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Remember the old folktale Jack and the Beanstalk? You probably heard it as a kid. "Fee-fi-foe-fum" and all that? Would you believe that it (along with X-Files) was the inspiration for my futuristic dystopian series?
By the time I finished my version, giants were about the only real connection to the old story. And by giants, I'm only talking about regular people of large stature. (Okay, maybe not regular people.) But I did feature the actual folktale in my story. I fabricated a history for it as well as an ancient version and used it as a clue to the mystery unfolding around my heroine, Jaclyn. (Yup, Jack!)
Actually, Jack and the Beanstalk already has a pretty fascinating history. It was first printed in 1743, but most experts agree the oral story was much older. Some say it could have originated as early as 4500 BC! I don't know about that, but it seems clear that it's old enough to have crossed paths with Shakespeare. Maybe it stole from the Bard. Or maybe Shakespeare plagiarized from Jack. Either way, that "Fee-fi-fo-fum! I smell the blood of an Englishman" line appears almost word-for-word in King Lear (1606).
No one's climbing beanstalks in my sci-fi thriller, but it does contain a lot of action, a little romance, and a whole bunch of stay-up-late-reading suspense. In Recompense, past and present intertwine, fusing at the point of revolution. And best of all? It's free!
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