Science Fiction and Fantasy
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We'll break the news here: "Toby Bishop is a pseudonym for award-winning author Louise Marley. This has been a fairly open secret for some time I think. Can you talk a bit about bifurcating your life? Have you done publicity as "Toby, or convention panels?
The pseudonym is an open secret to a number of people who read Louise Marley novels, but it seems to have snuck past others, who think Toby might just be a man. It's tricky doing publicity under a different name. I tried going to a convention as Toby, and received some strange looks. Now I just put Toby's name under mine on the badge.
Increasingly I find that the internet is a much easier way of reaching readers, especially under another name, than book signings or conventions are. I've had the most fun with Toby's website, especially since readers began sending pictures of themselves and their beautiful horses. Now we have a page on the website where you can see some of them.
Also on the website you can hear the author (me) read the opening scene of Airs Beneath the Moon, find recipes for the Uplands dishes Larkyn and her family like, read some of the history of the winged horses of Oc, or listen to a delightful radio promo—with music and whinnies!—that aired on the podcast Adventures in SciFi Publishing.
Your writing about horses is beautiful and knowledgeable and shows either vast experience or vast research. Which is it? Did you have an interesting early life that included horses?
Above is a picture of me at the age of six on September Morn, a Morgan mare.
I lived on ranches most of the time I was growing up, riding, milking cows, driving a tractor, stacking hay. I didn't think that was an interesting life at the time. I suppose I thought it was a lot of work!
But yes, I was always interested in horses, and I still am. When I began to write "The Horsemistress Saga, I studied everything I could find on horses and their history. There's a fascinating theory that horses are descended from four archetypal breeds, for example: warmbloods, draft horses, Orientals (Arabs), and Tarpans (the steppe horses). There was a lot I wanted to know about dressage before creating the "Airs" that the winged horses perform. I also needed to refresh my memory on horse physiology. My sister is an animal therapist, and she answered lots of questions about horses' health and anatomy.
What is it about horses and fantasy? Winged horses, unicorns, dragons that carry riders in suspiciously horse-like fashion—where does all that fascination come from?
It seems to me that the very idea that a small human can ride a large, powerful animal is fantastic. It's useful, of course, as the American Indians found out when the Spanish brought the first horses to North America. Horses can mean power, as the riders on the Asian steppes have known for centuries. There's speed and freedom in riding which a human being on foot can't achieve, as the Arab desert riders show. Riding in the air just takes it one giant step further.
And horses are so beautiful! I have a rather large collection of horse images, not realistic ones but artistic interpretations. Artists are drawn to the shape of the horse (and the unicorn and the dragon). There's something fascinating about a large body that is capable of speed, power, and grace. The horse is ethereal and yet often massive, an unusual combination. I think painters, sculptors, and writers will always explore the magic of these creatures.
Are there other horse fantasy novels you'd like to recommend to fans who've enjoyed this trilogy?
I have quite a list of novels to recommend to horse lovers of all ages. Most of them aren't fantasies, but still convey the magic quality of the horse. My favorite, as a young girl, was Will James's Smoky, the Story of a Horse. I also love the old novel National Velvet, about a girl who dreams of riding in a steeplechase. There's a new fantasy novel I enjoyed very much called Gordath Wood, by Patrice Sarath, a writer who knows a lot about horsemanship and showing horses. Mary Stewart's Airs Above the Ground is a wonderful story about the Lippizaner stallions, the horses who "dance". It's important to me that people who write about horses get it right; nothing throws me out of a story faster than, for example, horses who gallop everywhere and never seem to need food or water.
Of course the winged horses of Oc are creatures of fantasy. They mature faster, are smarter and more empathetic than their wingless counterparts. But I hope readers of "The Horsemistress Saga come away with an appreciation of the unique qualities of the horse. Horses are incredibly gentle for their size, and are remarkable intelligent. They have real emotions, and they need company, and nurturing.
My sister has an aged, blind horse named Jim, with a companion called Mocha. Sometimes Jim gets lost in the field; he whinnies for Mocha, and Mocha gallops out to find him and lead him back to the stable. It brings tears to my eyes to see this kindness, and I think of my winged horses as an extrapolation from the true nature of the horse—and not so very far removed after all.
