Ask Baba Yaga: I Seek Comfort From Others Because I Am Uncomfortable With Myself

A rare image of Baba Yaga being comforted by a Leshy (Artist sadly unknown)

Although not everyone can, perhaps, relate to the question, Baba's answer however is AMAZINGLY insightful and very useful for those of us who think too much!

This week's question and answer (via poet and oracle Taisia Kitaiskaia* of The Hairpin):

(Originally posted at The Hairpin HERE)

The consensus readers and commenters have had on reading this is basically PLEASE PUT THESE IN A BOOK! WE NEEDS THIS ON OUR BEDSIDE TABLES! (yes - needs with an 's'!) I couldn't agree more:

• (If) you ever published all of these as a book, it would live on my nightstand and I'd read it every night (Lady Humungus)
• @Lady Humungus Oh yes indeed. I'd buy lots of copies, too, and I'd just hand them out, without explanation. (stonefruit)
• Still in love with Baba Yaga. Reminds me of being in India age 4 and climbing into a strange older person's lap who I knew to be vaguely related to me and getting kisses on the crown of my head and strange hard to follow stories involving vegetables, animals and minerals. We'll done! I'll buy the book and hand it out without explanation too.
   MinisterofPretty(MP) 

I, uh... *speechless and hugs screen* My skull-nest is fully twiggled by this wonderful, wonderful chicken-legged form of a hair ruffling. *pats skull to make sure it remained intact after Baba's fingers touched it, surprised to find it is* 

What do you think of Baba Yaga's advice?

Want to ask Baba Yaga a question of your own?

You can!

There's now an email address where you can send your questions

directly to Baba Yaga herself.

AskBabaYaga AT gmail DOT com

To encourage Baba Yaga to continue imparting her no-bones-about-it wisdom (ok, there may be some gristle in there... bones too), I suggest we not to leave her box empty... 

Thank you Baba Yaga (& Taisia).

* Taisia Kitaiskaia is a poet, writer, and Michener Center for Writers fellow. Born in Russia and raised in America, she's had her poems and translations published in Narrative Magazine, Poetry International, and others.

"The Wolf Among Us" Game Walkthrough

Bigby Goes To Work in "The Wolf Among Us"

For those curious about the Fables game prequel just released (actually, it's Episode One: Faith of at least five installments set to be released at regular intervals), here's a great way to find out more before investing.

Although the choices you make (both in dialogue and action) would change everything (because, apparently, even the seemingly smallest decisions count in this game), you get a good idea of the structure from these walkthroughs. As a bonus, this walkthrough has no commentary getting in the way of the story exploration.

I'm just embedding Part 1 (there are 8). You should be able to easily find the following ones either at the end or on the YouTube page, which is linked to in the bottom of the video window (ie "view on YouTube").

Please note: this game is for mature players only. There is both violence and language and it is not suitable for children to see (or overhear).

Enjoy!

Note: The video can be viewed in "chapters" like the one above or there's one complete, almost two-hour walkthrough uploaded you can watch as well.

I've included the cast sheet below, in case you'd like an overview of the main players.

Note: Contrary to how it might appear, I'm not much of a gamer, so although I'm interested in the concepts I'm rarely drawn in to play. The strong narrative of this one, along with the fairy tale tie in and references, is very appealing though. After seeing just a few of the walkthrough videos I'll admit my interest is more piqued than for any other game I've ever seen. I might actually give this one a go...

UPDATE: ADDED 6pm OCTOBER 15

Fables prequel game "The Wolf Among Us" is getting VERY good reviews all round. Here's one that both reviews (scoring it 8.6/10) and gives you a good idea of what to expect:

(Excerpt):"The Wolf Among Us is a gripping accompaniment to Willingham’s artistic narratives. Having suffered the halfhearted groping of Hollywood executives intent on transporting his books to the big screen, the author clearly regards Telltale as his kinsfolk, remarking of the game: “It’s brilliant to the point of there being far too many moments of ‘I wish I’d thought of that’.”

The inaugural episode, Faith, revolves around the morally imbalanced protagonist of Sheriff Bigby Wolf - aka the Big Bad Wolf - a Fable with a chequered past charged with maintaining peace among his fantastical peers as they eke out a living alongside ordinary citizens, known as Mundies. The instalment revolves around a series of murders, with the player asked to take the reins of Bigby’s passive-aggressive personality in order to solve the mystery.

The dialogue - always a highlight of the publisher’s games - is consistently excellent. The choices are varied and depending on any number of ripostes or discreet silences, the fate of Bigby and his fellow Fables feels as if it is in your hands. Only future episodes, of course, will reveal the wisdom of the choices made - the majority of your time in Faith is an exercise in exposition, spent prowling rooms and locales for clues." 

Snow White, Bigby & Ichabod Crane

The inaugural episode, Faith, revolves around the morally imbalanced protagonist of Sheriff Bigby Wolf - aka the Big Bad Wolf - a Fable with a chequered past charged with maintaining peace among his fantastical peers as they eke out a living alongside ordinary citizens, known as Mundies. The instalment revolves around a series of murders, with the player asked to take the reins of Bigby’s passive-aggressive personality in order to solve the mystery. 

The dialogue - always a highlight of the publisher’s games - is consistently excellent. The choices are varied and depending on any number of ripostes or discreet silences, the fate of Bigby and his fellow Fables feels as if it is in your hands. Only future episodes, of course, will reveal the wisdom of the choices made - the majority of your time in Faith is an exercise in exposition, spent prowling rooms and locales for clues." (Source)

More on "Galavant" (+ Some Bonus "Princess Bride" Illustrations)

by Sarah Mensinga

Do you remember the announcement on this new TV series I snuck into the blog at the beginning of the month HERE?

The casting call from Disney/ABC has gone out for their fairy tale musical comedy TV series in development, Galavant, and with it, a little more info on the premise.

by Seth Hippen

The show's casting director has begun auditioning actors for series regulars and possible recurring roles, including the title role of Galavant and his true love Madalena. Other roles include Kings and Queens, a Princess, henchman and a squire, among others. The actors are required to have Broadway singing style skills. The show's extras will be hired closer to the beginning of production, which does not have an exact start date yet. 

by Tracie Timmer

by Jeff Victor

"Galavant" is a classic storybook fairytale series that centers on a hero who gives up chasing dragons and saving damsels when the love of his life marries the evil King because she wants his wealth. But when a princess comes seeking his help he takes on the challenge, however she isn't completely honest with him. Two-time Annie Awards nominee Dan Fogelman is executive producing and writing, while Eight-time Academy Award winner Alan Menken will compose the music. Academy Award winner Glenn Slater is writing the lyrics. (Examiner)

by nthornborrow

If you're in LA, have "Broadway singing skills", and interested in auditioning, you can find the details HERE. Also, break a leg!

by RachelAnn Design

In the meantime, and for everyone else, enjoy some Princess Bride illustrations in which a "prince" is kept quite occupied getting his princess back (via a few detours along the way, like becoming a pirate). :) If you haven't read The Princess Bride, do yourself a favor and get a copy (then read it). This is one story where it's worth having the movie AND the book.

by Leslie Ditto

"Red Brick Road" in Development (& Summary of all the Other Oz Projects Spinning Around Hollywood Right Now)

Dorothy as imagined by Rob Prior (official development image)

Did The Wizard of Oz books just become public domain or is 2013 just the year of the (TV) Wizard? Answer: all the better known books have been public domain for a while* so it appears the flying monkeys are just making the network rounds... (and possibly prepping for the big 75th anniversary of MGM's movie).

Here's the latest, this time from Lifetime, making it the FIFTH Oz-themed project announced as being in development in the last three months (!):

 Lifetime has put in development Red Brick Road,from the Wolper Organization, Vertigo Entertainment and Warner Horizon. Written by Tim Schlattman (Dexter) based on an concept by artist Rob Prior and executive produced by Roy Lee and Adrian Askarieh, Red Brick Road is described as an edgy, Game Of Thrones take on the world of Wizard Of Oz. an edgy, Game Of Thrones take on the world of Wizard Of Oz. In the classic 1939 feature, when Dorothy set off for the Emerald City, she followed the Yellow Brick Road. But among the yellow bricks at Dorothy’s feet, there was also a swirl of red bricks. They’ve been there the whole time in plain sight. Unnoticed. Unexplored. Which raises the question — just where do they go? Red Brick Road will answer that by following Dorothy down that fateful path, taking her to the oldest, darkest and most dangerous parts of Oz to find what became of her friends who all have gone missing. (Deadline)

I kind of like the sound of this one, though if you like the Oz books (and the movie) I'd suggest thinking of this as an entirely different story.

To summarize the projects for you:
NBC -      Emerald City (drama - dark re-imagining of the classic tale)
CBS -       Dorothy (medical soap)
Syfy -       Warriors of Oz (fantasy/action post apocalyptic mini-series re-imagining of the classic tale)
CW -        Dorothy Must Die (revisionist take, based on YA novel by Danielle Page)
Lifetime - Red Brick Road (edgy Game of Thrones take on The Wizard of Oz)

Oh and there's also Wicked: The Mini-Series being developed by ABC (based on Maguire's novel rather than the musical) but we haven't heard about that for a while now (a long while) so that's likely on the shelf. Maybe they'll dust it off once someone notices just how many Oz properties are being picked up. I think a mini-series might be the better way to explore the novel.

Wicked the Broadway musical as a movie makes sense too, and that's what I'm kind of waiting for more solid news on, next. Last we heard (at ComicCon July 2013) the Producer attached confirmed that, yes, there WILL BE a move of Wicked, that Billy Elliot director Stephen Daldry was "in talks" re Wicked and that a very vague date of sometime during 2014 was at one point announced (although whether that's for filming or release is a little unclear) but is likely to be changed with no cast or start date yet in place.

Have I forgotten anything? (Feel free to add anything else I missed in the comments below.)

* If you want to read up on the complicated copyright releases of the Oz books into public domain you can read a good summary HERE.

Ask Baba Yaga: How Do I Deal With My Boyfriend's Past Partners Gracefully?

by Francesco Francavilla

History. Luggage. Almost every partner you find these days has some. Meeting that luggage in person, however, has it's own special kind of challenge and Baba Yaga has some pretty "tasty" opinions on what to do.

This week's question and answer (via poet and oracle Taisia Kitaiskaia* of The Hairpin):

(Originally posted at The Hairpin HERE)

Lots of people re-reading the advice on this one. Here are some comment highlights:

• Slathered in man syrup? :slowly pushes lunch away with one finger: (JessicaLovejoy)
• Hell yes staying away from that syrup. (wanderluster)
• The fastest way to get rid of an ex-anybody is to be nice to them.
  Always worked for me. Staying far away just attracted the crazy aka syrupy hands all over my flapjack. MinisterofPretty(MP) 

I will never look at syrup the same way again. *shudder*

What do you think of Baba Yaga's advice?

Want to ask Baba Yaga a question of your own?

You can!

There's now an email address where you can send your questions

directly to Baba Yaga herself.

AskBabaYaga AT gmail DOT com

To encourage Baba Yaga to continue imparting her no-bones-about-it wisdom (ok, there may be some gristle in there... bones too), I suggest we not to leave her box empty... 

Thank you Baba Yaga (& Taisia).

* Taisia Kitaiskaia is a poet, writer, and Michener Center for Writers fellow. Born in Russia and raised in America, she's had her poems and translations published in Narrative Magazine, Poetry International, and others.

The Good Thing About Comas and Sleeping Princesses (?!) aka Ugly Princesses Not Allowed Pt 2

It's been days since the "girls having feelings are so difficult to animate" goof quote by Mouse House employee Lino Disalvo (head animator on Frozen's crew)*, and the disbelief/outrage from various corners of the web continues to grow.

There was one (snarky) comment I wanted to report on the blog, since it does impact animated fairy tales (from Slate):

...it’s really hard to accurately convey characters’ inner lives when they have to look hot in every frame. Feelings are so ugly. Ask Freud. Ask Claire Danes. No wonder a great many Disney movies like to place their leading ladies in comas. If only "pretty," as the Cut’s Maggie Lange writes, could “just be an emotion … we could all go home early.”

So: comas, sleeping, still-as-a-statue and sobbing face down on the nearest object - these are animators favorite girl scenes??

(Wow - my brain just zigged and zagged into some dark places regarding the issues you could riff on from here..!)

Disney still haven't responded to the "what-the-flop!" reaction media-wide, by the way. I'm beginning to wonder if they're going to pretend it never happened and shove it under the carpet, while quietly, just to be on the safe side, they take those sleepy/coma-ish princess fairy tales off the Disney options table for the foreseeable future, just to be sure they're not accused of adding "yet another easy sleeping scene".

Here's a few I can think of we're unlikely to see on the big screen anytime soon:

• Twelve Dancing Princesses
• The Water of Life
• East of the Sun, West of the Moon
• A Midsummer Night's Dream
• The Snake Prince
• The Tinderbox (noooo! that would be so awesome.. *sigh*)
• The Princess and the Pea

Here's another good point on the difficulty of animating "lady feelings":

Representing characters’ feelings without diminishing their attractiveness was only the first hurdle. Filmmakers working with two princesses also had to distinguish visually between them, as if there wasn't just one way for a Disney princess to look. MovieViral tells us that the animators were also tasked with creating “2,000 different snowflakes that can be seen in the entire film.” After they’d spent so much time individuating all those snowflakes, can we really expect the poor Disney employees to turn around and dream up a pair of nonidentical female characters, too? Come on. At least snowflakes are allowed to be ugly.

But I should balance this with a different perspective. Surely there's something.... ah - here we go, a quote from New York Magazine:

In fairness to all creatures of the world, Disalvo did also mention that adding emotion to a snowman is super tricky as well.

Ungh.

* By the way, congratulations Mr. Disalvo - this is how your long, enviable and distinguished career will be summarized for the rest of time. Ain't immortality a bitch?

The Snow Queen by Julia Griffin

These aren't new but it's the first time I've seen more than just the first carriage illustration and.. wow. Just... wow. 

I have seen her work before (check her website link below for the wolf on the first page - love that) but this Snow Queen series in colored pencil is so beautiful.

To me, the snowy scenes are where Ms. Griffin's work really shines. The work becomes really powerful and visceral. You'd think colored pencils would make for a lighter, dreamier mood but the ones below all evoke a feeling from chills to gut twisting (without any hint of horror in sight by the way - so incredibly impressive!).

I don't believe this is the robber girl who has Gerda by the throat here (the robber girl is my favorite character in the story) but I love the sense of peril here. Such a hot-blooded human threat as opposed to the cold and distant freezing magic of the Snow Queen. You can almost see Gerda girding her backbone as you follow the sequences along.

The reindeer one is killing me. (Yes - I had to show it to you again - in sequence this time.) Why, oh why are we not getting Gerda riding the reindeer in November?? Oh. That's right. It's not actually The Snow Queen. *sigh*

How awesome is Gerda roaring here?!! And it's completely believable at this point. You can see her growing stronger through the images until here, she roars right back. CHILLS! (Good ones.) Plus: ice bears? A snow eagle? Just love this...

And look who used icicles in the Snow Queen's clothing before Elsa even existed! So nicely done. Works very well with this frosty alien-like zombie (who takes hearts instead of brains..), complete with her UFO-like headquarters here - shades of Area 51 but with a girl who's having none of it. Go Gerda!

I'm totally imagining pitching a "sequel" to Disney for Frozen right now, but with the Gerda character being one of Anna or Elsa's future daughters (or even better, granddaughters). Why? Because since Disney's name has been linked with this story NO ONE is going to touch Snow Queen in animation, possibly ever again (cue wailing and gnashing of teeth!) BUT Disney does love a sequel these days... and I bet a sequel like this - see the awesome reindeer, lily princess and kick-ass roaring girl-power above - would make waaaay more money for them. *ka-ching! + happy people = family fairy tale film revival!*

In other news - how romantic of an idealist am I?? *goes back to brooding over the reindeer pic*

Ms. Griffin's website is HERE, her Tumblr is HERE and her Behance account is HERE. Be sure to "appreciate this" on her Behance site (you can see larger versions of the images there too - definitely worth a visit just for that) and let her know how much we love (and appreciate!) these.

New Permanent Page: FABLES 411

With all the Fables news continuing and interest growing in the series I thought it was about time I put together a page to help guide newbies through Bill Willingham's daunting universe.

The link will remain in the tabs at the top of the page so you can quickly find it at any time.

Here's a quick summary of what you'll find:

• Fables Explained (aka "what the hell is Fables??" And why should I care? Really?)
• How To Read (aka navigate) Fables, A Handy What-Next?! Guide
• Bill Willingham on Fables vs Once Upon A Time (why they're not "at war", so fans shouldn't be either)
• Awesome Art Sampling from Fables & Fairest

Hope it's helpful.

"The Wolf Among Us" (Fables Game) Online Release Day

Note: This post was scheduled for Halloween Day when the release was going to be October 31st but I'm rescheduling it for the NEW release day - today - October 11th. :)

Scheduled for 12:00am today, Halloween Day (October 31st) Friday, October 11th, you should be able to download the new Fables game (and Willingham approved prequel to the series), The Wolf Among Us for both PC and Mac.

For the gamers among us, here's some playing-specific details you may be interested in. From an interview with the creators by gameranx:

Bigby showing some of his Big Bad side
from the original graphic novel
featuring more of Bigby's story
Fables: Werewolves of the Heartland

Herman: Well you play as Bigby Wolf who is the Big Bad Wolf. He is just a different character, a different guy, and he comes from being the bad guy and now he is sort of in charge of keeping the town safe and protecting the fables. He brings his own personality to the story. 

Lenart: Like you were saying, the comedy element is another element that excited us about it [Fables]. With The Walking Dead, working on that for so long, it's such a grave world and every situation is so terrible. With the Wolf Among Us it's nice because you're playing in this world and it's fantastical with bright moments and colors. It works with the narrative. 

Goodman: Exactly. It didn't feel out of place at all. 

Dingman: And you guys have one writer working on this? That's different from The Walking Dead, which had one person writing each episode, right? 

Lenart: We're going to be doing a five episode season, so there will be different writers on different episodes. 

Dingman: And will the episodes be released monthly? 

Lenart: Nothing is confirmed yet, but it's going to be similar to what we did with The Walking Dead. Each one has a similar kind of feel, when it gets published it can be played in a night. It'll be coming out for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360. We will have season passes for it. 

Goodman: Once the season is complete will there be a hard disc release as well? 

Herman: We have nothing hard right now, but I'm sure there will be. 

Lenart: We always try to do that. We always want to get out on as many platforms as possible.

PS Happy (Early) Halloween!! 

New Release: "Beauty and the Beast Tales From Around the World" SurLaLune Fairy Tales Series Vol (Happy Book Birthday Heidi!)

It's here! And it's available in both ebook and paperback.

I can't describe how excited I am about these SurLaLune Fairy Tales Series volumes Heidi has been working on and I know this one is dear to her heart.

She is having a special Beauty and the Beast week on the SurLaLune blog to celebrate and started by giving us a lot of information on what we can look forward to in the book.

Rather than link you to buy directly from here, I know sales from Heidi's links help her fund her research via her affiliate agreement with Amazon so please click through to buy from her blog in particular. I'll just link you to her. :)

Here are some of the book-related posts you will enjoy reading (if you haven't already):

Table of Contents for Beauty and the Beast Tales From Around the World

This is all you should need to convince you to order this book ASAP. This collection should make you squeal like it's a fairy tale Christmas.

Beauty and the Beast and Me

This post is not to be missed! Here Heidi generously explains her love of Beauty and the Beast, how this love began, how it was nurtured and why she's still fascinated with the tale today.

Beauty and the Beast and Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve

This post includes details on this new and wonderful resource:

Including both translations felt important, so I gave up 121 pages in Beauty and the Beast Tales From Around the World to them, 15% of the book. So now they are in one place for comparison and contrast. I even added footnotes to help cross reference the transformation scene in both which is significantly different as I described in my intro.

Beauty and the Beast and Madame Beaumont

This post explains the governess mentalities of Madame Beaumont and how, in a parallel to adaptations of tales done for Victorian nurseries, she adapted the story for children's ears.

Then she's also summarized for us her recommended reading if you're studying Beauty and the Beast:

Beauty and the Beast: Recommended Reading Part I

Beauty and the Beast: Recommended Reading Part II

Beauty and the Beast: Recommended Reading Part III

Heidi never fails to be a font of truly amazing resources for serious students, writers and scholars of fairy tales. If you haven't availed yourself of any of the books in her series yet, do yourself a favor and start collecting them. 

Here are the covers from the collection to date (and now we can add a Beauty and the Beast volume too).

You won't be disappointed. They are worth every cent! 

As a complete aside, don't you think these covers would make an amazing library frieze?

And I cannot wait for The Grateful Dead collection. Check the cover and blurb from the SurLaLune website below. Heidi originally planned to release this one for Samhain/Halloween this year (I know - I'm being TOTALLY greedy right now but this is on my WANT! list..), but that was before her Beauty and the Beast collection was completed. Either way we should see it in the near(ish) future, depending on how crazy-busy Heidi is these days.

In the meantime:

HAPPY BOOK BIRTHDAY HEIDI!

Hint: if you're thinking about expanding your library with this series, you can help encourage and fund Heidi's research by buying via her blog links. Let's help keep this woman writing!