The focus of my writing is: what’s under the rock. I have uncovered treasure under the rock; treasure that is at once beautiful and ugly, and without exception, humorous. I am drawn to the creepy places, maybe it’s the absurdity I find there. To bring these things to the light requires a little magic. Magic in the form of touching the unknown and the unknowable. This is accessible to all of us since that magic lies in our collective human consciousness. For instance, a character who suffers from Borderline Personality Disorder, touches her unknowable through hallucinations. Some of you have met her, Karin Olina, in Magel’s Daughter, my first novel.

Her mother, Magel is the matriarch of psychosis, thus giving rise to her daughter’s lunacy. This is fertile ground for magical realism. While the story is set in reality, the characters come from a long line of Norwegian witches, which allows for unbridled mayhem. Karin hallucinates, seeing and hearing her dead grandmothers, the preceding matriarchs, who then become characters in the novel. Karin walks down a dark path, gathering tools for survival. Her specialty tool is the spell of sex.

In Magel’s Ghost, the sequel to Magel’s Daughter, Karin’s hallucinatory gathering expands, now including her mother and her mentor, Sylvia. The hallucinatory ghosts take possession of distinct areas of her mind, assisting her in honing her skills of seduction in order to further her quest for power in the art community of Minneapolis. Her victims are the son, father, and grandfather of a wealthy family. Karin becomes the fantasy and lover to all three men. The unknowable becomes known.

Magical realism allows the reader to delve into mysteries otherwise off limits. Aren’t we all haunted by the comments and actions of family members dead or alive? And along the way, haven’t we gathered our own special tools to survive? I think so, and wouldn’t it feel good to dig it out from under the rock and have a good laugh?