The “What If” Fantasy Tag

Hello all! So, I’ve been tagged by The Kyle Robert Shultz (yes, that really is his official title) to do this tag, which will be fun, since I hardly need an excuse to wax lyrical about my favorite genre, fantasy!

1. Your car breaks down in the middle of nowhere. The cast of the most recent fantasy book you read comes to your assistance… who are they? Will they be helpful?

That would be Skylar, Gilbert and Aldwyn from “The Familiars.” Yes, they actually would be helpful in this situation, although they’re from a world that doesn’t have cars, and even with all of them being animals, since they’re magic, and they love to help people. So they’d find a way to get my non-magic transportation up and running.

2. You go to bed one evening and wake up in the lair of the villain of the last fairy tale you read; where are you and how do you plan to get out?

Hmmm…that would be the Shifting Fortress from book 3 of “The Familiars.” (Since the villain in book 4 didn’t actually have a lair.) Getting out would be really hard, as the Fortress transports itself from place to place. I guess I’d have to team up with Skylar, Gilbert and Aldwyn and have them rescue me.

3. You are transported into a fantasy realm and given a mythical creature as a companion and best friend… which mythical creature do you get?

What’s the criteria for this? Who would be assigning the creature, and based on what? Okay, I’m probably overthinking it. If someone else was giving me a companion, though, it would probably be something like a griffin or a small dragon. (I’m not even sure how I came to that conclusion, with the non-existent qualifications. See, this is why I need to know!)

4. In a strange series of coincidences, you end up needing to take the place of your favorite fantasy hero or heroine. Who are you?

Okayyyy… I am either Almathea of “The Last Unicorn,” or Susan Sto Helit of “Discworld.” Because I have wanted to be Almathea since I was about 7 years old; and when I first read “Soul Music” several years ago, I decided it does not get any better than your grandfather actually being Death and being called in to learn the family business.

5. To go along with question #4, now that you are that character, is there anything you would do differently than that character, now that you are running the show?

As Almathea, I think the only thing I would’ve done differently was to kill King Haggard earlier, and turned the Prince down quicker, so that I wouldn’t have gotten sidetracked from my all-important mission of saving the other unicorns so easily. As Susan, I think I’d probably be a little nicer to the Death of Rats in the beginning.

6. If you were yourself in a fantasy novel, what role do you think you would play in the story?

I’d better become the queen of all things, but have a super-extroverted and energetic assistant to carry out all the major tasks — like, you know, running the world — so I’d have plenty of time to wander my castle accompanied by my pet talking ocelot, hiding from people and acquiring the best library on the planet. Oh, but still get to tell people what to do when they came to me for advice — which they would, of course, because I’m the wise and lovable autistic queen.

7. One morning, as you are going about your daily business, you pick up an everyday item and a voice booms in your head with prophetic words about your future. What object is it, and what is your prophecy?

A book. The prophecy is that I’ll discover a far more beautiful world than I ever thought existed.

8. You are transported into a magical realm and turned into a mythical beast…what beast/fantasy creature do you want to be?

I am a unicorn. This is a fact, for those of you who doubt it. I actually spend my free time galloping through pixie-filled meadows and healing injured stray cats with my horn.

9. If you could read your way into any fantasy realm, but the catch is that you can never leave, would you? Which realm would you choose?

Hmmm, this is a tough one. I’m not sure I’d like not having the option to leave. If I was in magical creature form, it’d probably be easier to stay indefinitely. And in that case, I’d have to say “Warriors,” or the Afterverse of the “Beaumont and Beasley” series.

10. As you are going about your normal day, you discover that you have a magical power. What is it?

To see into the future. And not just that, but the ability to make people believe me that I really do know what’s coming and how to change it.