The Great 'Sleeping Beauty' Rewrite (II of IV)

If you missed yesterday's post on Diamonds & Toads, I suggest you go check it out so you'll know more about where these short story retellings have come from.

As promised, here are a half of the stories (and their authors) that entered the Diamonds & Toads contest. They all have their stories published on a special page for all to read them. I'll profile the rest tomorrow. Please note, these are in no particular order, though I will be making a special mention of a story today and tomorrow. The winner of the contest will have a special post all to herself at the end of the week. :)

A sincere thank you to Kate Wolford of Diamonds & Toads for helping me put these next couple of posts together!

“Sleeping Beauty,” by Sandra Urias, is an intergalactic adventure featuring suspended animation, twists and turns in the plot, and an unusually kind and generous heroine.

Diamonds & Toads comment: Please make a special effort to read this extraordinary entry.

“Aurora Speaks,” by Lisa Fu features a first-person narrative by Sleeping Beauty (Aurora) herself and a non-perfect hero, which makes the story a bit more realistic, in a good way. Aurora’s plight also results from an interesting twist in family relations.

Diamonds & Toads comment: I love that we see some point of view from the princess. I also love that the hero is not perfect.

“Lonely Beauty,” by Elena Valeriote, is unusual because Oriana, our heroine, is “protected” from her fate by being raised in a dungeon. What makes this story fun is that she has seven brothers, and is the much-hoped-for girl. All ends happily, and Oriana ends up with lots of company.

Diamonds & Toads comment: A princess protected in a dungeon? Now that was some creative thinking! I also love the seven brothers angle.

“Sleeping Cutie,” by Hugh Neeld has a funny, Hollywood excess feel to it that makes the story just plain fun. After all, it is set in the land of “Gotitmade.”

Diamonds & Toads comment: What do I have to say about this story? Just this: It is very, very good! And fun!

“Sleeping Beauty and the God of Death,” By Emily Debenham, uses mythic characters and mythic story structures to give the story a grand sweep.

Diamonds & Toads comment: This writer took the story into the realm of gods and myth, making it stand out.

“Sleeping Beauty,” by Juliette Bowers features family jealousy, as many fairy tales do! What is intriguing about the tale is that Philip, our hero, is the son of the family’s housekeeper, and knows the heroine before she falls into her sleep, making the happy ending seem more probable.

Diamonds & Toads comment: This story had some intriguingly written sisters and an excellent hero, both qualities draw the reader in.

Today's special mention is:

“Keeping Beauty,” by Barbara Knight. It stands out because it highlights some of the troubling, complicated relationships we all have with beauty, as the story is set in the “Land of Vanity,” where homeliness of any kind is not permitted.

Diamonds & Toads comment: Note: Barbara Knight should keep on writing! This is highly entertaining and provides some very smart commentary on beauty standards.

And here's a brief excerpt from the beginning of "Keeping Beauty":

Once upon a time, King Handsome and Queen Charisma ruled in the lovely Land of Vanity. All those who lived in Vanity were pleasing to the eye. There was beauty everywhere. Rows of pastel colored houses were perfectly landscaped and immaculately maintained. Organic gardens grew only unblemished fruit and vegetables. Long necked swans graced the clear ponds as feathery finned angelfish swam below the surfaces. And melodic birds filled the flowering trees.

Each time there was a birth within the kingdom, the baby was presented to the King and Queen. If he or she was worthy, they would be allowed to stay. But if the child was not up to standards, he or she would be banished from the land forever, forced to live amongst the plain. This happened rarely, as beauty usually begets beauty...

To keep reading click HERE.

Stay tuned for the other stories - coming in a couple of days on August 19th.

NOTE: All images and close-ups are from Errol Le Cain's "Thorn Rose" (ie. Sleeping Beauty) picture book. click on the book cover at the head to find out more about this amazing animator and illustrator. He's illustrated many fairy tales! The other pictures you can click on for a closer view - highly recommended. The man was amazing! More of these gorgeous illustrations coming from "Thorn Rose" in a couple of days too.

"Diamonds & Toads" Blog Holds "The Great 'Sleeping Beauty' Rewrite" (I of IV)

If you're not aware of the blog "Diamonds & Toads", let me now direct your attention to this wonderful resource:

Run by Kate Wolford, a lecturer at Indiana University South Bend, this blog focuses on the analysis, research and writing of fairy tales as well as the general enjoyment of fairy tales and, while aimed to help her students, is available and accessible to non-students too. Kate, who's love of fairy tales is evident with every post, encourages dialogue on fairy tales from all sources and is working on getting an online magazine, specifically on fairy tales, up and running sometime during 2010 (more details to come).

(We can't wait Kate!)

In the meantime, she held a contest called "The Great 'Sleeping Beauty' Rewrite" and had a lot of excellent entries.

The above gorgeous painting is one of my favorite artistic renditions of Sleeping Beauty and is by a later Pre-Raphaelite artist, Edward Burne-Jones.

The requirements were that the story be unpublished elsewhere (ie 'new'), to retell 'Sleeping Beauty' and be 1 000 words or less. Entrants had one month to write it (from July 1st to July 31st). The story had to be 'G' rated but adult in tone and not geared toward children. Diamonds & Toads reserved the right to publish the story on their blog and keep it there, though authors were free to publish it anywhere else after the contest was over. And yes, there was a lovely fairy tale themed prize (you can see a picture on the blog).

Kate was delighted with, not only the number of entries but the quality of them and, with her permission, I'm going to introduce you all to the stories (which are available to read HERE) over the next few days and show you just how many wonderful variations people came up with.

But the good news doesn't end there.

There's ANOTHER contest - just for READING the stories! (Details HERE on the August 7th entry.) You enter by reading, then making a comment... where and how, I'll leave up to you to figure out. (It's not difficult.) Contest ends at the end of August so get reading! (The prize is a lovely one-of-a-kind artwork by talented artist Cat Mallard, a.k.a. darklingwoods on Etsy and Twitter. (She has other fairy tale themed art too and all her work is beautiful, so check out her Etsy page HERE.)

Part I of "The Great 'Sleeping Beauty' Rewrite" is posting tomorrow.

Before we get to the new stories, though, I'd like to share two of my favorite retellings:

Jane Yolen's Briar Rose and Robert Coover's Briar Rose (book covers are shown below and you can get more information on each by clicking on the images. Please note there are two covers for Jane Yolen's book currently available.)

I recommend the audio book for this version too - unabridged of course!

In the meantime, go check out the rest of "Diamonds & Toads". If you're not familiar with the story this blog is named for you can find more information there. ;)

Charles Vess Illustrating Gaiman's "Instructions"

We're about to be treated: Charles Vess is busy illustrating Neil Gaiman's "Instructions".

If you're not familiar with the poem, it's what to do if you ever find yourself caught in the middle of a fairy tale - what to do, what not to.

Here's an excerpt:

If an eagle gives you a feather, keep it safe.
Remember: that giants sleep too soundly;
that witches are often betrayed by their appetites;
dragons have one soft spot, somewhere, always;
hearts can be well-hidden,
and you betray them with your tongue.

You can find the whole poem at the Endicott Studio HERE.

Re the image above: Don't forget to count the black birds...

I also found a video of Mr. Gaiman reading his poem, which you can see below:

It's a deceptively simple poem but there's a lot in there and lovers of fairy tales should have a copy somewhere in their collection.

As for the illustrations, Charles Vess has collaborated with Neil Gaiman many times in the past and is the perfect illustrator to render these images. Gaiman is extremely pleased to have Vess on the project, as you can tell by his post HERE, which also has one of the images as a preview.

You can see some examples here in this post but there are quite a few more. Mr. Vess has kindly posted his WIP drawings for some of the panels at his Green Man Press HERE and you can see a couple of others in his friend's blog HERE.Re the image above: Can you recognize the characters and objects in the illustration? There are more than there first appears to be.

I don't think a release date is set yet but it's definitely next year (2010) sometime.

The Fairy Tale Factory - September '09 Workshop

Amy Morgan's Fairy Tale Factory in Seattle, WA, has a workshop coming up in September for writers.

But it's not just about writing new fairy tales, although there's quite a bit of skill involved in that. Writers of all kinds should benefit from learning the principles of distilling a story down to a very tight plot then fleshing it out with the right motifs and brief descriptions to feel not only timeless, but relevant across cultures too.

Here's the blurb from the website:

Spend six weeks in the land of Fairy. Learn the basic rules of the genre, plus a variety of approaches to fairy tales as readers and as writers. Study western European tales from the late middle ages to modern times. Write a lot! Writing exercises assigned after each class. By the end of the course you will have written at least one original fairy tale of your own. All experience levels welcome.

Interested? Here are the details:

Intro to Writing Fairy Tales
September 16 - October 21
Wednesday nights (6 classes)

How can you not want to spend weeks absorbed in fairy tales from around the world?

If you're already an avid fairy tale reader (and possibly writer) there's also a "Fairy Tale Factory Writing Intensive" workshop following that (date to be announced). I really like the sound of this too!

Here's the blurb from FTF:

Use fairy tales to sharpen your skills as a writer. This six-week workshop focuses on plot and language. We’ll do writing exercises in class and for homework, each one designed to push your edge in the areas of creativity, language, and story. By the end of the course you will be getting a bigger bang for your buck out of your stories. You will also (hopefully) develop a deeper relationship with language and inspiration. You will write at least one original fairy tale. Intro to Writing Fairy Tales recommended as a prerequisite.

You can find out more about Ms. Morgan HERE and there's a brief, but fun, interview with "Reading Local Seattle" HERE. You can also (and I highly recommend this) read three of her *new* fairy tales. I say *new*, because these tales really do read like something out of a world wide fairy tale collection though they're completely new.

To whet your appetite a little, the titles are:

The Wood Wife
The Owl and the Maiden
The Yellow Bird

And for those of us unable to travel, maybe one day we can talk her into doing an online version of these courses! (hint, hint Amy!)

New Look, Same Once Upon A Blog

No, your eyes are not deceiving you - you are still at Once Upon A Blog!

I just decided to do my own icon as I caved in and finally joined Facebook (site is HERE) to help spread the fairy tale news. Then I realized this blog could use a new header too - one that was smaller than the pic there before - so you can see posts as soon as you go to the page.

I tried this first - I mean, you think fairy tales you think fairies, right? (Even though not many fairy tales have ACTUAL fairies in them):But thought it looked a little generic.

Then I realized I had an old silhouette of a cat grinding coffee, from the tale "How Puss Learned to Talk", and thought the idea of a magic cat, grinding out fairy tale news (with a little dash of espresso) was just right for the blog. :)Here's the same header but with the URL added so people can find us.Please feel free to use any of the artwork above to spread the word about the blog and all the great stuff happening. The world needs fairy tales!

And just in case you miss the cute little creature reading up on fairy tale news, please find him still reading below. :)

The Science of Fairy Tales (Series) - Blowing Down Houses of Straw, Sticks & Bricks

Although we all know how powerful the wind can be in the form of cyclones, hurricanes and tornadoes it still seems a little ludicrous to contemplate houses being blown down by a wolf. But maybe we didn't have all the information on the wolf's circumstances.


Maybe he just put his gassy stomach and heartburn to good use!

Take a look at what a bad combination of gases can do when channeled through this snout, er, cannon:


Let's just hope Big Bad doesn't get 'wind' of this. I like my brick house just fine as it is, thank you!

To get Big Bad's side of the story I recommend : "The True Story of The 3 Little Pigs" (as told to Jon Scieszka)NOTE: The lovely 'Big Bad' drawing above is by artist Caroline Trevella. Click on the image or HERE to go to her website and see more enchanting illustrations.

3rd Podcast Episode of "CAGES: A Steampunk Retelling of Grimm's Jorinde & Joringel" is up

Part III of V 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 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.

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 episode - IV - will drop on August 21st...

Thank you, once again, to Dorlana Vann for hosting this short story podcast series.

Enjoy!

"Ash and Ember" & "The Irrelevant Redemption" by Binary Winter Press

Writer/designer Sheatiel Sarao and illustrator Cody Vrosh combined forces to form Binary Winter Press and have just returned from ComiCon where they were spreading the word about their new illustrated book "Ash and Ember".From the website:

Futuristic fables and storybook dissent: Snow White leads a synesthestic revolution. A homicidal pyromaniac Goldilocks stalks the Three Bears. Rapunzel driven slowly mad by the isolation of space station life. Follow our tales out of the woods and into the fire.

They have another fairy tale based book too: "The Irrelevant Redemption: A Steampunk Fairytale". From their WEBSITE:

A cyborg, coming of age fable, a post-human Pinocchio meets Alice in an apocalyptic Wonderland story.

You can read an excerpts of their books on their WEBSITE and see more images in their galleries. There's a BLOG so you can keep up with their latest endeavors and you can check out their t-shirts in their ETSY shop too. There is a definite cyberpunk feel to this collection though you'll also see influences of art nouveau, steampunk and, very likely, robots.

The Science of Fairy Tales - New Series at Once Upon A Blog...

I thought I'd start a fun new series:

'The Science of Fairy Tales'.

(No, it's not based on the book above - I just like that there's a science program that teaches scientific method and exploration in a fairy tale setting. Click on the image above to learn more about it.)

I've collected quite a few pieces of information on scientific facts and theories that are relevant to fairy tales - enough that I have around 10 or so to start - so I thought I'd start a general series and add to it every so often as things appear in the news or are dug up out of my archives.

The first one will appear in a couple of days, then a few more next week, just to get things rolling. If you have any tid-bits you'd like to add to this series, please feel free to email me (see the sidebar for the address) and I'll add it.

For today, I thought I'd show you something I found called, funnily enough, "ILLUSTRATED STUDIES IN SCIENCE AND FAIRYTALES" by Julia Y. (a.k.a. DumpsterDivinE on Etsy).

You can click on the images to get a closer look and read her text.
Here's the blurb about these drawings from her WEBSITE:

"Rana Regulus Demutatio" is the first installment in the series "Illustrated Studies in Science & Fairytales." The title is the latin term for "Frog Prince Transformation" and it is the first accurate documentation of the internal processes involved when a frog transforms into a handsome prince.

Are we grossed out yet? Completely - and completely fascinated too. More please!

While the new series on Once Upon A Blog... will actually scientifically based facts, theories and stories relating to fairy tales, I couldn't help pop in the "Rana Regulus Demutatio" for you. Somehow I have a feeling some (demented?) scientist, somewhere, is experimenting to see if frogs can transform/be transformed... (runs off to grab a pencil and start scribbling a new story)

And while we're on the subject of The Frog Prince (or, more correctly The Frog King or Iron Henry), here are two of my favorite retellings: "Fair Peril" by Nancy Springer and "Water Song" by Suzanne Weyn. Click on the book covers to be taken to more information about each.

NOTE: You can find the rest of the images from JuliaY's book HERE and see her awesome website HERE.

"Covered in Cinders" by Kotogawa Aya

Covered in Cinders

( Hai Kaburi )
by Kotogawa Aya
A beautifully drawn, but chilling account of the the classic story of Cinderella. (Shoujo Magic)

This comic has been out for a few years (since 2002) but, in case it hasn't crossed your radar I thought I'd add a post so you can check it out if you're interested.

Hailed as a 'dark version of Cinderella' this is really just the Grimm version, but it's interesting to see people's reactions on various forums and reviews from "way cool and gory" to "gross and unnecessary!"

And yes, the Grimm's version does have gore -as in, 'if the shoe doesn't fit, cut off a toe!'- so it's not surprising this comic is also getting tagged with 'horror'.Here's the synopsis from anime-planet:

A young girl's mother dies, leaving her with a kind sentiment: if she plants a hazel tree where her grave is, the girl can shake it when deeply worried and her mother will help her. Afterwards, a new woman arrives as her mother, along with two new daughters who will serve as sisters. However, the only one ‘serving' is the young girl, as her new family forces her to perform slave labor while covered in cinders. Soon her luck will change, for a grand ball is approaching, and the prince is rumored to be looking for a wife...

You can read the whole story online HERE for free (click the NEXT button underneath the image to go to the next page).