Spirit Warriors by Ashley Thorpe
Author Ashley Thorpe shares some insights into Spirit Warriors and it is fascinating!
My second book Spirit Warriors is a supernatural fantasy adventure, which takes place in an alternate Jamaica full of magic and mystery. I grew up with highly-entertaining folk stories from the Caribbean islands, often featuring characters like the trickster Anansi. But contrary to the first image that comes to mind – of sunshine and palm trees – one niche the Caribbean is surprisingly great for is ghost stories.
In Jamaica, and some other islands too, ghosts are called ‘duppies’. They are most often depicted as malevolent spirits. On islands such as Trinidad and The Bahamas, another term given to spirits or demons is ‘jumbies’. Spirit Warriors features famous fiends from both sets of lore as the primary antagonists.
La Diablesse (Devil woman) is a well-known jumbie. According to the lore she made a deal with the devil in exchange for eternal beauty. She dresses elegantly, wearing a long dress which hides one hideous hoofed cow’s leg, and she wears a large brimmed hat. Stories usually concern her unmatchable beauty and leading unsuspecting men who fall for her to their doom! However, I wanted to reimagine this myth and give the character more dimensions. Rather than vanity, I wondered what could really drive someone to make a deal with the devil and become a demi-demon? What awful thing could have happened to make someone so desperate? These were some of the questions that led to my recreation of the myth behind the monster.
Blackheart Man (also called Heartman in Barbados) is another creepy Caribbean folktale, warning children of strangers who might approach them at night and take them away. If Blackheart Man managed to lead you astray, he would snatch your heart out. In my story, however, Blackheart Man’s taking of hearts is more metaphorical. As charismatic as he is powerful, Blackheart is driven by a singular diabolical aim and has gained devout followers. Fleshing out his motives was really important to creating a satisfying villain, and hopefully that makes him even more frightening than in the original folk stories.
So who can possibly go up against such evil? Enter our 13-year-old heroes: Evie (an orphan wielding a coveted magical gemstone, and desperate to commune with the spirits of her deceased parents), Arthur (a would-be master thief), and Cairi (a shaman-in-training). They’re thrust into a race against time to stop Blackheart Man and his followers from breaking through to the realm of the dead and unleashing duppies on the living world. All new heroes will have to brave ancient ancestral magic before all hell breaks loose (quite literally).
