Way back in 2010, I was actively brainstorming ideas for a YA fantasy trilogy. I knew I wanted it to be set in our world but with a unique paranormal element; I just wasn’t sure what. At the time, I was reading a book of Maori myths, and in that particular collection, there were two legends that stood out to me: (1) the Maori creation story, which features Tawhirimatea, the god of winds and storms, and (2) a story about the patupaiarehe, the fair-skinned fairy folk who try to steal away Maori women. In this second story, after the patupaiarehe is defeated, he disappears into the night, and the story concludes with this poem:
Behold, a cold south wind blows across the land
as the stranger leaves
never to return to that valley.
And from far away
a thin, plaintive wail rides the wind
to places high and low
as a lone patupaiarehe fades away,
becoming lighter than cobwebs,
disappearing into thin air.
(From Myths and Legends of Aotearoa by Annie Rae Te Ake Ake)
These two stories sparked my interest in myths about the wind and gave me an idea for my fantasy element. I knew I wanted this paranormal aspect to have a strong cultural context, and I also wanted to preserve that sense of mythology and mystery evoked by the stories I mentioned above. As a result, I looked at numerous Native myths about the wind, which I used to develop my characters’ history, religion, and society. Their world, which exists within ours, is divided into tribes, and for their names and particular customs, I looked to myths that were indigenous to whatever region that tribe occupied. For example, Downburst, the first book in the series, takes place in Canada, so I read lots of Native American, First Nations, and Inuit stories and named the upper North American tribe the Yakone, which means “Red Aurora” in Inuit. (The New Zealand tribe is named the Rangi, which means “sky” or “weather” in Maori.*)
Centering my series on the wind also prompted me to learn more about meteorology so that I could describe my characters’ engagement with it in a way that would make sense. This ultimately inspired me to name each title in the series after a type of windstorm and to begin each section with a thematically relevant note about that storm’s development.** In my books, I try to combine these elements—science and myth—so that the world I’ve created seems both plausible and culturally rich.
Firestorm, which is the last title in the trilogy, has a more global reach than the first two books; consequently, it reflects a wider range of mythological influences, especially stories that unite fire and wind. For example, here’s an excerpt from the epigraph to Part One:
The Vila are female warriors in Slavic mythology who control the wind and create powerful storms with their songs. When they do battle, the earth shakes.
But if a Vila’s skin is touched by fire, she will die.
In Firestorm, we get to meet some new tribes, including the Biegga, who reside in Eastern Europe and Russia. This epigraph sets the stage both for my protagonist’s encounter with the Biegga and for one of the central conflicts in the story, which revolves around fire. (Fire has a been an important symbol throughout the trilogy—my protagonist, Kit, is pyrophobic because of a traumatic event in her childhood—and in this book Kit has to confront her fear in a very personal way.)
I’m really happy with the way Firestorm brings together the stories and themes that first inspired me and have been developing throughout the series, coming full circle to that “thin, plaintive wail rid[ing] the wind / to places high and low,” and I hope you will be too! Thanks for reading!
*Characters named Rangi also appear in the two legends I mention above.
**My book titles are Downburst, Coiled Snake (which is the translation for cyclone), and Firestorm. I also have a chapter-length prequel, available for free through my website, titled “Arcus,” which is a type of shelf cloud that forms at the beginning of a thunderstorm.