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I’m always a little nervous when introducing Olde School to people. It’s a title I’m insanely proud of, but it isn’t exactly something that’s easy to explain. As proud as I am of the book, I don’t know that it’s something that can be summed up in a buzzword-packed sentence. I could tell you that it blends fantasy, fairy and folktales (some obscure), paranormal elements, a dash of Lovecraft-esque horror, and a big ol’ glop of silliness. I could tell you that since Kingdom City is a modernized fantasy world, my trolls use laptops, princes aspire to own startup companies, goblins make the best lawyers, there are cons to celebrate the latest princess romance movie re-interpretation, Rumpelstilstkin and The Tithe are successful horror franchises, and maidens make use of dating sites like “Find a Damsel.” I could talk about assassins and con artists, unusual battles, the legacy of King Thadd the Dreamer, and magic that isn’t supposed to exist. There is one thing I can most definitely tell you about Olde School and the world of Kingdom City: it’s not a gimmick. True, the above paragraph might read like the book is chock full of them, but I’d like to think that there are aspects of the story that elevate it above one-dimensional jokes. For one, I’ve grown up with fairy and folk tales. I’ve devoured them and intellectual essays about them my entire life. For me there’s just something about strange yet familiar places, extraordinary creatures, and maids and tailors evolving into heroes and heroines. Those stories were magic to me. They still are. They were bigger than anything else in my life as a kid, their elements larger than life, yet still relatable despite the magical elements. We all know heartache. We all know grace. We know varying degrees of false love and real love. At some point we all know friendship, the kindness of animals, and aid from unexpected sources. To me, those themes make fairy tales some of the truest types of stories there are. It’s gotten to the point where it’s beyond an obsession – it’s so ingrained into my storytelling makeup that I didn’t even realize how many tiny elements and themes of certain types of stories worked their way into this book until I was in edits.
For all my experience reading fairy tales both familiar and obscure, I found myself attracted to this completely new place that my imagination slowly constructed over the years. What started out as little bits that I put in to amuse myself grew into playing plotlines absolutely straight, and having them blend together in a way that surpassed any of my hopes. It’s not to say that the world takes itself too seriously, because oh, it doesn’t. There are plenty of characters there to remind you of how absurd life can be with a well-placed quip and observation.
That’s what makes the book special, for me, at any rate: the characters. It’s not just that Paddlelump is a nice-guy troll, it’s that he tries so hard to prove himself and live up to his father’s name, yet he still misses what’s in front of him. It’s not just that Flora is a tough waitress, but that she’s also kind, has known heartbreak, and has found some semblance of happiness in a mundane life (for the moment). Ippick and Uljah aren’t just trolls who look after their younger friend. They’ve had their own ups and downs. It can’t be easy seeing Paddlelump shoot himself in the foot so often and not learn from it. It isn’t just that Nobody has her secrets and is so outright shameless, or that Ran the shepherd has talents and connections that go way beyond the surface. It isn’t even that Clyde the bird has several huge secrets and questionable talents of his own. It’s that I can picture myself having lunch with these characters, and whether I agree with their decisions or not, I can still empathize with them, feel compassion for them. They live in a fantasy world, sure, but they deal with the same daily frustrations we all do: employee issues, worries about credit cards, online woes, unrequited love, political frustrations…it just so happens that for a few of them, the potential end of the world is heaped on top of all that. Their mannerisms, their experiences, their sayings, even their shortcomings—as a writer, it’s all endearing to me. I love that I get to hang out with these characters in such a strange, fun world.
Even Kingdom City is more of a character than a place in my mind. It has a rich history with its monarchy evolving into more of a democracy, its mixed population of humans and various creatures and Folk living in somewhat tolerant harmony. It’s a strange blend of fairy tale tradition and modern life, of general modern apathy and close-knit community. The contradictions intrigue me, and I’ve found a lot of possibilities to work with, a lot of alleys and businesses and plazas to explore. From the tables at Trip Trap’s diner and Paddlelump Stonemonger’s troll toll bridge to the city cemetery and the plaza that houses the palace and the council house, to even the references of the fast food chains, the university, and concert arenas, Kingdom City intrigues me. I write about it and even I’m excited to discover more about it and The Land in general. It’s changed so much throughout its history, and I know that there’s only more to discover in the future, not only for readers, but for myself, as well.
I, for one, cannot wait, especially if it means I get to hang out with some of the most fascinating, unusual characters I’ve ever been blessed to write. As an author and a reader, I personally gravitate to well-developed characters in any story, but I also enjoy a well-constructed and detailed world (chalk it up to the five million hours of my youth spent playing with every 1980′s accessory-packed playset known to mankind). What about you? As readers, do you enjoy worlds that are detailed, or do you prefer to fill in the blanks on your own? Do you like seeing elements of old stories worked into a new narrative, or has it been done to death? Can you relate to characters, even if they’re not human? What are your favorite fairy tales, and what parts of those stories grab hold of you and why?
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About Selah Janel

Author Bio:

Selah Janel has been blessed with a giant imagination since she was little and convinced that fairies lived in the nearby state park or vampires hid in the abandoned barns outside of town. The many people around her that supported her love of reading and curiosity probably made it worse. Her e-books The Other Man, Holly and Ivy, and Mooner are published through Mocha Memoirs Press. Lost in the Shadows, a collection of short stories celebrating the edges of ideas and the spaces between genres was co-written with S.H. Roddey. Her work has also been included in The MacGuffin, The Realm Beyond, Stories for Children Magazine, The Big Bad: an Anthology of Evil, The Grotesquerie, and Thunder on the Battlefield. Olde School is the first book in her new series, The Kingdom City Chronicles, and is published through Seventh Star Press. She likes her music to rock, her vampires lethal, her fairies to play mind games, and her princesses to hold their own.

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