In a vastly different and darker Philadelphia of 1844, steam power has been repressed, war threatens from deep, dark waters, and one young lady of high social standing is expecting a surprise at her seventeenth birthday party–but certainly not the one she gets!
Jordan Astraea, who has lived out all of her life in Philadelphia’s most exclusive neighborhood, is preparing to celebrate her birthday with friends, family and all the extravagance they might muster. The young man who is most often her dashing companion, Rowen Burchette, has told her a surprise awaits her and her best friend, Catrina Hollindale, wouldn’t miss this night for all the world!
But storm clouds are gathering and threatening to do far more than dampen her party plans because someone in the Astraea household has committed the greatest of social sins by Harboring a Weather Witch.
About the author:
Shannon Delany grew up in a community that was traditional and respectful of superstitions and old religions and was very creative. She was surrounded by arts, crafts, and other languages from a young age and enjoyed sampling everything that atmosphere had to offer. Her childhood directly impacted her fascination with myths, legends, and the paranormal and has enjoyed using that information to write her 13 TO LIFE and WEATHER WITCH novels and her short stories.
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•a signed copy of Weather Witch
•a Weather Witch coffee mug with special goodies (all connected to the story)
•signed copies of 13 to Life and Secrets and Shadows
•a handcrafted mask
•a special metal and crystal bookmark
•a mini top hat
•a silhouette of their own profile cut and matted by Shannon
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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