Guest blogger and First Book supporter Mindy Klasky is the author of ten novels. Her most recent release, HOW NOT TO MAKE A WISH, launches the As You Wish series, which chronicles a mischievous genie and his effect on various theatrical productions and the people who run them. Mindy also wrote the Jane Madison series, about a love-struck D.C. librarian who discovers that she’s a witch. Visit www.mindyklasky.com to learn more about Mindy’s work and her support of First Book.
Last week, my newest novel hit the stands. HOW NOT TO MAKE A WISH is the story of Kira Franklin, a stage manager for a down-and-out dinner theater. When Kira discovers a wish-granting genie in a magic lamp, her entire life is turned upside down. I had a lot of fun writing Kira’s story, but it was challenging to come up with some aspects of her world. No, it was easy enough to depict Minneapolis, a city where I lived for several years. And it was easy enough to show how staging plays works – I spent a lot of time as a stage manager in college. Specifically, it was challenging to come up with limitations on the magic in Kira’s world.
How do genie wishes really work? Why doesn’t everyone just wish for more wishes? Why doesn’t everyone wish for infinite money, which would make a lot of other wishes come true? World peace, perfect health for everyone, the end of hunger – why not just embrace those possibilities and make them real?
In Kira’s story, the genie offers some very good reasons. (Short version: the genie has an attention-span problem. Major wishes take major time to implement, and the genie can’t concentrate for long enough to complete the task.)
Nevertheless, when writing the book, I started to wonder what small time-limited wish could have the broadest impact on society. My thoughts were gelled when I watched a segment on CBS News Sunday Morning, about long-time adult illiterates who found the courage to step forward and learn to read. Every single one of those adults said his or her life changed radically, once they overcame a lifetime of hiding their inability to read.
People often ask me what I would wish for, if I only had one wish. I have a whole long list of selfish things that I want. But, if I were making a wish to better the world, I’d ask for everyone to be able to read. (And if they chose to read my novels, well, so much the better! ::grin::)
How about you? What would you wish for?
Guest blogger and First Book supporter Mindy Klasky is the author of six fantasy novels, including the award-winning, best-selling The Glasswrights’ Apprentice and numerous short stories. Her latest trilogy, The Jane Madison Series, chronicles a love-struck D.C. librarian who discovers she’s a witch. Visit www.mindyklasky.com to learn more about Mindy’s work and her support of First Book.
When I was a child, my parents told me that books could take me anywhere I wanted to go. Books were like magic lamps, filled with genies just waiting to grant wishes for me. I could travel as far as Narnia as I read C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, or I could stay as close as my own backyard, reading through the field guides of Herbert S. Zim, searching for the birds and insects and other creatures so painstakingly drawn in those pocket books.
My short stories and novels allow me to continue studying the power of wishes. I can explore what the world would be like if witches truly did have powers to work their spells in the suburbs of Washington, DC (the Jane Madison Series). I can play with forces of nature, extrapolate how priestesses could harness the age-old wisdom of their predecessors through an ancient, all-observing tree (Season Of Sacrifice). I can study the high points and low points of human nature when children are used as political pawns, fighting to do what is good in kingdoms where evil is all too common (the Glasswrights Series).
In my most recent books, though, I can explore the power of wishing much more directly. Kira Franklin, the stage manager heroine of How Not To Make A Wish, finds a magic lamp that contains a wish-granting genie. She wishes her way into a production of Romeo and Juliet, thinking that her professional and personal lives will never be better. Only then does she discover that some wishes are much more complicated than she’d ever envisioned.
Playing with Kira and her magic lamp allowed me to consider what I would wish for if a genie ever manifested in my home office. (More bookshelves might be the first order of the day!) I’ve considered gifts that I would give my family and friends. I’ve thought about treasures I would seek for myself.
I’m collecting wishes, to include on my website in October, when the As You Wish series officially launches. Tell me your wish in comments below, and I’ll include it on my website! (Don’t be shy – I won’t be including names!)
