Creating a culture
In our series, THE BLOOD SINGER,
heroine Celia Graves discovers at the end of book 1, BLOOD SONG, that she is
part siren. In our reality, sirens have a lot of the same mythology as in the
classic Greek legends. They live on an island (which we moved to the Pacific,
between Hawaii and Japan) and in ancient times, they really did lure men to
their deaths on the rocks. Well, at least some of the men. Some of them were
pretty and, being a matriarchal society, they needed . . . breeder stock.
To create a culture that has
evolved alongside humankind, we needed to do several things. First, we had to
create their homeland, the Isle of Serenity. Because of where we’d placed the
island on the globe (but not the map, because the siren’s magic prevents the
island from being pinpointed on paper,) we borrowed heavily from the Polynesian
culture. The names of people are Hawaiian-sounding. Celia’s middle name is
Kalino, named for her grandfather, the brother to the Queen of queens, Lopaka. We made the island so that it would
hold a limited number of people. In the culture’s past, they only kept female
children—either banishing the boys from the island or allowing “accidents” to
happen. Yeah, they were sort of ruthless. But times change, and so do people.
By the time Celia was born, they were a “kinder and gentler” species that
co-existed with humans pretty well. Of course, once that happened, overcrowding
did too. So now there are parts of the island that are sanctuaries and parts that
are cities that have had to build upward rather than outward. Celia hasn’t
spent much time in the cities of Serenity (yet!) and has only gotten the view
of the island as a garden paradise thus far that happened in book 2, SIREN
SONG. Her knowledge will soon change and, reality being what it is, it will
directly impact her and those around her. (Sorry...no spoilers of future book!
LOL!)
We’ve been creating the history
of the sirens as we go, which has been a lot of fun. There are good points and
bad to every culture. There are things to be proud of and sore, embarrassing
wounds yet to be healed. Some of those wounds were shown in book 3, DEMON SONG,
when Queen Lopaka got angry with Celia for an innocent question that reopened
one of those embarrassing wounds. They’ve healed it over, sort of, but there’s
more to come that will strain their newly established relationship.
There’s so much to do when
creating a people—from language to religion, monetary system and customs.
Everything has to make sense to the reader so it feels real. One of the things
that happens in Celia’s life in THE ISIS COLLAR is directly related to the
siren culture. Celia’s mother, Lana, is an alcoholic and wound up in jail
because of repeated DUIs. But because of her siren heritage, being in jail was
killing her. Literally. She was cut off from the ocean, a death sentence to a
siren. Queen Lopaka arranged for Lana to be incarcerated on Serenity as a
kindness.
Unfortunately, because of the
matriarchal, queen-influenced culture, things went wrong quickly. After all, if
Celia is a princess, then so is Lana. And the sirens are accustomed to treating
royalty with a certain regard. Like not actually locking the prisoner behind
bars.
Oops.
Naturally, Lana decided she
would rather hop on the nearest boat and head back to her favorite bar. Here’s
how Celia finds out that lovely bit of news . . . during a session with her
psychologist:
*********************
“So,” I said to Gwen, my therapist, snuffling
after my fifth tissue in the past five minutes, “Am I a complete loon?”
“Actually, you’re not.” It
almost sounded like she was surprised. “Most people would be. You are very mature for your age but . . .” There was
always a but with Gwen. “You have to
learn to give up some control. Much of your anxiety stems from taking
everything onto yourself. You can alienate people just by your sheer
dominance.”
I shrugged, feeling my defenses
leap back to full power. “I sort of have to. Nobody else steps up to the plate.
If I alienate people who aren’t doing their job . . . um, so? Do I care if they like me? No. I would rather they like me, but I would also rather they do the right
thing so I don’t have to get involved. Does that make sense?”
Like a spider leaping on a fly
from above, the next words out of her mouth caught me by such surprise I froze,
barely breathing. “Like your mother?”
“Well . . . yes, I suppose. But
I have stepped away from that. Like I told Ivy, she made her choices and she’ll
have to pay the price. Lord knows I have, plenty of times.”
“So you wouldn’t . . . for
example, help her hide from the police?”
What a weird question. “Um, no.
I never have before. In fact, I usually tipped off the cops where she was,
especially when she was driving drunk.”
“When’s the last time you saw
her?” I felt my hackles rise, and Gwen must have seen something in my face,
because she said, calm as ever, “Celia, please don’t get agitated. I’m only
trying to help.”
Agitated? Who was agitated? Just
because I could feel my heart pounding and my fists were clenched? “Why are you
asking me these questions, Gwen?” My voice was coming out in a growl. It was
too early in the day for the vampire to need to come out and play. I’d even
eaten, and I knew there was plenty of meat broth in the smoothie. I was in control.
“I’m dealing with Mom. I am. She’s in the best place for her right now. They
can help her. I can’t.”
Gwen sighed. “I believe you,
Celia. But I had to ask.” She raised her voice. “You can come in, ladies.”
Ladies? Huh? I turned and jumped
to my feet as the door to the office opened. Two casually dressed women walked
in. I vaguely recognized one of them but couldn’t remember from where. It
wasn’t until her intense eyes met mine that I remembered. Her name was Baker.
She was tall and buff with hair cropped short in a buzz cut that should have
been very masculine. I’d envied the weapons on her belt when I’d first met her
and she’d added a few since then. She was a siren, the queen’s own security.
Oh, crap.
The woman bowed her head in
respect. “Princess. I’d hoped you knew something that you could share. But we
didn’t want to startle you, so we came first to your healer.”
I felt a chill come over me as I
remembered Ivy’s frantic motions. “What’s wrong with my mother? That’s what
you’re here about, aren’t you? Where is she?”
The second guard, with a name
tag that read Natura, dipped her head politely. “I’m afraid we don’t know. She
was taking her daily walk along the beach path but never came back to the
facility. Several boats went to the mainland that day, so . . .”
I tried to process what they’d
just said. “Um, let me get this straight. You let a woman known for avoiding
the law out of her cell . . . alone?”
Holy Crap! “How long has she been gone?”
Baker let out a low, frustrated
growl and wouldn’t look at the woman with her. “Two days. While I wouldn’t have
made the same choices as my associate, Princess, please understand that, like
you, your mother is royalty. That allowed for more privileges. And since one of
her ailments was ocean withdrawal, walking near the water helped center her.
For a time after she disappeared, we believed she was visiting with someone,
but after searching the whole island, we’re convinced she’s left.”
Great. Just great. They’ve been
treating my conniving mother like a freaking celebrity. She would eat that up and absolutely take advantage of
it. I reached up to try to rub away the sudden headache that was making my
forehead throb. Different headache for a different problem. No wonder Ivy was
so panicked. Not only had she probably watched mom slip onto a boat, she
wouldn’t be able to track her over water. Ghosts don’t do well over running
water, just like vampires. “Um, wow. I can’t even describe the level of wrong
that was. It had never occurred to me in my wildest nightmares that you might
let her outside of a walled and spelled environment until she’d gotten massive
therapy. But if you’re asking if she’s come to see me, the answer is an
emphatic no. I am the last person on
earth she would go to in a crisis. She’d be more likely to roll a junkie for
money.” I sighed and collapsed back into the chair where I’d been sitting.
Well, gosh, hadn’t this been an emotional roller coaster of a session? “Where
else have you looked on the mainland?”
******************
What fun to be a siren, huh? But
this is only the beginning of the great fun stuff that will happen in THE ISIS
COLLAR. Now, obviously, since this is
part of our blog tour, we're giving PRIZES! Comment for a chance to win an
autographed copy of THE ISIS COLLAR hot off the press. We'll pick one lucky
person (yes, international addresses are okay!) at the end of the full tour so
make sure you include your contact email so we can get in touch with you.
Oh, and if you’re intrigued (and you know you are) go out and buy THE ISIS
COLLAR by Cat Adams right away! And if you’ve never heard of Celia Graves’
earlier adventures in BLOOD SONG, SIREN SONG and DEMON SONG, they’re on sale
until the release of ISIS! It’s a really good sale, too: only $2.99 for any
format of ebook download. Heck, that’s three for the price of one! And if
you’re a print fanatic, they’re also on sale at Amazon on a 4-for-3 special.
But lots of other retailers have them on sale too, so go to our publisher’s
website (
http://us.macmillan.com/theisiscollar/CatAdams ),
scroll all the way to the bottom and choose your favorite store.
Fathom by Merrie Destefano
