We are delighted to announce that our very own Tegan Elizabeth Webb has published a short story entitled “Selkie” in Rough Magick, a collection of haunting stories and poems about the darker side of love and sex. Congratulations, Tegan!! This sounds like an amazing collection. As the blurb explains:
Some of the stories are magical; some are more realistic and the “magic” comes through in language and lyricism. Some protagonists are teens and some are adults. There is romanticism and eroticism and even horror. What unites the stories is that the writers have boldly faced love’s shadows in unique and gripping ways.
Tegan Elizabeth Webb
Tegan is a student and writer based in Melbourne. Her work has appeared in various publications, including Moss Piglet Journal, Grotty, and A Sharp Knife. She writes mostly about strange creatures who have a lot of feelings.
I had the chance to ask Tegan about how she came to write “Selkie” for the anthology , and she responded:
“Rough Magick is a collection of stories about the darker side of love and sex, and so I thought the theme of possession that runs through selkie mythology would be an interesting angle from which I could explore some of the darker elements of romantic relationships, and in particular the power dynamics in said relationships.”
She also elaborated on the symbolism of taking the selkie cloak in this thought-provoking comment:
“For me, the taking of the cloak is a perfectly explicit metaphor for the kinds of power that men have been known to take from women in unhealthily possessive and emotionally abusive relationships. What I wanted to do with “Selkie” was to take this mythology and bring it forward into a contemporary setting, in order to highlight that this narrative is still being played out in the countless tales we hear of women being abused, both physically and emotionally, by men they know, trust and love.”
What an incredible idea. Tegan’s comment also demonstrates how older mythologies can still have relevance for the lives we are living today. There is always something we can absorb, always something to reflect upon.
If you’d like to read Tegan’s story, and others in the collection, you can get a copy here.
Magical regards,
Dr Belinda Calderone
AFTS President
Australian Fairy Tale Society 