Happy March, friends! Welcome to our second entry in our “Three Favorites,” feature where we let authors recommend their three favorite books based around either a specific theme or just three general favorites they want to share with readers.
Our latest entry is from New York Times bestselling author Melissa Marr, whose latest Remedial Magic is a delightful adult fantasy romance for fans of The Magicians and One Last Stop.
In this installment, we ask: What are Melissa Marr’s three favorite books that inspire her?
The books that inspire me shift over time. My degrees are in literature, and I write in multiple genres, age groups, and formats, so my taste is wide.
Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
One constant is Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass (Lewis Carroll). Technically, these are two separate books, but in my head they were always conflated. My Uncle Charles was a Victorian Lit professor, and he gifted me books for any and all events. I initially read this duo around first grade, and my child brain instantly started looking for rabbits to follow. As a barefoot, country child, rabbits were easy enough to find. The lack of pocket watches was disheartening. At one point, I tumbled out a door that had no porch, which prompted another conflation. I fell and rolled to a stop, but again, I was still in my own world.
Either way, my brain read these as instructional, and as I look now at my writing, I can see the traces of these tumbles into other worlds from my debut Wicked Lovely in 2007 through Graveminder and up to more recent releases, including The Hidden Dragon in 2022 and my 2024 release, Remedial Magic. I love the idea of hidden worlds, whether they are found through a maelstrom in a sea of dragons or other modes of transportation. Magic is only a moment away, and on the other side wonders and terrors await.
William Faulkner Novels
My second pick is . . . almost anything by William Faulkner. I did my graduate work on him, Sanctuary in particular, and I don’t think I realized until years later that he was accidentally my writing teacher. My goal when writing is to create narrative that is transportive. I want readers to feel like they can be immersed in the sensory experience, and I want them to not be compelled by just one voice. I almost exclusively write multiple points of view, and I blame Faulkner’s influence. A story rarely engages me when writing if I cannot “hear” the other characters’ narratives too. So in terms of influence, Faulkner’s body of work—excluding the hunting stories!—is my second influence.
Within Remedial Magic, I limited the point of view of Prospero because her end of story actions are not what they seem, which you only know if she doesn’t tell too many secrets. So the puzzle of getting to have her voice, yet also have a secret that informs the conclusion—and the sequel—is very much a lesson from Faulkner.
Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
And for a more contemporary influence, I’m going to say Charlaine Harris’s first Sookie Stackhouse book, Dead Until Dark. I had been reading her Shakespeare series (Lily Bard remains my most loved of Charlaine’s characters), and the library had a new book that was “a little different” according to my then-librarian. Since I loved Charlaine Harris’s mysteries, I gave this book a chance, and I was smitten.
Charlaine Harris was my introduction to the idea that I could mix the now with the magical in contemporary fiction. I started actively looking for everything like hers I could find. Obviously as a child/teen, there were other such books—Charles de Lint, Emma Bull, Terri Windling—but that was then. I hadn’t realized this was a subset of fantasy again until 2001 when I picked up Charlaine’s book, and then, it was everywhere—including in my own books. So in many ways, Charlaine was an influence through her books way before I met her, and she remains one through her amazing personality and kind heart.
. . . which, I strongly suspect, would not have been the case if I met Faulkner or Carroll.
Luckily, Charlaine in her work and life is a major positive influence. Her body of work is varied, but always satisfying. I’ve read most of her books over the years, both mystery and fantasy, and I’ve never once been disappointed. That is a remarkable feat.
Remedial Magic by Melissa Marr is available now in E-Book and paperback.
Featured image designed by Jon Negroni. Read more articles by Brianna Robinson here.
Brianna Robinson is a book publicist and Sarah Lawrence College alum. She lives in New York with too many books and two enthusiastic dachshunds. You can find her on twitter @blrobins2.
