The Stargazers (34 page)

“It about scared me to death when it happe
ned. I still can’t believe it.
”
She hugged Aster close. “But I thank you. I thank you so much.”

Tonya joined them from the kitchen with pitche
rs of orange juice while Cynthia
and the other girls set the big table. “Aster, why didn’t you tell us how awesome your ma and granny were? Later on, we’re going to give each other facials and break out the Ouija board.”

Aster introduced Holly and Quercus to the rest of the household and then joined Ruby back in the living room. “Do they know about Ivy?”

Ruby shook her head. “Not yet. Everyone seemed so happy
…
I figured we could tell them everyth
ing once it all settles down
. The Sheriff cal
led. H
e would be over to talk to us in a little while. But I was thinking… Maybe we could go back together to take Bryon’s car over to his dad’s. He deserves the truth
. F
rom both of us.”

Her eyes welled up
, and Aster pulled her into
a hug
. It seemed there was always a supply of tears at the ready, and there would be
a lot more of them in the
days ahead.

When Aster pulled back, she held Ruby by the shoulders. “Let’s try to live in this quiet moment while we have it. We’ll handle the rest as it comes. Together.”

Ruby nodded. “We can
try.”

The bright chime
of silver on glass grabbed their attention. Nanny Lily, seated at her usual place at the head of the table, motioned for them all to sit, and Ruby and Aster walked to the table hand in hand. After Ruby sat down, the only chair left was at the other head of the table. Aster paused to consider the meaning of this before she took it.

Lily raised her glass of juice. “To a new home and new beginnings. And a new coven of our own. Aster, my dear, would you do the honors this time?” She tilted her head toward the candles running down the center of the table.

Aster lifted her hand and called the wicks to life with tiny flames. The other girls gasped and squealed in astonishment and Aster smiled. She supposed there would always be a little magic left in the Stargazers. For the little things.

About the Author

Allison M. Dickson lives in Dayton, Ohio and is a prolific author of contemporary horror, fantasy, and science fiction. Her work has appeared in several publications, both in print and online, and she has an extensive ebook library with bestselling titles that include
short stories “Dust
,
”
“
Vermin,
”
and
“
Under the Scotch Broom.
”
You can learn more about her life and her projects—past, present, and future—at her website,
www.allisonmdickson.com
. You may also find her rambling
on Twitter (@msallied), or on Facebook (facebook.com/authorallisonmdickson).         

I had the best of intentions when I sat down to write
The Stargazers
. I wanted to write a harrowing coming-of-age story about a young girl struggling to separate herself from some rather gruesome apron strings, and I think I accomplished that. But something went awry along the way, at least when it came to my intentions matching the outcome.

First of all, I really wanted to write a book that was more on par with
Stardust
, Neil Gaiman's quirky and fun contemporary fantasy. And I ultimately failed at that, but more on that later. But (and this was probably my biggest mistake), I also thought that if I wrote it as a young adult book, it would appeal to a wider audience. That, and I was curious to see if I could pull off a YA book, since I hadn't attempted one before. Turns out I failed at that too. There were definitely certain elements that didn't fit the genre, and because of that, it ended up straddling an already very blurry line between Young Adult and Young-at-Heart Adult.

In the story, Aster has to face a lot of injustices and tough issues that span between two worlds (the story traverses between her world of Ellemire and present day Earth). Such issues include teen pregnancy, bisexuality, sexual assault, human sacrifice, saving the world, and defeating a nasty foe who also happens to be her aunt. It's a lot to heap on anybody, let alone a kid, and there were many instances throughout writing this book that I found myself either unable to or at pains to make Aster suffer anymore than she already had. I suppose it was because I was t
hinking of my own daughter. My hat’s
off to those writers who are more courageous (or perhaps sadistic?) than I.

But it wasn't those things t
hat just barely disqualified this
book for the YA genre. After all, there is a lot of edgy fare put forth for teens these days, and mine isn't even c
lose to being the edgiest. However, t
here were some technical concerns that gave me (and some agents who'd considered it) pause. Google the topic of what makes a story YA, and you will be hammered with dozens of theories put forth by dozens of authors
and industry experts. T
here were a few common threads,
though,
the biggest one being that the story should be told exclusively from the point of view of the main character, in a voice that is distinctly teenage. Makes sense, I suppose.

Some 85% of YA literature is told from a first-person perspective. I purposefully avoided this, because I prefer to tell fantasy in the third person. But that's not a fatal flaw by any means. One need only look at the One Series to Rule Them All about a young boy wizard to know that YA doesn't explicitly need to be in the first person.

But then comes the dagger to the heart. One (save for maybe one or two scenes across the entire
Harry Potter
series) that even JK Rowling managed to avoid. And that's the one of exclusivity. She stayed with the protagonist's point-of-view all the way. Alas, I did not do that, instead choosing to alternate points of view between Aster and that of her evil aunt Oleander. And, well, Oleander is decidedly not of the teenage voice. Indeed, she's quite the foul witch.

I considered taking the Oleander bits out entirely. After all, with some minor editing, I could have told this story exclusively through Aster's eyes. But I
just didn't want to. I so
enjoyed writing the villain of this story
from within the confines of her nasty little head
, and I think in doing so, it provided some depth and suspense that it might not otherwise have had. And it was in that moment I realized that this book was not cut out for this particular market. And maybe I'm not either.

Once I decided that
The Stargazers
wasn't a young adult book
, it also opened me up to going a tad further with some element
s of the story that I’d felt uncomfortable with before
. While I still never achieved the
Stardust
-esque story I'd originally wanted t
o, I was satisfied with what I
had. It was the story that wanted to be told, and given m
y beliefs about the writing
process and how I think authors are guided by the story rather than vice versa, I am content with that. It is different from my other work in that it's brimming with a lot of feminine themes. You won't find any middle-aged widowers here. I would still slap it with a PG-13 rating, though it's definitely putting a toe on the R line in some parts, particularly in the language category. Also, in final edits, I decided to make Aster eighteen rather than sixteen, just because that made it easier for me to explore the darker confines of the story.

I know that probably sounds silly to you, and you can even rail at me for pulling my punches. Read a book like
The Talisman
by Stephen King and Peter Straub (or even
The Shining
or
It
) and you'll know that there is no limit to the horrors to which you can expose a young child
in fiction
. But I still didn't want someone too young for this story. Aster is in many ways a very personal character. In some ways, she is me. Her uncertainties and struggles for independence and self-determination mirror a lot of what I went through at her age and beyond, and I think others can relate to that as well. Maybe some will think I didn't push the envelope far enough, but I'm satisfied that Aster has plenty enough on her plate, and I don't think I'm spoiling it by saying that she doesn't exactly get through this tale unscathed.

But herein lays the beauty of independent publishing. Maybe traditional booksellers would have trouble deciding whether to shelve
The Stargazers
in the same section as
The Hunger
Games
and
Twilight
, or to put it into the adult sci-fi/fantasy section, but here I am placing it into the hands of yo
u dear readers in the hopes
you will judge it for what it is
. Not
a YA story or an adult story, but just a story. A story about a young girl faced with difficult choices and a lot of roadblocks standing in her way. I hope you like it, and as always, you have my deepest gratitude for believing in me enough to be reading this right now.

Allison M. Dickson

March 11, 2012