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I struggled with the title, because I felt "Changeling" was far too direct. It was originally quite a bit longer, but I've decided to keep the vignettes 100 - 200 words each, and so edited it down.
It was inspired by something I read once years ago: "Faeries stole my baby... but I like the replacement better." Terribly clever, perhaps even witty, but also terribly contrived for anyone who's actually known a mother who has lost a child. The bond there is not something to be shaken in such a way. However, I also do not know a mother who could actually do to a changeling child what the superstitions suggest. I do not know a mother who could bring herself to harm an innocent child, no matter how full of guile its arrival may have been. (Having a friend who works for CPS, I am quite aware that there are women who are capable of doing quite despicable things to complete innocents, but I would never deign to use the word "mother" in reference to them. They, like my brother's ex-wife, are nothing more than egg donors.)
I do not know yet if this will be included with the compilation (you will probably hear me say that a lot until I feel more settled in what unifies the pieces). Part of me feels drawn to moments and images of female faerie creatures like the leanan sidhe and tennyo previously used and would like to see that as the overture that ties all of the pieces together, but I am as of yet undecided.
It was inspired by something I read once years ago: "Faeries stole my baby... but I like the replacement better." Terribly clever, perhaps even witty, but also terribly contrived for anyone who's actually known a mother who has lost a child. The bond there is not something to be shaken in such a way. However, I also do not know a mother who could actually do to a changeling child what the superstitions suggest. I do not know a mother who could bring herself to harm an innocent child, no matter how full of guile its arrival may have been. (Having a friend who works for CPS, I am quite aware that there are women who are capable of doing quite despicable things to complete innocents, but I would never deign to use the word "mother" in reference to them. They, like my brother's ex-wife, are nothing more than egg donors.)
I do not know yet if this will be included with the compilation (you will probably hear me say that a lot until I feel more settled in what unifies the pieces). Part of me feels drawn to moments and images of female faerie creatures like the leanan sidhe and tennyo previously used and would like to see that as the overture that ties all of the pieces together, but I am as of yet undecided.
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