Australian Fairy Tale Society Launches Unique Tale-Themed Member Ezine

Front cover of AFTS Ezine Issue 01; illustration included by A H Watson 1939

Full disclosure: I am intimately involved with this project. I am Editor and Designer, and my incredibly talented fairy-sister Louisa John-Krol (internationally acclaimed indie musician, with a voice like fae bells, who runs a fascinating fairy/fairy tale blog of her own) is my Co-editor, part time Muse, creative life-saver and Rock. We are both Founding Members of the Australian Fairy Tale Society, have a great passion for the work the society is doing and are also committee members.

The Australian Fairy Tale Society (AFTS) has just launched a special new fairy tale ezine (electronic magazine) for registered members, and it's quite different from anything else out there.

The ezine will be published every second month, in between 'Fairy Tale Ring' meetings, where members meet to have tea/coffee and chat about the Tale of the Month; from academic musings, to creative inspiration. Apart from providing members with something unique and exclusive for their membership fees, the ezine aims to support and share the creation of new and excellent fairy tale works, inspired by these meetings. From essays to poems, short stories to music, visual art to plays, interviews to Australian national fairy tale news and much more, the ezine will focus on sharing newly created fairy tale works.

Rumpelstilzchen Valerian Gillar 1947 (not included in ezine)

Members also receive the amazing and wonderful Reading Reference, and Points to Ponder lists every second month, researched by Ring Maiden and qualified fairy tale librarian, Jo Henwood (Co-Founder of the AFTS). They're sent out before the meetings to help attendees prepare for the conversations, to be inspired by the many aspects and considerations with regard to the tale and to support the creation of new works inspired by it. (You can read the lists for Jack and the Beanstalk and The Little Mermaid, without being a member, HERE.)

Rumpekstilzchen Liebermann 1929

Each issue will have the theme of the meeting from the month before (eg July's Tale of the Month was discussing Rumpelstiltskin, so all the content for Issue 01 Aug/Sep was Rumpelstiltskin related), with each issue having many illustrations (both public domain and used by permission), and an analogous color palette inspired by the tale as well. As you might have guessed, the Rumpelstiltskin issue was gold. (There is a limited page preview which non-members can view, of Issue 01, HERE.)

Rumpelstilzchen Thekla Brauer 1910 (not included in ezine)

Here's a hastily taken, sneak peek of a few of the interior pages from the Editor's desktop as we were finishing up the final details, right before publishing a couple of weeks ago:

Even though the ezine is focused on Australian members, there is plenty there for fairy tale folk around the world to enjoy. (The first issue was 32 page chock-full of Rumpelstitskin exploration.) While the society is still experimenting with how to connect long distance members for inclusion in fairy tale ring meetings via online resources, at $25 for a year's membership fee, just receiving 6 issues a year is still a fairy tale bargain, even if networking is, for the moment, limited. (You can read the membership details and choose to join through this page on the AFTS website HERE.)

Rear cover of AFTS Ezine Issue 01
Image included by Walter Crane 1882

And did I mention the publishing opportunity? AFTS members are encouraged to submit their work for inclusion in the ezine. While a certain standard of excellence is expected, and the Submission Guidelines are fairly typical for publishing, the Editorial Troupe also expects to work with newer artists and writers to assist in polishing work they could easily include in a professional portfolio.

Excerpt. from AFTS Ezine Issue 01
Illustration by A J Gaskin 1894

For Australian AFTS members at home or abroad, who are also regular readers of Once Upon A Blog, we hope you are busy thinking about September's Tale of the Month, The Frog King, or Iron Henry, as the Rings begin to meet, and are ready to discuss all aspects of slimy suitors and be inspired by themes of transformation and learning respect...

Note: The Australian Fairy Tale Society is an Australian national registered non-profit organization with pending ROCO (Register of Cultural Organizations) status. 

Happy Summer Solstice Northern Hemisphere! (& news on Jasmine Becket-Griffith's upcoming Faerytale Oracle Deck)

A Midsummer Night's Dream by Jasmine Becket-Griffith

Just squeaking in super late in the longest day of the year to say Happy Summer Solstice!

This lovely rendition of A Midsummer Night's Dream is by the popular and talented Jasmine Becket-Griffith, who is currently working on a new Faerytale Oracle Deck (with author Lucy Cavendish writing).

Being no stranger to using fairy tales as subjects for her work, I'm so curious to see how she portrays fairy tales and which ones she chooses to use.

Here are a few works she plans to include so far:

Brother & Sister

Rumpelstiltskin

The Little Match Girl

The Red Shoes

Snow White & Rose Red

Ms. Becket-Griffith's Oracle Deck is due out sometime during 2015 from Blue Angel Publishing.

LX Magazine's Tribute to 200th Anniversary of Grimms Household Tales - Rumpelstilzchen (Tale 4 of 5)

"Rumpelstiltskin" An artwork piece by Mandy Smith (mandysmithwork.com) Dress created in baking paper and the wheel cardboard. Room and props all designed, created and painted by hand. Photography Leon Hendrickx, Model Dorothy Bany, MakeupArtist Anita Jolles

Tale four from the 200th Anniversary Grimm's Household Tales Tribute by Lx Magazine: Illuminating Luxury. Take special note of the caption and credit above! A dress made from baking paper! Gold from straw, I mean, paper!! Beautiful work and shows you that if you put your mind to it, the magic will come... Enjoy.

- FTNH aka Fairy Tale News Hound aka Gypsy

Rumpelstilzchen - Rumpelstiltskin

“There was once a poor Miller who had a beautiful daughter, and one day, having to go to speak with the King, he said, in order to make himself appear of consequence, that he had a daughter who could spin straw into gold. The King was very fond of gold, and thought to himself, ‘That is an art which would please me very well;’ and so he said to the Miller, ‘If your daughter is so very clever, bring her to the castle in the morning, and I will put her to the proof.’ ”

You can read the full tale as published in Grimms Household Tales HERE (translated to English) and learn much more about Rumpelstiltskin's history HERE.

The final tale text and photo will be posted next week!

(Links below to all posts in this series will be updated as posts go live.)

                                                                                                                    ♚

*** TALE 1 *** TALE 2 *** TALE 3 *** TALE 4 *** TALE 5 *** 

Reminder: ABC's "Once Upon A Time" Marathon on New Year's Day

In case you're not aware (or have forgotten in the midst of seasonal celebrations and obligations) ABC is having a Once Upon A Time marathon on New Year's Day. Happy New Year!

Here's the OUAT marathon trailer promo:



And here's the advertising copy that was released a little while ago. (I'm presuming most blog followers are keeping up with the OUAT episodes - in case you're not, please note that the schedule below includes a brief synopsis of each.) One thing missing from this is that I've read in several places that they're starting with the Pilot (which makes sense) and there are conflicting reports on whether ABC will air 6 or all 7 of the episodes to date (and I can't get to a TV right now to check the programming myself). Please note these times are EST (I wouldn't want you to miss out):

ABC is giving Once Upon a Time fans the chance to marathon several episodes on New Year's day, or giving newcomers to the show the chance to catch up before new episodes resume in January.

Six of the seven episodes of Once Upon a Time that aired this fall will be broadcasted on New Year's Day. The schedule is as follows:

4:00 p.m. ET - Unknown episode

5:00 p.m. ET - Unknown episode

7:00 p.m. ET - Episode 3, "Snow Falls": At Henry'surging, Emma convinces Mary Margaret to pay a visit to a comatose John Doe in the hospital and to read to him from the storybook. But Mary Margaret is stunned at the outcome of her visit. Meanwhile, back in the fairytale world, Prince Charming meets Snow White for the first time in a most unexpected way.

8:00 p.m. ET - Episode 4, "The Price of Gold": Emma tries to help a young pregnant woman escape from the clutches of Mr. Gold. Meanwhile, back in the fairytale world that was, Cinderella (Jessy Schram, "Falling Skies") makes a regrettable deal with Rumplestiltskin.

9:00 p.m. ET - Episode 6, "The Shepherd": David - aka John Doe - must choose between staying with Kathryn or leaving her to be with Mary Margaret, with whom he's fallen deeply, and inexplicably, in love; and Emma catches Sheriff Graham in a lie. Meanwhile, back in the fairytale world that was, Prince Charming is about to encounter a life-changing event that will forever alter his destiny.

10:00 p.m. ET - Episode 7, "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter": One of the town's residents begins to remember their fairytale past, and Storybrooke mourns the loss of one of their own. Meanwhile, in the fairytale world that was, the Evil Queen attempts to find a heartless assassin to murder Snow White.

Once Upon a Time fans can also catch up on all of the episodes online at ABC.com.  For more details,click here.

Once Upon a Time returns with new episodes on January 8.

There are numerous teasers and spoilery-type things out there about the next episode in case you are curious. All I will say here for now is that Episode 8 is titled "Desperate Souls" and focuses on Rumpelstiltskin's story as well as the aftermath of the mid-season finale tragedy in Storybrooke.

What a great opportunity to have a fairy tale start to your new year!

Image source: HERE
Copy source: HERE

Kevin Tong's "Once Upon A Time" Posters Update

There's been so much fairy tale news and seasonal things going on I haven't kept up with the poster releases for ABC's Once Upon A Time. Here's a quick update of the set of six being created by Kevin Tong:

Rapunzel

Released December 8

 

Little Red Cap

Released December 15

Sleeping Beauty

Released December 22 (today)

Still to come:

 - Snow White
   Being released December 29

 - Rumpelstiltskin
   Being released January 5

 - Cinderella
   Being Released January 12

I really like the included details - and check the Sleeping Beauty and Prince profiles on the most recent poster - nice. (Of course once I saw them that's all I could see!) Both the gold and silver versions of these posters must be stunning in person.

If you want to get a limited edition print you can keep an eye on their release HERE and order from HERE.

The current bonus download story from ABC is Snow White. You can find the PDF link HERE (scroll down).

Fairy Tale News New Year's Bumper Edition: Artists & illustrators (past & present)

• Coco Miles, a props and sculpture artist, has fairy tale pieces in her portfolio, including Baba Yaga and Rumpelstiltskin.

• "Jack and Jill Return to the Hill" A too-late entry to the Sci-Fi Fairy Tales contest held by Super Punch during December 2009. This entry came with a complete story about Jack and Jill in a sci-fi context too. See link for a summary.

• Little Red vs Wolves - LOTS of wolves! by woohyun Nam. see more of his work at the link.

• Belarus beautiful fairy tale coins - Fairy tale designs include The Stone Flower, The Twelve Months, The Nutcracker, Turandot, Alice in Wonderland, Alice Through the Looking Glass, Thousand and One Nights, Symon the Musician. Simply gorgeous!

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Ashes and Diamonds—Santa, Cinderella & Bert (Article)

I came across this interesting blog entry which looks at the magic of Christmas and uses fairy tale examples to explain the ideas. I think you'll find it interesting.

Here's an excerpt:

Of all the ways that presents and good things might come into one’s life, the chimney would, at first glance, be a bad plan—dirty, likely to be filled with fire, narrow and uninviting. A chimney is where we turn wood into smoke, and what exits by way of the chimney is of the least value to humans—soot, ash and greenhouse gas. Ashes to ashes and dust to dust, the burned down remains of the hearth’s fire would seem to be the end of the road, and yet they mark the scene of a new beginning.

The blogger, Bruce from Privilege of Parenting, then goes on to discuss Cinderella, Bert from Mary Poppins and Rumpelstiltskin and how we often find worth, in things and in people, in the unlikeliest of places, including the ordinary dirt - and dirty faces - of home.

You can read the rest of the article HERE.

12 Days: Fairy Tale Quilt

Fairy tales are a popular choice for advanced quilters (many of whom might be considered fiber artists with their innovative use of dying fabrics, applique and embroidery combinations). I have a few unique artworks in my archives to show you sometime, including the original subject I was looking for - a Princess and the Pea quilt - but while I didn't find any P&tP quilts that stood out to me, I did find a simpler, lovely multi-tale quilt for sale on Etsy. It comes with a rod pocket sewn into it so you can choose to use it as a wall hanging if you wish.This one is by MoonGazerQuilts and I'd consider grabbing it myself if it had a more gender-neutral color for the border. It's called "Fairy Tales and Dreams" and you can find the quilt HERE (for under $50!) and also see the details of a lovely Noah's Ark quilt at the shop too.

NOTE: As usual, please note I am not affiliated with any of these stores or products. I do not receive any commission from any visit to the site or any purchase. These are just items I thought may interest people as fairy tale themed gifts for the Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Yuletide/Holiday Season. :)


Don't forget the "Pursuit of Happiness" Giveaway!

Entries close IN LESS THAN A WEEK on December 20th, so be sure to email me before then.
(A preview of the prize is coming soon too.)

Details for the giveaway are HERE and the wonderful London Particulars (who are making this giveaway possible through their generosity) can be found HERE.

Creator Nick Percival Talks About His Dark Steampunk Comic "Legends: The Enchanted"

I posted on this coming-in-2010 comic HERE last week and, seeing as there was quite a bit of interest between comments and Twitter, I thought I'd point you to an excellent interview with the creator Nick Percival.

In the interview with Comic Book Resources, he reveals more about the fairy tale characters he's using and how they've been given a new twist. Here's an excerpt from the long, informative and interesting article:

"The Enchanted are looked upon with fear and distrust by normal everyday folk and despised by their dark counterparts, known as The Wicked," says Percival. "Most of the Enchanted operate as vigilantes, outlaws, bounty hunters and so on - trying to find their place and purpose in a land that is growing increasingly hostile towards them. Armed with a hard attitude, unique abilities and customized weaponry, the Enchanted's world is shattered when they discover that some unknown enemy has found a way to break through their mystic immortality and begins slaughtering them one by one beginning with the killing of the half bionic/half wooden warrior, Pinocchio."

Nick Percival: We've got Red Hood, who lives with her daughter in a very dangerous place known as the Bionic Woodlands - this area is overgrown with spiked bio-mechanical trees and living, organic plant life, populated by mutated wolf creatures. Basically, she just wants to be left alone and raise her child, but the murder of Pinocchio and the kidnapping of her daughter force her to reluctantly seek out help from other Enchanted.

Jack the Giantkiller pretty much just looks out for himself. He's sly, likes to drink and burns around on a beast of motorcycle that uses Giant's blood as fuel. Jack acts as a kind of "creature killer for hire." For the right price, he'll sort out any towns terrorized by Ogre problems, which he usually solves by popping one of his "magic beans" that grant him cool powers for a limited amount of time as he starts cracking heads together.

Filling out the rest of the cast are psychic siblings, Hansel and Gretel (Paranormal Exterminators), Goldilox and Bear, her nine-foot half man/half bear boyfriend. They have a "rob the rich to give to the poor" type quest, which involves them coming up against the crime boss, Humpty Dumpty and the Billy Goats Gruff Biker Gang - it doesn't end quietly.

Amongst these, we've got cameos from Rapunzel, a soldier with unbreakable hair that she uses to attack her enemies, Miss Muffet, Rumpelstiltskin, Pied Piper, Jack Nimble and many others all depicted in the same gritty style with attitudes to match in a world filled with goth-type giants, vampire fairies, pissed off trolls, demon street gangs, and all manner of unsavory folk.


Do you have a favorite fairy tale or fable?

I have a lot of versions of the classic tales that the Brothers Grimm collected together, some great old German editions as well. I've also been heavily into Hans Christian Andersen's work, so there are way too many to choose from. But a lot of the ancient Russian folklore is fascinating, and there are some themes in that material that I'm thinking about including in later stories for "Legends: The Enchanted."

You can read the entire article HERE and see LOTS of (very gory) images throughout (which can be viewed larger by clicking).

All the details of the website, when it's available and the preview are in my previous post HERE. A warning again: please keep this away from children. This is dark stuff and definitely in the horror genre. All these new images severely cropped for posting purposes on this blog. If you can deal with the images though (the illustrations are amazing in addition to being ultra-gory), this comic and the developing story sounds like it's worth checking out.

Fairy Tale Names

Rumpelstiltskin by Jiri Trnka

In the land of Faery names are very important - to know a person or creatures name is to have power over it and so true names are closely guarded. This sensibility is reflected to varying degrees in many cultures too and so we end up with nicknames, honorifics, and even substitute names for infants to mislead mischievous gnomes, fairies or demons from stealing their souls.

But what about fairy tales? Names aren't usually given to all the characters in a fairy tale. Sometimes only one name is used and sometimes that name is really a representation of the character in focus and not their real name at all. Names still have a certain importance in fairy tales, though not having quite the same weight as the concept does in faery myths and legends but the choosing of an infants name is often given great weight and one tale in particular makes it clear that one's name is very important indeed.

Rumpelstiltskin by Kay Nielsen

I'm talking of Rumpelstiltskin of course. This is the tale with the most names mentioned in any fairy tale ever (that I'm aware of) and is part of the whole point of the story. What I find interesting is that in many of the versions I've read, the Queen (who is unnamed in most versions), when trying to guess the little man's name, starts with exotic sounding names, moves to whimsical/nonsensical names then ends up listing common ones before announcing the true name - which is completely unique - and getting herself, and her firstborn, out of a sticky situation. (You can read the story and the names the Queen recites at the awesome SurLaLune site HERE.)

Rumpelstiltskin by Anne Anderson

Rumpelstiltskin is one of those names that, once you know it, sticks in your memory but it's interesting to see the other fairy tale names that have also 'stuck' through the ages and across cultural boundaries.

This page HERE has an interesting list of names - male and female - in fairy tales for people to consider for their children. While a good portion of them are, unsurprisingly, from Disney retellings, there are quite a few unexpected ones too. (Rumpelstiltskin isn't on the list, presumably because no parent would ever inflict such a curse on their child.. here's hoping that assumption is correct!)

Here's a sampling of some unusual ones on that page:

BABETTE — Beauty and the Beast

FINETTE — Finette Cendron

JORINDE — Jorinde and Joringel

TALIA — Sun, Moon and Talia

WINNIFRED — The Princess and the Pea

It's by no means a comprehensive list but it does get the gray matter working a little! It's certainly a baby name category you don't very often, though I think it would be a very interesting little volume to put together - especially if it were multi-cultural.

Fairy Story (Rumpelstiltskin) by Jesus Blasco

Many of the names for the heroes and heroines are 'everyman' names. For example Ivan is extremely common in Russia, just like Jack is in English. The same goes for Hansel and Gretel which, to English speaking countries sounds exotic but to Germanic people is essentially Jack and Jill. When I was researching Jorinde and Joringel for my recent retelling I found reference to the fact that their names were the equivalent of 'George', in both the feminine and the masculine (which makes you think of the tale a whole different way again).

Sometimes, though, the names are special and unique. I'd be very interested to see a collection put together. Anyone up for the job? ;)

NOTE: I should point out that fairy tale character names were discussed on the SurLaLune discussion board quite a few years ago HERE. It mainly discusses the issue of lead character names but has other interesting points too.

Over Rainbows and Down Rabbit Holes at the Monterey Museum of Art

The Monterey Museum of Art currently has an exhibition called "Over Rainbows and Down Rabbit holes: The Art of Children's Books" and, reportedly, more than a few fairy tale illustrations are included in the exhibition.

Overview from the website:

The exquisite artistry of classic children’s books is highlighted in this exhibition. View historic works by Beatrix Potter, creator of Peter Rabbit, to more contemporary illustrations by K.Y. Craft, Rosemary Wells and Maurice Sendak. The exhibition includes family activities and a family reading area.

The Museum had the main event for the exhibition on August 21st which included sidewalk chalk drawings, recreating some of the illustrations on display. Artist, Nikolas Larson, chose to recreate one of the illustrations from Paul Zelinsky's Caldecott winning retelling "Rumpelstiltskin". (Cover shown at end of post - click HERE to go to Zelinsky's website to read more about the book and see more of his amazing drawings.)You can see more pictures of Larson's chalk 'painting' progress through the day at his blog HERE.Other pictures of sidewalk chalk drawings from the event can be seen HERE on the museum's Facebook page.

The recreations are gorgeous. I don't envy whomever was tasked with destroying, er, cleaning afterward!

The Art of Children's Books exhibition is on display through September 13, 2009.