My son (2 1/2 yrs) has recently discovered - and become obsessed with - Lego. He loves watching the stop-motion animation scenarios people have filmed in their homes so, naturally, I set out to see if I could find some non-violent Lego fairy tales for him to enjoy.
The best one I found was Baba Yaga and Vasilisa, which, seeing as it's turning into Baba Yaga day at Once Upon A Blog, is very appropriate. :) I particularly like how the Chicken Legged Hut was constructed.
And since we're on the subject of Baba Yaga toys, I thought I'd share these plushes I found a while back. The plush chicken leg huts at the head and tail of this post are by Melissa Sue and is available through her Etsy shop HERE. The Baba Yaga plush-with-hut comes from the Here Be Monsters line of plush toys by Toy Vaults HERE.
I also couldn't resist adding this Lego-type creation: The Baba Yaga 2050. It's a futuristic Chicken Leg Cottage (found HERE) and has the following description:
The Baba Yaga 2050 Cottage solves many of the problems humanity will face in the future:
- Scarce resources: your cottage will simply get up and walk (or run!) somewhere better.
- Peak oil: that may look like a huge diesel engine on the back, but I assure you that it's hydrogen powered, and those are hydrogen tanks on the side. Ability to deploy windmill hampered by GW's militaristic attitude to spare parts.
- Overcrowding: stacking is possible, aka the Mimas Hopper-parking solution.
- Zombie Apocalypse: see problem #1
I think you'll agree that it also satisfies the first requirement of the future: awesomeness.
Aaaand now we have the 2nd installment of steampunk Baba Yaga story ideas!
I love the character of Baba Yaga. While she certainly is terrifying in many ways, to me she's more enigmatic than anything else. To some extent, if you can figure out the rules you can not only survive and encounter with her, she may actually help you.
There's definitely more to this traditional Russian fairy tale villain than meets the eye. I've read stories where Baba Yaga has sisters, a lover or a child (and in the story I read, yes, she loves her kid - you don't want to come between this Mama and her baby!), all of which seem at odds with the character as she's normally portrayed.
I found an article posted in the first week of October which discusses Baba Yaga as a 'force of nature' and how this would have had an impact on those listening to the story years ago. The focus was different from the usual a) she's mostly evil or b) she the crone in the maid-mother-crone triad.
Here's a couple of excerpts:
When visitors arrive, Baba Yaga asks them if they came of their own accord or were sent. Smart visitors say they were sent. Coming of their own accord puts them in the witch's power; they are consenting to their own doom, so nothing can save them. They must also actively seek entrance by telling the house to turn its door to them. This concept is similar to the idea that a vampire (also an Eastern European legend) can't come into a home unless invited. The danger is one you bring on yourself. Another way ofl ooking at it, though, is that if you want to get something from nature, you have to take chances...
...These stories may have roots in Indo-European tales that passed into both eastern and western folklore. A trinity of Hindu goddesses consists of the Virgin, the Mother, and the Hag, and Baba Yaga is sometimes considered a Slavic version of the Hag. (Sometimes Baba Yaga even has two sisters). The versions about Vasilisa and the boy and girl are similar to the western “Hansel and Gretel,” in that wicked stepmothers send children off to be eaten by witches. And when Baba Yaga detects a victim, she often says, “Foo! Foo! I smell a Russian spirit!” This sounds like “Fee fi fo fum! I smell the blood of an Englishman!” in “Jack and the Beanstalk."
Hunchback Fairy by Endling (additional website HERE)
But some aspects of Baba Yaga tales are uniquely Russian. Siberians placed log cabins on uprooted tree stumps to keep animals away from their food supplies. To remote and imaginative people, tree stumps can easily become chicken legs, and from there Baba Yaga’s horrible home. The doll in the tale of Vasilisa is similar to small household idols that Russians had in pre-Christian times. And a recurring theme is that virtue will protect one, no matter what the danger, whereas, in Western fairy tales, craft prevails. This trust in virtue must have been comforting to people scratching out a marginal existence in a forbidding climate.
The rest of the fascinating article is HERE. The author, Kathleen Murphy (a community college writing tutor) has a writing focused website HERE.
You can find more information about each artist by clicking on the image or on their names. The deviantART artists have some interesting things to say about Baba Yaga too, so make sure you check their comments below the artwork.
And isn't that steampunk Baba Yaga fun? Methinks it won't be long before a steampunk Baba Yaga makes her way into a story... ;)
While we're on the subject, I should mention a book released at the beginning of September titled "Dreaming Anastasia" by Joy Preble. It features Baba Yaga quite prominently and I'm curious to read it (despite the cover which would normally make me ignore it).
Here's the part of the blurb that pertains to Baba Yaga:
In 1918, in a Russian cellar, Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanov was murdered with the rest of her family. Or so history tells us. Thanks to old magics, Anastasia was rescued by the witch Baba Yaga and now spends her days confined in a tiny hut perched on chicken legs. With only the witch and a doll for company, Anastasia writes letters to her family, and waits.
HERE author Joy Preble discusses how she uses Baba Yaga alongside the prominent maternal themes in the book and has her character be much more than the dangerous child-eating witch she's often portrayed as. She also makes use of a matroyshka (Russian nesting doll or Babushka doll, also known as the 'little mother doll'*) as a 'special object' and as a model for the novel's structure, so I'm doubly curious about this one.
*This doll was the key to Vasilissa (also spelled Vasilisa) surviving an encounter with Baba Yaga in one of my favorite fairy tales. It was, appropriately, given to Vasilissa by her mother before passing away and is symbolic of her mother's spirit remaining with her and giving her the strength (and the wits) to do the Baba Yaga's impossible tasks set for her. The real villains of this story, though, are Vasilissa's stepmother and stepsisters - not Baba Yaga. The witch keeps her agreement and gives Vasilissa the fire she needs.. Of course, that's only part of the story. You can read more about it HERE. Which reminds me I should do a post on Vasilisa in her role as the Russian Frog Princess... ;)
Ready for a larger-than-life steampunk fairy tale?
Today the giants (and their handlers) that have walked the streets (and rivers) of Berlin for 4 days are taking a well deserved rest after a happy reunion that mirrors the story of the city itself.
It's been almost 20 years since the Berlin Wall fell and this year, as part of the 19th annual unification celebration, the giant marionettes of French contemporary street arts/theater company Royal de Luxe staged a special performance, the story of which took place over 4 days.
The presentation was called "The Giants Arrive - A Fairy Tale for Berlin" and will no doubt remain in the memory of everyone fortunate enough to see them (estimated to be around 1 million lucky people) for the rest of their lives. The larger giant marionette, stands around 31 feet tall and weighs in at 2.5 tons - seeing it in person is not something you're likely to forget!First seen in 1993, the company has continued adding 'chapters' to their giant story over the years, including such wonders as a giant Sultan's Elephant (very steampunk in style and pictured below) that sprayed water over the watching crowds. The technical feats required for building, moving, manipulating and most of all, telling an emotional story with these puppets is awe inspiring. These are the largest fully-functional, traveling puppets in the world.Here's a wonderful video from an older show which captures a little of how incredible these street performances are:
The company is bringing two puppets to Berlin. One is 9.5 meters (31 feet) tall and weighs 2.5 tons. It is a deep-sea diver and will be wearing an atmospheric diving suit made out of truck tarpaulins as it makes its way through the city and its waterways, aided by 31 helpers decked out in red livery. The helpers are called the "Lilliputians," after the little people in Swift's book. The smaller puppet -- at 5.5 meters (18 feet) and 800 kilograms (1,750 pounds) -- won't just be walking around; it will also be driving a scooter and a boat with the help of 22 Lilliputians.
Regarding the fairy tale of the title, here's what the creative head of Royal de Luxe, Jean-Luc Courcoult, said about the actual story (again from Spiegel Online International):
"It's a family story; it won't be political," Courcoult said... He went on to explain, his company will be telling a fairy tale about a long separation with the following plot: Terrible events have torn a city in two and caused one part of the city to be walled in. The big puppet is stuck in the west of the city, and the smaller one in the east. The big puppet drags a dormant geyser along the riverbed and places it under a wall. Then it wakes up the geyser to let it break down the city's barrier and allow the puppets to reunite.
You can read the rest of the article, which also details some of the amazing technical specifications as well as a lovely photo gallery of the event, HERE.
I found more details on the backstory of the tale HERE (reported by R.J. Evans for Socyberty - a website that publishes articles exploring social issues and how society changes/has changed - in June this year). I've put together the essential points in a collection of quotes below but there's a lot more information and detail in the article - I recommend clicking over to read it. The story is basically about a giant deep-sea diver who has been searching the world-over for his missing giantesse niece:
In 1912 the Titanic went down to the bottom of the ocean. Unknown to us, however, was that in its hold a giantess was held captive, the mother of the Little Giantess.
The enormous diver is the scouring the earth for the Little Giantesse. She was captured in Iceland which was at the time the home of the giants, each having his or her own particular task. The Little Giantess was to wake up the geysers of Iceland when a message needed to be sent. You may wonder what on earth geysers and messages have in common but little known to the outside world the geysers were used to transmit signals between the giants, much like the smoke signals of American natives.
But where does the deep-sea diver properly come in to the story? He is the brother of the giantess who drowned on the Titanic. Originally he had been busy doing his own job – sawing up icebergs – to realize that his sister and her daughter were missing.
In his past he has travelled the seabed for years and eventually he found the wreck of the Titanic. He buried his sister near the sunken ship. While there he discovered a mysterious box full of mail from the Titanic. He now had two new goals in life – the task of finding his niece and to deliver the mail. Since then he has wandered the earth in search of the Little Giantess.
And, as you may infer from the photos, all obstacles are conquered and the happy reunion occurred, fittingly, in Berlin near where the Wall once stood.Royal de Luxe apparently has no website and does no ordinary PR (the city of London put together a beautiful web presentation - including an extensive gallery - for the famed 2006 appearance which included the Sultan's Elephant. You can see that HERE ) but this website HERE has a long, fantastically detailed, yet easy-to-navigate article on the company.
The fact that Royal de Luxe make these extraordinary characters out of discarded items and what is essentially junk, is part of the magic - transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary. Fairy tales do the same thing by putting just a little magic into a tale, creating Märchen or 'Wonder Tales'. It is very fitting that these puppets have become part of the world and story of fairy tales. I sincerely hope I one day have the opportunity to experience one of the 'chapters' of these giant stories in person.
The final episode, 'Part V with Epilogue', of my steampunk fairy tale retelling is up at Supernatural Fairy Tales!
You can read the text and/or listen to the podcast (me reading with music by Abney Park and sound effects added) HERE.
There is a small button labeled PLAY below the header for the audio.
Part I can be found HERE. Part II can be found HERE. Part III can be found HERE. Part IV can be found HERE.
There will also be a PDF of the whole story available for FREE download and distribution coming in the next few days, so watch for that (I will announce that here too).
I got a very nice review by "Diamonds & Toads", which you can read HERE. (Thank you Kate!)
As this is the final episode I have a short, but important, list of people to thank for their role in this process:
Steampunk band "Abney Park"and 'Captain Robert', for generously giving me permission to play their music throughout the podcast. You guys have the BEST music for this genre! Thank you for allowing me to use your music to help tell my story.
Dorlana Vann of Supernatural Fairy Tales for hosting the story and audio and for being patient with me on the technical details as I figure out my first podcast. Thank you for your generosity with the different blog format and for helping put my story out there. You really are 'a good fairy'.
My husband Tom, for being my cheerleader, my extra eyes (and ears) on the story and for making sure I had chunks of uninterrupted time to focus on the work needed to get it all done. I couldn't have done it without your support.
My son 'Jackzilla', who inspires me daily and gives me the best reason to write: these stories are for you little guy!
Thank you!
I hope you've enjoyed this different version of Jorinde & Joringel. Discovering my Muse had decided on steampunk was quite a challenge but now I'm completely hooked! Maybe there will be more steampunk fairy tales coming your way in the future... ;)
You can read the text and/or listen to the podcast (me reading with a little music added) HERE.
There is a small button labeled PLAY below the header for the audio.
Part I can be found HERE. Part II can be found HERE. Part III can be found HERE.
If you'd like to read the fairy tale that inspired it, you can find it HERE, at the amazing fairy tale resource site of SurLaLune.
The next and final episode - V - will drop on August 28th, along with a PDF of the whole story that will be available for FREE download and distribution.
Dorlana Vann has been wonderful for hosting this short story podcast series and very patient with me as I figure out the technical details of recording a podcast for the first time. :D
And by 'steamy' I mean steampunk, of course (well, this time I do anyway! :D ).
There's a group encouraging people who do 'cosplay' (short for costume roleplay) to try a new theme - fairy tales.
If you're not familiar with cosplay this is no dress-up thrown together in a few minutes so you can accompany your kid on the annual Halloween candy hunt. It's actually a form of performance art and these people take their costuming seriously (having a lot of fun in the process). The participant entries tend to range from well put together costumes to incredibly detailed (and mechanically enhanced) outfits that would rival any professional costumer's work.
Here's one of the organizers of this event's costume plan for The Swan MaidenI'm including the post details below so anyone interested can get involved but even if you're not, take a look at some of the ideas that are being put forth for presenting fairy tale characters. It may make you think about your favorite fairy tales a different way and perhaps prompt some creativity of your own...(you listening artists and writers?)Here are some ideas put forward to get people going (I'm quoting from this post HERE with tiny edits for readability). People get to 'claim' the character or choose one of their own. Quite a few are already spoken for (you can find the claimed list HERE):
The Big Bad Wolf - Dresses like a gentleman, but that's offset by pointed ears, fangs, and a wicked claw device on one hand. Also, wicked mutton chops.
Swan Maiden - A white feather robe on one side, a clockwork wing on the other.
Little Red Riding Hood - I need a companion for my Big Bad Wolf, but other than the red cloak/cape it's free reign. In my head, she seems like she could have more of an 'early aviator' style, with flight cap and goggles, and probably oil stains on her cloak. A hatchet or raygun would probably look pretty awesome too.
Puss in Boots - Cat ears and tail. Very noticable boots. (Sword?) -Plenty of Swashbuckley potential. Steampunk-ing the boots would make them more noticeable, especially if you limit the amount of brass on the rest of the outfit.
The Girl Without Hands - Free design. Clockwork/mechanical silver hands.
Aladdin - Arabian inspired outfit. Carry a lamp. (Conversely, could do a steampunk rendition on a genie.)
The Genie- Could be awesome as some kind of robot. He'll perform any 3 tasks you wish, but then you have to use the lamp to recharge him!
Peter Pan- Green suit and a jetpack, probably a good candidate for flight goggles and an aviator cap. Dagger/small weapon at the belt maybe?
The Firebird -Reds yellows and oranges. Clock work wings in the same color scheme.
12 Dancing Princesses - bustle the skirt to ensure the "dancing shoes" are visible and find a way to make the shoes look worn and steampunked up a bit. A princess crown and carrying a branch from a "gold", "silver" or "diamond" tree would finish the set out nicely.
Steampunking fairy tale characters is becoming more and more popular and I've noticed a few photoshoots happening around the web just this year. Below is Red Riding Hood from a shoot in April in Brooklyn:And HERE is a blog entry about it with more fun pics.
Doesn't it look like fun?
Here are the details of what's happening for the DragonCon '09 Steampunked Fairy Tales Group and where (they'll be having a meet-up and photoshoot) from the cosplay.com post (which you can read all of HERE):
Okay folks, it's time to prepare for Dragon*Con 2009, and my friend Pyro_Ike has started organizing a fun idea for a costume group. The theme is Steampunk Fairy Tales. It just seems to fit together, because they're the kind of stories that would likely still be around in a Neo-Victorian society.
Meet-Up Time & Location Date: Sunday, September 6th (tentative) Time: 5:00pm (tentative) Location: Marriott Atrium Lobby Level, carpeted space next to Atrium Ballroom - across from Pulse (sailboat) Bar (May move elsewhere after gathering to get good photos.)
I'm looking forward to seeing the results!
NOTE: You can see where each of the images are from by clicking on them - you'll be taken to the owner's websites where you can find lots more fun stuff. :)
This is the second episode of five coming your way, of my new short story "CAGES".
Click on the image to go to Supernatural Fairy Tales and listen to the podcast (with me reading and wonderful music by steampunk band Abney Park) and/or read the text (with some related pics).
Enjoy!Thanks again to Dorlana Vann for this opportunity. You can follow her on Twitter and get all the latest Supernatural Fairy Tale updates HERE.
There's a new special short series podcast dropping today - August 1st - at "Supernatural Fairy Tales" - and it's a Steampunk retelling of a Grimm's fairy tale - by me!
Dorlana Vann was kind enough to invite me to write a short story for her site and it's turned into an exciting mini-production, being presented in five weekly parts during the month of August in both text and as a podcast.
The title of the story is:
"Cages: A Steampunk Retelling of Grimm's Jorinde & Joringel in V Parts with Epilogue"
In case you're not familiar with the fairy tale you can read it HERE (and thank you to Heidi at SurLaLune for making this a readily available online reference for me to check when I didn't have my complete Grimm's handy!)
I also managed to secure permission from Steampunk band Abney Park to use some of their music in the podcast, one song in particular being perfect thematically. Many thanks to them for their generosity in sharing their fabulous music. You can check out their website HERE.I'll also be making a PDF of the complete story available for free download and distribution at the end of the series, so watch out for that.
Lots of steampunk fairy tale goodness coming your way!
Here's the final post of 'steampunk-ing' fairy tales illustrations I've been showing you this week. You can find Part I, posted 7/12/09, HERE (with introduction) and Part II, posted 7/14/09, HERE.
Again, you can click on the images to see a larger version (highly recommended), while the links to the artists are in the title and name above each piece.
I'm including one more which, while not rendered in the same fashion as the others, still has real charm and explores an interesting concept for "The Little Match Girl" (you'll see what I mean when you click on the pic to have a closer look).
That concludes my pick of steampunk fairy tale illustrations on the web to date. I do hope to see more artists exploring fairy tales this way in future. If I find any you can be sure I'll post them too.
Here we continue to look at some interesting 'steampunk-ing' of fairy tales. This is part II of III. You can find Part I, posted 7/12/09, HERE, which includes my introduction.
Please note, you can click on the images for a larger view (highly recommended). The link to the artist and more of their work are in the title & name.
Halfway into jotting down my myriad ideas for a new fairy tale retelling, I realized the genre it fit perfectly was: Steampunk.
Gulp!
How can I possibly write steampunk? Don't you have to be part genius to handle everything from the Victorian language and sensibilities, combined with all that technical mechanization and steam technology? Then I realized many fairy tales are actually well suited to the genre and that means I'm already well on the road. It also explains why the ideas just kept coming and fell into place.
I knew there was a contest by CGSociety called "Steampunk: Myths & Legends" (which included fairy tales) toward the end of last year, with the contest winners announced in late February. (You can find all the contest entries HERE) I remember loving the few entries I saw and thought I'd post some to show you just how fun this idea can be. In further Googling, I found even more 'steampunk-ing' of fairy tales, not limited to the competition.
I thought I'd collect my favorites for you into a few different posts and link you to the creators. You can click on the images to see a larger version (which I highly recommend). The artist can be found be clicking on the title/artist note above each one.
My son (2 1/2 yrs) has recently discovered - and become obsessed with - Lego. He loves watching the stop-motion animation scenarios people have filmed in their homes so, naturally, I set out to see if I could find some non-violent Lego fairy tales for him to enjoy.
The plush chicken leg huts at the head and tail of this post are by Melissa Sue and is available through her Etsy shop HERE. The Baba Yaga plush-with-hut comes from the Here Be Monsters line of plush toys by Toy Vaults HERE.
It's a futuristic Chicken Leg Cottage (found HERE) and has the following description:
