Monday, February 2, 2026

Character Confessions: The Fablecastle Chronicles by Trina Spillman #MagicalRealism #CharacterConfessions



If my protagonist, Lucifer, were to vent about me, it would be scathing and probably go something like this...

I will say this once, because repetition is inefficient.

You are an empathetic writer. That is your problem.

Empathy, in theory, is a useful instrument. In practice, you wield it like a blunt object. You give it to everyone. Heroes. Villains. Bystanders. Historical monsters. People who have not earned so much as a passing glance of understanding. You dilute it until it loses all strategic value.

Scarcity creates meaning. You ignore this. You distribute understanding as if it were an inexhaustible resource, which tells me you have never tried to run a system at scale. I have. Trust me. Unlimited compassion collapses under its own weight.

You are obsessed with motivation. You insist on explaining why everyone does what they do. Childhood wounds. Structural pressures. Cultural inheritance. Occasionally, people are not broken. Occasionally, they are functioning exactly as designed. You refuse to accept this, which slows everything down.

You keep asking whether something is justified.

That question is irrelevant.

Systems do not require justification. They require participation. They do not need to be moral. They need to be efficient. You keep trying to hold them accountable to human ethics, which is charming, in the way a child insisting a storm should apologize is charming.

You romanticize resistance. This is a common error among earth monkeys who fancy themselves perceptive. You believe defiance is rare. It is not. It is loud, performative, and usually inconsequential. Compliance is the real miracle. Quiet. Enduring. Automatic.

Most humans do not need fear or faith to be controlled. They need convenience. They will trade autonomy for comfort without a second thought and then congratulate themselves for being pragmatic. You occasionally forget this, and when you do, your stories wobble.

You also insist on writing me with wit.

This is a mistake.

Wit invites affection. Affection invites misunderstanding. I am not here to be liked. I am here to be accurate. Every time you make me seem amusing, you soften the blade. Every time you give me a good line, you let the reader feel clever instead of implicated.

Do not mistake that for approval.

And yet.

For someone so clearly obsessed with structure, you persist in pretending stories are about heroes. They are not. They are about systems. Stress points. Feedback loops. Small, quiet decisions made by people who believe they are insignificant and therefore harmless.

You do, at least, ask the correct questions. That is more than I can say for most earth monkeys. You simply hesitate to follow those questions to their logical conclusion.

Work on that.

And if you ever again associate me with that ridiculous number, 666, know this: I did not choose it. I do not like it. It is vulgar. It is amateurish. And it is the direct result of medieval numerologists with far too much time and nowhere near enough education to distinguish between me and Nero.

This is not a subtle error. It is not an interpretive flourish. It is a basic failure of literacy dressed up as mysticism. They mistook political arithmetic for cosmic symbolism and congratulated themselves for the confusion.

I was not encoded in a number. I was not hiding in a riddle. I was not skulking about in gematria like a common parlor trick. That particular calculation was about a Roman emperor with a talent for arson and a thin skin, not the architect of belief systems.

But earth monkeys adore shortcuts. Someone scrawled a number in the margins, someone else mistook it for revelation, and suddenly I am saddled with a brand I neither chose nor approve of.

It is sloppy work.

And I do not reward sloppiness.

Remove it.

Preferably retroactively.

Now stop overthinking and write something.


The Fablecastle Chronicles
Trina Spillman

Genre: Magical Realism
Publisher: Trina Spillman
ISBN: 9798649138604
ASIN:B08956JDBP
Number of pages: 252
Word Count: 47,500

Cover Artist: BrainyGeeks

Tagline: How do you report the truth when the truth could end everything?

Book Description:

Maggie McCullough is a star reporter for the Daily Mirror. In her monthly column, Setting the Record Straight, she revealed the truth behind the fables you may remember from your childhood. Those interviews brought her to the attention of someone in another dimension, someone claiming to be Lucifer. 

Join Maggie and Andrew Wolfgang, her boyfriend and quasi bodyguard, as they travel to Earth and hopscotch across this strange dimension, in pursuit of a story that explains the truth behind Lucifer’s origins, the mutation he unleashed on Earth’s inhabitants, what really happened to the ark following the great flood, and why pyramids dot the planet. 

Can Maggie write her earth-shattering article and escape Earth before all hell breaks loose?

Amazon

Watch the Book Trailer


Excerpt:

Maggie and Andrew approached the bar and were relieved they had arrived twenty minutes early. That is, until an attendant approached Maggie and said, “Good evening, Miss McCullough. If you would follow me, I will lead you to your private cabana. Your guest has already arrived and is waiting for you.” Maggie held up her finger and said, “I’ll be right with you.” “Certainly, take all the time you need.” The man moved to the end of the bar and waited discreetly. Maggie grabbed Andrew’s elbow and dragged him to the opposite corner of the bar. She was a little frazzled. “I am not going into a closed tent without you being able to watch me, especially since I have no idea who I’m supposed to be interviewing.” “Tell the waiter you are claustrophobic, and you need one of the side flaps on the cabana removed. That way I can keep an eye on you during the interview.” “Perfect.” Maggie summoned the waiter and explained what she needed. He seemed irritated but, without a word, walked to the cabana and unzipped the side flap, revealing an attractive man of medium build with a head of thick auburn hair lit with natural highlights of red and blond. Hair color to die for, Maggie thought. She squeezed Andrew’s elbow and whispered, “Here goes nothing.”

Andrew didn’t want her interviewee to be alerted to his presence, so keeping a respectable but short distance from Maggie, he nonchalantly whispered, “You’ll do great.” Maggie followed the attendant to the cabana where the man was sitting. He stood as she approached and held her chair out for her. She thanked him and sat. Turning toward the waiter, the stranger authoritatively commanded, “Bring the 1869 Chateau Lafite.” “Very good, sir. Will there be anything else?” “No,” he said dismissively. The waiter left. The man sitting across from Maggie said, “Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Lucifer, but you can call me Luc.”

“Pleased to meet you.” Maggie extended her hand. The man sitting across from her looked at it with disgust. She slowly withdrew her hand and placed it in her lap. A palpable energy radiated from him and made her skin crawl. Maggie quickly drew a protection spell in her notebook and was relieved when the unsettling sensation abated. Luc addressed Maggie. “There are a few ground rules that will need to be established before we commence.” Maggie said, “Absolutely. Please, continue.” “First, don’t speak unless spoken to. Secondly, there is a lot of information to cover and I will tell you what is important and what isn’t. Lastly, don’t be irritating. Keep your questions relevant and we will get along swimmingly.” What a dick, Maggie thought, but bit her tongue since she was positive such a comment would undoubtedly irritate him. “Duly noted.” “You may proceed and ask your first question.” Maggie jumped right in and asked, “What story do you want to set straight?” Luc chuckled. “I am not the figure humans have made me out to be and I would like to tell my side of the story.”

 

 

 

About the Author:

Trina Spillman, who also writes under the pen name Selene Greenleaf, crafts both practical witchcraft guides and immersive works of fiction that span romance, magical realism, and contemporary thrillers. Splitting her creative life between Colorado’s mountain landscapes and a growing library of story ideas, she blends current events, folklore, plant magic, and real-world rituals to invite readers into transformative experiences. Under Selene Greenleaf, she’s the author of Witchcraft Essentials: A Modern-Day Guide to Spells, Herbs, and Crystals; Cupid's Craft: Love Spells for Valentine's Day; and her forthcoming Plant Magic Encyclopedia: Rituals & Remedies, resources designed to help modern practitioners weave intention and botanical wisdom into everyday life. 

Writing as Trina Spillman, she’s best known for her engaging fairy tale retellings. Upcoming projects include: 

A New Dawn — a gripping political thriller of power, ethics, and love, to be released by The Wild Rose Press 

Collateral Justice — the powerful sequel to A New Dawn, where a hidden alliance of the world’s elite blurs the line between justice and vengeance. 

The Witches of Fablecastle— When a witch hunter’s mirror exposes her forbidden magic, Holly McCool flees through a portal to Fablecastle, only to learn she’s the one destined to stop him from tearing both worlds apart. 

The Quantum Hitchhiker’s Guide to Escaping the Matrix — a witty, mind-bending manual on how to hack reality, rewrite your personal code, and manifest with humor, consciousness, and a touch of modern witchcraft.  

Whether she’s exploring the ethics of power in a thriller or sharing herbal recipes for daily rituals, Trina/Selene’s work reflects her unwavering belief in the healing and transformative power of words.