Golden Girl (29 page)

Stone ground against stone and snapped. The dragon screamed, and the gate snapped shut.

And it was gone. There was nothing left but a pile of rubble jutting out of the steaming black lake, the crackle of settling dust, and the four of us.

Oh, there were people running around, shouting and screaming and demanding to know what was going on, but they weren’t important. What was important was that my mother, my father, Jack, and I were all still standing.

“Mama?” I whispered.

She opened her arms and I fell into them, and then Papa had his arms around both of us. It was a long time before I could loosen their hold and open up toward Jack. Slowly, almost shyly, Jack came forward, completing the embrace. We stayed like that, arms around each other, holding on for dear life. We didn’t know what would happen next. The Seelie king was still on his hill, but the odds were good
he wouldn’t stay there long. He’d declared his war. If my grandparents didn’t know what had happened yet, they would soon. And behind them, Shake, grinning his broken-toothed grin, was waiting and watching for his chance.

It didn’t matter. These people I called my parents were mostly strangers to me, but that didn’t matter either. We were alive, and none of us was alone anymore.

For now, that was enough.

I love old movies. I always have. Give me a black-and-white film from Hollywood’s golden age, silent or with sound, and I’m a happy camper, especially if I have a bowl of popcorn to go with it. I recognize a lot of these films (maybe most of them) have not aged well, and the social attitudes depicted can range from antediluvian to infuriating to horrifying. But there is joy there, and food for thought, and yes, there’s magic.

When I started thinking about how the glamour of fairy would translate into the United States during the Great Depression, I knew the story would have to turn toward Hollywood. Hollywood was where glamour was created and defined for the majority of the country, and that glamour was as tempting and as treacherous as any spell of legend when it worked on people, inside the movies and out.

There are more historical figures in this book than in
Dust Girl
, and more than there will be in the upcoming
Bad Luck Girl
. Paul Robeson was a real man, and he really was, among other things, an all-American football player (and in the College Football Hall of Fame), lawyer, singer, actor, and political and civil rights activist. William Randolph Hearst was the most powerful and wealthy media tycoon
of his day, and he used that power to try to shape the world as he wanted it to be. He also had a long relationship with both MGM Studios, run largely by Louis B. Mayer and Irving Thalberg, and the actress Marion Davies. His massive mansion called San Simeon still stands and is open to the public.

I’ve included a playlist of the songs that are quoted in the book and were running through my head as I wrote. The music in
Golden Girl
is a combination of traditional spirituals and the songs of George and Ira Gershwin. You might notice many of the Gershwin songs were written after the story takes place. But as they are some of my all-time favorites, I decided to pull out my artistic license and let love override a bit of historical accuracy.

Because we’re on the MGM back lot for so much of the story, I’ve also included a watch list of some classic movies and musicals that were in my mind as Jack and Callie made their way through the story.

A historical book always owes a lot to existing writing and research. I’d like to particularly acknowledge Donald Bogle for
Bright Boulevards, Bold Dreams: The Story of Black Hollywood
, and Steven Bingen, Stephen X. Sylvester, and Michael Troyan for
MGM: Hollywood’s Greatest Backlot
.

I chose these songs not only because they fit the story well, but also because most of them were recorded by Paul Robeson. Many are available from the Smithsonian Folkways label and can (hurray!) be found online.

Gershwin songs form the backbone of some of my all-time favorite movies and musicals, so they were playing in my mind and on the headphones as I wrote. I also have suspicions about a connection between the Gershwin brothers and the Seelies, but that’s another story.

Here’s another case where some of the works cited were released a little later, or a lot later, than the events in the story. But these are films that shaped my love of old movies, and it was my love of old movies that led me to this world and this story.

Sarah Zettel is an award-winning science fiction and fantasy author. She has written more than twenty novels and many short stories over the past eighteen years, in addition to practicing tai chi, learning the fiddle, marrying a rocket scientist, and raising a rapidly growing son. The American Fairy Trilogy is her first series for teens. Visit her at
sarahzettel.com
.