The Keeper’s Blood

Martha Gouws: ”Where fantasy begins with a costume, a spell, and a drop of spit.”

Since childhood, I’ve had one foot in the world of fantasy. I’d dress in costumes no one could recognize me in, dance with scarves late into the night, and climb hills in search of strange fruit that might just be magical. On quiet Sundays, while my parents napped, I sat under the mulberry tree and tried to lure tiny moles from their tunnels with a small stick—my own kind of secret spell.

I later studied theatre and opera makeup, where I learned to disappear into characters. My specialty? Becoming an unrecognizable witch with a hooked nose and wart, conjured from imagination and stage glue.

Fantasy has always been my true home. For me, storytelling isn’t just about writing—it’s about stepping through a doorway into another world and living there, if only for a while.