Monday, May 26, 2008

Don't make me release the flying monkeys!

A few months ago I was talking to a couple of friends. We’ll call them Jeanie and Kate. (Since I’m obviously way too neurotic to have any real friends.) Anyway, Jeanie and I were discussing family and weather and all that mundane stuff when suddenly Kate said, “There’s no such thing as a good witch.” We turned to her in breathless tandem only to find her staring blankly into middle space. Jeanie and I blinked a couple time, waiting for her to continue…or be zapped into another dimension where witches are as common as fruit flies. When neither of those things happened we continued discussing the latest freezing conditions and never found out why Kate felt it necessary to opine on witchcraft at that precise moment. But later, I gotta tell you, I really started wondering…did she know I was writing a witch book and hope to steer me clear of such foolishness or was she hearing voices not necessarily recognized by species other than witch-hunters and small dogs? I’m afraid I’ll never know. But…since Under Your Spell is being released TODAY, I decided to start a discussion about witches.

So, what do you think? Do you love ‘em? Hate ‘em? Don’t believe in ‘em? Live with ‘em?

How about movie witches? I’ve found them intriguing all the way back to Oz. (Although I cried for hours every time the wicked witch of the west popped onto my parents’ black and white TV.) What about Practical Magic? And remember Hocus Pocus (my daughter’s childhood favorite)? Stardust! Yikes. Great movie, but why doesn’t Michelle Pfeiffer ever age? Is she a witch?

And what say you of literary witches? Terry Pratchett writes about some incredibly amusing crones like Nanny Ogg, Granny Weatherwax, and Magrat. Kim Harrison is making a splash with Rachel Morgan, and I really enjoy Tate Hallaway’s Garnet Lacey.


But how about you? Who are your paranormal heros? Come on, fess up. You believe in witches. Maybe you think you are one. Maybe you have suspicions about your sister. Chime in. In honor of my own witch, Elegance St. James, I’ll be giving away an Amazon gift card to some vociferous commenter so she can purchase her own witchy favorites.

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