Welcome Guest Blogger Kira Saito: Bring On the Voodoo Queen!

Bring in the Voodoo/Hoodoo Queens

There are so many things in pop culture that are overrated. For example, long walks on the beach, men with mustaches and witches. Don’t get me wrong, I love Charmed and Anne Rice’s Mayfair witches as much as the next girl, but recently it’s been getting to be too much. I guess my main beef is with the recent adaptation of L.J. Smith’s The Secret Circle for the small screen. While being a fan of L.J. Smith’s Vampire Diaries, I never got into The Secret Circle books. So, when they were made into a television show, I thought, okay, let me try this again. What I saw horrified me. It repulsed me and knocked me into a deep coma. What disturbed me was the cliché beautiful witches, the small town and the general blah of it all. The show is so grey and stale, like dirty dishwater. 

 I suppose my general repulsion with how unoriginal mainstream YA books, TV. shows and movies were becoming started a few years ago (No Edward, you will never ever compare to the vampire Lestat, Louis, or even Damon).

As a writer, I kept asking myself, “Why, why why?”  How can the same thing be re-packaged and re-sold over and over again? Why aren’t the millions of authors who are writing cool, new stuff becoming popular? Where are they? They must be somewhere!

Some of my bitterness was eased when I discovered authors such as my gracious hostess Natasha Larry. Authors who were creating new worlds, characters and taking risks.

So, about six months ago, the wheels in my head started turning. I wanted to create a series that was different, magical and full of color. Like a mad woman, I searched high and low, when I realized the answer was right in front of my face in the form of my trusty voodoo doll. 

I started thinking about New Orleans voodoo/hoodoo queens and started to get confused. Where were they in pop culture? The only mainstream voodoo “witch” I could think of was Calypso from Pirates of the Caribbean and of course, Mama Odie from the Princess and the Frog.

 I thought, why are the voodoo/hoodoo queens always portrayed as old or just plain crazy? 

Where are the hot voodoo/hoodoo queens? Surely, not only witches can be pretty, right? So anyways, being obsessed with New Orleans voodoo/hoodoo, I think that voodoo/hoodoo queens are infinitely cooler than witches. I mean, they can do it all. They’re not afraid of healing, talking to spirits, and cursing those that deserve it. They can bring the dead back to life and create zombies if they want to. So, if they’re so cool, why are they so unrated? I don’t know. I think people see voodoo/hoodoo as dark and evil, it really isn’t. Well, it can be, but so can witchcraft.

Keeping all of this craziness in mind, I became determined to make voodoo/hoodoo queens as popular, if not more popular than witches. My madness gave birth to Arelia LaRue, a pretty, young voodoo/hoodoo queen from New Orleans. 

I’m not sure if people will ever come to accept voodoo/hoodoo queens as relatable, or lovable as witches, but an author can try, can’t she?  There’s no point in complaining about stuff you don’t like if you never try to change it.

So, my lovely readers, if you’re tired of the same old YA paranormal stuff, step into to intoxicating world of New Orleans voodoo/hoodoo. 

Sixteen year old Arelia LaRue lives in New Orleans where the music is loud, voodoo queens inhabit every street corner, and the ghosts are alive and well. Despite her surroundings, all she wants is to help her Grand-mere Bea pay the rent and save up for college. 

When her best friend Sabrina convinces her to take a well-paying summer job at the infamous Darkwood plantation, owned by the wealthy LaPlante family, Arelia agrees. 

However, at Darkwood strange things start to happen, and gorgeous Lucus LaPlante insists that he needs her help. Soon, the powers that Arelia has been denying all her life, come out to play and she discovers mysteries about herself that she could have never imagined.