SEELIE KAY: Postcards from The Ledge: This week in The Loft: Author Helen Henderson!

Joining me today in The Loft is author Helen Henderson! A former computer designer, feature-story writer, and correspondent, Helen writes historical, western, science fiction, and fantasy romance. Her series include the Dragshi Chronicles, The Windmaster Novels, and the Tear Stone Collectors. Her heritage is a reflection of contrasts--the descendent of a Pennsylvania German/Scot and a Czech, a coal miner's daughter, and a flight engineer she grew up knowing the simple life on a rural New Jersey farm.

Author Helen Henderson

S: Good morning, Helen. I'm so pleased that you could visit today!

Have you ever attended a writer’s retreat? Did you find it helpful?

H: The area where I used to live had several active writing groups so I was fortunate to be able to attend a number of different writer’s conferences. However, there were no affordable formal writer’s retreats. That said, with the number of books, online courses, and other materials, with the right materials and suitable surroundings, you can create your own retreat. Mine was the deck of a lakeside cabin in the Pocono Mountains. The cost? Staining the logs and deck.

S: My best ideas come through meditation, so I'm not sure I would benefit from a group retreat. I think I would find it distracting.

What do you write first—the blurb or the book?

H: Definitely the book. I need to know the entire story to identify the points I want the readers to know. Then pertinent keywords have to be researched and included. When a blurb is created, it is not set in stone. Just like the movie disclaimer when it is shown on television-- "This has been modified to fit the time frame and format"--the original blurb is transformed into short, medium, long, and back cover formats.

S: I think writing the blurb first can be limiting. Waiting to finish the book before composing a blurb is much more freeing.

Do you write in other genres?

H: At this point, I admit my long works fall into the fantasy genre. However, over the years my writing has crossed into other worlds of imagination including historical westerns and science fiction. Inspiration for the westerns was the Ashokan Farewell and western movie themes. Science fiction and fantasy usually have Celtic harp and flute playing in the background.

S: Do you have a “the one who got away” tale?

H: I would say that the tale of "Hell Lost," a retired gunfighter who straps her guns back on and takes to the outlaw trail to save her family, is the “one who got away.” The story has been thought about several times but never gotten further than a short story that was published many years ago. For a long time, whenever the story rose to the forefront, either life got in the way or I received a paying assignment. These days, instead of going to the past, I seem to be working in worlds of imagination, hanging out with mages, and flying with dragons.

S: What do you consider your greatest achievement?

H: I am proud of the titles under my name. Besides a few hundred feature articles, there are three fantasy series and three local histories. There is also “Hearth and Sand: Stories from the Front Lines and the Homefront,” a multi-genre collection of poetry, short stories, and novellas. That has a special place in my heart because it was written in tribute to family members who wore the uniform to defend their country. However, my greatest achievement is my marriage of 50 years.

S: Fifty years is an amazing accomplishment. Congratulations.

What do you want inscribed on your tombstone? How do you want to be remembered?

H: Surprisingly, this question has been on my mind recently. Names and dates don’t capture the imagination of the viewer when they walk through the cemetery. I prefer the old-fashioned sandstones with epitaphs rather than the new-fangled markers with a video embedded in it. So here goes: "Here lies an author, storyteller, and historian. She captured the past for the future and cared for all." As to the why? Although I am no longer as active in the field, history is still part of my past and is embedded in every one of the fantasy worlds I visit. Storyteller because at some time we all need to escape our everyday lives and a good tale will take us to another time and place. The last has nothing to do with my career, although I like to think I’ve given a hand up to people rather than trampling them, but rather with me as a person and my hope that the scales of life tilt in favor of a loving, caring, decent human being.

S: What inspired "Fire and Redemption?"

H: When "Fire and Amulet" was finished, I knew there probably should be another book continuing Trelleir’s search for the homeland of his dragon kin. However, he said he needed more clues. He was curious as to what happened to the man whom Deneas spared after the attempt to kill her. The title came about when what started as a budding romance between Brial and Karst provided the opportunity for his redemption.

S: Is there anything special you would like people to know about "Fire and Redemption?"

H: My favorite character was a toss-up between the magic equines or the legendary hunting bird called a helwr. Tywyll, a helwr who selected Karst as the human he would protect, won the toss-up.

Here's the blurb--

Shunned by his kind and expelled from the dragon isle, Medraut is forced to shed his wings and take on human form to live amongst the people of the mainland. His problem? There are slayers, sworn to kill all dragons.

Brial has one chance to stop the fever ravaging her kin, but her healer powers have not yet awakened. To have the future she desires, she must survive the fever, raiders, and most of all, Medraut’s dragon ability to control minds.

Karst, son of the head slayer, was disowned and sent on an impossible quest to kill a dragon. Rather than return to his village and be subjected to the deadly justice of the Goddess, he made himself a home in the trading wagons of Clan Vreis. His newfound happiness is threatened when the caravan stops to help an injured man lying in the middle of the trail.

Three men and a dragon desire the same woman. One wants her for power, one for her beauty, and one for love. The dragon just wants her.