Authors Piper CJ and Jeneane O’Riley had a book signing on May 8 hosted through the partnership of Main Street Books and St. Charles City-County Library.
Both authors came to talk about their new books, “The Deer and the Dragon” by Piper CJ and “How Does It Feel?” by Jeneane O’Riley. Each book is a fresh twist on the intermingling of Fae and Humans. For those who didn’t get the chance to meet these two and spend the evening listening to them talk Fae and Fantasy, here are some highlights of the night.
O’Riley uses her passion for physics and mycology (the study of fungi) to explore the fae realm in an inventive way. Her main character, Callie, is a biologist who is mistaken as an assassin by the Unseelie Fae Prince Mendax. O’Riley described the origins of the story as something that entered her imagination on a walk through the woods and it became an “interesting story that just kinda stuck with me.” She felt that in writing Callie, a heroine who is mightier in brain than in brawn, she got to “add a more human aspect of ‘oh I am just a girl and I can’t do that’ but we really can.”
O’Riley also said that “just because we are human doesn’t mean we don’t have superpowers.” She wants people to read her dark romantic fantasy and see that we don’t all need a sword or magic powers, sometimes the skills we already have are just as great as magic. Plus, for anyone who loves a good enemies-to-lovers trope or finds themselves drawn to the bad guy, O’Riley wrote up the perfect villain for you. When someone asked about her book she said she was tired of enemies to lovers where the bad guy had a redemption arc. O’Riley pointed out that the fact women are drawn to bad guys is fascinating because “we love that they love us even if they hate everyone else.”
O’Riley’s one piece of advice to other writers was to never read reviews. She said that reviews are only going to distract a writer. She also mentioned that the best stories are the ones that find you. “If You cannot function until you get it out, don’t stop. If it’s there in your head, don’t ignore it,” O’Riley said to the crowd.
The best way to describe O’Riley as a writer is something she herself said, “I have a little thing called rebellion so I wanted to do the complete opposite of normal fantasy.” If readers are looking for something strange, creepy, and magical they should find her first book “How Does It Feel?”
O’Riley was in good company for the signing because the other author, CJ is quite the rebel. She pointed out that she doesn’t exactly understand the book industry despite having published five books. “I kinda just do things and no one has stopped me,” CJ admitted to the crowd.
CJ herself has a very diverse background, having grown up in the Evangelical church and going from religious studies to getting a master’s in folklore, CJ has had numerous jobs. She has taken on the role of photographer, sex worker, TikTok sensation, and now author. CJ likes to add a bit of her background in sex work and folklore into every story she writes. Her first series, “The Night and It’s Moon” just came to an end in Jan. 2024 and was a high fantasy series about Nox and Amaris, two women who were a sex worker and assassin.
CJ was asked about the creation of these characters, and she admitted that Nox was an idea that had been with her since she started sex work. “A character that had the ability to fight and to fight well with brains and beauty,” is the spark behind Nox.
In her new series, she has yet another heroine who is smarter than she is strong. “The Deer and the Dragon” was a healing process for CJ, exploring the parts of Hell that the church had taught her to fear. CJ described Hell in a simple way, it was the creation of an angel who wanted equality. CJ feels that Lucifer being cast out of Heaven in Christian lore was always due to his ask for equality and her heroine Marlow also wants to be freed from subjugation.
“Is it so wrong to not want to be subjugated? Not want to be secondary?” CJ asked the crowd, the response was cheers and a chorus of ‘nos.’ Readers will get to journey to Hell with Marlow as she meets the different pantheons of Fae from mythology all over the world in “The Deer and The Dragon.” CJ’s personal love for the story is because it allowed her to combat the idea of Hell as a place of damnation. “When do we get to go to Hell and it be a good thing? Hell is not scary,” CJ said to the crowd.
Both authors can be found on Instagram, @piper_cj and @jeneaneorileyauthor, and have more books in the works now. Thanks to Main Street Books and the St. Charles City-County Library, these authors got to meet fans and readers from the St. Charles area. It was a night of many hugs and laughs. Keep an eye on Main Street Books and St. Charles City-County Library’s social media for more author events.
