NEWSFLASH: Great Fairytales Series from The Guardian - A Must Read!

Note: I came across this series completely at random and was already into doing this blog post when I realized both SurLaLune and The Fairy Tale Cupboard have reported on it so rather than bore you with lots of repetitious information in case you're reading their blogs [which are both excellent sources of fairy tale information and news, so you should be :) ], I'll just point you to their entries and repeat how wonderful a thing this is and that you should avail yourself of the read and lovely pictures either in person or online. :)

For those who haven't yet heard, The (UK) Guardian and Observer, are including seven wonderful supplements over the next week titled "Great Fairytales". The series includes an essay by a notable fairy tale writer on a theme and then a collection of tales on that theme for each part, with special illustrations for each section by wonderful artists.Here's the blurb on the series from The Guardian online:

Starting this weekend in the Guardian and the Observer, Great fairytales brings you the finest stories of morality, justice, triumph and enchantment from around the world, collected in seven themes: Wicked parents, Rags to riches, Love, Quests and riddles, Wisdom and folly, Justice and punishment and Beastly tales.

The stories are all nominated by a panel of critics, writers and experts on children's literature: Anthony Browne, AS Byatt, Abdulrazak Gurnah, Robert Irwin, Alison Lurie, Adam Phillips, Philip Pullman, Salman Rushdie and Marina Warner.

Each collection is beautifully illustrated and includes an afterword from a range of leading writers exploring each theme.

This is such a treat! And I love the discussions on theme, meaning and fairy tales in comparison to history which you don't see often outside of academic works. For those of us unable to go buy the paper (and that includes any readers outside the UK) we can:

1) read the series online for free every day (START HERE - the link should have ALL the Guardian's fairy tale related posts for you to browse - this particular series starts October 10th, 2009 & consists of one essay and approximately three tales with illustrations - in separate posts - per day)

2) buy the booklets online HERE (shown at bottom of post).

Heidi of SurLaLune has included a brief excerpt of the first essay as well as other interesting tidbits and you can see some more of the lovely silhouette work by Laura Barrett, all of which you can find HERE.

Claire Massey of The Fairy Tale Cupboard has done a wonderful job of taking us through the first two supplements, complete with excellent links. I highly recommend reading her write-ups this week as she looks at the writers, the tales and the artists involved with each part of the series. To go straight to The Fairy Tale Cupboard click HERE.
NOTE: All silhouette illustrations (2 for Hansel & Gretel and 2 for Snow White) are by the amazing Laura Barrett who's work was commissioned for Part 1 of the series. You can find more of her work at her website HERE or by clicking on the illustrations - I highly recommend checking this link out. Her website is lovely and her work gorgeous!

New Ebook from Heidi Anne Heiner of SurLaLune: "Frog Prince and Other Frog Tales From Around the World"

Heidi Anne Heiner, long-time fairy tale advocate/ambassador and the genius (and incredibly tireless worker) behind-the-scenes of one of the best fairy tale resources on the web - SurLaLune - has been busy working on a new series of books and just released her first one on August 19th.In perfect timing with the current buzz about princes masquerading as amphibians (thanks to Disney's upcoming animated feature "The Princess and the Frog" in December), this volume is titled: "The Frog Prince and Other Frog Tales From Around the World".

This is super exciting, as the tales in these collections can't be found - either put together or the complete texts of such - anywhere else on the web!

Heidi was kind enough to give me permission to re-publish her blog entry here at Once Upon A Blog:

Last week I announced a new series of "Women in Folklore" books I'm publishing in Kindle eformat and potentially in paper versions, too. The first volume in the series is The Fairy Tale Fiction of Anne Isabella Thackeray Ritchie. You can read all about the format choices and thinking behind this series at the original post here.

This week I've also launched the first book in the SurLaLune Fairy Tale Series, The Frog Prince and Other Frog Tales From Around the World. For now it is available in Kindle format only, but I am working on other formats. (If you have a preference, please post or email me so I know where the demand is focused.)

Here's the description:

From wise creatures to hapless victims, frogs appear in numerous stories around the world. Edited with an introduction by Heidi Anne Heiner of SurLaLune Fairy Tales, this volume contains over 100 fairy tales, fables, myths and ballads about frogs from around the world, including several variants of the well-known Frog Prince tales made famous by the Brothers Grimm and most recently adapted into a feature-length animated film by Disney. The book is divided into several sections, including “Frog Kings, Princes and Bridegrooms,” “Frog Brides,” “Frog Wooing and Courting,” “More Frog Tales,” and “Fables.” Also included is Mark Twain’s famous short story, “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.”

This book is much more involved on my part since I spent many weeks researching and then editing and formatting the texts. I searched hundreds of books and found roughly 100 tales about frogs to include in this volume, including tales that stand alone and others that are variants of each other. Most of these tales are not available on SurLaLune nor are they gathered in such a large collection anywhere else on the web or in print. I've also written short introductions to many of them in addition to the expanded article I've included as an introduction to the entire collection.

You can find the rest of the entry discussing publishing options, upcoming installments and the wonderful work her graphic artist husband did with the covers HERE.Please go support Heidi's amazing work, both with SurLaLune and these wonderful new series. Her blog (also focusing on fairy tales) is HERE, the website (very possibly my favorite on the web) is HERE and you can buy some wonderful products HERE (at CafePress) and HERE (at Zazzle), all of which help pay for the running costs of the site, which we sincerely need to stay active and available!

As for the ebook, Heidi has told me PDFs are on the way, so for all of us still without a Kindle, we'll be able to get our own copy very soon. In the meantime, here's a 'teaser' (from Amazon.com):

From the introduction:

A FROG with a crown on its head. A girl kissing a frog. If you pay attention, you’ll notice the images appear frequently in the world around you. These and other variations — many humorous — appear on t-shirts, in advertisements, on book covers and novelty items to name just a few. Their shorthand message: You have to kiss a lot of frogs to meet your prince. Just about anyone will tell you it’s from a fairy tale, some may be able to tell you the story. Not many people know that the familiar story isn’t really an old tale but a fairly new variation of several tales that have been circulating for centuries.

‘And so the princess kissed the frog, turning him into a prince before her very eyes.’ A frog transformed into a prince with a kiss. That’s how “The Frog Prince” fairy tale ends in modern popular culture, but it’s not the way our ancestors knew the tale. Most often, violence was the key to ending the enchantment in the earliest known versions traced back to Scotland and Germany.

The Scottish tale is most familiarly known as “The Well of the World’s End” and first appeared in print in The Complaynt of Scotland in 1549, predating Shakespeare. The title is romantic, but not nearly as easy to remember as our more familiar “The Frog Prince.” The tale is considerably different, but obviously related to the tale of today.

You can also find a whole set of pages at SurLaLune dedicated to the tale of The Frog King, or Iron Henry (also known as The Frog Prince) HERE.

From us all, Heidi, thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all your work with and for fairy tales. We're very lucky to have you on the fairy tale team!

Fairy Tale Chanel No. 5 - Red Riding Hood

It's not unusual for advertising to turn to fairy tales for inspiration. The SurLaLune blog has recent posts on two campaigns being run right now: a German Burger King commercial set and the US's own current AT&T's Hansel & Gretel TV commercial. Click on the names to go check them out.

In the meantime, remember this fairy tale fragrance ad?
It still looks trés chic to me...

The model/actress is Estella Warren and the ad you probably remember is actually the second version of Red she played for Chanel No 5. This particular one is stunning and stands the test of time. Plus I never tire of this gorgeous music from "Edward Scissorhands"!

The earlier Estella-Warren-as-Red-Riding-Hood for Chanel is below. Not as lovely as the one above but still worth a peek.

Once Upon A Blog...

Once upon a time, a girl who loved fairy tales decided to put together a blog to collect and share all the wonderful fairy tale related news and things she came across in her wanderings around the world (wide web) and on her walks through the woods (and suburbs).

She determinedly put her writer-hat aside, saving it for her two 'official' writing blogs, and firmly slapped on her I-just-love-fairy-tales-hat. This blog, she decided, would be full of wonderful things and signposts (links) to point blog-travelers to the source of fairy tale nuggets (sites) and magic (people), handed to those who linger (you).

Here there will be no tests of wit (complicated instructions) and no riddles (lengthy commentary) to unravel - just enticements (short posts) for what lies beyond (images and brief descriptions) and directions (links and information) of how to get there.

Should your appetite for fairy tale discoveries be hungry for more, there is a list to the right (blogroll) of recommended ways through the wood (sites to visit). Should you take to wandering, never fear, this blog will remain upon this once (at fairytalenewsblog.blogspot.com)...

Welcome!

A confession: I uploaded a number of entries before making this public so there'd be plenty of content to start and back-dated this little introduction so it would appear at the beginning. As I was setting up my posts I found SurLaLune had just started a blog too so I will attempt not to overlap her content (very much - unless something is so super-cool I simply must include it, or didn't see she already had an entry on it). Enjoy them all!