When we think of fairies, we typically think of someone like Tinkerbell, some little sprite who’s friendly but maybe a little feisty as well.
But in his new novel of magical realism, The Miraculous Life Of Rupert Rocket (paperback, Kindle), writer Mark Salzwedel has instead opted for a fairy of the Irish isles, who are known for being financially motivated.
In the following email interview, Salzwedel discusses what inspired and influenced this story, as well as why he had the fairies be Irish as opposed to from some other magical land.
Photo Credit: Allie B Photographs
To begin, what is The Miraculous Life Of Rupert Rocket about, and when and where is it set?
In the 1940s, Rupert’s grandmother becomes the target of the Irish girlfriend her German boyfriend jilted. She meets a strange woman with long, pointed ears who claims to be the sister of the Irish fairy who cursed her. This second fairy blesses her to dull some of the effects of the curse, which is meant to end her bloodline immediately. But the blessing only lasts 25 years, at which point Rupert’s grandfather dies suddenly, and his mother is already pregnant. On Christmas morning, when Rupert is born, the good fairy blesses the newborn for 25 years, to help protect the family from her sister’s curse.
Because of the unique circumstances of being cursed and then blessed on his birth, Rupert grows up with some abilities that strain greatly and the bounds of probability. But they are often mixed blessings. For example, when he gets the ability to make people laugh for a year, nobody seems to take him seriously. Rupert eventually goes through a series of careers as dancer, model, actor, arts administrator, and international spy in New York, always wondering when the curse will finish him off as it had every other member of his family.
Where did you get the idea for The Miraculous Life Of Rupert Rocket?
I reference the story “Sleeping Beauty” from the Brothers Grimm in the epilogue. It contains a similar scenario where a baby is cursed by one fairy, and another fairy softens its effects.
I was also born on Christmas morning, and I wondered what it would be like if something wonderful happened on my birthday, instead of it being forgotten amid the merriment of the holiday.
Is there something different about Irish fairies as opposed to ones from other places?
A lot of fairies are mischievous or just free spirits, I think. Irish fairies seem to be bribable. Both of the fairies in my novel are taken from Irish mythology, and their powers are for sale, if you know their price.
Is that why you had the one in The Miraculous Life Of Rupert Rocket be Irish?
I needed motives for the fairies to use their magic. In “Sleeping Beauty,” the cursing fairy is acting out of vengeful spite, and the last fairy is trying to fix the problem her sister created. In my novel, the Pooka is always looking for someone who wants revenge, and when she finds someone, they give her what she wants, and she curses the enemy. Her sister, the Grogoch, looks for someone who is down on their luck and needs some help to turn things around, and that occasionally puts her at odds with her sister, as in this story.
The Miraculous Life Of Rupert Rocket sounds like it’s a fantasy story, albeit one that’s more like a fable than, say, The Lord Of The Rings or Harry Potter.
I had actually wanted to write this novel as magical realism, which some would argue it fits, and some would argue it does not. I think the genre, in my humble opinion, could use some liberation from the shackles of Latin American colonial repudiation. It is in many ways a “modern fairytale,” not just because of the fairies, but because of the intergenerational plot and the poetic justice of the resolution. Very few fantasy novels limit their magic to what is physically possible under our understanding of physics, and I decided none of the blessings in my story would go beyond extremes of luck.
The Miraculous Life Of Rupert Rocket is not your first published work. Are there any writers, or specific stories, that had a big influence on Rupert Rocket but not on anything else you’ve written?
Honestly, my favorite magical realism novel is Laura Esquivel’s Like Water For Chocolate. I also enjoyed China Miéville’s The City And The City, which is also a bit in that vein.
You also write poetry, as we discusses when we talked about your previous novel, The Lever. Do you think writing poems — and, presumedly, reading them — had an influence on how you wrote The Miraculous Life Of Rupert Rocket?
It makes me perhaps a bit more sensitive to the rhythm of the language and the sentence lengths. As I have started reading my works before audiences, I’ve become more aware of the problems of the longer sentences I would otherwise feel free to construct.
What about non-literary influences; was The Miraculous Life Of Rupert Rocket influenced by any movies, TV shows, or games?
I have enjoyed playing episodic adventure / puzzle games, games like Myst or Syberia, and that has made me more open to a non-traditional plot arc, I suppose.
Then, to flip things around, do you think The Miraculous Life Of Rupert Rocket could work as a movie, show, or game?
It would be difficult to cast for TV or film, because the story takes Rupert from age 0 to 50, but I guess if they could do something that epic for films like The Time Traveler’s Wife and The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, they could do it for my story. The episodic format of the plot would probably fit a television show more than a film, I suppose.
And if someone wanted to make that show, who would you want them to cast as Rupert, the Pooka, the Grogoch, and the other main characters?
I kept thinking of Shirley MacLaine [Steel Magnolias] for the Grogoch, but I think she’s a bit too old for it now. [The Iron Lady‘s] Meryl Streep is just about right for it now maybe. Someone like [Grease‘s] Stockard Channing would’ve been great for the Pooka, but now she’s getting too old for it too, so maybe Karin Konoval [War For The Planet Of The Apes] or Julianne Moore [Kingsman: The Golden Circle]. Rupert could be any young, fit actor who could play German-American.
So, is there anything else you think people need to know about The Miraculous Life Of Rupert Rocket?
I put a whole bunch of research into what was happening, the level of tech, and what was popular every year from 1942 to 2019, when the narrative takes place, so enjoy the trip through history with the characters.
I often get asked if there is a theme to my novels, and this one seems to be about what makes individuals into a family and how you can carry on in a life with so many ups and downs when you have that.
Finally, if someone enjoys The Miraculous Life Of Rupert Rocket, what similar kind of fantasy novel of someone else’s would you suggest they check out next?
The novels I mentioned earlier are both really good: Como agua para chocolate / Like Water For Chocolate by Laura Esquivel and The City And The City by China Miéville.
