Terri Windling is a truly magical woman. And perhaps even more importantly, she’s a bringer of magic.
I discovered her work through the short stories collections she co-edited with Ellen Datlow, revisiting fairy tales in various dark, deep, deviant, weird, beautiful, mysterious, tremendous ways, such as Snow White, Blood Red or Black Thorn, White Rose. I love retellings of fairy tales. I’ve researched them, taught them, even wrote some of my own (in French, don’t look for them on Amazon!). She’s also a specialist of mythic fiction, which is my other favorite sub-genre.
But you may have also heard of the urban fantasy series Bordertown, about the Endicott Studio and its Journal of Mythic Arts, or visited her delightful blog, full of art and poetry and music and light. All of that is Terri’s.
Every lover of short fiction, fairies, myths, fantasy and horror may be thankful to her. I’m all of that, and all the more thankful.
Now Terri and her family are in need.
And the World Wide Web gave birth to a true, modern fairy tale wonder to help them.
It’s a fundraising auction called Magick 4 Terri.
Beloved editor, artist and writer Terri Windling is in need, and we are asking for your help in a fundraising auction to assist her. This auction will combine donations from professionals and fans in an online sale to help Terri through a serious financial crisis. […]
Terri Windling and her family have been coping with health and legal issues that have drained her financial resources at a critical time. Due to the serious nature of these issues, and privacy concerns for individual family members, we can’t be more specific than that, but Terri is in need of our support. As a friend, a colleague and an inspiration, Terri has touched many, many lives over the years. She has been supremely generous in donating her own work and art to support friends and colleagues in crisis. Now, Terri is in need of some serious help from her community. Who better than her colleagues and fans to rise up to make some magick for her?
Terri herself reacted with her usual grace and humility, counting blessings in the darkest of times :
As I work from the living-room sofa today (with my swollen foot propped up and a little black dog close by, performing her healing magic), I am amazed, moved, honored, and humbled by this, organized by close friends and colleagues who have the biggest hearts in the Whole Wide World. Once again I am reminded of what an extraordinary community we’re all a part of (including you, dear Reader) here in the Mythic Arts/Fantasy/Speculative Fiction field. In the middle of what has been, admittedly, a very rough season for me and my family, I feel incredibly blessed today. A heartfelt thank you to all involved.
The auction ends at 5 p.m. Pacific Time, December 15th, 2011. It includes personal offerings from the likes of Neil Gaiman, George R.R. Martin, Wendy & Brian Froud, rare Alan Lee prints, a signed and inscribed book by Lord Dunsany, and many other incredible items. You may also post your own skills, services, arts, crafts, or whatever else you’d like to offer, or simply relay the information on Twitter or Facebook.
As author Katherine Langrish wrote on her blog, I’m amazed to see that Terri has “continued to spread such light and inspiration here on your blog each day even when your own days have been dark ones. That in itself is inspiring.”
Of course, we all know that sometimes, fairy tales are not enough. But we’ll hope. I’ll hope. Christmas is, after all, a time for hope, giving and wonders.
