Baba Yaga Meets Narnia in T. Kingfisher's New Online Serial Novel 'Summer in Orcus'

When the witch Baba Yaga walks her house into the backyard, eleven-year-old Summer enters into a bargain for her heart’s desire. Her search will take her to the strange, surreal world of Orcus, where birds talk, women change their shape, and frogs sometimes grow on trees. But underneath the whimsy of Orcus lies a persistent darkness, and Summer finds herself hunted by the monstrous Houndbreaker, who serves the distant, mysterious Queen-in-Chains…

Do you remember who T. Kingfisher is? It's the multi-talented, Hugo-award winning artist and writer Ursula Vernon, writing for older readers and adults under a different name, many of which are fairy tales. We have a review of one of her wonderful collections HERE.

Below: Fairy tale short story anthologies written by Vernon with covers also created by her.

And she's at it again.

This time she's taking her latest novel online and is publishing it in twice-weekly installments, for free.

Did I mention the novel is a Vernon-esque mash-up of Baba Yaga (complete with personable walking house) and Narnia? Vernon explains her inspiration for this in her introduction, which I am posting below because I can't think of a better way to get you reading it and supporting her.

When I was young and reading the Narnia books, I detested (as I was supposed to detest) Eustace Clarence Scrubb, who did not enter into the spirit of Narnia at all, who was sulky about grand adventures and had to be turned into a dragon in order to learn his lesson. 

I bitterly envied him being turned into a dragon. I would have given my eyeteeth to be a dragon. 

Years later I read Voyage of the Dawn Treader again and realized that Eustace got a pretty raw deal, although arguably not as raw as Susan, and that you really couldn’t win sometimes. And I had watched The Neverending Story about five hundred times and when I finally read the book, where the child story-teller’s creations are given life and come to him crying “Why have you done this to us?” I was deeply horrified. Artex in the Swamps of Sorrow had nothing on this for sheer awfulness. 

But these were adult understandings, and as I am often a children’s book author, I set out to write a portal fantasy for children. 

I couldn’t do it. 

I couldn’t get out of my own way. Narnia was too important to me. It mattered too much. I could not sanitize it. The terrible, fascinating darkness underneath the fantasy world would not go away. When I put myself in the shoes of my heroine, I knew enough to be afraid. 

There is a legacy in children’s books–I blame the Victorians–for books to reassure children that being a kid is just fantastic, that adulthood is nothing but taxes and hair loss, that being a kid is an idyllic innocence and only a very foolish child would want to grow up. 

Neverending Story interior illustration by Katie Vlietstra

Well, I was skeptical even then, and more skeptical now. And that, too, got in the way of my writing. So eventually I gave up on trying to write a proper children’s portal fantasy and wrote this book instead. 

Summer in Orcus is my portal fantasy. It is my response to Narnia and The Phantom Tollbooth and The Neverending Story, which I read (and watched) as a child, and to Abarat and Valente’s Fairyland, which I read as an adult.
Whatever age you are, I hope you find something worth having in Orcus.

START CHAPTER ONE BY CLICKING HERE

So far there are six chapters and counting at the writing of this post. All we feel we can share at this point is that a smothered young girl named Summer has had her day unexpectedly interrupted by a walking house, that seems to like her and has somehow convinced Baba Yaga this little girl is worth her attention...

Summer in Orcus will be available in full when the serial has been run in full, early in 2017. Unlike some serial novels, this one is completely finished and edited and avid readers are in no danger of never finding out the end of the story. We are looking forward to the journey very much, and will likely be sad when we read 'The End'.

Frog Road: from the amazing imagination and talented fingers of Ursula Vernon

"The Silver Chair" Movie Snags "Life of Pi" Screen Writer

They're definitely going ahead with the fourth Narnia film, The Silver Chair and, as of Thursday (yesterday) they've just signed a writer to the project. This time the screenplay will be written by the Oscar nominated Life of Pi and Finding Neverland wordsmith, David Magee.




From Variety:

 

“I have always loved ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ and I endlessly imagined myself finding my own passage into Narnia someday,” he said. “All these years later, I’m getting to fulfill that wish just a little bit by writing the film adaptation of ‘The Silver Chair’ and could not be more excited about it.” (Magee)

 


From HarperCollins Narnia Page:

Douglas Gresham, stepson of C.S. Lewis stated, “I have a great deal of respect for Mark Gordon’s work and am confident that together we can bring the beauty and magical delight that Narnia engenders in the hearts of those who read the books to the screen in ‘The Silver Chair.’ I am very much looking forward to diving once more into Narnia, this time with Mark Gordon and his team.”

Although Disney produced the first two (The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian) and Fox handled The Dawn Treader, neither will be producing on the fourth film. Instead it will be handled by a co-op of Producers led by Mark Gordon (a company that is better recognized for their TV credits than the four films they've produced).


I'm very curious to see how they handle the marsh-wiggle, Puddleglum as I was fascinated with the characters as a kid. The BBC series had Tom Baker in the role but I'm afraid my impressionable child-self could never see him as anything other than Doctor Who (the fourth Doctor, with the crazy scarf). I kept expecting a police box to appear in Narnia (or "not-Narnia") at any moment!

My favorite character from this book, though, was the Lady of the Green Kirtle, or the Green-Witch or the Emerald Witch. (I saw a discussion on when witches were first thought of as being green-skinned but I can't find it at present to link to - fascinating and not as clear to pin down as you might think.) This part of the book felt extremely "fairy tale" to me, what with her being deceptively sweet at the outset only to transform into a poisonous Green Serpent, not to mention her being called the "Queen of Underland".

Concept art for Dawn Treader which originally featured The Emerald Witch

Apparently the original screenplay and concept art from Voyage of the Dawn Treader featured the Lady of the Green Kirtle (shown above) and the set up is quite lovely. From a fan:

..more art that was prepared for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  One piece that I absolutely love is art that was done that would have set up The Silver Chair beautifully.  It was a divergent part of the story that was in an earlier screenplay for Dawn Treader in which the Lady of the Green Kirtle (aka Emerald Witch) appears.  It kind of cements the concept that the Green Mist was an extension of her / foreshadowing her as a greater problem.

I always found her somewhat mysterious and appreciated her attacks on all the senses (sight - beauty, smell - sweet powder thrown onto the fire, hearing - a lilting mandolin that made people drowsy when she played on it, not to mention her subtle yet effective brainwashing). She was an Enchantress who, though powerful and could resort to frightening means, lured her victims in through pleasure and altering their reality, much like the faery of the Unseelie Court legends and reminded me very much of the Faerie Queen of Tam Lin. SO much could be done with this character! I hope Magee recognizes this and writes something juicy accordingly.

You can keep up to date on what's happening with the movie via the Facebook page HERE.

Doctor Who Goes Through The Wardrobe

I have a confession to make: I'm not really a Doctor Who fan. I did watch when I was little with my Dad and although I loved Tom Baker with his crazy scarf and wild hair as the Doctor (yes, I'm showing my age!) certain episodes gave me nightmares and I didn't continue watching on my own. Fast forward through many years and a few attempts to see why people still loved it and... nothing.

Until now, that is.

Like many fairy tale lovers the idea of anyone walking into a wardrobe makes my ears perk up and my heart quicken with expectations of winter wonderlands and magical Narnian* creatures waiting on the other side of a bunch of old coats. In fact, I was in the middle of restoring a rickety but "magical looking wardrobe"(complete with dryad shadows in the wooden sides!) when I got the call to move to the US. Not being hugely well constructed in the first place, I knew the wardrobe wouldn't survive a trip on a boat to join me on the other side of the world so I sadly gave it up, though I think about it often and wonder where it ended up.

What does this have to do with Doctor Who? Well, I'm not calling myself a fan yet but when I heard Doctor Who was "heading into Narnia" (or at least a Doctor Who version of Narnia) I made sure I DVR'd the episode. I'm so glad I did!

Description from Coventry Telegraph:

It's called The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe and beyond the obvious hints towards the Narnia classic, we know Steven Moffat's tale is set during the Second World War when a widow and her two children flee London for Dorset. There they meet an eccentric caretaker and discover a portal into a winter wonderland.

I finally got around to watching it today and... it's a must see for fairy tale people. Wonderfully and smartly written but with such a childlike spirit and it truly embodies the Christmas/season spirit - I'm impressed. Not only did the episode include plenty of magic, humor and a little sci-fi on the side but it managed to blend all the different season celebrations wonderfully and celebrate them all and their true meanings. No matter if you celebrate Yule, Hanukkah, Christmas or other old year/new year celebrations, this episode managed to pay a beautiful tribute to them all. 

You can get more of an idea of the episode HERE which is actually spoiler free. Though some of the visuals will give you clues it shouldn't take any of your enjoyment away from seeing it for the first time.

Fairyland is mentioned (see below) and looking at some of the visuals you can see why. And I love the two lines from the episode that are written below. How can you not love the Doctor after he says something like that?

Lily: Is it Fairyland?

The Doctor: Fairyland?! Oh grow up Lily! Fairyland looks completely different. 

This episode gently nods to many different tales and classics but most of all it puts the viewer in that time in your life when you once believed many more things than you would admit and it didn't take much nudging to see the world in a different and magical way (if you're lucky - sometimes you still feel like this!) I watched this again with my young son (not yet five years old) and he really enjoyed it - for many reasons. The only problem is that he now wants a Christmas tree next year just like the one the Doctor made... lol

Of course, now I need to go check out the Doctor Who tribute to Dicken's A Christmas Carol just to see how flying sharks might fit into a story and end up pulling a sleigh...

Here's the trailer for The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe:


And if you've seen the episode and wish there were more to explore, there is! You can check out the current content at this site HERE - as of this writing it's all about the Christmas special - or start HERE which should be kept in the Doctor Who archives "for all time".


* Narnia - specifically The Lion, The Witch & the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, recently made into  a lovely film. The BBC had a series made many years before but doing it again big budget style was worth it. I was pleasantly surprised by the film and loved seeing so many fairy tale creatures and connections on screen (eg The White Witch is easily inspired by the Snow Queen).

Stories for the Season: The Lion, the Witch & the Wardobe

I know this isn't exactly classed as a fairy tale but the Narnia tales and creatures blended completely with the many fairy tales I read as a child, as I know they did many others, so I feel I can mention C.S. Lewis' Narnia stories here (Yes, I was one of those kids who excitedly- and a little tentatively -checked the back of each new wardrobe I was brave enough to open.)The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is completely centered on Christmas: when Lucy enters Narnia and meets Mr. Tumnus the faun for the first time, he's sneaking around with packages when he really shouldn't be, according to the White Witch's commands (Snow Queen anyone? Complete with sleigh and nasty dwarf). The White Witch has taken over Narnia, plunging the land into a perpetual Winter - without Christmas! The appearance of Santa later in the story is key to showing the tide is turning for good (and he gives awesome presents so the kids can help kick the White Witch's butt!). We're finally able to see Christmas celebrated, hope revive and the season begin to turn to Spring.The recent film from 2005 was/is stunning and makes for uplifting viewing during a holiday season. The book stands alone though and the movie shouldn't take the place of reading the movie - do both!

I found this amazing promotion for a Christmas party after the release - I'll leave you to read it, to see what I mean. (Click to enlarge.)How could you NOT have a good time at such an event?

By the way, Christian Birmingham illustrated a version of the book and is a must-see. As much as I love the movie, I prefer the old illustrations to read with, however this book is an exception to the rule. The link is HERE (I haven't seen this version with the black and white cover, which is lovely. The version linked to is the colored one I've seen in stores.)