Storm Stories
Once again, fans describe how Storm have played a role in their
lives. Have a story? Send it to Inception!
Treasure
by Paula
I
had just stopped in at Barnes and Noble to buy Volume 3 of the
Harry Potter series for a young relative.
On a whim I decided to check and see if they had any new Storm
books in. (Hahaha, fat chance.) Imagine my surprise when sitting
next to three copies of The Way of Light(which I already
had) there was a single, solitary and very lonely copy of Burying
the Shadow!
Well, I grabbed it. And tucking it under my arm like a running
back carries a football (American reference here, sorry!) I turned
and glared at everyone within fifty feet, ready to fight for it.
Still glaring, I rushed to the Harry Potter section, grabbed the
book on the run and sprinted for the check-out counter. I slapped
the two books down and thrust my credit card at her. The poor
girl backed up and then gingerly reached for it.
Finally! Transaction completed, I sat in my car, door securely
locked and hugged my treasure while I giggled madly. If this is
any indication of things to come, the new year should be quite
nice.
And if you hear anything about the mad woman in the St. Louis
bookstore, you'll know what it's about.
About the Author:
Paula lives in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. You can reach Paula at pellsfan@yahoo.com.
Irreversible Enchantment
by Joanna Vale
I
first became aware of Storm Constantine back in the early 90s
from some writing she'd done for the goth band Fields
of The Nephilim. I remember being amazed by how poetic, dark
and spiritual it was -- I'd never read anything like it -- and
I wanted to find out more.
I then came across her name in a bargain books store on a book
called The Enchantments of Flesh & Spirit, a title that
sounded so beautiful and magical that I had to buy it, despite
being somewhat put off by the cover (I do judge books by their
covers I'm sorry to say; it's a fault of mine.)
Needless to say I loved the book; in fact I found myself amazed
that I had fallen upon this strange new world full of alternative
genders, "forbidden" love and real magick, and was enchanted
by it.
What ensued was a long and painful journey of searching for the
other books in the trilogy; one could almost call it The Desperations
of Hunting and Hoping! To have absorbed myself fully into
the Wraeththu world, to feel such a sense of belonging there,
to be so emotionally bonded to the people (don't even speak the
name "Cal" to me, it hurts too much!) and to have been
so awakened. and yet not be able to find more of it was torture!
Finally, to my great relief I found the second one, Bewitchments
of Love & Hate. My search for the third lasted many, many
moons.
Eventually I wrote to Storm with pitiful pleas as to how I could
get hold of the last book to put me out of my misery. She graciously
replied and put me in touch with her information service, through
which I finally obtained the final part in the story (Fulfilments
of Fate & Desire), then read it and wept that it was all
over!
It always struck me as strange, that I should come across the
books in perfect sequence (when the last had been written at least
three years before), as if the journey of my finding them was
an essential and integral part of the story itself. And yes, I
had taken the journey as Storm intended: enchantment followed
by bewitchment followed by fulfillment.
From that point on I have read everything I could lay my hands
on and see Storm's world not as a fantasy place but as an alternative
perspective of how the world could be, or even is, beneath the
surface. In any case, it's a reality I have chosen to believe
in, that works for me, and I'm forever grateful for the enlightenment.
About the Author
Joanna Vale can be reached at joanna.moondark@virgin.net.
Cause and Effect
by Wendy Darling
I'm not going to tell my whole Storm story here. I sort
of think of editing Inception as chance to tell it in little
bits. I would like, however, to share the very beginning part
of my story, what might be termed, I suppose, the pre-quel.
To me it's all about cause and effect. This could go back as
far as the day I was born probably, but the first definite step
in the chain reaction, so to speak, was just about three years
ago when I left my contract with the State of Georgia and got
a new one over at Georgia Tech. Didn't have enough to do there
right at first, and in my boredom, surfing around the web, I discovered
the world of fan fiction -- specifically Vampire Chronicles
fan fiction. I had been a head-over-heels obsessive fan in my
younger days but somehow had never even thought to connect with
other fans about it, not to mention read or write stories (including
LOTS of slash) about it! It was quite the consuming passion for
a while, endless gobbling of stories, then the endless
writing of stories. And I swear, if I hadn't switched jobs,
I might not have ever found it!
For over a year, those stories were a main force of transformation
my life, not just in terms of the online reading and incessant
writing, but in subtle ways. The high erotic content woke up a
new level of sexuality in me, while expressing myself creatively
was like flexing muscles that I'd let get out of condition. All
the parts of myself that I myself found important -- as opposed
to those parts I'd been working for others' benefits -- were coming
to the fore and I was nourishing myself. And the more I nourished
myself, the stronger I got.
My long-time friend and roommate moved out of our shared condo
and bought his own place. Fine by me, as he'd not been having the most positive impact on my life and I was ready to have him out of there, even if I did
end up having to be faced with him every day anyway. No matter,
I was happy, on my own with a plan for having my own life and
following my dreams. I had already put money down on a place of
my own. I had my own life and without him to interfere, I was
able to focus on my own business as well as more writing. I started
to read a lot more and go back to interests I hadn't been able
to pursue because of college or the people around me or lack of
privacy. It was like when parents have their kids move out of
the house I guess -- lonely but exciting at the same time!
Then came the culmination of all this. After about a year and
a half in the Vampire Chronicles online fan fiction community,
which is tight-knit by fact of it having to be largely underground
(Anne Rice being a money-hungry cow out to sue fan-ficcers), I
started to hear about Storm or actually, I started to hear about
Wraeththu. Addie
started going on about it and then the next thing one, she had
written a
Vampire Chronicles / Wraeththu crossover fanfic! Even though
I hadn't read the books and didn't really know what it was exactly,
her brief explanation and a quick look-up online was all I needed
to dive in and say, "Hey, I have GOT to find out more about
this aruna thing!"
After that first tantalizing story, which featured Lestat and
Cal scrumping, I went out on the web and did some snooping. I
found Storm's web site. I went, "WHOAH! Far out!" (Well,
not really, but I was impressed.) And then I said, "OK, I'm
going to read this sucker." Went right in to Outwrite
Books, a gay bookstore here in Atlanta, and there was the
Wraeththu omnibus -- not hard to find at all! One week later,
I'd read it all. Four months (and three or four additional Storm
novels) later, I started up Inception online. The rest
is history!
About the Author:
Wendy Darling (nickname Wiebke Fesch) is a web designer, fanfic author,
and editor of Inception. She lives in Atlanta, GA, where she is self-employed,
operating her own web design business, Metro Girl. Wendy is co-author of a Wraeththu
Mythos novel called Breeding
Discontent, and is an editor with Immanion Press. You can reach Wendy
at wdarling@abraxis.com.
