therunestoneguardian

Why I pulled my Windigo Story (and you should too).
          	
          	Like many other horror writers, I was fascinated with the story of the Windigo, a spirit originating in Algonquian folklore. To be honest, most of my exposure to the Wendigo was through non-indigenous sources: movies, fan art, horror stories. Kinda ironic non of these sources had any involvement with actual native culture. Or... maybe ironic isn't the word.
          	
          	Guess what: Windigo stories not told by actual indigenous individuals are cultural appropriation!
          	
          	Not only that. Most depictions of windigos are horrendously inaccurate. The spirits aren't even fully 'evil'. 
          	
          	I was lucky to find a fantastic paper that covered this very topic from Ball State University: file:///C:/Users/A.L.Exley/Downloads/2881-Article%20Text-5267-1-10-20200423.pdf
          	
          	I think about cultural appropriation like this: using some else's culture by simultaneously degrading it. For example, cornrows are viewed as an 'edgy fashion icon' for white people, while some institutions don't allow black people to wear cornrows are they are deemed 'unprofessional' or 'dirty'.  In the case of the windigo, Native American stories, and cultural traditions have been fetishized, made fun of,  and inaccurately portrayed in all media. Windigo's go hand-in-hand with the 'ancient Indian burial ground' trope. 
          	
          	Now you may be thinking - wait a minute! I did my research and portrayed an accurate windigo in my story. I should be able to write about it? Did you? Really? Cause as I said before, windigos were not actually 'evil'. They are described as 'negative spirits' meant to balance the good ones. They were described as having human traits besides a few things that gave them away. Windigos served an important place in native stories beyond being 'cannibalistic monsters'. Also, every tribe had a different story, history, and variation of the windigo name.

therunestoneguardian

Why I pulled my Windigo Story (and you should too).
          
          Like many other horror writers, I was fascinated with the story of the Windigo, a spirit originating in Algonquian folklore. To be honest, most of my exposure to the Wendigo was through non-indigenous sources: movies, fan art, horror stories. Kinda ironic non of these sources had any involvement with actual native culture. Or... maybe ironic isn't the word.
          
          Guess what: Windigo stories not told by actual indigenous individuals are cultural appropriation!
          
          Not only that. Most depictions of windigos are horrendously inaccurate. The spirits aren't even fully 'evil'. 
          
          I was lucky to find a fantastic paper that covered this very topic from Ball State University: file:///C:/Users/A.L.Exley/Downloads/2881-Article%20Text-5267-1-10-20200423.pdf
          
          I think about cultural appropriation like this: using some else's culture by simultaneously degrading it. For example, cornrows are viewed as an 'edgy fashion icon' for white people, while some institutions don't allow black people to wear cornrows are they are deemed 'unprofessional' or 'dirty'.  In the case of the windigo, Native American stories, and cultural traditions have been fetishized, made fun of,  and inaccurately portrayed in all media. Windigo's go hand-in-hand with the 'ancient Indian burial ground' trope. 
          
          Now you may be thinking - wait a minute! I did my research and portrayed an accurate windigo in my story. I should be able to write about it? Did you? Really? Cause as I said before, windigos were not actually 'evil'. They are described as 'negative spirits' meant to balance the good ones. They were described as having human traits besides a few things that gave them away. Windigos served an important place in native stories beyond being 'cannibalistic monsters'. Also, every tribe had a different story, history, and variation of the windigo name.

therunestoneguardian

Earlier today, I updated my End-of-the-book Runestone Guide, which will be included in all future books (except Book I). This inspired me to create a little blog post to explain the runes further. So prepare for some good old learnin'!
          
          These symbols come from the Elder Futhark alphabet, which was used in ancient Scandinavia. Each symbol acted as a letter, but not just any letters. They had the ability to cast magic.
          
          First, it's important to remember that lots of Pre-Christian societies were primarily verbal. Of course they had a complex writing system and wrote stuff down, but in cases such as the Norse, writing was reserved for special occasions. For one, pencils and paper weren't a common thing yet in the North. There was no major manufacturing process for writing utensils, nor a standardized system of education. Reading and writing in medieval Europe was a pass time for only the few who could afford to spend hours of the day doing stuff (a majority of citizens had farms and chores all day).
          
          If you Google pictures of 'rune stones', you'll fine just that - 'runes' carved onto 'stones'. That was the main method of transcription for the Norse! Chiseling onto stone or carving on wood. Can you imagine how long that must have taken? How much practice and discipline? Not to mention the ever-looming threat of typos and having to start all over again on a new rock. In situations of casual conversation or story-telling it made a lot more sense to just memorize stuff and verbally recite it (this is part of the reason why myths often have more than one version). 
          
          Read the full blog-post and see my new Rune-guide at:
          https://www.alexleybooks.com/post/runes-runes-runes

therunestoneguardian

Yo!!!! I got new for the first time in a while!!!!
          
          I am ending 2020 with a reveal of the TRIALS OF THE WOLF FULL COVER WHOOOHOOO!!!
          
          Go ahead and check it out, along with a fun little sneak preview of one of the chapters!
          
          Unfortunately, it's still too early to announce any release date, but keep a look out next year! Draft one is ALMOST complete, and then all I gotta do is edit....hehe.
          
          Hope you all are staying safe and sane!
          
          Ha det bra!

therunestoneguardian

*news. 
            
            This is why y'all are gonna have to be patient with the next book.
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therunestoneguardian

Trials of the Wolf Sneak Peak
          
          Hi all! Tonight, I bring you a little exert from Book II, Trials of the Wolf. In this scene, everyone's favorite flying Vesper Svelsker is working hard to put the moves on a feisty mare, but the debonair's stories may be a bit too tall...
          
          “There I was, staring into the dark maw of the cave. Nothing but blackness as far as I could see - not that there’s anything wrong with the color black, I find it incredibly attractive, wink wink.”
          
          “Did he just say, ‘wink wink?” Freya growled.
          
          “Ignore him, he usually gives up after the fourth or fifth story,” Jay said.
          
          “The odds were stacked against me!” Svelsker continued dramatically, “but I knew I was their only hope! Fifty mute, deaf, and blind infants, completely helpless!”
          
          “Wow, Svel,” Ylvana said, rubbing her temple. “Fifty infants, all mute, deaf, and blind. What a strange coincidence.”
          
          “Yes, well, there were all kidnapped from THE INSTITUTION FOR MUTE, DEAF, AND BLIND INFANTS. It was the lowest of the low, but these filthy kidnappers had little heart!"
          
          The Runestone Guardians Book II, Trials of the Wolf, to be released next year!

therunestoneguardian

I've been neglecting Wattpad lately, but hey - it happens. As long as you keep writing, right?
          
          I've got a lot of new ideas bouncing around: a new Marvel fanfic (I will try to update weekly), and potentially new Mermaid romance. Also! I'm pushing to finish Trials of the Wolf - the second book of The Runestone Guardians series. Book I ended on a depressing cliffhanger, but there's still a lot more adventures to come from the world of the 10th realm. It's still too early to announce release dates, but I am planning on giving y'all something this holiday season...
          
          Perhaps some of you received a notification that I've updated the RG book I. This new preview version is a lot cleaner so feel free to re-read it if you want but be warned it's not all that different from the original version.
          
          To read the full version of Book I, I recommend creating an account of Smashwords, where it is available for free! But the discount won't last long, so hurry!
          
          I am a lot more active on Twitter, so if (god forbid) you want to hear more from me, check out my Twitter handle and engage with me on there.
          
          Ha det bra!

therunestoneguardian

Hey guys! I could use some help. If anyone's interested in reading and potentialy reviewing a book, The Runestone Guardians is available on Amazon. There is a kindle version for 5 dollars (the format isn't the best but it's reable). Anyway I would really appricate getting some reviews on it! It's a 500 page young adult fantasy adventure story.