They might not be raindrops on roses or whiskers on kittens, but that doesn’t mean that we love them any less. Welcome back to My Favorite Things, the weekly column where we grab someone in speculative circles to gab about the greatest in geek. This week, we sit down with Lee Murray, whose latest release, Into the Ashes, was released in February from Severed Press!
What does Lee love when she’s not writing about monsters and the military? Spoiler alert: landscapes that lend themselves to fantasy, glossy magazines online, and a mythical creature that’ll devour trespassers. Curious? Read on to learn more!
Favorite Fantasy Location Near to My Place
Wild and beautiful, our New Zealand landscape is the perfect place to set a story with dense forests, steaming geothermal craters, caverns, lakes, and mountains. Storytellers are spoiled for choice here, and it’s easy to see why I’ve set my own Taine McKenna novels right here at home using the misty Te Urewera mountain ranges, the plunging drama of the fiords, and the stark beauty of the central plateau region as a backdrop. Movie makers haven’t been slow to cotton on to the fact either, and over the past two decades a lot of your favorite movies have been filmed in New Zealand locations, the most famous being Sir Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies, including my favorite fantasy location near to my place: Hobbiton. With Hobbiton, there is nothing wild or rugged about the landscape. Instead, the village is set into the rolling hills of a 1,250-acre working sheep farm just outside Matamata, and no more than an hour’s drive from my place. It’s a great spot to take visitors, like stepping straight into the fantasy, with 44 hobbit holes surrounded by gardens in one of fantasy’s best-loved villages. Of course, a visit isn’t complete without a stop at the Green Dragon Inn to sample some craft ales or perhaps an apple cider.
My second favorite fantasy spot near to my place is Cathedral Cove on the Coromandel Peninsula. A two-hour and a half hour trip, this is worth the extra driving time, and is definitely a budget-friendly family option. The site includes gorgeous forested walking tracks, views across the ocean, and a stunningly secluded little beach. These days, Cathedral Cove is a lot busier than I remember it being in my childhood, after the cove stared as the set for the ruins of the castle Cair Paravel, in Andrew Adamson’s 2005 Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.
Favorite Author Newsletter
I know, I know, it seems weird to have a favorite author newsletter, but as a writer of speculative fiction who lives in a tiny country at the bottom of the map — and sometimes New Zealand is left off the map entirely—author newsletters are a great way to stay in touch with the work of some of my favorite writers from all over the world. I’m subscribed to a couple of hundred of newsletters — writers like Jeremy Robinson, William Miekle, Michaelbrent Collings, Lisa Morton and Jonathan Green — which means at least one or two newsy emails appear in my inbox daily. They’re the perfect length for reading in my coffee breaks, giving me the skinny on the authors’ new book releases, conventions or other events they’re attending, film news, and industry trends. Sometimes there’ll be an essay or review, or there might be an interview with another author or artist, they’re always full of lovely images including concept drawings, cover art, photos of the author at events or places that have inspired their writing, or even great cosplay costumes they’ve encountered in the wild. Often, as a treat for subscribers, you’ll receive an excerpt from a work-in-progress, or a free short story. Author newsletters are like a glossy magazine, full of interesting insights direct from the writer, but they’re completely free and you can unsubscribe at any time. And when you finish reading them you don’t even have carry them out to recycling, you just delete them from your inbox.
My absolute favorite author newsletter is by horror writer Jeff Strand. Not only are his newsletters full of information for stalkers about the places Jeff is likely to be hanging out, they almost always include a horror-comedy flash fiction story and stunning Lynne Hansen artwork. He never fails to make me smile. Take Jeff’s latest newsletter, where he introduces a new side-splitting column entitled “Made-Up Interviews with My Writer Friends” wherein he presents fraudulent interviews with authors Brian Kirk and Kenzie Jennings about their upcoming releases. In fact, it’s not uncommon for Jeff to interview himself, and with hilarious results. Another newsletter I look out for is Tim Waggoner’s Writing in the Dark. Unlike Jeff, Tim doesn’t tend to interview himself, but as a creative writing professor, his newsletter typically includes some commentary on the writing process; how to write action scenes, or tips for avoiding writer’s block, for example. I always feel a little smug after reading Tim’s newsletter. It’s a bit like hiding vegetables in a casserole: you know you’re getting a good dollop of healthy professional development with your news.
Favorite Mythical Creature
My favorite all-time mythical creature is the taniwha, although there is some doubt as to whether it is mythical or not. Taniwha are huge beasts that take the form of a serpent or lizard. In local mythology, the creatures do not fly, nevertheless they are imbued with supernatural powers and an affinity to the gods. A Māori informant described the creature to Capt. James Cook during the explorer’s third visit to the country in 1777. Cook writes:
We had another piece of intelligence from him, more correctly given, though not confirmed by our own observations, that there are snakes and lizards there of an enormous size. He described the latter as being eight feet in length, and as big round as a man’s body. He said, they sometimes seize and devour men; that they burrow in the ground; and that they are killed by making fires at the mouths of the holes. We could not be mistaken as to the animal; for, with his own hand, he drew a very good representation of a lizard on a piece of paper; as also of a snake, in order to shew what he meant. (Cook — A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, vol. 1, pp. 142-3, Dublin, 1786).
He Purapura – Te Taniwha Me Te Poraka – Murray Grimsdale from Archives New Zealand
New Zealand lore is full of wonderful stories about taniwha: tales of highly territorial creatures who would lie at the entrance to rivers, lakes, and caves, waiting to devour any trespassers. Some legends are poignant and sad, like the tale of Whātaitai, a taniwha who, separated from his brother, became stranded in Wellington Harbour. Of course, taniwha were often used as a metaphor for a great chief or warrior, so sometimes it’s hard to sift fact from fiction, but given New Zealand’s archaeological history for gigantic creatures like the moa and Te Hokioi (Haast Eagle), I’m leaning towards them being true.
Lee Murray is a multi-award-winning writer and editor of science fiction, fantasy, and horror (Sir Julius Vogel, Australian Shadows). Her works include the Taine McKenna military horror series (Severed), and supernatural crime-noir series The Path of Ra which she co-writes with Dan Rabarts (Raw Dog Screaming Press), as well as several books for children and young adults. She is also the editor of ten dark fiction anthologies, the latest being Bram Stoker nominated Hellhole: An Anthology of Subterranean Terror (Adrenaline Press). Lee lives with her family in New Zealand where she conjures up stories from her office overlooking a cow paddock.
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You are so lucky to have Hobbiton close to home! I’m embarassed to admit this, but if it wasn’t for LOTR, I wouldn’t have known much about New Zealand. It was great seeing the gorgeous landscapes in those films and I definitely want to visit someday. Thank you for an interesting post — I’m off to go down the internet rabbit hole to learn more about the taniwha!
Thanks for sharing your favorite things, Lee! And thanks for bringing Lee to us, SC.