Cursed: Meg Kassel Talks About Curses in Black Bird of the Gallows

We have several books, including Meg Kessel‘s Black Bird of the Gallows, Kat Colmer‘s The Third Kiss, S.D. Grimm‘s Summoner, and Jaime Questell‘s By A Charm and A Curse about characters who are cursed in one way or another, so we’re doing a blog series about it. We asked our authors to share either how they came up with the curse mythology for their books, whether they’ve ever felt cursed either metaphorically or in a real way, what curse – if any – they could imagine placing on someone or some other character in the future, or who their fave characters in books, tv, or movies who have been cursed.

When coming up with the curses for the harbingers of death and the Beekeepers in Black Bird of the Gallows, I went back to old magic, forgotten by time, like a key to a locked chest that’s long lost. If you want a book with a happy-ish ending, you need a problem that is solvable. Curses, by nature, can be broken, so I started with that as part of the framework of the story. The only one in Black Bird of the Gallows who hasn’t given up trying to break his curse is the antagonist, Rafette, who is so very done with his existence he’ll do anything to be rid of it, even it if means condemning a harbinger of death to a Beekeeper’s tortured immortality.

Love hearing about one of Meg Kassel’s cursed characters in Black Bird of the Gallows? Check out this short teaser between two other characters, Angie and Reece: 

“What happened to you?”

He lets out a laugh with a sharp twist in it. “What hasn’t happened to me?” He tips his head back and closes his eyes. Long, dark lashes on golden cheeks. “Oh Angie, I can never tell you it all. And this isn’t the time or the place to tell even a little of it.”

“Then why did you want to talk to me?”

“To apologize. To—” He rolls his head toward me, gives me a vague smile that doesn’t match the hunger in his eyes. “Angie, I will answer your questions. There isn’t enough time right now, but soon. I have one request.”

“What is it?”

“That you’ll hear me out.” He draws in a breath through his teeth. “That after you hear what I have to say, you’ll try not to be afraid of me.”

About Black Bird of the Gallows:

A simple but forgotten truth: Where harbingers of death appear, the morgues will soon be full.

Angie Dovage can tell there’s more to Reece Fernandez than just the tall, brooding athlete who has her classmates swooning, but she can’t imagine his presence signals a tragedy that will devastate her small town. When something supernatural tries to attack her, Angie is thrown into a battle between good and evil she never saw coming. Right in the center of it is Reece—and he’s not human.

What’s more, she knows something most don’t. That the secrets her town holds could kill them all. But that’s only half as dangerous as falling in love with a harbinger of death.

Want to read more? Pre-order Black Bird of the Gallows by Meg Kassel now:

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About the Meg Kassel:

Meg Kassel is an author of paranormal and speculative books for young adults. A New Jersey native, Meg graduated from Parson’s School of Design and worked as a graphic designer before becoming a writer. She now lives in Maine with her husband and daughter and is busy at work on her next novel. She is the 2016 RWA Golden Heart© winner in YA.

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