Hamilton author's flair for urban fantasy

MIKE MATHER -  16/11/2013 - Waikato Times

Summer stories: Hamilton author Summer Wigmore’s novel, The Wind City ,  hit the shelves on Thursday.

A living embodiment of a city street with a teapot for a head; a woman who can transform into a ferocious dolphin-chomping taniwha at will; and a flame-wielding man being advised by the spirit of a mythological Maori hero.
The characters in Hamilton writer Summer Wigmore's debut novel are likely some of the more quirky and unusual in New Zealand literature.

It is likely The Wind City will be remembered for more than just its cast of outlandish otherworldly identities. The 317-page story, due to hit bookshelves around the country on Thursday, is a well-researched expose on the creatures of Maori folklore, a hitherto largely-unexplored subject in our history of modern-day storytelling.
It is, as Wigmore herself will no doubt be the first to agree, begging to be adapted into film - or at the very least a lavishly-illustrated graphic novel.
The bubbly 20-year-old currently lives in Wellington where The Wind City is set. The book is as much about the peculiar geography of the nation's capital as it is about the notion that mystical beings known as iwi atua live in secret among us.
"I've always loved urban fantasy, that juxtaposition of the everyday and the unreal," she said.
"Wellington is a really good location for that. It has this amazingly strong feeling of place.
"The idea came about this one time I was looking out a bus window while I was visiting and found it really easy to picture shadowy figures with inhuman eyes lurking about.

"One of the first books I wrote, years back when I was practising, was this story about Wellington having this rift in it, that meant there were vampires and demons and all sorts of stuff. It was really fun. The moment it came together was when I realised that if I was going to write about a New Zealand city, I'd need to use New Zealand stories, creatures from New Zealand stories - not vampires and werewolves, but taniwha and patupaiarehe.

"I put a lot of research into it. I was spending hours in the library researching the stories long before I even let myself start thinking about a plot and characters, because I thought it was important. I didn't want to take elements and adapt them to fit any preconceived ideas - I wanted the stories to shape what kind of story this would be, especially what the world would be like.

"I don't have a drop of Maori blood in me that I know of. Obviously there's this big danger there, like, what right do I have to do this? What right do I have to tell this type of story? And the answer is: I don't. I really don't. But there was this niche that I saw that I really wanted to fill; write what you want to read, the saying goes - that just wasn't being filled.

"Any time you're using concepts and ideas from cultures that aren't your own you have to go into it open and honest, and do your best not to do anything that could cause harm. You have this responsibility.

"I was really picky with what I wanted this book to be and where I wanted it to go, though, so I went through a ridiculous amount of drafts before I ended up with something I was happy with.. 
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