'Ask Baba Yaga' Is Getting Published! (And She Needs Your Help)

Vasilissa the Wise by Arantzazu Martinez

No - we're not asking for money, or anything similar. What Baba Yaga needs is your questions. Now.

It has been confirmed that oracle Taisia Kitaiskaia, has been offered a publishing deal for a published collection of Ask Baba Yaga. Here's the notice to Taisia from her agent:

And the official Publishers Marketplace announcement:

"Author of the forthcoming LITERARY WITCHES Taisia Kitaiskaia's ASK BABA YAGA, a collection of her surreal advice column of the same name for The Hairpin as well as all-new material, featuring write-in queries with responses from the perspective of a mythical Russian witch, to Allison Adler at Andrews McMeel, by Adriann Ranta Zurhellen at Foundry Literary + Media (NA)."

CONGRATULATIONS TAISIA!

Taisia has specifically asked for Once Upon A Blog readers to help out our favorite advisor by providing a wide variety of questions Baba Yaga can consider answering, to include in the new book. (!) Although she can't guarantee that every question will be answered and published, she is very keen to answer as many as she can in the time given her.

Mikhail Petrov

She's looking for 15 new questions in particular, and, as we know, first letters in, get the hungriest Baba!

Ask Baba Yaga, the book, has yet to have a confirmed release date, but we have our fingers crossed for 2017.

We'll make you a deal - if we hear via oracle-post that Once Upon A Blog readers have been eagerly sending Baba Yaga questions, we will host a giveaway contest of the volume when it is released.

Deal?

Good.

Go write up your message, send it, and we'll wait here, because we have more news to share.

Go on.

We're not going anywhere...

*whistling*

Back? OK then.

As we mentioned, that's not the only project our favorite oracle is working on. She's collaborating with friend and artist Katy Horan on a volume titled, Literary Witches, in which they've imagined canonized writers (such as Emily Bronte and Virginia Woolf) as witches. It works so well, you wonder if perhaps they might not have uncovered a long-hidden truth...

Take a look at some examples:

Amazing, no? You can see a few more examples HERE.

As far as the Ask Baba Yaga column goes, Kitaiskaia is still serving as oracle when she can, though a little less frequently at present and does hope to continue with it after publishing as well, though that all depends on how the wind, and Baba Yaga, blows at that point in time.

Mikhail Petrov

In the meantime, let's do all we can to get that collectible volume published, er, support Taisia with her expanding publishing career and help inspire her communication with Baba Yaga, by providing lots of brief, searching and heartfelt emails. And don't worry - your darkest secret questions will not have your name attached. (We should note, we would happily have Baba Yaga give us a nickname if she so preferred, as unflattering as it's likely to be.)

So, dear readers, email your questions directly to Baba Yaga herself - as soon as possible - using the address below:

AskBabaYaga AT gmail DOT com

Taisia awaits your requests and assistance in approaching Baba Yaga, for the benefit of us all.

It doesn't have to be fancy, flattering or formal - just a single sentence question is fine. Baba Yaga doesn't have much patience for more than that anyway.

Now, if you haven't already, go write your burning question - make it a good one - and hit that 'send' button ASAP. You may get your answer in permanent print!

You may be wondering: but where's our Thursday dose of advice? It's coming. Later today, this time. We wanted to be sure you saw this, and acted on it, first.

Stay tuned!

Note: we promise to provide updates on the Ask Baba Yaga volume as we get them. In the meantime, we will keep our column going for as long as Baba Yaga makes it possible.

Target + Wattpad Writers = New Book "Once Upon Now"

If you're a Wattpad member, writer or reader, you will have likely known about the #OnceUponNow contest that closed mid-year.

The news, however, is that they just published the winners' stories in a new book and it just hit Target shelves yesterday.

Digital writing community Wattpad has teamed up with Gallery Books to publish a new anthology of fairy tales for the contemporary reader. 

The collection is called Once Upon Now and takes a 21st century perspective on classic fairy tales. To promote the collection, the companies have started the #OnceUponNow. The promotion encourages writers on the site to promote their own modern fairy tale adaptation for consideration in the collection. Target is hosting the competition and will sell the book.

Here's the official blurb:

The stories are written by winners of the #OnceUponNow contest hosted by Target, in partnership with Wattpad and Gallery Books. In the anthology, Rapunzel is homeschooled in a high-rise apartment, and Sleeping Beauty is the victim of a rare medical syndrome. Classic tales like Princess & the Pea, Pinocchio, and other favorites are reimagined in the book.

The call was for short stories between 4 000 and 9 000 words and had to include "an engaging story about modern life or modern love that somehow alludes to or uses elements of a fairy tale or a myth" as well as no trademarked characters. (More of a description of the idea and parameters HERE.) Wattpad readers were to choose the top 25 via voting and the editors chose 10 for the book from there.

Here are the winning entries, shown via their "covers" (created by the writers to help attract their readers):

          

 
          

Wattpad member CliffJoneJr kindly compiled a list of eligible stories worth browsing (that is, legitimate entries as opposed to people just using the #OnceUponNow hashtag to gain clicks), put them in alphabetical order by tale and has given a one to three sentence plot synopsis that's worth reading all by itself. It includes a surprising variety of lesser known stories, including a Ukranian tale, the Sun Princess, Little Daylight, Jorinde and Joringel and the Princess Who Never Smiled.

All of the stories are still available to browse and read for free. You just need to join Wattpad to do so, which is also free.

Two Live Action 'Mulan's Looking for Chinese Casts

Mulan: Rise of a Warrior (2010)

You may have heard about the brief social media tornado of outrage yesterday over Disney having a bought a spec script for Mulan that not only white washed the story with a 'white savior' but took our heroine out of the center and placed her as the equivalent of eye candy and prize to be won.

Disney's current live action Mulan on Once Upon A Time

You will be glad to know, Disney confirmed this is NOT the direction they are headed. At all.

In fact, they're not only very intently on a global search for a Chinese cast, for their newly fast-tracked film, but have announced they're ideally looking to have an Asian director too. (Ang Lee was approached and passed on the project, so the search continues. Source) And they've got competition.

Sony is also looking for an Asian director and plans to feature a "predominantly Asian cast" for their version of Mulan as well.

From the announcement a month ago:

While no plot details were revealed about how Sony's Mulan will differ from Disney's version, there are plans for it to shoot in China, be made with a "Chinese partner" and feature a mostly Chinese cast.

(We would hope this is a given for any Mulan project but perhaps it's better to just state the obvious and remove doubt up front. For your diversion, enjoy the Mulan cosplay by Ukranian cosplayer Buta-kun - many more photos at the link.)

The Sony project, while busy trying to snap up cast and crew from under Disney's nose, is in much earlier stages of development, however. Mirror Mirror's Jason Keller is currently writing the script* but the film likely won't hit theaters until well after Disney's already slated release of November 2, 2018 - if it does at all.

Competing with Disney to make a fairy tale, myth, legend or fable in the current live action trend is a race against a behemoth and it will take a determined and confident studio and film crew to get their film to release.

Warner Bros Jungle Book, once neck-and-neck with Disney in production has now been shifted to a 2018 release. With the unexpectedly huge success of Disney's version, we don't envy the Warner Bros team in their battle to The End, though we do look forward to seeing the legend take center stage again for a while.

It should be noted, that China and Hong Kong have already made quite a few live action film versions. One of the best is said to be the Huangmei Opera version from 1964 with Ivy Ling but the 2010 version, Mulan: Rise of a Warrior, with Vicki Zhao Wei was well received too. (See posters below.)
              
You can see the impressive trailer of the 2010 film below:

* As far as Disney Mulan script, Jurassic World's writers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver were hired to rewrite and Disney reportedly liked it so much, this is what put it on the fast track. 

Update on Various Live Action 'Little Mermaid's

This post is not about the Disney live action in the making. That's only recently been confirmed as a legitimate project and everything around it is very hush, hush at present. As we all know, however, there are others in the works...

In particular, we have been very interested in the live action movie by a different studio, Universal, said to follow Hans Christian Andersen's story much more faithfully, which originally had Sofia Coppola attached to direct. (We are sadly certain it would have been amazing... sigh.)

It's been in the works a long time now and has looked so promising, so often, only to have continual setbacks. Coppola resigning was a big blow to high hopes across the board for a truly interesting film (especially after the first casting of a transgender supermodel Andrej Pejic as one of the mermaid sisters). She cited creative differences, especially with regard to wanting to cast an unknown in the lead role. Most recently in September, Chloe Grace Moretz, chosen to star in the title role by the following (and currently attached) director, Rebecca Thomas, also quit the project (and many others), for personal reasons. (The Moretz pictures in this post are from her Facebook earlier this year, showing her initial enthusiasm for the project.)

Chloe Grace Moretz

With the movie originally planned for release in 2017, up till as late as the middle of this year, what's happening with it now? It's a little difficult to tell. much of the original information has disappeared, even from general production news and casting sites. Director Rebecca Thomas, is still attached and while there's been no official word on Pejic pulling out, she's no longer listed as attached either, but that's all that seems to be confirmed.

It gets confusing quickly with at least two other indie Little Mermaids set to release in 2017, not to mention that Disney has now confirmed they'll be doing a live action adaptation of their own animated classic.

The most interesting of the films, at present, is family film adaptation by MVP, with Poppy Drayton (The Shannara Chronicles) starring as the mermaid, and film legend Shirley McLaine. Here's the description:

Poppy Drayton, promo pic
for The Little Mermaid

(The) story follows a young orphan (Peralta) who discovers a beautiful and enchanting creature (played by Drayton) she believes to be the real “Little Mermaid.” MacLaine portrays Eloise, an eccentric woman who has intimate knowledge of the story. 

“We’re thrilled to be launching MVP Studios with ‘A Little Mermaid,’ a magical adventure that uses the beloved fairy tale as its jumping off point, but is an all-new story with all-new characters that the entire family can enjoy,” the producers said in a statement.

While it sounds like a fun fantasy film for the family, it seems doubtful this will have Little Mermaid fans as excited as they could be, since neither the plot of HCA's fairy tale will be followed, nor will it reflect the Disney film.

What it does tell us, though, is that there is a lot of mermaid and water-folk buzz in the film industry at present. Between all the various adaptations, a selkie film, Disney confirming their live action adaptation and the announcement that Disney/Touchstone's Splash is getting a remake (why?), we're set for much water magic at the box office in the next couple of years.

Fairy Tale Transformation Illustrations from Ivana's House of Fairy Tales

These unusual fairy tale illustrations by Ivo Matić are from Ivanas' House of Fairy Tales, which is a unique multimedia and interactive visitor's center and permanent exhibition, which celebrates fairy tales and their makers. (Located in Ogulin, Croatia) The illustrations are displayed on a tablet though a "secret spyhole" within the exhibition and are just one part of an interactive multimedia display/experience.

Our mission is to celebrate the writings of Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić and to use fairy tales to inspire a love of reading, knowledge and creative expression. By promoting the knowledge of fairy tales – a widespread literary genre – we encourage intercultural exchange and enhance the cultural and tourist prosperity of Ogulin, while actively contributing to the development of the city and improving the quality of life of its inhabitants.

The idea behind Ivana's House of Fairy Tales is part of a cultural incentive from the local Board of Tourism to encourage the perception that Ogulin is a unique, beautiful and culturally important place to visit, along with the international Ogulin Fairy-Tale Festival.

The reason it's called Ivana's House, is wonderful and easiest to explain by including some text from the official website HERE:

This idea was inspired by the fact that Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić – Croatia's foremost writer of fairy tales – was born in Ogulin. Tales of Long Ago, her most successful collection of fairy tales, bears traces of the natural beauties of Ogulin, and the intangible heritage of its tales and legends.  

...More than sixty collaborators from different areas of expertise were involved in the various phases of developing Ivana's House of Fairy Tales. Their wide range of knowledge along with a variety of their individual talents and skills makeIvana's House of Fairy Tales a prime example of an interdisciplinary and multimedia team project! The project would surely not have been so successful without the highly motivated local inhabitants, who took an active part in the various activities and showed support for the idea of turning their hometown into a homeland of fairy tales.

We admit we are not very familiar with Ivana's fairy tales but it would seem more than just this Polish fairy tale writer's are represented at the center. We see both Grimm's and Andersen's tales represented in the illustrations as well as Japanese and Russian tales.

Although only a selection of the "porthole illustrations" showing transformation in fairy tales (the pen and ink drawings above) are available to view online (to see the others you need to visit the center), there's a description of the experience on the website and I'm including it here. (Note: I do not intend to breach any copyright but only to encourage people to visit and appreciate the project.)

 

The interactive and multimedia permanent exhibition is based on the principles of knowledge, creativity and the use of new technologies.  

The exhibition starts with the “Magic Forest”: a gateway into the world of Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić, a world where trees narrate episodes from Ivana's life and stories from her books, a place where clever heads and capable hands can put together a real fairy tale! 

The “Enchanted Castle Hallways” are the perfect place to “get busy with” exploring fairy tales: what are fairy tales, who writes, collects and narrates them, and what are they about – these are some of the things you can learn in the “Enchanted Hallways”, or catch a glimpse of out of the corner of your eye. 

A secret corner of the castle holds the “Magic Mirror”, which reveals the 'wondrous inner image' of all who look into it. But only those who listen carefully can get a 'monstrous' picture as a keepsake! 

The “Fireplace” is the “warm” corner of Ivana's House of Fairy Tales where you can listen to (and later attempt to recreate) fairy tales in the “Fairy-Tale Jukebox”. 

In the “Fairy-Tale Library”, visitors can find numerous books of fairy tales and about them. Special attention is given to collecting valuable first editions of fairy tales. Should you need help browsing through the Library, simply ask one of our very own Brownies – the educators of Ivana's House of Fairy Tales. 

The “Chamber of Mystery” is located in the centre of the “Enchanted Castle”. This is a multifunctional space where you can watch three educational animated films or play an interactive game. This is also the stage for theatrical productions, concerts and other events.

Doesn't it sound like a wonderful way to spend an afternoon, or better still, a great project to be part of? One of the wonderful benefits of present day technology is the collaborative possibilities as well as the multimedia and interactive options, providing new options for storytelling experiences and for preserving - and spreading the knowledge of - fairy tales.

Note: The center also has a wonderful project in progress: a database of fairy tales, which you can see the description of below. Clicking on the image will take you to it.