Today kicks off the Meet the Authors of the Allegories of the Tarot anthology. I’m really excited to introduce to you a fabulous line-up of writers for this project. You’ll have a chance to check out each writer, the card they’ve chosen, and why in the coming days.
I met Pete working with him on his story, A Spark in the Darkness. He was totally fearless about the editing process, and eager to put in some hard work, and it totally paid off. An awesome story; one of many he has written.
We’re starting off with the first card in the Major Arcana of the Tarot–The Fool. Actually, this card is un-numbered and can appear either at the beginning or the end of the deck.
From Wikipedia: “The Fool is the spirit in search of experience. He represents the mystical cleverness bereft of reason within us, the childlike ability to tune into the inner workings of the world. The sun shining behind him represents the divine nature of the Fool’s wisdom and exuberance, holy madness or ‘crazy wisdom’. On his back are all the possessions he might need. In his hand there is a flower, showing his appreciation of beauty. He is frequently accompanied by a dog, sometimes seen as his animal desires, sometimes as the call of the “real world”, nipping at his heels and distracting him. He is seemingly oblivious that he is walking toward a precipice, apparently about to step off. One of the keys to the card is the paradigm of the precipice, Zero and the sometimes represented oblivious Fool’s near-step into the oblivion.
In many esoteric systems of interpretation, the Fool is usually interpreted as the protagonist of a story, and the Major Arcana is the path the Fool takes through the great mysteries of life and the main human archetypes. This path is known traditionally in Tarot as the Fool’s Journey, and is frequently used to introduce the meaning of Major Arcana cards to beginners.”
Photo by Kris Austen Radcliffe.
What intrigues you about this particular Tarot card? Who isn’t intrigued by the fool? So many possibilities. Or am I a fool for saying that?
Why did you decide to get roped into this project? Netta saved my life in ‘Nam.
Have you ever had dealings with the Tarot before? I dated a tarot reader once. That lasted for about a week.
What other projects do you have planned? STEALING NIGHT, a rural crime thriller, is coming out later in May from Nightscape Press, and my dark sci-fi novel LESSER CREATURES is coming out from DarkFuse in December. I also have stories popping up in other anthologies here and there. Another busy year.
He’s definitely not a fool, but he sure can write about one.
Bio: A Pushcart Prize nominee and an active member of the Horror Writers Association, Peter Giglio is the author of five novels, three novellas, and he edits a successful line of books for Evil Jester Press. His works of short fiction can be found in a number of notable volumes, including two comprehensive genre anthologies edited by New York Times Bestselling author John Skipp. With Scott Bradley, Peter wrote the author-approved screen adaptation of Joe R. Lansdale’s “The Night They Missed the Horror Show,” and an established screenwriting team in Los Angeles holds the film option on Giglio’s Sunfall Manor. He resides in Lincoln, Nebraska, where he stays out of trouble. *Editor’s note: HAH!
You can find Peter on his website or his blog.
