Lesley Barnes' Colorific "Firebird"

Something lovely and a little bit different to start off with this week. The Firebird as illustrated by the amazing Lesley Barnes.

Lesley is a British illustrator, originally from Glasgow. If you're familiar with animation you wouldn't be surprised to learn that's where she started, but her colorful illustration is what she's best known for today.

Currently Lesley is featured on the cover of the new image-delicious book The Graphic Canon of Children's Literature: The Definitive Anthology of Kid's Lit as Graphics and Visuals edited by Russ Kick.

Presenting a selection of pieces from the The Graphic Canon of Children's Literature, written by Russ Kick and published by Seven Stories Press.  

In this follow-up volume to the lauded Graphic Canon series, master anthologist Russ Kick shows adults everywhere that great children's literature is great literature, period. And that it's not just for children.

 

The original three-volume anthology The Graphic Canon presented the world's classic literature--from ancient times to the late twentieth century--as eye-popping comics, illustrations, and other visual forms. In this follow-up volume, young people's literature through the ages is given new life by the best comics artists and illustrators. Fairy tales, fables, fantastical adventures, young adult novels, swashbuckling yarns, your favorite stories from childhood and your teenage years . . . they're all here, in all their original complexity and strangeness, before they were censored or sanitized.

You can find out a little more about the sorts of projects she's worked on and upcoming works in this short but lovely article HERE.

Enjoy!

The concertina book is now on my (impossible things) fairy tale wish list too!

You can find Lesley Barnes in many places on the web! There's a nice board showing a range of Lesley's work HERE on Pinterest, and below are all the official links:

instagram 

shop 

vimeo 

youtube

twitter 

blog 

tumblr

facebook

Helen Oyeyemi (of "Boy, Snow, Bird") on Writing the Wicked Queen and the Power Fairy Tales

By now, you've probably heard of Helen Oyeyemi's book Boy, Snow, Bird, a literary retelling of Snow White that deals with racial issues. It's caught the attention of Oprah and The New York Times and is quickly rising on the best seller list.

Let me quickly add the press release blurb, in case this is still new to you, before we move on to others things:

Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi 

From the prizewinning author of Mr. Fox , the Snow White fairy tale brilliantly recast as a story of family secrets, race, beauty, and vanity.In the winter of 1953, Boy Novak arrives by chance in a small town in Massachusetts, looking, she believes, for beauty-- the opposite of the life she' s left behind in New York. She marries a local widower and becomes stepmother to his winsome daughter, Snow Whitman.
A wicked stepmother is a creature Boy never imagined she' d become, but elements of the familiar tale of aesthetic obsession begin to play themselves out when the birth of Boy' s daughter, Bird, who is dark-skinned, exposes the Whitmans as light-skinned African Americans passing for white. Among them, Boy, Snow, and Bird confront the tyranny of the mirror to ask how much power surfaces really hold.
Dazzlingly inventive and powerfully moving , Boy, Snow, Bird is an astonishing and enchanting novel. With breathtaking feats of imagination, Helen Oyeyemi confirms her place as one of the most original and dynamic literary voices of our time.

Since there are a lot of reviews and information about the book out there already (I recommend starting with Heidi Ann Heiner of SurLaLune and her review HERE), I won't go over the same ground.

Instead I thought I'd offer some different aspects on this retelling of Snow White. As a little bonus, throughout the post are a variety of proposed designs for the book cover, which I always find interesting as they give a different but valid emphasis to the book.

Here's a short but lovely introduction to the book by way of audio. You'll get an idea of the language the author uses as well as immediate immersion into the fairy tale.

You can hear the whole book for free right now HERE (via one of those 30 day trial deals).

And here are three (four, really) treats: Helen Oyeyemi sharing her thoughts on, not only her book and Snow White but fairy tales in general, as well as excerpts from a very different fairy tale aficionado review.

First up is an excerpt from an interview in Bustle:

What did you see as the most compelling characteristics of the wicked stepmother? 

HO: I like that in the typical fairy tale, the wicked woman is the one who makes trouble. The wicked stepmother in “Snow White” made me think a lot about beauty: how women interpret beauty and how these interpretations feed into our relationships, from envy to rivalry to protectiveness. It also made me wonder why in the original story different types of beauty can’t co-exist. 

What was the most challenging part of constructing the wicked queen?  

HO: The challenge of building the wicked queen was in not relying on Boy’s past for a complete explanation of the problems between Boy and Snow — for most of the book, Boy’s quite determined not to do any reliving. 

I don’t like retellings of stories where a woman is explained by her past — where her past is something that was part of her personality. I wanted to loosen the walls and try to figure out a new way to tell the story of the wicked queen.   

You can read the whole of the interview HERE.

And from NPR, who often presents a refreshing perspective:

On playing off of fairy talesI think that they're the purest form of story that you can get. They sort of strip down human behavior to the absolute basics. So with Snow White you have this story about envy and what the consequences of those are. And I suppose that when I'm reading a fairy tale I find it easier to rescue the characters than with other stories.
And I wanted to rescue the wicked stepmother. I felt that, especially in Snow White, I think that the evil queen finds it sort of a hassle to be such a villain. It seems a bit much for her, and so I kind of wanted to lift that load a little bit. 

You can hear the interview at the NPR link above or, if you're having trouble hearing the audio on your device, there's a transcript available HERE.

And here's a very short, but interesting video of Ms. Oyeyemi speaking about the power of fairy tales in a New York Times interview:

Helen Oyeyemi, whose new novel, "Boy, Snow, Bird," was inspired by "Snow White," says fairy tales allow us to focus on "the nature of stories themselves, and the curious power they have."

Lastly, here are a couple of excerpts from an interesting write up from a Polish blog. Auto-translate is responsible for the weirdness of the language, including the his/her mix-ups but I kinda love the rawness of it as well. I'm including the introduction (shown in bold) because it gives an interesting commentary on the resurgence of fairy tale retellings in recent years as well:

In recent years, pop culture has returned to the fashion of fairy tales and their modern interpretations. After the age of luscious, candy filming the stables Disney fairy tales again regained its adult nature and conquered the imagination of a new culture all manner of modern eaters. Finally, the air is filled with the spirit of the mad and cruel story of Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm, sadness and despair beautiful Andersen story or moral decency fairy tale by Charles Perrault certain. She returned even coquettish Scheherazade, flew Peter Pan, or the witches in "The Wizard of Oz". I must admit that the classic fairy tale I have a big fondness. My beloved since childhood, much misunderstanding parents are "Jednooczka, Dwuoczka and Trójoczka" The Brothers Grimm - the title already seen that from an early age, I felt attracted to the strangeness, and how to add, that history also includes burying raw liver under the porch, it knows where to splatterpunka love and gore. As you know, I love to interpret... and fairy tales give me a wide range of possibilities, depending on the time in which to be not taking. Because the fairy tale worth coming back and read again, customize and play with meanings.  

Universal potential and great symbolic force emanating from the classic fairy tale has used in his latest novel entitled "Boy, Snow Bird" by British author Helen Oyeyemi . The writer very subtly and intriguingly tangled in his story magic, supernatural elements and the classic fairy tale themes, creating one of the most interesting reinterpretation of this type in recent years. The basis of the plot used in building one of the most famous stories in the world, that cult "Snow White" The Brothers Grimm. However, "Boy, Snow Bird" reader seeking also find echoes of "Sleeping Beauty", "The Snow Queen", or even "Cinderella". Helen Oyeyemi chose only a tiny kawalątki these stories, and the history of Snow White in a turbulent and presses the uneasy reality of the fifties and sixties of the twentieth century the United States. She told them a new, thus creating a fresh, contemporary fairy tale. And as it happens in the classical fairy tales filled it with ambiguity and universal symbolism, which will long remain in the subconscious mind readers. 

..."Boy, Snow Bird" Helen Oyeyemi is a story that still deceiving me, weaved and sucked in the twists and turns of its plot, as in the forest depths. A small American town seemed mysterious land which seemingly charming and "as a picture" was hidden in the shadows of a dirty racial obsession, intolerance and concerns of closed communities which do not have access to extensive changes in other parts of the country. Family of the picture in the house Whitman, who for one shake a magic wand proved to be the arena fighting for the acceptance of women, both in the eyes of others, as in his own. I mean, how can you live in harmony with each other, even when the mirror shows that we are not to end? When even those closest to us sometimes seem not to notice? When every look we have the impression that in a mirror dimly?

You can read the whole of the blog entry HERE, as long as you either can read Polish, or have Google translate. :)

I'm looking forward to reading this at some point in the (hopefully near) future but if you've already managed to dive in, feel free to share your impressions in the comments below.

"Cruel Beauty" Book Trailer & Behind-the-Pages with Author Rosamund Hodge

NOTE: The trailer AUTOPLAYS! Argh!

I really hate autoplay functions so apologize for this. I've been into the HTML but can't figure out what to change/delete so it doesn't do it. I'm going to leave it like this for a bit while I try to figure out something else. In the meantime it's very annoying (sorry!) but until they upload the trailer to YouTube we're stuck with this. Very sorry!

Now that I've finally read a little about the book from the author, I'm actually interested. I've seen so many variations on Beauty & the Beast be published for the YA demographic but rarely do they seem to have a unique take, so unless they are a favorite author of mine to start with or one of those poetic and edgy authors who handles words as well as Francesca Lia Block, my eyes to to glaze over quickly.

However.

Ms. Hodge not only finds a way to make Beauty more interesting (to me) but has found a way to blend the dichotomy of Beauty and the Beast and Bluebeard, into a single, smooth narrative. Color me intrigued.

The book keeps catching my eye because of the ridiculously stunning cover (genius really), so when I saw an author interview posted I quickly skimmed, then went back and read it properly when I realized what the premise actually was. I think it might be worth picking up when it's released in January 2014.

Here are some excerpts in which the author shares what drew her to a Beauty who was cruel:

Rosamund Hodge

I never thought I could retell Beauty and the Beast. I liked it. I read Robin McKinley's Beauty and watched the Disney movie, and I enjoyed them both. But the story felt finished. Complete. What drives me to write retellings is finding the holes, the mysteries that don't add up. Beauty learns to love somebody who looks like a monster and Beast learns to love despite the monstrous parts of himself. It's a moving story, but what's to retell? 

by Erik Dreyer

When I read (East of the Sun, West of the Moon), it was like lightning in my mind! Suddenly Beauty and the Beast wasn't a static and separate little unit; it was one thread in a tapestry of stories where brave young women travel to strange places and marry men who are really monsters, or monsters who are really men. 

And then I thought: Who says there is only one monster? 

What if the brave young woman is one, too? (a la Mean Girls) 

Loving a monster when you're beautiful and sweet and kind — that's a good story to read. Finding the courage to love a monster when you feel just as ugly yourself? That's the kind of story I want to tell...

You can read the rest of the (much longer) article HERE.

There's another interview post on Ms. Hodge's website HERE which asks a question fairy tale folk in particular should be interested to hear:

CRUEL BEAUTY is loosely based on the classic stories of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and BLUEBEARD. Did you read a lot of fairy tales and fantasy growing up? How did they influence your writing? 

by Twinnovations

Sometimes I hardly read anything else! I also devoured a huge quantity of mythology, which has deeply influenced my writing. (In fact, Cruel Beauty is based almost as much on the myth of Cupid and Psyche as it is on Beauty and the Beast). 

What I love the most about myths and fairy tales is how you are never just reading a story. You are reading the hundredth iteration of a story that’s been told for thousands of years. And when stories are told and retold for that long, they acquire a life of their own. They follow a peculiar, dream-like logic that doesn’t always make sense, but feels like it would make sense if you could just peel back a few more versions of the story. You can feel the bones beneath the skin. You look at the story, and it looks back at you. 

And a good fairy tale retelling taps into that sense of story-behind-story. It feels inevitable. You read it and you think, Yes, obviously, this is what happened. This is what it means. Writing a fairy tale retelling feels like discovery, not invention. Why did I combine Beauty and the Beast with Bluebeard? Because I was thinking about those stories one day and I realized, Beauty married the Beast in order to kill him. She’s afraid she will die like his previous wives. That’s what happened. How else could it be?

A cruel Beauty reminds me a little of issues in Pride and Prejudice but this looks like it will be much edgier, what with the assassin training, Bluebeard references and all!

Take a look at the book trailer:

UPDATE AT 1PM ON FRIDAY:

I HAVE DELETED THE TRAILER AS I CAN'T GET IT TO STOP AUTO-PLAYING, WHICH IS BEYOND IRRITATING! To see it, please click the link below and scroll down to the end of the article to view it.

My apologies for any inconvenience regarding the auto-play function for the past half day and now the need to go see the trailer on another page. Hopefully one day I'll be able to update this and embed a trailer you can choose whether to view when you're ready to, or not.

_____________________________________________________________________

CLICK HERE TO GO TO ARTICLE WITH BOOK TRAILER

_____________________________________________________________________

 Rosamund Hodge will also be releasing a novella, Gilded Ashes, retelling of Cinderella in April (which you can see a glimpse of at the end of the trailer). To me, this is even more intriguing than the Beauty and the Beast blend. See what she says about it:

Tell us about GILDED ASHES, your digital novella set in the world of CRUEL BEAUTY. 

by Cindy Bean

It’s a retelling of Cinderella, which is a fairy tale that most people feel needs an explanation. Traditionally, Cinderella is sweet, obedient, and cheerful despite being relentlessly abused. Why doesn’t she rebel against her wicked stepmother? Why is she happy? 

I started thinking about the Brothers Grimm version of the story, where Cinderella doesn’t have a fairy godmother; instead, it’s the ghost of her dead mother who gives her the dress and sends her to the ball. I wondered, why would a mother haunt her daughter? To protect her, of course.  And suddenly it all became clear: Cinderella’s dead mother haunts the house and destroys anyone who makes her daughter cry. So no matter what her stepfamily does to her, Cinderella has to smile and be happy. Or all of them will die. 

But, of course, everything gets a lot more complicated when she falls in love.

See what I mean? I like the way this author thinks.

Even though I'm not a big YA reader, both of these are now officially on my to-be-read pile.

Snow White by Jasmin Darnell

Snow White by Jasmin Darnell a.k.a. yasahime

After my little rant about bad illustrations in my previous post I simply had to put up something beautiful. I found this lovely illustration quite a while ago and it immediately came to mind as a gorgeous contrast and an example of how the illustrations mentioned could have been handled, inspiring kids and grown ups everywhere to go find beautiful fairy tale books of their own to read. This illustration isn't even considered complete, according to the artist's notes!

This Kiwi artist is only just getting going in her career and I wish her the best of luck in her plans to illustrate anthologies of children's literature. I'd love to see what she comes up with. While we wait for that to happen ;), she has a small Etsy shop HERE and a gallery on deviantArt HERE.

And speaking of beautiful illustration, here are just a few of my favorite illustrated collections of fairy tales (as one might suspect, I have many!), other than my Lang and multiple Dover collections, which I adore (H.J. Ford is one of my favorite illustrators of all time). These covers are in no particular order and are really just the first few I pulled off my (currently very mixed-up) shelves:

This I like because there are so many world tales in the book & the illustrations are like complete story murals all by themselves.

What are some of your favorite illustrated fairy tale volumes?

Wooden Bones by Scott William Carter

Cover Illustration by Edward Kinsella

There's a new Pinocchio book on the way and it's definitely on the dark side. The book is aimed at 9-12 year olds but, as author Scott William Carter says, he hopes adults will enjoy it as much as they did Coraline, which is of a similar ilk.

“The untold story of Pinocchio, with a dark twist. Pino, as he’s come to be known after he became a real boy, has discovered that he has the power to bring puppets to life himself...” 

Photo by Heidi Carter

 Although it's not out till August 2012, it's already available on amazon.com for pre-order. This author has been very prolific in the fantasy short story market. (You may have read his short story"Heart of Stone" from Hags, Sirens and Other Bad Girls of Fantasy.) Wooden Bones is his second novel sold to date and I'm looking forward to seeing what he's done with Pinocchio.

Lovely Graphic Design for 2 (Unused) Fairy Tale Covers

Here are a couple of fairy tale book covers I found recently by graphic designer Oleksandra Korobova (a.k.a. l-e-s-k-a on deviantArt).

I just love these!

They were to be part of a series but as far as I can find, have not ever been used. Such a shame! They would have had me picking up the books in an instant.

You can find more of her art and photography HERE.