Today’s Women in SF&F Month guest is T. Frohock! Her short fiction includes “Dark Places” (The NoSleep Podcast), “Every Hair Casts a Shadow” (Evil is a Matter of Perspective: An Anthology of Antagonists), “Love, Crystal, and Stone” (Neverland’s Library), and “La Santisima” (free on her website along with a couple others). She is also the author of Los Nefilim, a series of three historical fantasy novellas set in 1930s Spain, and Miserere: An Autumn Tale, an excellent character-driven dark fantasy novel that I appreciated for just how different it felt: from its take on the battle between heaven and hell to its main characters, who are a bit older than a lot of protagonists I’ve encountered in SFF. A fully revised version of her debut novel was released earlier this year, and I’m delighted she is here today to share about how she approached rewriting some of its characters in “The Women of Miserere.”

About Miserere: An Autumn Tale:

Everything has a price, and those who deal with the devil pay dearly in this enthralling dark fantasy about redemption, sacrifice, and a Hell-bound battle between good and evil.

Exiled exorcist Lucian Negru made a choice that has haunted him for years. He abandoned his lover, Rachael, to Hell to save the damned soul of his sister, Catarina. But Catarina doesn’t want to be saved. Now a prisoner in his reviled sister’s home, Lucian is being used as a tool to help fulfill Catarina’s wicked dreams: unleash the demons of the underworld to wage a war above.

Lucian’s first step in thwarting Catarina’s plan is to make amends with the past. Escaping captivity, he is determined to find Rachael even if it means entering the gates of Hell itself. Only then does he cross paths with a young girl fleeing from her own terrors. With the frightened foundling in tow, Lucian embarks on a journey to right a terrible wrong, to protect the innocent, and to rescue the woman he loves.

But no one escapes Catarina’s wrath. She’s just as driven in her pursuit: to track down her brother wherever it leads. And when she finds him, and she will, she vows to turn his heart to glass, grind it to powder, and crush the souls of everyone he loves.

The Women of Miserere

When I decided to ask for a reversion of rights for my debut novel, Miserere: An Autumn Tale, I didn’t envision doing a complete rewrite. It was on my reread of the book that I saw issues with the characterization, especially with Rachael and Catarina, both of whom are mature women in their forties. In the first edition they acted more like women half their ages—Rachael came across as passive and resigned, Catarina was far too overt in her manipulations, and neither woman’s anger truly hit the page the way I wanted.

Rachael’s character required the most rewrites. She is a woman who refuses to be beaten by her circumstances, and rather than crawl into a hole to die, she is fighting the grave every step of the way. She refuses to abdicate her position at the Citadel, which is by no means a utopia of Christianity. Like any organization, there is political infighting, so she isn’t just struggling against the demon within her but also against those within the institution.

This was where I spotted another flaw. The novel was imbalanced in terms of gender, and Woerld’s women weren’t on the page prominently enough. I always envisioned them there, so I began looking for ways to change the genders of Citadel cardinals.

What a lot of people don’t realize is that Christianity had many women leaders in its early history. While the names of a lot of these women were either maligned, erased, or had their gender changed by scribes, many others are mentioned. Prior to the Orthodox takeover of the early Christian religion, women like Mary Magdalene, erroneously branded as the prostitute mentioned in Luke 7 in the fourth century C.E., was a prominent member of the early Christian movement. She was most likely a woman of independent means (Mark 15:40-41; Matthew 27:55-56; Luke 8:1-3; John 19:25) as were many of the other women who supported Jesus’s early ministry, such as Joanna and Susanna (Luke 8:1-3). The sisters Mary and Martha taught, took meals with the men, and participated in the lesson discussions. An unnamed Gentile woman taught Jesus that a ministry of God is not limited to certain faiths but to all who have faith (Mark 7:24-30; Matthew 15:21-28).

Nor did women stand down as the new religion spread. Women’s names appear in many early Christian documents: Mary Magdalene, Ammia of Philadelphia, Philumene, Perpetua, Maximilla, Priscilla (Prisca), and Quintilla. Prisca and Quintilla inspired a second century movement, Montanism, that lasted for at least four centuries. Montanist women were prophets, presbyters, and bishops. And let us not forget Thecla, who cut her hair, wore men’s clothing, and became a missionary apostle (Acts of Thecla).

Early Christian texts clearly stated that women were no strangers to the movement, and these are the women I envisioned when I wrote Rachael. In the revised edition of Miserere, I changed the gender of the leader of the Citadel armies from a man to woman. Gaya took a life of her own as I wrote her. She carries the strength Rachael so sorely needs at times. They are heart-sisters and best friends.

It was important to me to show the tight bonds women form with one another, because the stability of this friendship and found family is why Rachael hasn’t broken beneath the weight of her possession. But she is slipping away in spite of the people who support her. And she is angry—at herself, with Lucian, and for being played a fool. In the revision, Rachael’s anger shines much more brightly than it did in the first edition, most markedly in her early scenes with Lucian.

Which brings me to Catarina, whose anger in the first edition rivaled that of a Disney villain. In the revised edition, I wanted her to be the subtle manipulator, and I feel she comes across more like a classic abuser. She knows precisely what strings to pull to manipulate Lucian, who for the longest time was her chief enabler. Catarina has been successful until the opening of Miserere when Lucian finally makes his escape. But shifting gears is never a problem for people like her, and what others won’t give, she’ll find a way to take. To support her addiction to dominance, she is willing to part with the very emotions that make her human. More power is never enough until the thing she desires eats her alive.

So for those who loved the first edition of Miserere, I hope I was able to widen the scope somewhat, especially in terms of the women and their characterizations. The new edition feels true to my original ideas, and the narrative is a lot cleaner. It was worth the month I spent revising it and working through the edits.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

T. Frohock has turned a love of history and dark fantasy into tales of deliciously creepy fiction. A real-life cyborg, T. has a cochlear implant, meaning she can turn you on or off with the flick of a switch. Make of that what you will. She is the author of Miserere: An Autumn Tale, Fully Revised and the Los Nefilim series: Los Nefilim, Where Oblivion Lives, Carved from Stone and Dream, and A Song with Teeth. She currently lives in North Carolina, where she has long been accused of telling stories, which is a southern colloquialism for lying.