Diamonds and Toads

The Great Facebook Migration!

2012-01-24T19:13:00.000-08:00

Greetings, Fairy Folk!

Just popping by to remind you that the Enchanted Conversation facebook page will be going "poof" at the end of the month.

Never fear, though! Here's a link to the new combination Diamonds and Toads / Timeless Tales page!

Here's the link: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Timeless-Tales/200695596666046

Timeless Tales Update

2012-01-01T19:00:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year, Fairy Folk!

I was hoping to have Timeless Tales ready by 2012, but then I landed a rather time-consuming job and I simply haven't had the mental or temporal ability to work on it as much as I'd like. It's around 70% ready, I'd say, but the last 30% is a pretty steep slope to climb. I wish I had a launch date for you, but my life is incredibly unpredictable right now and I don't want to set myself a deadline I can't meet. So for now, I am working hard to at least provide a weekly Diamonds and Toads post (I still haven't caught the blog up with OUAT yet, sorry about that) and I'll let you know when I have TT news for you.

In the meantime, I'm sure you've heard by now that Enchanted Conversation is not going to shut down as previously announced. Kate will be running monthly story and poetry contests (her first opened today). There isn't a specific theme, but she's looking for work that evokes the feel of classic pre-1900 fairy tales.

All OUAT Free Online!

2011-12-24T09:00:00.000-08:00

So guess who got an email from the people in charge of Once Upon a Time's online marketing? Yep, yours truly! I'm sure some of my fellow fairy tale bloggers also got this email, but I was pretty excited that D&T had enough of a presence in the fairy tale community that we were noticed.

Basically, OUAT just wanted me to remind everyone that every episode of the show is currently free online HERE on ABC's website until January 8th when the next new episode airs.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Free Ebook! The Princes of Tangleforest

2011-12-23T18:57:00.000-08:00

What's better than a free book? A free book that's inspired by a fairy tale, of course!

Dorlana Vann's book The Princes of Tangleforest, inspired by the story of Rapunzel, is free on Amazon for Kindle for a limited time only! This offer started today and it only lasts until Tuesday, December 27th (my birthday, coincidentally)--so go grab it now! Just click here.

For those of you without Kindles (like me), you can still download the book for free on your PC with Amazon's Kindle-for-PC app. Nifty, huh? I just downloaded Dorlana's book and I can't wait to read it!

This isn't the only fairy tale inspired story Dorlana has written. For more of her stuff, check out her blog at: www.supernaturalfairytales.net .

Author Interview! Marissa Meyer

2011-12-20T21:46:00.000-08:00

Merry almost-Christmas, fairy folk!

I have a wonderful surprise for you: News about an upcoming Cinderella retelling and my very first interview with an author!

What a gorgeous cover!

Cinder is a steampunk retelling of Cinderella where the heroine is actually a cyborg--what a fantastic concept, right? This is the official book blurb:

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . .

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

Marissa is a longtime follower of Diamonds and Toads and when she sent me an email a month ago asking if I’d like to review her book for the blog, I couldn't say, “YesYesYes!” fast enough. The best part was getting an advanced reading copy in the mail and getting to read it months before the book came out in stores.

Proudly displaying my Cinder ARC

And since I've read it, I can recommend it wholeheartedly. Considering that Cinderella is one of the most retold stories of all time, I was initially concerned about how Marissa would keep it fresh, but I shouldn't have worried because Cinder adds in so many new elements, it never feels cliche or predictable. My favorite part is that it's set in futuristic China, which gives the story such a unique flavor. I can't wait for the next three books to come out because they will bring in even more fairy tale characters.

Cinder officially launches on January 3, but you can pre-order it now on amazon if you want.

Marissa has so much exciting Cinder news going on right now (a book tour, a book trailer, and book giveaways, oh, my!), I can't cover it all in a single post! So I'm going to encourage you to visit her blog HERE and check it out.

Onto the interview!

1. One of my favorite things about Cinder was the idea of "magic" actually being bioelectricity. How did you think of that idea and how did you go about researching it?

Marissa: Thank you! I’m a fantasy girl at heart, and magic has a tendency to work its way into everything I write. In early drafts of Cinder, the magic was much more Dungeons & Dragons-esque, with fireballs and lightning bolts and the like. But as I worked through revisions it became more subtle and eerie, gradually turning into this power of mind-control. So I started researching different theories about mind-control and military experiments and was eventually led to this idea of bioelectricity, which is something every living thing produces. Some fictionalizing and pseudo-science later, and I had my “magic” element for the book.

2. In your Acknowledgements, you mention Star Wars. As a big Star Wars fan, I can't resist asking: What kind of an influence did Star Wars have on Cinder?

Marissa: The original Star Wars trilogy were some of the first movies I ever fell in love with. My brother, cousin, and I used to watch them every time we visited my grandparents, and for many years it was the only “science-fiction” I was really familiar with. I’m not one for very technical sci-fi stories, I get lost in physics and jargon, but I love futuristic space stories that focus more on the characters and relationships and good vs. evil. When I started writing Cinder, I wanted to model it more after these epic “space operas,” like Star Wars and Firefly, rather than the technology-focused works out there.

4. Grimm or Once Upon a Time? Have you even had time for tv with all that's going on in your life?

Marissa: Definitely Once Upon a Time! When the shows started, I watched them both, but I’ve since given up on Grimm. I just don’t care for crime and murder mystery shows. (I also L.O.V.E. Nathan Fillion, but couldn’t get into Castle no matter how hard I tried, so it isn’t just Grimm!) I am loving Once though, and find myself more intrigued with every episode. I really look forward to seeing how the writers carry the storyline over many seasons.

5. I wasn't sure if the fairy tale theme would continue in the series, so I'm very excited to hear that you'll be bringing in a new character with each book. Will you be keeping Cinder's point of view or switching it?

Marissa: Cinder will continue to be the main protagonist throughout the series, and we’ll be seeing many more adventures from her POV, as she delves into her past and continues to defy Queen Levana. But beginning with Book 2: Scarlet, she’ll be sharing the spotlight with other fairy-tale inspired heroines (Scarlet/Little Red Riding Hood, Cress/Rapunzel, and Winter/Snow White). Each heroine will carry her storyline from her own POV, but as the stories progress their paths will intertwine, until all my protagonists (and a healthy number of handsome guys, too) join forces against their common enemy in an attempt to save the world.

6. I was stalking some of your other interviews and saw you mention a sci-fi Puss in Boots short story? Will Puss be making an appearance in the Lunar Chronicles?

Marissa: Yes, the short story I wrote that first inspired the Lunar Chronicles was a futuristic retelling of “Puss in Boots,” in which Puss was a talking robotic cat. Unfortunately, though, he won’t be making an appearance. When I first started plotting out the books, I’d hoped to expand that short story into one of the main novels, but it didn’t fit in and was scrapped early on for the four fairy tales I chose instead.

7. Did you do any research for the Cinderella aspect of Cinder or is it such a well known fairy tale that it wasn't really necessary?

Marissa: Being a long-time fan of fairy tales, I knew a lot about the story and its origins to begin with, but I have re-read the Grimm version many, many times since I started writing Cinder. There are parts of the book that differ so wildly from the fairy tale, that it was important to me that the classic story was still recognizable underneath, and I also had a lot of fun dropping in hints of the fairy tale. For example, the scene in which Cinder’s stepsister topples over a toolbox and Cinder has to dig through a bunch of nuts and bolts came to after reading through the tale for the gazillionth time, and was directly inspired from Cinderella having to separate the lentils from the ashes in order to go to the ball.

8. What are some of your favorite retellings and what do you think it takes to do a really good retelling of a story?

Marissa: Gregory Maguire’s retellings (Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, Mirror, Mirror, and Wicked) are some of my all-time favs, and I’m also a huge fan of those by Gail Carson Levine and Shannon Hale. Recently I read and loved Entwined by Heather Dixon. For me, I look for the same things in a retelling that I look for in any book: suspense and conflict, a protagonist worth rooting for, an enchanting love story. Though many of my favorite retellings are those that give an interesting spin on a classic (such as Ella’s curse in Ella Enchanted), I don’t mind a retelling that merely expands upon the original (like Zel by Donna Jo Napoli). It all depends on the execution.

9. What are some of your favorite fairy tales? (Feel free to elaborate on why you love those particular ones so much)

Marissa: This is probably self-serving, but I like the tales that I can interject “Did you know…” tidbits when they come up in conversation. “Did you know that in some versions of Sleeping Beauty, the prince slept with the princess while she was asleep, and she didn’t wake up until nine months later after she gave birth to twins?” “Did you know that some scholars think Cinderella’s iconic glass slipper was inspired by Chinese foot-binding traditions?” “Did you know that in some versions of Little Red Riding Hood, the girl gives the wolf a strip-tease to distract him from eating her?” Of course, you probably know more of these than I do! But it’s these strange little tidbits that have kept me intrigued by fairy tales for so many years.

10. Why do you think fairy tales are so popular right now?

Marissa: I’m not sure I have an answer for this, other than trends come and go, evidently spurred on by some deep social subconscious. Just like dystopian fiction is the hot thing in young adult literature, and it was vampires before that, and people tend to think it’s all new and happening right now even though both dystopians and vampires have been around for ages and their popularity comes and goes. I’ve heard people say that fairy tales are in right now because they’re escapist and people like to escape when times are tough—and maybe those theories are right. But I tend to think of it as being more of an ongoing pattern: fairy tales are seeing a resurgence now, and then they’ll fade away for awhile, but eventually they’ll be back again. Just like those darn vampires. :)

Holiday Spirit

2011-12-20T19:56:00.000-08:00

Greetings, Fairy Folk!

Bet you didn't know there's a whole blog devoted to Christmas folktales! This is the perfect week to go enjoy some of those stories, just click here: http://christmasfairytales.blogspot.com/

This week, I'll be watching the new Little Mermaid ballet PBS is showing free online. Here's a trailer:

Annnnnd we have yet another fairy tale themed movie coming out: Jack the Giant Killer. What an all-star cast! I wish there were more talking and acting in this trailer to give them a chance to show off.

Grimm Questions

2011-12-17T16:31:00.000-08:00

Two big questions about Grimm:

1. Was Episode 2 "Bears Will Be Bears" supposed to be a Goldilocks retelling or a Hansel and Gretel retelling? The beginning quote was from Goldilocks, right? I've seen several sources say that it was meant to be a H&G retelling, though.

I've seen differing opinions on this, but my suspicion is that it was an intentional mashup. If so, I'm glad to see the show isn't sticking to the overly simplistic view of one fairy tale per episode.

2. What's the connection between goats and/or toads to the original Bluebeard fairytale? I'm not very familiar with Bluebeard, so I need you guys to help me out here! Why are the goat characters the ones with the aphrodisiac powers? And why do toads/frogs give them this power? Anyone have folkloric explanations for either of those things? I was just rather confused why those were such key elements in the episode, but I'm sure there was a reason.

Oh, and I totally admit to losing my bet about Nick's fiance dying. Why is she still alive, though? She seems to serve no purpose, but I guess the show is just keeping her in their pocket to pull out in the future for the stereotypical girlfriend purposes: getting kidnapped and causing drama.

Playing Catch-Up with Grimm

2011-12-11T14:35:00.001-08:00

I put off watching more of Grimm after being unimpressed (and sort of creeped out) by the pilot, but I spent this weekend catching up and I'm half-glad I did.

Why half-glad? Well, on one hand, I love that Grimm is picking lesser-known fairytales to center their episodes around. Once Upon a Time is all about the princess tales we've heard a million times already, but Grimm has already covered "Bluebeard", "The Pied Piper", and "The Queen Bee" (which I'd never even heard of before the show!). They're nailing their research and writing solid scripts for each episode. And while I find Nick to be a boring lead character, Silas Weir Mitchell's performance as Monroe is absolutely brilliant. Have you noticed how he smells things with his mouth open? I wanted to give him a big high five for that detail :) Anyone know if Silas is actually playing the cello in The Danse Macbre episode (absolutely perfect title, by the way--black plague references, ftw!).

However, I also really hate this show because it's so grim--uh, I mean gross! This is NOT a family friendly show and it's not really a Tahlia-friendly show either. So far, I've had to watch a guy get his arm ripped off, another guy get eaten by rats, and then there's the guy who munches on live frog...seriously, I feel like they're deliberately trying to get the audience to cringe and I don't appreciate that. There's something in every episode that makes me wish I'd skipped it, but there's always some tidbit in each episode that I find fascinating.

InkGypsy at Once Upon a Blog linked to this article about the gender targeting happening with Grimm and OUAT and while I'm not sure if OUAT is specifically tailoring itself for the female audience, I completely agree that Grimm is definitely aiming for a male audience.

Ugh, scenes like this are one of my biggest
problems with Grimm

Anyone notice that every monster (sorry, I can't remember all their fancy German names) has a special color they wear in human form? For example, look at the pictures on the right from episode 3, "Beeware". All the bee creatures wore yellow and black clothes. To an even greater extent, the Bluebeard character not only wore a blue shirt, but had a royal blue car, and went to the Blue Moon Bar. It's all done very subtly, thank goodness.

Attention All Fables Fans!

2011-12-08T23:13:00.001-08:00

Have you guys heard that Fables is being made into a video game series?

Here's a link to the front page: http://www.telltalegames.com/fables--sorry that I don't have more information! Anyone else know anything about this?

I'm very familiar with the company Telltale because they've been brilliantly continuing the Monkey Island computer games, so I have confidence that they will do an epic job.

Now I have even more motivation to read them!

Mirror Mirror Trailer

2011-12-07T22:20:00.001-08:00

It's here at last!

I'm sorry to be such a naysayer, but I personally think it looks awful. I think it's great that it won't be super-dark because I think the dark fairy tale trend is starting to become a cliche. However, it looks like a made-for-tv movie with the quality of their sets, costumes, and special effects. The jokes seem pretty stale and overacted too. But that might just be me--any vocal disagreements out there?

Everyone is talking about the two Snow White movies, I think the smartest thing they could do is launch them onto the big screen the same weekend. Sadly, it isn't going to happen--Mirror Mirror is slated for March 16 and Snow White and the Huntsman is coming out June 1st. But it would have been epic to see them battle each other out at the box office and it would have made everyone go see both movies so they could compare them and join the buzzing conversation. They're shying away from the competition, though, which is a pity.

I have notes for reviews of both the latest Once Upon a Time episode and some Grimm episodes, but I probably won't get to post them until this weekend. But they are coming!

OUAT Episode 3 - 5

2011-11-24T16:30:00.001-08:00

Greetings, Fairy Folk!

First off, I would like to say that Once Upon a Time is slowly winning me over. As you'll see with my brief thoughts on each episode below, the show seems to have started tapping into its vast potential. And, come on, everyone is so cute in this series, how can you resist them? :-P

I won't do an in depth analysis, but just some scattered impressions I jotted down as I watched:

EPISODE 3: SNOW FALLS

Did she buy those earrings at Claire's?

1. Regarding the fairy tale world parts: Are the blatant anachronisms in this movie intentional? I'm not looking for historical accuracy or anything, that would seem a bit silly, but Prince Charming's fiancee's earrings looked SO modern!

And how many times have they slipped and said "Okay" one minute and then randomly spout off Ye Olde phrases like "Worry not" the next? Someone PLEASE get them a new writer for season 2!

2. I like Snow White as a thief. It's strange considering that her "real" world personality is so innocent, but it's a great plot twist and you do understand that she is only doing the rogue thing out of necessity.

3. Hey, the show added a really nice detail! Kudos to whoever put the forest wall paper in the diner--good choice!

Try to ignore the skanky outfit for a moment and look at that perfect wall paper.

4. The fairy tale scenes look like they're shot in the Redwoods--anyone know if this is true?

5. *groans* That's not how you do CPR! I know it's supposed to be symbolic of a kiss and that whole cliche thing, but really? I'm not an expert in this, but aren't you supposed to check the airway first or something? Although, I suppose they seem to always get it wrong on television, so I shouldn't single this show out for it.

EPISODE 4: THE PRICE OF GOLD

This all too familiar scene is short lived--yay!

1. My favorite line from the whole series so far: Rumpelstiltskin saying, "Every story needs a memorable detail."

Mr. Gold is tricking his way into every fairy tale :)

2. How many realms are there? Because there are a bunch of royals and they can't rule the same kingdom, so there must be neighboring kingdoms or something?

3. I think this whole episode is a turning point in the series. We see the show mashing up two fairy tales, changing the plot around, and thinking outside the box, which works out great. I liked the modern version of Ella they presented and Mr. Gold's subtle villainy is mercifully saving us from the evil queen's cheesy melodramatics.

EPISODE 5: THAT STILL SMALL VOICE

Largish Spoilers Below:

1. I've been wondering about Archie/Jiminy Cricket for a while now and I'm glad to see he has gotten his own episode. Good choice, OUAT, because this is a character with very little original backstory (both in the Carlo Callodi's Pinocchio* and the Disney movie) so it's all new and fresh to us. The whole potion that turns people into puppets was a nice twist, too!

2. Was Archie's Dalmation seriously named Pongo? Did anyone else catch that reference?

3. Hey, they actually hooked me into genuinely caring about a character! I actually grinned with happiness when Archie's umbrella saved him.

*Trivia: In the original book, the nameless"Talking Cricket"
played only a very minor part. Disney was the first to name him "Jiminy Cricket"

A Feast of Fairy Tale Goodness!

2011-11-22T22:55:00.001-08:00

Greetings Fairy Folk!

I'm not officially back in the swing of things yet. So far, my new job is sucking up a ton of my time and I'm still not fully settled with everything.

I've been collecting so many awesome things, but haven't had time to share them. So here they all are!

1. First off, I was excited to notice that Once Upon a Blog is back and regularly posting again for the first time in months! The address is: http://fairytalenewsblog.blogspot.com. She's been finding so much amazing artwork, posted a great clip of a modern Bluebeard short film, and giving her two cents about Once Upon a Time and Grimm. Go show Gypsy some love, guys!

2. My new favorite site is The Mary Sue because they have an amazing talent to hone in on the most interesting in geeky news. They've also found some neat fairy tale related tidbits lately that I wanted to share.

First off is a collection of Alice in Wonderland art by Salvador Dali. I was at first really surprised to find this, then when I paused to think, it made perfect sense considering the strangeness of Dali's other work. As expected, it's pretty bizarre:

The Queen’s Croquet Ground by Salvador Dali

The Mary Sue has also found a neat collection of older fairy tale art by Virginia Frances Sterret:

3. Oh, oh, oh! And here's another really cool thing! Interactive versions of fairy tales for the iPad including Alice in Wonderland and The Little Mermaid Check them out!

4. And last, but certainly not least, Publisher's Weekly featured this cartoon anthology of nursery rhymes in comic book format. Looks like a ton of fun!

In a rush

2011-11-11T15:21:00.001-08:00

This post was going to be an update on how Timeless Tales is coming along (the short answer is: quite swimmingly). However, I've been thrown a most exciting curve ball in the form of a job.

Many of might not know that since I graduated in May, I've been searching for work and have had horrible luck. Well, on Wednesday, I found out that I had landed a job, but I live in Northern California and it's all the way in Southern California, so I am in the process of moving. And by that I mean, I'll be leaving home in approximately 30 minutes and I start work on Monday. Sooooo don't expect to hear from me for a few days while I get moved in and settled with work.

For now, enjoy the first trailer for Snow White and the Huntsman and I will hopefully see you all soon! Check out my personal blog for a slightly more detailed description of my future job.

Nit Picking (again!) Ep. 2 of Once Upon a Time

2011-11-09T22:32:00.000-08:00

Greetings, Fairy Folk!

Alright, I'm going to preface this by saying I'm sorry! I am fully aware this is a silly little thing to criticize and it doesn't mean the whole show is awful. But...

Did anyone else catch the apple mix-up in episode 2 of Once Upon a Time? Regina waxes poetic about how much she loves her "honeycrisp" apples, but what's in her basket and on her apple tree? Ummm, those are definitely NOT honeycrisps. They sure look like Red Delicious apples to me! Does it really matter? Nope, but personally, I really appreciate shows that care about detail.

Thank you to Eatme.wikispaces.com for this amazing chart. Clearly Honecrisps are pink and yellow.

Look a bit dark red, don't they?

Just saying...those look like Red Delicious to me.

Now, about the rest of the episode...

There were a few moments where I laughed out loud, like the coffee shop scene. I like that Rumpelstiltskin is turning out to be a bigger baddie than the evil queen--she kind of bores me. It still weirds me out that Snow White is a grandmother, but she's still younger looking than her daughter. I'm really curious about uber-gothic Red Riding Hood who I keep seeing around town.

Gothic Red Riding Hood interests me,
but we haven't seen much of her

Oh, goodness, do I really have nothing else to say about it? Ummm, I'll keep watching, but the plot's been pretty predictable so far.

Grab Bag

2011-11-09T00:00:00.000-08:00

Hi, Fairy Folk!

I sort of have a bunch of little things to cover today, so consider this a patchwork quilt of a post :)

1. The Karpeles Manuscript Museum

Remember how I told you I'd once had the privilege of seeing an exhibit of notes and letters by Harry Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle? Well, the same museum in Santa Barbara currently has an exhibit of fairy tale manuscripts, including some by Charles Perrault. If you're around that area anytime before the start of 2012, you should check it out. Their website (http://www.rain.org/~karpeles/sbafrm.html) never does the museum justice and has very little information, but let me assure you that the museum offers a rich and intimate experience. Plus, it's free!

2. Illustrator Ben Woods just finished up Oztober where he did a post every day featuring an Oz-inspired illustration. Don't miss these adorable pieces: http://www.benwoodillustrations.com/

Since I just finished re-reading Ozma of Oz yesterday, I particularly appreciated this rendition by Dale Harris of Tik Tok and Billina:

"Tik Tok and Billina" by Dale Harris

3. Puss in Boots: Even though Shrek has sort of made Puss a character apart from the fairy tale, I feel like it's worth asking how people liked the movie. So...did you guys enjoy it? It will certainly be hard not to imitate the swashbuckling attitude for the Puss in Boots themed issue in Timeless Tales.

Did Puss charm the boots off of you?

My next post will be an update on Timeless Tales. I have some exciting features I'm dying to tell you guys about. Oh, and I'll also try to write my review on Once Upon a Time's second episode. So lots to look forward to!

Help Cure My Ignorance!

2011-11-06T17:47:00.000-08:00

Alright, Fairy Folk, I must confess my ignorance. Everyone keeps talking about the comic book series Fables and I've never read any of them.

So enlighten me!

I know the basic premise is a bunch of modern fairy tale characters banded together in NYC, but I'd like to know more about them. If I wanted to get into them, where should I start and how much catching up will it take? They sound fascinating and since I'm supposed to be becoming an expert in all things fairy tale, I probably shouldn't ignore them, right? This is why I only consider myself a humble Fairy Godmother's Apprentice :)

The "D" Word--Shhhh!

2011-11-05T15:40:00.000-07:00

Greetings, Fairy Folk!

I know that the "D" word is sort of taboo to those of us who have a serious and often scholarly interest in fairy tales. So forgive me for mentioning Disney on the blog, but I think you'll enjoy this.

Normally, I find rants against the whole Disney princess phenomenon tiresome. "Disney is ruining our children!" blah, blah, blah, "Disney sanitizes fairy tales!" I've already heard these things a million times.

But there's this great site called OverthinkingIt.com whose tagline is: Subjecting popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn’t deserve. And they've done a rather brilliant psychoanalysis of Disney's Beauty and the Beast.

You can read the entire article here, but I thought I'd give some of the highlights.

According to Peter Gross (the writer), Beauty and the Beast is an exploration of Belle's internal struggle between a fixation with wealth and her moral conscious. Goss suggests that the Beast, the talking objects, and possibly even Belle's father, are all symbolic projections of Belle's subconscious.

The nameless Beast represents the ugly cruelty of aristocratic rule over the lower class. Despite this, she still finds the prospect of wealth attractive, which leads her to see all the Beast's servants as objects. At the same time, Belle's other half knows this society is unfair and so her super-ego frames the situation as an evil "enchantment".

The best part is that Gaston gets to be the tragic hero. Goss explains that Gaston is actually a good-hearted friend trying to help Belle. But Belle feels threatened by his attempts to break her delusions, and so misinterprets all of his goodwill gestures as sinister. Belle doesn't want to fit in with the commoners--she believes she was made for something loftier.

Gaston as the HERO?

There's a lot more, but Goss actually gives quite a bit of support for his argument. Of course, this is all done in jest, but he still make some good points.

Annnnd from the same site, but a different post, I found this rather amusing chart:

"HEA" stands for "Happily Ever After"

Thoughts on Grimm

2011-11-01T23:09:00.000-07:00

Hello again, Fairy Folk!

You'll notice I spared you the nearly obligatory pun involving "grim" and "Grimm" in my title. Yes, you are VERY welcome! :)

How was everyone's Halloween? Anyone see any good fairy tale themed costumes? Apparently, Rapunzel was very popular this year (thanks to Tangled, no doubt).

I watched the premiere of Grimm and wanted to share my thoughts and hear your opinions. From what most people seem to be saying, they think it's a notch above Once Upon a Time.

Ugly monsters are scary, but they
aren't what makes fairy tales dark .

As for me, I felt like it was the flipside of the same coin as Once Upon a Time. With both, OUaT and Grimm, I find the concepts and characters relatively generic, but with OUaT I worry it will end up too trite and with Grimm, I worry it will repeatedly fall back on cheap scares. If every episode is going to be 75% sneaking around in dark places and getting attacked by monsters, I don't think it will hold my interest for long. I have no problem with the darker side of fairy tales, but I care about the psychological darkness in their themes more than I care about the fangs and claws of the monsters.

Silas Weir Mitchell's character,
Eddie Monroe is more interesting
than our protagonist, Nick Grimm.

Possibly my biggest problem with Grimm was that it didn't have much of a fairy tale element. Werewolves are old hat for our culture by now and there's nothing specifically fairytale-ish about them. So what if the first episode involved girls with red hoodies? At this point, I have no clue how they're intending to bring in other fairy tales. That question interests me enough to make it worth watching a few more episodes because how they address the matter will determine if the series is just another paranormal cop show or not. While OUaT unveiled a bunch of its tricks early on,
I suspect Grimm is simply slower to tip its hand, which gives me hope that it will hook me next time. That Blutbad Eddie Monroe guy certainly has promise.

Oh, and I'm ready to place imaginary bets that Mr. Grimm's fiance dies in the next episode or two. Any takers?

Holmes and the Faux Fairies

2011-10-30T11:51:00.000-07:00

Greetings, Fairy Folk!

I am currently hopelessly addicted to a new book series. Well, Laurie R. King started writing the Mary Russell series in 1994, but they're new to me! And while I've already mentioned them in my personal blog, I've sort of been looking for an excuse to gush about them on this blog too. Because they are that amazing.

They're basically books about the girl who becomes Sherlock Holmes' apprentice. And yes, I've found a connection between fairy tales and Sherlock Holmes.

You see, despite his famous detective's logical, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was actually a huge sucker. Ever heard of the Cottingley Fairies? They were a cheap scam two girls pulled in 1917 where they claimed their photographs of paper cutouts were real living fairies. Well, Doyle believed the whole thing.

Frances Griffiths (age 10) with the supposed fairies.

Doyle not only believed the hoax, but wrote a book and several articles about the "discoveries."

This example of gullibility was not an isolated incident.

Last year, I had the privilege of going to a museum exhibit devoted to notes and letters by Doyle and Harry Houdini. The two families were good friends and often attended the same dinner parties. After seeing one of Houdini's routine escape tricks, Doyle gawked in amazement and pronounced him to have supernatural powers. Even though Houdini insisted that everything was a trick, Doyle remained convinced that Houdini had psychic abilities. Furthermore, both were deeply interested in trying to contact spirits and hosted many seances. Houdini spent a great deal of effort exposing mediums who were frauds, but Doyle never saw through the charades. It was very interesting comparing their notes from various seance's and seeing the contrast of opinions!

The premise of the Mary Russell series is that Doyle published Watson's stories under his own name and acted as the good doctor's literary agent. Now imagine Holmes' humiliation at being represented by someone so gullible.

Cartoon from Punch showing
Doyle with his head in the clouds, chained to Sherlock Holmes.

Sources:

http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/doyle.htm

http://www.laurierking.com/etcetera/lrk-on-holmes

Progress!

2011-10-25T14:54:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to thank anyone who has been clicking on the ads on this page. Since I mentioned it as a potential way to raise funds for Timeless Tales, we've seen a spike in earnings. It's not a lot (each click only gets us a few cents), but I'm amazed that anyone tried it at all, so know that your efforts have been noted and appreciated! Keep up the good work!

I'm working hard on creating the Timeless Tales website. We're in the experimentation phase where we're trying to figure out what layouts and color schemes look best. I've come up with a nice list of perks that we can offer paying subscribers and I'm currently looking into how to best set up such a system.

Oh, this isn't the official logo for the magazine, but something I came up with while on Powerpoint. Just an unofficial teaser:

That's all for now. Just wanted to let you all know how everything is going. Thank you for all the encouragement you've offered so far!

Once Upon a Time

2011-10-25T10:36:00.000-07:00

Alright, fairy folk! What did you all think about the pilot episode of Once Upon a Time? Leave your rants in the comments section!

If you've already written a blog post about the show, go ahead and leave the link in the comments if you don't want to repeat your position.

SPOILERS BELOW:

My opinion? I thought it was decent, but not inspiring. The characters were either the same old well-known figures (Snow White, Red Riding Hood, a nameless evil queen) or they were picked from modern books (Gepetto and Jiminy Cricket struck me as downright strange choices). Rumpelstiltskin was probably my favorite twist because they added some originality to his abilities. I wish they'd focused on him rather than the evil queen who seems rather generic at the moment.

Henry played by Jared Gilmore

Oh, I will say that I really liked Henry, the kid. I'm not usually a big fan of child actors, but he's got talent and I liked that his character takes control of situations.

So basically, I think the series has potential and I intend to watch the whole season, but I doubt there will be too many surprises ahead. If the writers come up with interesting backstories for the characters beyond the stories we already know, then THAT could give the show some sparkle.

Reinventing Alice

2011-10-23T12:51:00.000-07:00

Hey, Fairy Folk!

Sorry about being rather MIA lately, but I'm concentrating most of my efforts on constructing Timeless Tales. Even though I've found a wonderful web designer to do the hardest parts, it's still a lot of work figuring out what I want and then communicating it. There have been a lot of late nights this week, I can tell you that!

But let's continue our discussion on modern fairy tales, shall we?

Any other fans of Frank Beddor's The Looking Glass Wars series? It isn't brand new (the first book was published in 2006) and I imagine Tim Burton's Alice movie sort of overshadowed them, which is a terrible shame because these books are bursting with originality. In my opinion, the movie could have gained a great deal if it had been based off of these books.

These books start with the premise that Alice (spelled Alyss) was a princess of Wonderland before she had to flee her power hungry aunt who took over the throne. She escapes through a portal to Earth where she meets Reverend Charles Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll). After Alyss earnestly explains her tragic story to him, he publishes a book based on her tale, but turns it into a joke. The entire series follows Alyss as she returns to Wonderland and seeks to reclaim her throne from the evil Queen Redd with the help of her best friend Dodge and the faithful general Hatter Madigan.

As you can guess from the cover, these books abandon the whimsy of Carroll's original stories. Beddor takes the world he's built seriously, but doesn't darken it past the point of enjoyment. These are highly creative and epic adventures.

The second graphic novel.

I suspect Beddor's experience in the film industry as a producer contributed to the series' successful publicity campaign. Because many of the books' concepts are difficult to visualize, each one has several inserts with full color character sketches. They've also released a whole bunch of high quality book trailers, an online computer game, and a graphic novel spin-off series. Naturally, there's a movie in the works, but casting hasn't even begun yet, so it may be a while.

The website www.lookingglasswars.com in itself is dynamic and an excellent representation of the books.

This is one of the many trailers for the books:

Title Chosen!

2011-10-14T13:51:00.000-07:00

"Timeless" by Byron Coon

Alright, the Fairy Folk have voted and by a 57% majority, we will be calling the new magazine Timeless Tales Magazine! I've bought the domain name and will be working on building the site over the next few weeks.

I apologize ahead of time that I won't be able to post as many updates on here about actual fairy tale stuff. Although I'm working on finding a way to remedy that, so my apology might not be necessary--how's that for cryptic? :)

Want to help get Timeless Tales on its feet? If you are in a generous mood, there's now a button on your left. If you click it, it will let you donate money to the magazine through PayPal (the most secure way I could think of). All money you send will be used for the magazine's site expenses and paying our future writers.

If you aren't able to spend money, but still want to help the site, you can always click on the ads on this page. I get a little money for every click and you don't have to buy anything. Every little bit counts!

Updates

2011-10-12T14:29:00.000-07:00

Alright, Fairy Folk, you'll be happy to hear that I'm committing myself to this whole starting-my-own magazine thing. It's been great hearing your encouragement and some of your suggestions have been really helpful, so thank you!

I consider this to be a community and this magazine will be as much yours as it is mine, so I've narrowed it down to four possible titles and I'd like to give you guys a chance to vote on them. I'm short on time, so while the above widget says voting closes in 6 days, it will actually close Friday morning, so you only have two days to give me feedback on this! I just need to buy the domain name and get started on building the site as soon as possible.

Here's my vision for the magazine so far:

It will be very similar to EC, but I'm going to be adding a mythology component because I have a passion for classic mythology (particularly Greek, but also Egyptian, Norse etc.) and I think our readers would appreciate the occasional detour into the immortal's realm.

However, I'd like to start out with the themes Kate had decided upon for next year because I think they are good choices and many of them were popular picks when I asked for suggestions on the facebook page a few months ago:

1. Puss In Boots
2. Baba Yaga
3. The Twelve Dancing Princesses
4. Bluebeard

I don't know yet how often issues will come out or what our pay rate will be. I will be keeping the word count cap at 2000 because I've found as a writer and reader for EC that between 1500 and 2000 seems to be the sweet spot for lengthier stories (at least in my personal experience).

There are a few other things going on at the moment, but I don't want to spoil the surprise quite yet, but check back often for updates!

Nit Picking

2011-10-11T10:11:00.000-07:00

I can't find the clip on youtube, but I noticed an ad on our site for the new tv show "Once Upon a Time". It's kind of nice to have ads that are very relevant to our readers, so no complaints there. However, the ad was flashing names of the fairy tale characters and this was one of them:

"Rumplestiltskin"

Haha! I've even found photographic proof from one of their magazine spreads!

Now, according to google, wikipedia, spellcheck, and my own experience, his name is spelled "Rumpelstiltskin". To my knowledge, there isn't an alternate spelling other than the German "Rumpelstilzchen" And ABC got it wrong! Granted, it's a maddeningly tricky name to spell and not many people would notice, but it made me snicker a little bit. Come on, all that torture of typing it almost a hundred times when EC ran a Rumpelstiltskin themed issue has to be good for something, right?

Oh, and while we're at it:

Which one are you most excited about? Grimm or Once Upon a Time? I think Once looks more up my alley, but I plan to give them both a shot.