…and Helen, a witch:

The book itself is very nearly finished.  Need to work through it one more time to smooth out the rough bits.  The working title is “Dark Sister” but I’m going to have to find something else.  Too many other books with that title already!

Now I’m wobbling between doubt and confidence.  My head tells me to take a break before I dive into the final edit but it’s very tempting to just go ahead right now.

Maybe I should spend some time working on illustrations and see what happens?

There are many amazing images of her online.  These first two are on many websites, but so far I have not been able to find out where they are originally from.  Baba Yaga riding her pestle and mortar, sweeping up her tracks with a broom.

This one is by Rima Staines – see more of her wonderful images here.

Baa Yaga’s hut on chicken legs. According to some, it has no windows or doors, very like a coffin, and it has a palisade of human bones.  And you can also see her iron teeth:

And another Baba Yaga image, this one by Isabellart

Benjamint

Image from Marty FM

Now that I’m past the point I’ve planned for, I don’t know what is going to happen next.  I know pretty much how the whole thing will end, but the landscape between the point I am at now and the end is uncharted territory.

Here follows the last paragraph I wrote today.  Thing is, I have no idea what happens next.

 “I don’t know,” said Rebekka. “I don’t think I have anything in my pocket.” But as she spoke she patted her pockets and discovered that there was, in fact, something there. The key to her flat in her left pocket and in her right pocket, the one Hare had been trying to get a finger into, was a flat hard disk. She drew it out and Mistress Mouse looked on with interest.

 “A mirror” said the mouse and then “Oh!”. Rebekka had turned it over and they both saw that the mirror showed, not a reflection of what was around them, but 

For example, I now know just what to do if I’m ever chased by a ghost.  You  pull a small shrub out of the ground and upend it so its roots point upwards.  Apparently the ghost will be so fascinated by this oddity that it will forget all about chasing you.  Not sure what to do about indoor ghosts, but maybe upside-down furniture will be equally effective.

Reminds me of advice I’ve heard about how to deal with a poltergeist.  Mix lentils and peas together and spread them over the doorstep.  The creature cannot resist them compulsion to separate and count them, and hopefully in the process forgets whatever mischief it meant to do.

The Stress of Her Regard by Tim Powers.

You just know that things are going to go bad from the moment when a very drunk Michael Crawford, on the night before his wedding, puts his wedding ring on the finger of an ancient female statue. In the middle of a stormy night. For safekeeping. He has reason to regret that decision very soon.

This book is not for the faint hearted. These vampires may sparkle at times, but they bite hard too.  And yet they are not just evil monsters. They fit into our world with Tim Powers’s convincing mixture of science, magic and poetry.
It also features real historical characters such as Byron, Keats, Shelly and Mary Shelly. In Tim Powers’s reality there is a close link between vampires and the poetic muse, and some poets are willing to put up with quite a lot of danger if it keeps them writing.

This is a cruel book. Fingers are shot or bitten off, throats are cut, eyes are gouged and many of these wounds are self inflicted. As with the other Powers’s books, you are taught very early on that the characters are not safe and wont be rescued at the last moment. This makes things a lot more tense and exciting, and in the end, also very moving. The hero and heroine are mauled and savaged and yet they survive. Despite being traumatised and permanently scarred, they remain true to some deep part of themselves, and to one another. I found that strangely comforting.

My father’s pond now has some new inhabitants.