The deadline to purchase the JordanCon 2020 anthology Become Legend is fast approaching!  Order by March 25^th to ensure you get a copy. This week’s author interview is with Saki Marie Harp talking about her addition “The Storyteller.”

First, can you tell us about your writing?  Is this your first published work?
I have been writing for fun since my teacher told me I had written a brilliant story in first grade.

After a spinal injury, I began writing for sanity.

I don’t have the stamina to write proper novels, so I tend toward short stories and poetry.

Though recently I spend much of my time focused on writing and arting comic books. I also love to verb.

While I have had some poetry published long ago, this will be my first published short story.

Where does your story fall on the speculative fiction scale?
It’s fantasy, but there’s not really a lot of magic or anything. Just a dash of demon-human interbreeding.
 
What excited you the most with writing this story?
The story I submitted was unfinished. It was a mishmash of ideas and feelings that began as an exercise in writing a scene for a signing audience. It’s been exciting to see it change into a cohesive story with a meaningful message that I’m rather proud of.

Are there any themes you want readers to get a sense of?
The fantasy genre is full of interesting cultures and manual languages, but somewhat devoid of deaf or mute characters and cultures.

I’m just doing my part to represent diverse abilities in fantasy.
 
Is there a specific inspirational source you used for this story?
The theme of the anthology is legends. In my research, I looked for folk tales featuring deaf people and found only one obscure Japanese myth. I was also inspired by the legend that the Plantagenet family descended from demons. I combined the need for more deaf stories and demonic fun times to create a new legend and a meta-legend. One plus one is three, I guess.

What else would you like to say to your readers?
Thank you for reading. I hope you like it. I’m looking forward to writing some more stories and comics featuring dis/differently-abled characters. I may even revisit these characters at some point, because now I’m curious about what they get up to after the end of the story.

Thanks for talking with me Saki!  You can find out more about Saki and her writing by following her on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or checking out her website.  To pre-order your copy of the anthology, you can visit JordanCon’s website.