The Do's & Don'ts of Social Distancing Fairy Tales by Erin-Claire

"DO be like Little Red Riding Hood: take essentials to elderly and isolated relatives (but don't bring home any wolves/viruses!)"

Important note: The need for human connection is directly linked to mental health, yet, right now, we need to stay physically apart from each other in order for us all to have our best chance at survival and to protect the most vulnerable. With mental health becoming a serious issue after months of being forced to keep in-person interactions to a bare minimum, and no end to the coronavirus threat yet in sight, it is now being suggested that we replace the term "social distancing" with "physical distancing", to emphasize the importance of maintaining physical precautions while encouraging people to have and create connections in other ways. 

When the pandemic hit and we all went into quarantine in a global effort to slow down the spread of coronavirus, Erin-Claire began making illustrations of fairy tales as both examples and cautionary tales about social distancing. 

It's a very fresh and timely reframing of fairy tales, showing how they can be read and re-read in constantly new ways, helping us to reflect on our current situations, telling tales to remind ourselves of both consequences and possibilities, but above all, that we are all human and struggle with similar things, no matter where we are.

The diversely talented Australian artist, storyteller, and speaker, Erin-Claire Barrow, better known as just Erin-Claire, has been working with fairy tales for quite some time now and is passionate about diversity and representation in stories and empowering people, women especially. Her feminist fairy tales illustration series led to her speaking at #TedXCanberra on this very subject (you can see that HERE) and she has many more stories to tell and feels fairy tales can help us in so many more ways.

The captions below each image are the companions for the illustrations and, in that mysterious and wonderful way of fairy tales, ground us amid a sea of false narratives, and encourage us to get to the heart of issues we're dealing with and face them, head-on.

With "vigilance-fatigue" setting in, sometimes it helps to get the same reminder in a different way to re-energize us into being vigilant and protecting each other again. We think Erin-Claire's #SocialDistancingFairyTales series might help to do just that. 

Enjoy.

DON'T be like the True Sweetheart: Now is not the time to travel the world looking for an ex who forgot about you, attend his wedding ball three nights in a row, win him back then abscond to YOUR castle for yet another wedding party.

DON'T be like the Pied Piper of Hamelin: encouraging large gatherings in public places.

DO be like Rapunzel in her tower: just two visitors and only ever one at a time.

DO be like the witch in Jorinda and Joringel (especially if elderly and vulnerable): if any visitors you don't want come too close, turn them into birds or freeze them in place.

DON'T be like the Twelve Dancing Princesses: sneaking out of your home every night to dance your shoes to pieces with enchanted (or enchanting) princes.

DO be like the Lady from Llan y Fan Fach: if your partner is violent towards you, it is absolutely ok to leave your home to travel somewhere safe or seek help. Also to take all their cows, horses and other livestock.

Fairy Tale Bonus of the Day:

We had to include one of our favorite ink illustrations by Erin-Claire. Though this piece was created for a previous #Inktober (a yearly challenge for artists everywhere), rather than a specific work for her portfolio, it immediately caught our eye and showcases some of the lovely storytelling that comes through in her illustrations. It is titled "Wise Women", and reminded us that though we have to remain socially distant, we can still send magic into the world from where we are and help build a better future.

Thanks, Erin-Claire!

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Fearnot by Erin-Claire

The Six Swans by Erin-Claire

You can find Erin-Claire in these places around the web listed below (click to go to her sites), and continue to follow her #socialdistancingfairytales as she adds any, along with her continuing feminist fairy tales work and possibly even discover some lesser-known tales along the way:

Website - erinclaireillustration.com

Facebook

Tumblr

Instagram

Twitter

Timeless Tales Announces 3 Rapid-Fire Poetry Submission Windows

Devoted readers of Timeless Tales Magazine may know that we've only been accepting poetry since 2016. While poetry may not have the same mainstream readership of fiction, I've always felt that a truly great poem offers the same depth and complexity of a short story, but in a more compact vessel. Writers are born loving words and therefore, it takes so much discipline for an author to restrain their ever-flowing thoughts into such a tiny package. Once we started publishing poetry, I can't help but feel like it's a gap in our older issues.

I've also found times when an idea for a retelling has occurred to me, but none of the stories I receive  fit into that particular gap. I think, "Wow, I wish someone would send me a Puss & Boots retelling about a tiger!", but none magically appear in my inbox. I usually just shrug it off and move on. Until now.

We're trying something new this year. A normal full-size issue usually takes over 4 months to release (hence why we've never managed more than two a year!). So instead of a brand new issue this Spring, we are going to revisit our old themes and add one poem to each. And I'll even give some hints about what I'm hoping to read and what writers should avoid.

NOTE: If you have a great poem retelling that doesn't fit my hints, that's totally fine. As long as you're thinking outside the box, I can't wait to read it. But for goodness sake, please read through the original issue before you submit to make sure you're not repeating an idea we've already published. It could really save you time (or might inspire you with a new idea).

These submission windows will come and go fast, so don't blink or else you might miss them!

To submit, please read our submission guidelines. We will follow all the usual guidelines, but we will only be accepting ONE poem (okay, maaaaaybe two) per theme. Here are the deadlines:

• Puss in Boots: Deadline EXTENDED to March 4

• Hints: 1. I'd love to see a retelling where Puss isn't a house cat. Lions, leopards, griffins, and sphinxes are all encouraged. 2. Something that focuses on the often overlooked ogre encounter would be great. 3. A crossover with the Count of Monte Cristo (just because I think "The Cat of Monte Cristo" would be a fun title). 4. A crossover with The Cowardly Lion from The Wizard of Oz . 

• Pandora's Box: April 14-19

• Hints: The seven deadly sins concept already has a story in this issue, so unlikely to publish a poem with that angle. I'm kind of surprised we didn't have more submissions about the biblical counterpart to this myth (Adam and Eve), so you could try that as a potential twist. No promises I'll love it, but it's an idea. Oh, or what about the box being a volcano?

• Twelve Dancing Princesses: June 9-14

• Hints: Don't send me poems from the shoes' perspective, please. Or a poem with a ballet setting. We already have stories with those angles. What about mixing the tale with some Bluebeard elements? Or the 12 tribes of Israel? How about a crossover with Bluebeard?

Good luck and I cannot wait to see what you send me!

Live Action Fairy Tale Musical 'The Twelve Dancing Princesses' In the Works (& They Just Added Some Broadway Girl Power to the Team)

Yes, it's true - there is a live action Twelve Dancing Princesses movie in the works!

We've been watching the development of this film via Twitter, Facebook and the official website for quite a few months now but things really seem to be ramping up for Prinroc Ltd's fairy tale film, and it's high time we shared its existence with fairy tale folk everywhere!

Here's the official synopsis from the website:

A great mystery shrouds the castle in the Brothers Grimm’s classic fairytale, The Twelve Dancing Princesses.  Every night the king locks his twelve daughters securely in their chamber, but come morning, their shoes are in tatters and it’s clear they have been up to more than just sleeping in the night! 

At his daughters’ refusal to explain, the king issues a proclamation inviting all the princes from realms far and near to come and unravel the princesses’ secret.  The prize for solving the mystery of the tattered shoes?  The winner may take the princess of his choice in marriage and half the kingdom.  But every prince who comes to test his wits against the clever princesses fails in his quest and is put to death. 

One day, a simple soldier appears on the castle steps and begs permission to take up the challenge and win the hand of a princess.  The king allows it, but this soldier is different from all who have come before him in more than just rank.  He has in his possession a magical cloak, the wise words of a good fairy, and quickly wins the heart of the fairest princess of them all.  Will he succeed in uncovering the twelve sisters closely guarded secret where all others have failed?

Intrigued? Take a look at their trailers - although they're at least a year old, you can see they've put a lot of work into the concept and it's only grown more impressive since then:

"The Twelve Dancing Princesses, will feature 12 young women in major roles," said Coady. "We are looking for diversity among our leads, representing young women of all ethnicities, shapes, and sizes," Coady continues, "This film will be a celebration of strong, supportive women on and off screen." In addition to featuring women in lead roles, producer, Ann Marie Lizzi, and executive producer, Michalina Scorzelli, add to the girl power behind the camera. 

Rachel Resheff

Broadway sweetheart, Rachel Resheff, joins the cast of live action fairy tale musical, THE TWELVE DANCING PRINCESSES! With the recent box office success of Beauty and the Beast, and the trend of girl power fairy tale films breaking box office records, Prinroc Ltd's, THE TWELVE DANCING PRINCESSES is a romantic musical romp with a feminist edge. (BW)

With this impressive team bringing a wealth of filmmaking (and Hollywood) experience to the project between them, we know we're in for something special.  (Take a look at the bios HERE - we guarantee you'll be impressed!)

We applaud the approach, the emphasis on diversity and in empowering women everywhere - both for the audience as represented via the story and film, as well as the team in front of, and behind, the camera.

As news - and the movie - develops, we'll let you know. This is definitely one film to keep tabs on!

Issue 03 of the AFTS Ezine: 'The Twelve Dancing Princesses' Sneak Peek!

It's that time again - time for stories and poems and art and fairy tale conversations, all tucked into a new issue of The Australian Fairy Tale Society member exclusive ezine. Our theme this issue is: 'The Twelve Dancing Princesses', or 'The Shoes That Were Worn To Pieces', which we think is perfect for party season.

This one is very close to being wrapped in a digital bow and sent out to currently registered members, just in time for some holiday reading!

Without giving away too many of the goodies, we will just whisper that this issue is full of lords a'leaping, ladies dancing, dual worlds, enchanted royalty and shoes, shoes, shoes! 

It's lovely, luscious and just a little decadent. ;)

Going to miss out because you're not a member? Now is the perfect time to sign up and get exclusive access to our unique fairy tale magazine! You don't need to live Down Under or be an Aussie native to join - you just need to be happy to support the research, use and creation of fairy tales and folk who love them, in Australia. (As you'll see from the ezine - there's a lot of fairy tale magic at work these days under the Southern Cross!)

For $25 annual membership you receive the 30-ish page ezine every second month (6 issues a year), discounts to fairy tale events, exclusive fairy tale reference and research lists (put together by our qualified librarian and historian), many opportunities to network with professional writers, artists and scholars, all of whom love and work in fairy tales, and opportunities for publication of your work.

Not a bad little gift for a fairy tale lover, we might suggest (nudge, nudge) - and it keeps giving all year long!

Join HERE today and Issue 03 will be delivered in the next few days via hard working elves, sprinkled with seasonal wishes for many enchanted dancing days ahead for you all.

Disclaimer: Our resident Fairy Tale News Hound, Gypsy Thornton, is a founding member of the AFTS, Committee Member, and Editor and Designer for the AFTS Member Ezine. She receives no remuneration for her work and no profit is made on this publication. All work is done in the aim of supporting AFTS members in their fairy tale journeys.

The Other Guy Who Learned the 12 Dancing Princesses' Secret (Comic)

From a comic by Sam aka Charmingly Antiquated

We found this in our web wanderings focused on Twelve Dancing Princesses (the tale of the month for the next Australian Fairy Tale Society Member Exclusive Ezine), and had to share this short but wonderfully different comic, telling the story of the princesses who danced their shoes to pieces and one boy who found out their secret..

From 'Sam' the artist, aka charmingly antiquated:

In the original fairy tale, the princesses drug a whole lot of hopeful would-be princes, fully aware they’ll be executed in the morning. and then they dance all night, every night, so hard they shred their shoes. that’s…always unsettled me a bit. the princesses might not be actively malicious, but they’re not really kind, either, and they’re definitely not human.  

What always surprised me the most, though, is the guy who sees these casually murderous dance machines and goes ‘i wanna marry one’ instead of ‘f- this sh*t i’m out’. so this is the comic about that other guy.

And we will never see the tale the same way again. Sleep tight! (Except for those who will be dancing all night...)

Crystal Galloway's Indian Little Mermaid

Crystal Galloway is an illustrator who decided she wanted to try creating a version of The Little Mermaid that moved away from its traditional setting in Europe. The locale she chose instead, was, refreshingly, East India.

While you might think most of the underwater scenes wouldn't necessarily reflect this, Galloway did a lovely job of reflecting the culture in the design of the characters, as well as the style of painting.

The Prince chillin' on his birthday boat

The Prince's birthday fireworks

The storm

The mermaid saving the Prince

A kiss on the shore

Arriving at the witch's bog

The witch preparing her brew

The mermaid admiring the night before her death

"Kill the Prince!"

Pretty nice interpretation! Beautifully rendered too with a feeling of sand, salt and sea. It gives the impression of being constantly in motion without being overwhelming.

Galloway did many studies for the various characters, all with lovely inspiration from East India and the unique cultural flavor there. We'd love to see an illustrated book of the complete story!

The grandmother

The sea witch

You can find more individual character designs HERE and some story boards for when the Little Mermaid goes the the surface for the first time HERE.

Fairy Tale Bonus of the Day:

Galloway also created one other fairy tale illustration, this time for The Twelve Dancing Princesses (a fairy tale not illustrated nearly enough in my opinion! It's such a rich tale, full of vivid imagery from start to finish yet it's rarely explored in its entirety. (Thank you Ruth Sanderson for giving us your version of the whole story!)

Here is the piece (click to view larger) and you can see some close ups of sections HERE:

Fashion & Fairy Tales: Dancing Princesses

We should mention up front: this is less about shoes* than the dresses and the photography.

This fashion shoot is from a few years ago (2012) but we re-discovered it in one of our (many) "potential posts" lists, and with the buzz about The Twelve Dancing Princesses seeming to grow stronger over social media (though we haven't found the reason why... yet), we thought it would be good to show this updated version of many people's favorite fairy tale party girls. (Or are they under the influence of different "enchantments"?)

There's so much to explore in this tale: the three enchanted woods (Silver! Gold! Diamonds!), the nightly draw of all these sisters to underground dancing, the ever-growing pile of ruined shoes (does the King have tailors on retainer? And for how many years?), the unnamed princes (were they human? Were they under enchantment too?), the sort - or sorts - of enchantments at play... It's easy to see how it translates so well to modern party culture, and is thus, perfect fodder for fashion editorials.

This theme was the major portion of the Winter holiday shoot titled "A Fairy Holiday". Anna Palma and Chadwick Tyler, working for fashion retailer FreePeople, did a very interesting interpretation of this, harking back to many of the tale motifs, making for some intriguing photographs (and possibly some writing prompts too).

On the FreePeople blog, Julia reminisced about the tale in such a lovely way, I'm re-posting her summary here:

When I was little, one of my absolute favorite stories was the 12 Dancing Princesses, and it is something that will always bring to mind the holiday season.  The fairytale told the story of 12 beautiful princesses who were drawn from their beds each night by the desire to dance. They would sneak out of their castle and travel through three magical forests, which was always my favorite part of the story. The first forest was shining silver, the second a glowing gold, and the third was the most magical of all, full of shimmering diamonds. The imagery was gorgeous and I dreamed of one day finding these enchanted forests. 

The princesses would reach a lake where they each met a prince who would row them to a castle in the middle of the lake, where they would dance the night away until they wore out their shoes.  Come the morning, the king would find them sleeping in their beds, but with a pile of worn out slippers that were a mystery to him.  He would recruit princes to watch over the princesses and see where they went at night, but the princesses would trick them by bringing them along and at the end of the night, offering them a special drink that would make them fall asleep and forget everything. I always found it to be such an intriguing tale and it has stuck with me ever since. I love that it was the inspiration behind one section of our November catalog!

*Has anyone seen a shoe fashion editorial based on the Worn Out Dancing Shoes? Seems like an editorial waiting to happen.

Ask Baba Yaga: Am I Watching Too Much Television?

Baba Yaga and Vasilisa the Brave by Kinuko Craft

That glowing siren call of the modern age... so many shows, so little time.

Today's question and answer (via poet and oracle Taisia Kitaiskaia* of The Hairpin):

(Originally posted at The Hairpin HERE)

TV as a golden egg.. interesting concept. Both valuable and invaluable at the same time. Is she saying concentrating on it solely will only give you a cracked, half life? That you cannot truly appreciate the gold - or even discern the gold - unless you live your life and do other things too? Clearly Baba Yaga is very aware of TVs addictive properties though. 

Stories are wonderful in every form but some mediums have more impact than others. When it comes to TV, sometimes that's gold, sometimes it's just something shiny in your eye, blocking your vision.

I agree wholeheartedly. (But I still wish we could afford HBO - not that I would have time to watch it...)

What do you think of Baba Yaga's advice?

Want to ask Baba Yaga a question of your own?

You can!

There's now an email address where you can send your questions

directly to Baba Yaga herself.

AskBabaYaga AT gmail DOT com

To encourage Baba Yaga to continue imparting her no-bones-about-it wisdom (ok, there may be some gristle in there... bones too), I suggest we not to leave her box empty... 

Thank you Baba Yaga (& Taisia).

* Taisia Kitaiskaia is a poet, writer, and Michener Center for Writers fellow. Born in Russia and raised in America, she's had her poems and translations published in Narrative Magazine, Poetry International, and others.