Life, Interrupted

The hero of my fantasy series Night Calls is Alfreda Sorensson, a young practitioner on her way to being a full blown wizard. While I am not Allie, I carry in my heart many of the things she loves and creates wherever she lives. I grow herbs when I can, seek out fresh, organic food and seasonings, and dream of growing heritage apple trees. In a sense, the seeds of her grimoire, Denizens of the Night, are stashed in bits and pieces in folders and my computer.

It’s the season for her elderberry cordial, so I thought I’d share her recipe with you.

This recipe is traditionally used to keep pretty much everything in the unfriendly microbe category away. Fans of it back in colder climes start making it in November and take it until March. Refrigerated the mix can last two months or so, and then seems to go off slightly in flavor. If you cut the honey, it doesn’t last as long. I personally make 2-3 batches a winter. If you are taking it only for preventative purposes and stay healthy, you probably need only a teaspoon a day. If ill or immune compromised, or everyone else at work is ill, you may choose to take up to a tablespoon a day. When ill, if you can keep it down, a half teaspoon an hour might help.

Does this really work? Well, I haven’t had flu in the ten years I’ve made this recipe. So either it works for me, or my immune system is now scary strong. YMMV. I am not a doctor or a practitioner.

Yes, this could be the base for an alcoholic version, but the honey benefits will probably die gasping under the alcohol. Check with your herbalist, or research medicinal cordials. I never add alcohol to mine, but alcohol in correct proportions could make it shelf stable. Use good honey, not mixed from all over the world pasteurized stuff. Honey has curative properties, but you don’t want the honey to get too hot. So do NOT add honey before boiling; add after the mix has cooled down quite a bit.

Remember, do not give this to a child under two years of age. Research honey–there are sound reasons why you don’t give it to infants or toddlers.

Elderbery Cordial for Health

1 cup dried elderberries (organic if possible)
4 cups filtered water
1 square inch peeled organic ginger, slivered up or grated (if desired)
1/8 tsp. cloves
1/4 tsp. allspice
sprinkle ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. Ceylonese cinnamon
1/2 tsp. Saigon Cassia cinnamon

Up to one cup unpasteurized local honey.

Bring water, berries, ginger, and spice mixture to a low, rolling boil. Cook at a gentle roll for fifteen minutes, mostly covered (it can spatter) but not sealed as boil-over will happen. Then set aside to cool down a bit.

Set strainer in 4 quart Pyrex measuring cup; strain mixture. Gently press berries and ginger to get last of juice out. Compost berries, if you compost. Let juice cool some more. You may have up to 3 cups of liquid.

Add one cup of unpasteurized honey. I sample until desired sweetness is reached, but do not add more than one cup. Stir until dissolved, then carefully pour into a clean one quart wide mouth ball jar. (You may add more spring water to recover a full four cups, if desired. But boil that water first.) Refrigerate. Always use a clean spoon each time you dip into the jar. I actually stir and then pour into a shot glass and shoot my morning cordial. You’ve got enough for 1 tsp. a day for three people, with a full recipe. I have halved this in the past to keep it fresh, or if I am heading out for holidays for a few weeks. I try to start taking this two weeks before extensive travel, and then make more on my return.

Thanks to writer Becky Kyle for the ginger suggestion.

I will add that I most definitely am not a medical practitioner. If this has entertained you, I’m glad. And if you feel this traditional berry can improve your life, Allie is delighted that you made its acquaintance!

I'll try to get the cover and new versions uploaded to the major distributors tonight for rollover as fast as they move.

Night Calls in DRM-free EPUB and MOBI.

Although the earliest presidents did declare days of Thanksgiving and gratitude, Thanksgiving as we now it is more recent. At the urging of Sarah Josepha Hale, Abraham Lincoln declared a day of Thanksgiving halfway through the Civil War, and it has reoccurred as a theme ever since, finally being named into law (first the fourth Thursday, then the last Thursday). But what did they eat at those early Thanksgivings?

Some things on the menu don't even exist anymore, like Passenger Pigeon. Venison would have been there, and corn--real corn, not "corn" in the European sense covering all commonly used grains. (Though we probably would not recognize the varies of corn present. They would have been flint corn, multicolored and tasting quite different.) Wildfowl, too. Stuffing was probably diced onions, herbs, and shelled chestnuts. Being close to the shores, the first European settlers undoubtedly ate shellfish.

Beans, squashes, root veggies--the Wampanoag ate well, and taught the colonists a lot. I'm guessing that Allie would have had a mixture of old and new on her family's table, the remnants of those great early foods as well as the precious addition of wheat, sugar, dried berries, and so on. No shellfish in her part of the country, though. Too much travel time even from Lake Michigan, and at the time of Kindred Rites, she didn't know about the advantage practitioners had in this regard.

But the foods we often think of as staples at Thanksgiving are mostly from the mid-nineteenth century. Read on.

Yes, you can have a taste of SF and a taste of fantasy in this little chapbook from Yard Dog Press--now in .mobi format! One story is a reprint of the tale I did for the anthology Lord of the Fantastic: Tales in Honor of Roger Zelazny and the other is a unique Alfreda short story that has never appeared anywhere else.

And you want to read them. You know you do.

It is still available as a saddle-stitched chapbook, but if you prefer to buy an ebook version?

Here you go.

Alfreda would use maggots as a healing tool, as well. Here's an article talking about not only historical use, but recent investigation into maggot therapy.

Some maggots ARE injured in the course of this examination - but their secretions are still healing. They don't appear to be munching on anyone, but if you don't like crawlies at all, skip this link!

Does anyone remember whether or not Shaw is left-handed?

The things I don't have down in the notes -- sheesh....

UPDATE: He's left-handed, like Allie!

A fan asked a question over on Facebook about what were some of the things that inspired me before I wrote the first Allie story. Well, I thought about it a while, and decided that I'd bring it over here.

Place and tone were two things that concerned me with the Alfreda tales. I wanted the language to be clean and uncomplicated, but also wanted the books to have layers. Allie was starting from pioneer roots -- from people who lived very close to the land. Where she'll end up may be very different, but deep inside her always will be this smart, observant person with a big heart.

Here's my response to Heather:

It's hard to remember exactly what I was reading when I started the Alfreda stories, but I can tell you one thing I read -- the Manly Wade Wellman stories about John the Balladeer. I didn't like his women as well, but I felt drawn to the rugged simplicity of his world. I wanted some of that for Allie's childhood, because I wanted that honest base for her.

Also -- THE NINE BRIDES AND GRANNY HITE was a wonderful series of short stories -- the author's name escapes me right now. Any of Ardath Mayhar's books that include families would be good to read. Ardath likes to say that "Children are not fools," and are capable of being trusted with a lot. THE WORLD ENDS IN HICKORY HOLLOW was a good one.

So, we haven't talked about it for some time, because it was depressing, but remember that submission YEARS ago? (Yes, a lot of people are taking that long to respond to submissions. Which is one of two reasons why no one will die over this.)

Found out this weekend that the editor never received the submission. Now, my agent uses a messenger service, where they show up with a package and someone at the desk or the mail room signs for things, right? Somewhere between that point and the editor, it disappeared.

We are going with this because at this point it does not matter if a lowly clerk misplaced it or what -- the glitch has been found. I wasn't at my healthiest when the original submission went in, so now is in many ways better. That is the second reason no one will die over this.

The important part is -- the editor still wants to see the partial. Which is now larger, despite my being depressed about the project and working on other things. So -- polished up the copy editing on five chapters, FedExed to agent, who read, put together with previous two books, and sent over to the editor. I am quite confident he will be double-checking personally on this, not trusting to a signature on a form. I'm sure that like me he feels that this was the Mercury Retrograde glitch of the career, and Shall Not Be Repeated.

And -- just to make sure the editor knows I Was Not Kidding About Submitting, I packed up a copy of the chapbook with the Allie story "Ducks" in it to arrive on Friday.

You may now cross your toes and get back to whatever I interrupted. Be thinking up blurbs for Fires of Nuala -- or go write a review for it!