Fans of Melissa Marr are celebrating today's release of
Fragile Eternity, her latest installment about faeries (and mortals) wreaking continual havoc on each other's lives.
Since Aislinn, the series protagonist, became a faerie and the Summer Queen (which happened in the first book, New York Times bestseller Wicked Lovely), her life is complicated. She loves Seth, but he's mortal. She also loves her court, which she rules with Keenan, the Summer King, and they're constantly attracted to each other even though Keenan loves Donia, the Winter Queen. Throw in Bananach, a vengeful, chaos-loving faerie bent on starting a war between the courts, and you have a pretty compelling read--one with a dark, philosophical edge.
Marr also collaborated recently on Wicked Lovely Desert Tales Sanctuary, Vol. I, the first in a related manga series that's coming out today as well.
I caught up with Marr by email recently, and she kindly answered my many questions (photo by John Marr):
Amazon.com: What’s your background with faeries? How did you first become interested in them?
Melissa Marr: My heritage is Irish & Scottish with a dash of German, so folklore & fairy tales were an inevitable part of my childhood: I grew up believing in the impossible and the improbable. From there, I added a love of books, a couple of degrees in lit, and then teaching--including fairy tales. Honestly, I think the path I’m on is really just a logical next step of my journey.
Faeries are such a wonderful amalgamation of Otherness. Within the lore, there are creatures who foretell death, who seek mortal midwives, who feed off mortals, who cook for mortals, who are animalistic, and, of course, the beautiful shining ones, the sidhe. Courts and solitaries, cruelty and beauty, nurturing and destroying--it’s hard not to find faery lore entrancing.
Amazon.com: While Aislinn is the central focus of the series, Fragile Eternity really seems to be Seth’s book. Do you agree?
MM: Actually, I refer to this as ”Seth’s book” when I’m pressed to explain it. It’s still Ash’s story too, as her life and his are tangled, but Seth is very much the center of this story. Seth is a mortal tossed in the middle of this world—with no greater importance in their world beyond being the Summer Queen’s mortal, fragile, boyfriend.
Ash is in the rather unenviable position of being in charge of centuries’ old creatures (ones she has feared her whole life). She will—and has—made mistakes and wise choices. Her actions have consequences in the lives of Seth, Keenan, Donia, and the innumerable faeries and mortals in her world. I thought it important to look at how that impacts Seth.
Amazon.com: The relationship that faeries have with mortals, and particularly desire of one for the other, is such a key element in these books. How does the faerie-mortal relationship (in faerie mythology and in your imagination) inform your stories?
MM: The lore informs almost everything I write. Traditionally, faeries were called the “Good Neighbors” because mortals were afraid to speak ill of them. It was an almost warding, fear-based phraseology. There were those who were the “shining ones”—beautiful and tempting. There were those who were helpful . . . sometimes. It often involved knowing the right (or wrong) words, bargains, esoteric details, or being tested with or (more often) without awareness that this was a test. Dealing with faeries is always fraught with complications.
Then, The Hollywood Reporter's Risky Biz Blog talked to Robert Pattinson (who plays Edward Cullen) about the movie version of New Moon:
Listen to an interview with author John Grisham. He talks about his 22nd book, 
