2010 in review: Orisha’s Gift
Before I close out this year, I thought I’d revisit some of my stories and characters. Nisha from the Orisha’s Gift series is my favourite. She almost doesn’t feel as if I created her; it’s more like she just showed up and I took notes.
Originally she appeared in the Aftershock collection, which is a charitable project to raise funds for worldwide disaster relief. The project was started immediately following the earthquake in Haiti, so I wanted my conribution to have some sort of link to Haiti. The only problem was, I’m not one of those people who can write about a place I’ve never been. I know some writers who can, and who can do a damned good job at it–they do the research, and then manage to produce something convincing. I wish I were one of them, but…I’m just not.
So the best I could do was to have Nisha’s new supernaturally-charged sexual powers come as a gift from the Orisha Oshun, and to have her test-drive them in order to convince her rich boyfriend to fund his brother’s participation in the relief effort.
Wolf’s Layer sprang into my head a little while later. I’d suspected, when I was writing the first story, that I wasn’t done with Nisha; I really liked her, and I wanted another chance to explore her odd situation and see what sorts of supernatural challenges could face a woman whose sexuality was, in the most literal way possible, a source of power. That story knew where it was going right from the beginning, heading right for that place where surrender is power and doing what you have to is inseparable from doing what you want to.
Finally, there was Demon’s Layer, which did the inevitable: brought Nisha’s long-term lover Slade (“dripping with couth and wealth,” as a friend once said) face-to-face with the attractive werewolf from Wolf’s Layer. I couldn’t resist. Plus it’s set in a demon-haunted hotel, which is my kind of vacation spot.
So, all in all, I’ve been having a huge amount of fun with these stories. I hope the readers have been ebtertained as well. 
Now for the chance to win free stuff–in this case, free handmade soap that’ll make you smell like a Goddess:
1. Comment on this post. (Make sure you leave an email address where I can reach you if you win!)
2. On Monday, December 20th, I’ll select one commenter and contact them. As soon as I have your mailing address, FREE SOAP FROM ETSY will be on its way to them.
December 16, 2010 at 2:31 pm
I just think everything you write is brilliant, and you’re way too smart for me and I fangirl you like whoa at every opportunity. Think you should be the poster child for Brilliant Feminists of the 21s Century of suchlike. *hugs*