Pagan Fiction

Nimue Brown

February 17

(Nimue)

There are some hazy lines between Pagan fiction, paranormal writing, folk horror, historical fiction and urban fantasy. There have been many authors who have taken Pagan ideas to use in fiction without really conveying anything much of what Pagnism is like for those of us in it. The film The Wicker Man is a good example here - even though Summerisle is in some ways attractive, the story depends on the idea that being a Pagan cuts you off from modern sensibilities. At the same time, there was so little Pagan representation anywhere that this film was, for a long time, one of the few things that came close.

Representation is really important to me. However, when people write beyond their own experience there's always a risk of cliche, stereotypes and misrepresentation. Paganism in folk horror is not usually about representing us, but about treating us as other. This is part of why it's on my mind to write a folk horror novel from me definitively Pagan perspective.

I've written a few overtly Pagan novels already. Hunting the Egret strays a bit into the fantastical - it's a Charles De Lint level of fantasy in that it is mostly set in the familiar world but there are magical elements to it. There's obvious and conscious Paganism in this one, it's definitely witchlit.

My Wherefore series is a supernatural soap opera and deliberately silly. However, I did my best animist writing while working on this project. The silliness opened up space where I could write about the intentions of yeast, ice and oolites, and attribute intention to things that, in more serious fiction I might not have felt able to give a voice to.

Spells for the Second Sister is set up to look more like fairytale informed fantasy, but there are some decidedly Pagan themes underpinning it all. It's a story about what we inherit from our ancestors, about spirits of place, and magically transforming your own life through your own intentions.

At some point later this year I shall be releasing a novel called Ghosts of the Lost Forest - this one has a lot of lived Paganism in it, including people going to moots and doing rituals. It blends the ordinary side of being a Pagan with some of the more startling experiences a person might have as a consequence of following a path.

All of the books in my ko-fi shop are free as ebooks. There's an option to pay what you like. Alongside the fiction I also have some Druid titles and some poetry collections. I write first and foremost because I want to share ideas and stories with others, which is also why I give work away both here and on ko-fi. Donations via ko-fi and support via Patreon help me keep doing that. If everyone who subscribed to Druid Life dropped an English pound on me once a year I'd be doing really well economically. I'm aware that many people have no disposable income worth mentioning and that many people are struggling, which is why I'd rather give what I can in the hopes of offering some small comfort to people who need it.