Kat Henry Doran/Veronica Lynch: Diana Stout's Grendel's Mother

Set in the late-5th, early 6th century in Denmark, Grendel’s Mother is the journey of a girl who dreams of freedom, with a desire to marry the young many she loves, when her father tells her that she'll wed a widower with young children instead. Then, a horrific event changes her life forever. Pregnant and having brought shame to her family and community, she is sacrificed to the dragon for death, but the dragon saves her instead, unbeknownst to her family and the community.

Grendel’s Mother is the story of social injustice, a girl’s love for Nature where she discovers special skills that enable her to survive, to give birth, and to raise a baby—deemed a monster—in the wild, entirely on her own. From his birth on, she battles to keep Grendel safe from himself and, then later, from others who would do him harm.

That child is Grendel, and she is Grendel’s mother.

Wild Women Authors is pleased to welcome back author Diana Stout who offers our readers something different from her usual romances: Grendel's Mother, a fantasy novella based on a lone woman's survival against monstrous odds, including the rigid mores established by the society she was born into. Grendel's mother will go first.

Tell us a bit about Grendel's Mother. It's a story of survival. As the only girl in the family, I was treated like a servant and was told who I would marry. My father treated me like property. When I refused to marry his choice, who was a really old man with missing teeth and children older than me, and then was found to be pregnant, I was offered as a sacrifice to the dragon. The entire community rejected me.

Thankfully, I've loved nature my entire life, so I know her ways. Not all of them, but enough. No doubt, I'll learn more. My mother was respected because of her knowledge of plants and their healing abilities. I was learning her skills. I was secretly learning the skills of my brothers, too. No one had any idea...

Outside of my mother, women had no real respect or authority. We were only as good as the number of children we could have, how well we took care of the family. I wanted more.

Knowing what you know now, if you had it to do over again, would you stick with the decisions you made or would you do them differently? If I had it to do all over again, I still wouldn't have agreed to marry that old man. Though, if I hadn't gone into the forest that night, I would have had no choice. No matter which way I turned, I had no choice. At least by being exiled from the community, I had the freedom I always wanted. So, actually, no, I guess I wouldn't have changed my actions or decisions.

What is your biggest fear? That my son will kill himself.

Who is your favorite story and why? Time spent around the fire in the big hall during the winter are fond memories for me. After dinner, we'd go to bed, so there was a short period of time where I got to listen to the stories before I'd have to go home with my mother to finish up dinner and get it served before the rest of the family arrived home.

The stories were about heroes. Brave men who fought the monsters and demons in the forest, the monsters who came out at night to raid the villages. Who knew that I would deemed such a monster?

What is the best piece of advice you ever received? The best advice I ever got came from the dragon. I don't remember much from that first meeting when I was so young. She had said, "Don't show anyone your fear. Once they know you're afraid, you're at their mercy."

Thank you, “Mom”, for spending time with us. Now, we'd like to chat with your creator, Diana Stout.

Which writer or character[s], from either books or movies, have had a major impact on your writing? So many stories to choose from! I guess I'd have to say that any story that can tap into my emotions and make me sigh, get my pulse racing, or keep me turning the page or on the edge of my seat where I find myself gripping the arm of the chair are the stories that impact my own writing. What do they have in common?

These stories show, they don't tell. They ratchet up the conflict, keeping the characters in emotional danger, physical danger, or psychological danger. These are the types of stories I want to tell.

With regard to research, where did you start for this novel? Did that lead you down different paths, thereby changing the original concept? I had a bit of research already done before I ever thought of writing this book. The book's genesis came during a survey class I was teaching in Women's Studies as a grad student, where we were doing presentations on books where women didn't have a voice. I'd studied Beowulf in several classes as a student and realized there was a woman in the book who had no voice whatsoever.

I went home that night and wrote twenty pages in a couple hours. The concept never changed because I was being true to Beowulf, what little there was of her in there.

Many readers of Beowulf believe she was a monster, but in truth, she was human. To understand monsters in that time period was to understand that monsters were often The Other. The unexplained, those who were different.

Tell us a bit about your publisher. I am an indie publisher and became one because I got tired of agents wanting me to choose one genre and stick with it. I'm a multi-genre writer. I need that diversity of subjects. I'm drawn by the What if? question for any story and the characters that pop out of nowhere. The writing is about me getting to know them and their story. Grendel's Mother was my first publication as an indie publisher, and to date, it's still my favorite book written so far.

What are you reading right now? The Song of Achilles. It's a wonderfully written book. A page turner, in my opinion. I've noticed that any negative reviews it has received is because of the topic matter, not because of the writing itself. Not all topics are for all readers. Grendel's Mother falls into that arena, I believe.

What's next for you? I'm still working my series of seven novellas, where the couples come and go in each other's story, with an antique car touching every story, and the small town of Laurel Ridge connecting everyone. The first novella, Shattered Dreams is available on Amazon as an eBook. I hope to publish the second one later this year, with the rest to quickly follow. Once all the stories have been published, I'll do a box set and I'll put them all into one hard copy book.

Diana brought along an excerpt from Grendel's Mother for us:

Nearly at the main door of the house, I stop, take a deep breath, pull my shoulders back, straighten my spine, and wipe any and every emotion from my face, Da respects strength, not meekness, so strong I will be.

The boys are still at the table, but now they are at various tasks: arm-wrestling, sharpening a knife, or working leather. The oldest yells out that I’ve returned.

Immediately, Da steps into the room through the second door, the one I originally escaped from. I know better than to wait for his signal. I move over to where he is, my head down in submission, my eyes cast to the floor. I stop in front of him, expecting the worst.

Quickly, I say, “I'm sorry, Da. It was an accident. It'll never happen again.”

“That’s right. At harvest’s end, you wed Angus.”

I look up in horror, “No!” Instantly, I realize I breathed the word aloud, Surely, he wouldn't do that to me. No father can be that cruel. Angus is old, missing most of his teeth, has lost three wives already to childbirth, and has brats for children, Sickly brats and all girls, except for one frail boy. But, he has the most livestock, some of which will become Da's when we marry.

“No?” Da's voice is cold, but firm. I can tell he will not reconsider his decision,

“Anyone but him, please?” I plead. I know it would be a mistake to plead for Erik, one of the poorest farmers in the village. Angus, on the other hand, is one of the wealthiest. Da covets Angus's land, but even he has to know that the land will go to the eldest son, provided he lives to adulthood when his father dies, provided Angus sires a son. The chances for a young boy to make it to adulthood in this land these days is a great plan and a huge gamble, Most all the villages surrounding ours are like us: large on old weak men, with gangling young boys barely into their teens. The battles with invaders extracts a huge toll on our men. Da has told me often enough that none of us control our lives, that all are at the mercy of others. How many times have I heard him say: “You have no power. No one cares about you more than we do.” But, I don’t believe it. He can’t care for me if he’s willing to give me to Angus. No, Da wanting me to have Angus’ son is so that da can control me and the land until the son—if I have one—is grown.

“It'll be Angus or the dragon,” he tells me.

I shiver in fear and take a step back. The dragon that Da speaks of is monstrous, pure evil, and takes his victims easily. A mere bite, not even worthy of a meal. Not the gentle creature of my past. The screams of the people snatched in the claws of the monster, along with the stake they’re tied to fills my ears. Angry that I have no power, I find myself stuttering, but do my best to subdue the anger, “I . . . I'll . . . I'll m-m-m-marry Angus.”

“I knew you’d see reason.”

To purchase Grendel's Mother, go to:

https://www.amazon.com/Grendels-Mother-Diana-Stout/dp/0997422300

(Available in large print, too)

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/grendels-mother-diana-stout/1123590638;ean=9780997422306

https://www.booksamillion.com/p/Grendels-Mother/Diana-Stout/9780997422306?id=7895683858503

https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780997422306

To learn more about Diana Stout and the stories she creates go to:

https://sharpenedpencilsproductions.com/

Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/writerDianaStout

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ScreenWryter13

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/drdianastout