Mester Stoorworm is both adorable and terrifying. An enormous monster with a simple heart. His figure is huge, a long, winding, snake-like figure with shimmering scales in red and green. He has only a set of forearms, powerful enough to tear a man in two, and they end in wicked claws. His enormous head features bushy eyebrows, a long snout, and a forked tongue flicking from between viciously sharp teeth. He is fast, too, able to slither as fast as a horse. There is no running from Mester Stoorworm.
But as monstrous as he appears, Stoorworm has the personality of a child. He can be shy, innocent, even simple. When he has been commanded to injure or kill, he is almost unstoppable. But he is loving and loyal. If Stoorworm is your ally, you will be kept safe. If he becomes your enemy, it will not be for long.
If Stoorworm is a child, Melusine is a mother. Or, at least, she has the spirit of one. Bearing the shape of a human woman, she still features Stoorworm’s scaly skin, sharp nails, and slitted eyes. She has strength, too, but of a different sort. Melusine has been cursed with a strong desire for a child with a mortal man, but upon each of them she must place a demand: do not try to look upon her between the festivals of Calgraef and Calmae.
During this time, she changes into Mester Stoorworm and hides from her husband. But for thousands of years, Melusine has been disappointed: not one man has been able to control his curiosity. Each has died by Stoorworm’s hand and Melusine has been left to continue her search.
***
I’d argue Melusine is one of the most famous fairies these days. Not the most famous, but she’d certainly make the top ten. Her unique curse has an enduring quality, falling into the same kind of “don’t look back” trap that persists through so many myths and legends. And, of course, Melusine featured prominently in A.S. Byatt’s Possession.
You’d think Melusine directly inspired my idea of “two-faced” Faerie creatures, since she fits perfectly into it. But, despite how famous she is, I didn’t think of her until well into my planning of the Realm Rift Saga. The shape of the story means she doesn’t play a role until The Northern Wastes. But when I came across Mester Stoorworm in my research, I knew I’d found Melusine’s more monstrous visage. I took it a little further, making the monster a child compared to Melusine’s motherly instincts. Stoorworm himself appears earlier, earnestly aiding Tom in his journey across the Western Kingdom in The Unquiet Sword. It isn’t until later that Tom sees just how dangerous Stoorworm can be…
Is it a quest for freedom? Or a hunt for revenge?
Thomas Rymour is recruiting scattered malcontents, indentured dwarfs, and fanatics to a single cause: bring the Western Kingdom to its knees. The mysterious creatures of Faerie lend their aid too, but are they simply using Tom to their own ends?
And is the ancient sword Caledyr all it seems? Does it thirst for violence and blood. Or is there something dark growing inside Tom himself?
Find out in The Unquiet Sword, the second book of the Realm Rift Saga.
★★★★★ “Has everything that I enjoy: action, adventure, travel, magic, fae, romance, heroes and regular folks. Characters were well developed, settings descriptive, and it was well written.”
★★★★★ “Kelly does a good job of building suspense, rising to a crescendo in the closing scenes of the book, where the reader ends up wondering whose side any of the characters are on.”
★★★★★ “The author is not only a fine creator of characters and environments, he's also a powerful writer who inherently understands the rhythms of sentences and flow of paragraphs.”
