Alison May: Midsummer Magic!

We welcome Alison May to the blog. Alison tells us why A Midsummer Night’s Dream really really has to happen at Midsummer

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a play about a night where anything is possible, where fairies and humans come together, and fall in love, and sleep and dream, and occasionally turn one another into donkeys. It’s a play all about a sort of fleeting magic that’s so real when it’s happening, but in the morning leaves you dazed and confused about how you got from where you were last night to where you are right now.

My first instinct when trying to write an adaptation of the play was to shift the action entirely from midsummer to Hallowe’en. Hallowe’en has that quality of being a night when worlds collide and the rules that stop magic from happening don’t necessarily apply, but when I tried to write the story in that setting, something didn’t quite work, because in a medium sized provincial city in Britain in 2015 – which is where my novel, Midsummer Dreams, is set – Hallowe’en isn’t about magic and mystery; it’s about trick or treating, and barmaids wearing pound shop witches hats, and gingerbread pumpkins with orange icing. And none of those things shriek romance and magical possibility.

And so I went back to Midsummer, which is a different sort of beast altogether. The longest day of the year, with the shortest night, and right across Europe there are traditions around that shortest night. Mostly they involve fire. Because, really all the best ancient traditions involve setting fire to stuff. Want to make on offering to the Gods? Set fire to it. Want to greet the rising sun? Start a fire. Want to keep away the fearsome spirits of the night? Light a fire.

And, as with so many ancient traditions, as Christianity spread across Europe, the new religion adopted some of the rituals and feastdays of the old, so John the Baptist now has his saint’s day at Midsummer, and back in the middle ages the celebrations for the solstice were able to continue under the new name of St John’s Eve. In Gloucestershire, for example, there was a tradition of setting fires which would scare away the dragons which were, undoubtedly loitering somewhere just out of sight, and that continued after Christianity had taken hold, only now they were St John’s nice Christian fires which, presumably, would specifically ward off nasty heathen dragons.

In many European countries, particularly in Scandinavia, Midsummer continues to be a big deal, but in Britain, outside of pagan circles, those universally understood rituals have largely ebbed away. From a writer’s point of view that’s fantastic. It means that Midsummer is left with a vague sense of magic and ritual and something long forgotten about it, but beyond that the creative imagination can run wild. There might be fairies. There might be potions. There might be magic. There might be love. There might even be a donkey, but, then again, there might not. Midsummer is a gift to a writer because it remains a time when, for one short night and one long day, anything seems possible.

About Midsummer Dreams

Four people. Four messy lives. One night that changes everything …

Emily is obsessed with ending her father’s new relationship – but is blind to the fact that her own is far from perfect. 

Dominic has spent so long making other people happy that he’s hardly noticed he’s not happy himself. 

Helen has loved the same man, unrequitedly, for ten years. Now she may have to face up to the fact that he will never be hers. 

Alex has always played the field. But when he finally meets a girl he wants to commit to, she is just out of his reach. 

At a midsummer wedding party, the bonds that tie the four friends together begin to unravel and show them that, sometimes, the sensible choice is not always the right one.

Midsummer Dreams is out now on Kindle.

About Alison May

Alison May is a novelist and short story writer who lives in Worcester. Her contemporary romantic comedies, including Sweet Nothing and Midsummer Dreams and the Christmas Kisses series are published by Choc Lit.

Alison is a qualified teacher with a degree in Creative Writing. She has taught creative writing for HOW College and the University of Worcester, and now runs her independent novel writing workshops.

You can find out more about Alison at www.alison-may.co.uk or on Twitter @MsAlisonMay

Thank you for weaving your magic, Alison.

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'Why Vampires?' A Good Question For Halloween

In honour of of All Hallows' Eve, best selling novelist of The Brytwood Series, Georgia Evans, shares with us her answer to 'Why vampires?'

That’s a question I get asked a good deal, No doubt from people wondering why a mind-mannered grandmother spends her days writing about the blood sucking undead.


A good question too: What’s the appeal? Why are so many readers (and writers, of course) drawn to vampires?

Speaking for myself, the vampire first chose me, unexpectedly announcing around about chapter five, that he was actually Kit Marlowe, and not dead as had been supposed for 400 years. After that, the undead sucked me in (forgive the pun, it just came out, I couldn’t help it). Whether heroes, heroines or villains, vampires are fun to write and add a layer to the story that mere mortals couldn’t possibly manage.

In the Bloody Series, I wrote the vamps as villains. Of course from their point of view, they are fighting nobly for a cause, aided and abetted by the German High Command. The Others of Brytewood see the whole scheme completely differently and one by one, with a few casualties, deaths and close calls along the way, they eliminate the enemy. As the villains, they had to be eliminated but while they wreaked havoc among the Surrey hills, they added interest and tension to the books. In fact without them and their mission of sabotage and subversion, there wouldn’t have been much of a story.

In my Rosemary Laurey books, my vamps are romantic heroes and heroines. Very different and remarkably odd, if you think about it. Vampires as villains pretty much fits the notion of a bloodsuckers preying on the living but the metamorphosis from horrific figure to romantic hero is an incredible leap. Or is it? He fits many of the parameters of the genre. He’s the ultimate dark and dangerous hero. Messing around with a vampire you are playing with the ultimate risk. He might be good in bed but his kiss could kill. Plus, no matter how desperate your mother might be to see you settled for life, she would not want you bringing a a dead man home for Sunday lunch. Then there is the fantastic sex (although strictly speaking aren’t we skirting around necrophilia here?). On the other hand, by the time a man is a few hundred years old or more, he’s no doubt learned a thing or two and with a vampire’s stamina, he won’t fall asleep afterwards.

Hero or villain, a vampire in the plot makes for wonderful escapist fiction.

Georgia Evans is the pseudonym she uses for her Fantasy books. She's better known as Rosemary Laurey.

http://www.brytewood.co.uk/
http://www.rosemarylaurey.com/