Did you hear about the new All Creatures Great and Small?
The television series delves into the real-life experiences of British veterinarian James Herriot, decades after the first All Creatures Great and Small, which I remember loving as a kid.
I'm mentioning this because (a) we could probably all use an escape to the non-pandemic 1930s Yorkshire countryside right about now and (b) inspiration is a weird and glorious thing.
I mean: When I set out to write a lightly dystopian fantasy about a woman resisting the wizards controlling a retrograde America, I didn't think to myself, "You know what this reminds me of? That sweet show about the veterinarian."
But it quickly became apparent that there would be a bit of a common thread. Beatrix Harper gets caught up in the affairs of her rural town's new omnimancer, Peter Blackwell, whose work as a sort of one-size-fits-all wizard ranges from fixing roofs to brewing magic-infused medicine. There's constant call for his help, much of it from farmers. At one point in the trilogy, he even delivers a calf.
My memories of sprawling on the couch and watching All Creatures are pretty hazy, but I don't know that Peter Blackwell would have developed in quite the way he did if not for James Herriot.
Do you have fond (or other) memories of All Creatures? Do you plan to watch the new show?
(Oh, and here's a keen thing: Subversive now has a book trailer. Check it out, if you're curious.)
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A few more cool & bookish things
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Want some free-for-everyone fantasy stories that range from a Victorian scientist in a time-traveling submersible to a surly soul reaper who has to avert the apocalypse? Got you covered there, too.
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