The Raven and the Reindeer (25 page)

“Then we will have to fix that,” said Janna, holding out her arms, and Gerta settled into them.
 

“Awk!” said the raven, as they embraced and left no place for a large bird to perch. “Typical.
Awk!”

Hans Christian Andersen was a weird dude.

I know that I am supposed to use the acknowledgments to tell people about everyone who helped with the book, and I’ll get to that, but I just want to put that out there first. Hans Christian Andersen.
Wow.
 

His idea of a happy ending is that everybody dies attended by angels (or if you are very very fortunate, in church with your feet cut off.) I find his work mawkish, sentimental, and frequently utterly unreadable, and yet there’s…something. I can’t put my finger on it. (I’m a writer, not a literary critic.) People remember Andersen’s stories for a reason. The Snow Queen and the Little Mermaid have joined the popular fairy tale pantheon when other authors of the era are forgotten or obscure. He had a line directly to the lizard brain parts that react to fairy tales. Some people do.
 

So I suppose my first person to thank is the storyteller himself. I have not the least doubt in the world that he would be utterly horrified at what I have done to the Snow Queen, and yet, I could not have done it without him.

Next up, we have the usual suspects—my editor Brooke, with whom I have long, often hilarious arguments in the review comments on the documents and my faithful proofreaders, particularly Cassie Dail who frequently gets drafted as alpha reader these days, and so gets hit coming and going as it were, James Rice, Jes A, and Sigrid Ellis. They are the best sort of people.
 

This book took a
lot
more research than usual, into things like Sámi culture, Finnish folklore, and reindeer anatomy. A bunch of people helped with bits and pieces of that, but much gratitude to three in particular:

Foxfeather Zenkova, who told me everything I wanted to know about reindeer, including the clacking tendons in their feet and what they smell like.

Heli Kinnunen, a Finnish folklore major and Helpful General Consultant on All Things Finnish. Every tidbit in the book about food, weather, vegetation, neat tidbits of folklore, etc, that I got right is entirely due to her. (Many things are probably still wrong. She says I needed more sauna. She was probably right.)

Niina Siivikko, Finnish-Sámi cultural historian, who went over the bits with Livli with a fine-toothed comb at my request. Anything I got right with regards to accent marks and proper cultural artifacts are due to her kind input.
 

All three of these people took time out of their busy schedules to share their expertise with me, and I am so very grateful.

My husband, the love of my life, who has to read these books up to five times, whenever I’ve hit the
oh god this shames my ancestors
point of the writing process. I cannot overstate his contribution. Also, he brings me German chocolate cake when a book is done and I am trying to figure out what to do with my life.
 

And finally, of course, my readers, of both books and social media, without whom I’d be trying to write books in the spare time between digging ditches and crying into my beer. Thank you, thank you, a thousand times, thank you!

T. Kingfisher

Pittsboro, NC
 

February 2016

As T. Kingfisher

Nine Goblins (Goblinhome Book 1)

Toad Words & Other Stories

The Seventh Bride

Bryony & Roses

As Ursula Vernon

From Sofawolf Press:

Black Dogs
Duology

House of Diamond

Mountain of Iron

Digger
Series

Digger Omnibus Edition

It Made Sense At The Time

For kids:

Dragonbreath
Series
 

Hamster Princess: Harriet the Invincible
 

Castle Hangnail
 

Nurk: The Strange Surprising Adventures of a Somewhat Brave Shrew

Comics Squad:
Recess!

T. Kingfisher is a pen-name for the Hugo-Award winning author and illustrator Ursula Vernon.
 

Ms. Kingfisher lives in North Carolina with her husband, garden, and disobedient pets. Using Scrivener only for e-books, she chisels the bulk of her drafts into the walls of North Carolina's ancient & plentiful ziggurats. She is fond of wombats and sushi, but not in the same way.
 

You can find links to all these books, new releases, artwork, rambling blog posts, links to podcasts and more information about the author at

 
www.tkingfisher.com