Leanne Caine’s End of St. Patrick

Leanne Caine is one of the edgiest authors at StarkLight Press. For Shamrocks, Saints and Standing Stones, she was given the prompts of 2075, St. Patrick himself and ‘in space’. She has written us a truly chilling tale of how magic and technology can combine to wreak a pagan revenge. Here’s an excerpt:

The space he was in was small. He sat in a comfortable chair and he could touch the walls on either side of him by spreading his arms wide. The front of his floating crypt was even closer and it seemed the point of the chair he was in was for examining the stones. Behind him there was room to lie down if he moved the jumble of equipment that was completely mysterious to him.

He touched another button and he was pushed backwards against the soft seat, the stars moved more quickly outside. He pushed another and the ship started to turn, gently spinning in the great infinity of space that he found himself in. But how?

He remembered the ring of faces over him. They had tied him to one of their great stone alters. They had spoken their prayers, raising their hands above their heads, overlapping their palms. Then the King Ryan and come forth.

Leanne took some time to answer our interview questions below:

1. What’s your most prominent memory of St. Patrick’s Day?Drunk off my butt at a party at college wearing a sexy leprechaun outfit that was so short I had to wear little lycra green shorts to save some of my dignity. Obscurely at midnight we all did a countdown. I don’t know, I was that drunk, we got confused between new years and St. Patrick’s day.
   2. Name the part of Irish culture you are most happy to lay claim to and why- is it Guinness? Irish music? The Book of Kells? The Fighting Irish?

   I like the ‘Kiss Me, I’m Irish’ t-shirts. I like to wear them and then ‘forget’ that I’m wearing them and whallop anyone who tries to kiss me. Then I act like it was a big misunderstanding and laugh it off.
   3. What are your thoughts on working with this sort of writing exercise, fueled by prompts? How did seeing the prompts of your fellow authors and chatting online together with them about the work affect your process?

   I was happy with my prompt. I loved giving St. Patrick a rough time. I was the first one to post so I didn’t get a lot of time to chat or watch other people work off of their prompts but I enjoyed all the Irish memes that everyone posted. Everyone clearly had a ton of fun and it’s clear when you read these stories that we all had a blast.