Ad: Veet Naturals' Beanstalk

Two beanstalk ads in one week!

This one is for skin care. The campaign is supposed to focus on two element: surprise and discovery. Apparently if all goes well in using your Veet Naturals beauty routine, your garden should grow beanstalks (surprise!) and you can discover you're in a fairy tale. Or you should end up with skin as smooth as a baby beanstalk leaf. Or something.

Take a look (Note: the ad is in Hindi but you get the idea):

I do see the surprise/discovery concepts relating to a beanstalk. Getting that to relate to smooth skin would be a challenge. Makes for a pretty ad though. Beanstalks almost, always do. Problem is, my brain always says: "And then what? Giants?" I'm guessing they wouldn't be hairy though... ;) I like how they put "creative visualization" in the bottom corner so they can't be liable if you can't make your beanstalk grow as expected. Just to be on the safe side... *eyeroll*

One day someone with a lot of time on their hands will compile a playlist of ads with beanstalks in them and I bet you most of them will be nice or at the least be sending a positive message (you don't generally see beanstalks strangling people as they're growing or breaking up beautiful houses as they explode in their growth for instance). Don't you think it's interesting that the concept of a giant beanstalk is, in society, a highly positive motif, considering the main thing at the top is a giant who wants to eat you? I think I'll put that down to the green growing visuals being such a positive and hopeful force - because we see nature as a good thin in general - which outweighs the inevitable danger.

Kind of a cool thing really. More beanstalks please!

* Source.

Fairy Tale Magic Unveiled in Paris: Peeks At "La Belle et La Bête" First Footage (& More) Through Christmas Windows (C'est Magnifique!)

A few days ago, window shoppers in Paris were treated to the unveiling of Galeries Lafayette Haussmann's highly anticipated 2013 Christmas windows, with Lea Seydoux (who plays Beauty in La Belle et La Bête) handling the official launch-n-lighting honors.

It's so stunning and magical, no other Christmas or fairy tale film has a chance of getting noticed in Paris at the moment! I've always maintained magic takes work, and there's no doubt this project had more than it's fair share, but the resulting magic here is real: whomever sees this in person will remember this their entire lives.

There is something very special about beautiful Christmas windows. They're a form of storytelling and theater all by themselves and should be recognized for how much they enrich and effect people's lives. Very often fairy tales emerge from books and sit on the edge of reality, drawing passers by out of their day-today worries and transporting them, despite themselves, into magical worlds, making a season of their lives special and beautiful. I still remember the windows I've seen, especially when I was a child. It's a unique sort of magic and isn't as widespread as it once was, which is a real shame. Kudos to all those visual merchandisers out there who go beyond displaying goods for sale to make magic. We salute you.

Galeries Lafayette Haussmann are known for their breathtaking Christmas constructions, and this year, Beauty and the Beast takes center stage, with animated roses revealing glimpses of the first footage from Gan's Beauty and the Beast. Passers by are able to "brush the roses aside" with their fingers touching the glass so the flowers move to show them sneak peeks of the film. Magical!

✒ ✒ ✒  ✒ (click the "Read more" link below this line for lots more photos & first B&tB footage ) ✒ ✒ ✒  ✒ 

"Tinder" by Sally Gardner

It's a retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's The Tinder Box! One of my favorite fairy tales!! And it was released this last week!!! *flails arms in excitement and corrects multiple typos before continuing*

I came across note of this rather randomly, and since I'm not focused on keeping up with books (there are so many wonderful things happening in fairy tale retelling land all the time, there could be daily news just on those), but it didn't take long to figure out I am more than happy to recommend it.

Here's the write up from Ms. Gardner's website:

Tinder is a truly modern fairytale, at once cruel yet deeply enchanting. Sally Gardner chose to set her tale in the Thirty Years War after meeting two young British soldiers who had just returned from modern warfare and were finding civilian life difficult to deal with. They had nightmares and agreed they had never felt more alive than when out at the front. If there is one fairy story that encompasses the trauma of war and its aftermath, it is The Tinderbox and Sally has exquisitely captured these dark overtones in a tale of great love and great loss, accompanied by stunning illustrations by renowned illustrator David Roberts. 

Tinder follows the adventures of Otto Hundebiss, a soldier tired of war who defies death. A mysterious half-man, half-beast nurses him back to health, but continues on alone, leaving Otto only with some old shoes and a set of dice which will tell him the way forward. Stealing chickens and bread in order to survive, Otto is followed by a strange grey-cloaked man who can transform into a wolf. Hiding from the werewolf up a tree, he meets the enigmatic Safire and the two travel together until they are tragically separated. 

From then, Otto’s mission becomes clear and he rolls the dice in hopes that they will lead him back to her. He is soon plunged into an adventure of dark magic and mystery, meeting the scheming Mistress Jabber and the terrifying Lady of the Nail. He learns the power of the Tinderbox and becomes the master of wolves, yet even these powers may not be enough to bring him what he desires.

Firstly, the writer, Sally Gardner is an award winning author from the UK (you may recognize her name from I, Coriander), so I wasn't too surprised when I found an extract, read it and thought - "yep, good stuff, want more!"

Here's a taste from Chapter 1:

Once in a time of war, when I was a soldier in the Imperial Army, I saw Death walking. He wore upon his skull a withered crown of white bone twisted with green hawthorn. His skeleton was shrouded with a tattered cloak of gold and in his wake stood the ghosts of my comrades newly plucked, half-lived, from life. Many I knew by name.  

You can read more of the extract - with illustrations - HERE.

Secondly, the book is also illustrated by David Roberts; someone who's name may not be too familiar but there's a good chance you've seen his work in various places. What I've seen of the drawings in Tinder look wonderful and fit the prose perfectly. I'm not entirely sure that I'll get to see my beloved triplet canine characters with eyes as big as saucers, plates and platters but the giant wolves I've caught glimpses of, placate me a somewhat on this point. ;)

With the book just released there is a "blog tour" happening, with Ms. Gardner giving interviews and various insights about the book around the web. You can read one of them HERE and find a list of interviews and dates there too.

Ms. Gardner also wrote an introduction to fairy tales and how dark they can be, for scifinow, some of which sheds light on her inspiration and process for writing Tinder:

A good fairy tale takes us into the dark, dark woods of our imagination. From there we can go as deep into the forest as we dare or stay on the edge, looking at the trees. A fairy tale talks to our souls in a way few other stories have the power to do. It holds the heartbeat of our fears. 

... Perhaps what a good fairy tale shows us more than anything is its versatility. It may be retold and rewritten and still we recognize its origins. The Tinderbox by Hans Christian Andersen has always been one of my best beloved stories. He adapted a favourite childhood tale, The Spirit in the Candle, and added a dash of Aladdin. It is a wonderfully disjointed tale that travelled in the mind of its author who was twenty-nine years old before he wrote it down. 

Fairy tales should be frightening. Their nearest companions in literature are ghost stories. I love the dark retellings of Angela Carter, the fairy tales of Herman Hess, of the Italian writer Italo Calvino. 

It is not by chance that one of the greatest modern interpreters of fairy tales is Bruno Bettelheim for he was interned in a concentration camp where life is reduced to its barest bones. Fairy tales, under the cloak of a story, reveal the essentials of our lives. They project the trauma of adulthood onto young readers and show them a way of untangling its problems. 

“Fairy tales do not tell children that dragons exist; children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children that dragons can be killed.”G K Chesterton

You can read the whole of her introduction (recommended!) HERE.

Note: on the page you'll find a poll, asking you which of the following is your favorite "dark fairy tale", of which The Tinderbox is one. The introduction for fairy tales by Ms. Gardner is below it.

It's funny. I never thought of The Tinderbox as being particularly dark. Perhaps because I always had this naive idea that the dogs would protect the princess should any form of harm be offered her along the way to the soldier - or by him. Clearly my impression of good dogs extended to magical ones in fairy tales.

But I'm curious: of the list given, which one would you say is your favorite dark tale?

Ad: GEICO's Giant

Not much to say here really, except that the new GEICO ad for Fall (bad pun) makes it look like there's a set-up for a whole slew of sequels in which the giant can do lots of damage that GEICO customers simply don't get stressed about (though it's actually part of a "Brighter Side" campaign).

It does seem as if giants are one of the trope du jour right now (the others being Peter Pan, Neverland and possibly male genies). There's lots in development with regard to giants. Even super hero trends are all about giants of one form or another these days. Looks like the boys tales are taking center stage for the next round - something I don't mind too much with all the princess culture debacles of the past few years. I just wish we didn't have to do either girls OR boys tales.

Fairy tale trend cycles are interesting to take note of and follow. (Has anyone done a chart? I couldn't find one.) Since superheroes, in particular, are the popular focus right now, it's really no surprise that boys tales are gaining popularity again. I wonder if Ivan will make an appearance? It would be a great time to retell some of those tales too.

"Art of Frozen" Review by Artist/Illustrator Chris King (alt book title "This Could Have Been Frozen")

Note: Chris King's review is posted here in full by permission.

I asked Mr. King to repost this review here as it articulates a lot of how I feel about the movie and the concept art (which I had the privilege of seeing a little of, during one of the phases of it's lengthy on-again, off-again development). It's a book I'm very much looking forward to reading, to see the (mostly unsuccessful) journey in adapting the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale for the Disney animation "machine" as well as how and why they changed it from being a fairy tale into a fantasy adventure film (albeit a beautiful and fun looking one).

Now that I've seen the 3rd trailer, I do think there is more going for this film than any of the previous marketing had indicated, including a positive spin on female leads in feature animation, but I still believe it would have been revolutionary (especially for the current Princess Culture criticisms) had they managed to translate the essence of the fairy tale into a Disney film.

Happily, it seems as though the "tackling a fairy tale" aspect of the development and concept art is included (and discussed) in this book so I will add it to my library as soon as possible.

Here's the review from Christopher King, posted Thursday, November 7, 2013:

As a life-long animation fan, I fear that the Disney studio is currently stuck in some kind of creative lull. With each new feature I find myself less and less engaged, and have come to the conclusion that it’s all the fault of the homogenizing effect of CGI. While films like Brave and Wreck It Ralph are certainly technical feats (nor without any visual merit) to my old-fashioned 2D sensibilities they are lacking a sense of independence in their design that made 
Disney’s early output so beautiful and ultimately timeless. 

Which is why, when I first saw the impressive concept art contained within The Art of Frozen, I was encouraged to see the return to some of that magic. A return to traditional storytelling routes with a fairy tale based on Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen, and a design ethos that (to me anyway) clearly references the incredible work of Eyvind Earle in Sleeping Beauty. It’s colour theory, folk art references, bold geometric landscapes and fantastic character designs from Bill Schwab all give promise of a particularly good-looking film to come. Michael Giaimo and Brittney Lee also feature with stand out with work that shares my taste for classic Disney. But as the shots from the finished film reveal, much of the charm is lost in their computer equivalent, leaving characters and ultimately a film without a visual language of its own. 

I have faith that Disney will return to more experimental visuals once the current trend changes (you can see something brewing in the great Paperman short) and viewing the brilliant work in The Art of Frozen only encourages me further. For what ever might be lost in the film I’m glad this book exists to allow a chance for this otherwise unseen work to shine. 

The Art of Disney’s Frozen by Charles Solomon 

Chronicle Books 

Hardback 168 pages

Thanks for the repost permission Mr. King!

You can find Christopher King's personal website and (seriously amazing!) work HERE. He's also posted a great review of Taschen's Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen book, complete with some great pics, HERE.

I very much agree with the comment regarding "the homogenizing effect of CGI". Despite all this incredible work coming to the big screen, everything still ends up looking and feeling rather the same. Disney's "female leads have to always look pretty" clause, has led to something rather like a formula for beauty, especially with regard to CGI, and still they pushed the design of the two sisters even further to make sure they stayed in the pretty zone. Apparently it's made them stand out - in a "not good" way - from the rest of the film. One of the criticisms of the film by media reps who have been treated to a full preview is that, despite liking the movie and appreciating the more feminist take than expected, the two female leads appear even more "plastic-y" than the rest of the characters and take quite a bit of getting used to as a result. :/

How beautiful are these pencil drawings?! Unfortunately, much of the subtlety is lost in the final film.

This speaks to one of my main beefs regarding Princess Culture: while playing make-believe is fun and princesses can  - and should - be part of that, the current Disney emphasis doesn't allow for any other type of strong heroine other than a (Disney version of a) princess. And there's been more than a little discussion around the interwebs about why Disney felt the need to push the characters into the royal zone to start with. For a country that prides itself on not being accountable to royalty, the obsession is a little bizarre, especially considering all the truly powerful female heroes the US has in their history to date.

Have you seen the parody one artist attempted by turning real female heroines into Disney princesses? It was his reaction to the "princessification" (apparently that's a word now) of Merida of Disney's marketing department, post movie-success. Unfortunately, the result of "princessifying"(also a new word) real life heroines was... not altogether successful. It's supposed to point out the absurdity of making all female leads fall within the Princess Culture model. In the artist's own words:

"I wanted to analyze how unnecessary it is to collapse a heroine into one specific mold, to give them all the same sparkly fashion, the same tiny figures, and the same homogenized plastic smile. My experience of female role models both in culture and in life has shown me that there is no mold for what makes someone a role model, and the whole point of Merida was that she was a step in the right direction, providing girls with an alternative kind of princess. Then they took two steps back, and painted her with the same glossy brush as the rest. So I decided to take 10 real-life female role models, from diverse experiences and backgrounds, and filter them through the Disney princess assembly line. The statement I wanted to make was that it makes no sense to put these real-life women into one limited template, so why then are we doing it to our fictitious heroines?"

While it's an excellent point, unfortunately the images began touring the interwebs WITHOUT the statement and the context got completely lost. Many people got confused and others began making disturbing statements talking about how cool it would be to have a line a dolls... Just bizarre. There's a good discussion on the whole subject - which is directly relevant to the heroines of Frozen - over at Jezebel. The comments below the article especially, show how confused people got over this. (Note to the artist: We love what you were trying to do, however, next time, please make sure the context can travel with the image.)

Why I bother bringing this up in a fairy tale news blog is because 1) the princess culture has a HUGE effect on how society views fairy tales and 2) to remind everyone that fairy tales have so many heroines who are not princesses - and Anna used to be one of them. Then she was put through the princess machine because, apparently, little girls wouldn't be as interested in dressing up (read buying "all the stuff") unless she could wear a crown. :(

In the meantime, despite the disappointingly plastic results and the loss-in-translation of the initial design work inspired by HCA's fairy tale, hopefully, as Mr. King says, this book will bear witness to the truly beautiful bones behind the film*, reminding us that there's more to this tale - even this movie - than will ultimately meet the eye in theaters.

If you're looking for the book in the store, the cover looks like this (see below). Pre-orders are available via Amazon (as usual) but you won't find it in stores until after December 3. Still, it would make for a very nice Christmahanakwanzikule present! ;)

*Does make me want to title it "This Could Have Been Frozen", though. O.o

William Shatner's Twisted Tale Toons (NOT for kids!)

Seems like everyone is hopping on the dark-side-of-fairy-tales wagon. These are... definitely twisted. I'm alerting fairy tale folk, mainly because people throughout social media are loving these! Alternately they're disgusted. They feel as if Mr. Shatner, gave in to the media parody of himself and let his "dirty old man" out for air. (Can you tell which category I fall into?)

Admittedly, the site and videos DO say "not for children" (thank goodness) because it would be easy to confuse these with kids videos if you weren't paying attention. It's a narrator-told set of animated fairy tale shorts, which, at first glance, look quite benign, but they don't remain that way.

Somehow, William Shatner sounds more elegant than your average dirty minded old man, but that doesn't mean he's any less of one. Here, his take on a classic tends to veer off script quite a bit, and by the time he's referring to Red Riding Hood as "Riddled Tit Groin Hole" you may wonder about your sanity. (ToplessRobot)

Here's GOLDILOCKS (aka an anagram that says something I'm not going to type here):

See? Don't say you weren't warned. So far there are retellings of Goldilocks and Red Riding Hood available for viewing, while we can soon expect to see Shatner's version of Rumpelstiltskin, Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. Yay?

"The Steadfast Tin Soldier" Comes to Life (Live Storytelling. With Paint! You Gotta See the Video - Just Amazing)

Being performed this weekend at the Sydney Opera House (in Australia) is a live storytelling - in words and paint (!) - of The Steadfast Tin Soldier by the German puppetry company Thalias Kompagnons. Instead of just using puppets though, this time around, the main storytelling medium is paint. Real, drippy, wet, squishy, live, colorful and amazing paint. This is the art of storytelling with Art!

I dearly wish I could take my son to see this. Actually, since I'm trying to incorporate a little storytelling in as I teach Art Appreciation to my son's class, this would be perfect to take all the kids to. (If we didn't have to pay for 26 return tickets to Oz, that is.) This would be a perfect introduction to the power of painting and art, as well as be an incredibly dynamic way to hear/see experience a fairy tale coming to life and discover the story of The Steadfast Tin Soldier. 

Although it's obviously a poor substitute for the live performance, there is a video, showing some of how the story is told. Take a look - it's quite amazing (and now I want to go paint!):

I get the strong feeling Hans Andersen would have LOVED this!

The promotional material about the performance reads:

In this delightful and imaginative retelling of the classic Hans Christian Anderson tale, our storyteller brings The Steadfast Tin Soldier to life with his vigorous live-painting techniques. 

On a large clear canvas, the story unfolds as a child’s nursery is sketched, coloured and painted. It’s here that the tin soldier steps out of line and falls in love with the tissue paper ballerina.  But all too soon, the peaceful scene is interrupted by the red goblin, and as the colours begin to fly, the adventure begins! 

In this unique performance, German company Thalias Kompagnons creates a joyful introduction to the creative techniques of both modern painting and live theatre. Enthralling, exciting and not always neat and tidy, The Steadfast Tin Soldier is sure to inspire the artist in all of us! 

On the company website I found this summary of the play, which explains why they chose live art-in-the-making as the medium for this performance:

On the play
	Painting is the art form which seems to be closest to children. They pick up crayons naturally and start using them, creating their own world, filled with a great variety of things. Who would not want to join them in this sphere of dreams? The fairy tale painter sketches a large nursery, decorating it with wondrous toys and figures. But as happens in painting – the image starts to develop its own life. Here a tin soldier who is the worse for wear steps out of line and falls in love with the tissue paper ballerina. The red goblin interferes. The image comes apart at the seams. Will the painter be steadfast and, together with the tin soldier, find a new path back to beauty? A joyful introduction to the creative techniques of modern painting which is not always neat and tidy. With his painted theatre productions, Joachim Torbahn has succeeded in creating an internationally admired novel synthesis between visual art and the theatre. He was invited to perform his homage to Paul Klee "What does Red do on Thursdays?" for children over four, at many festivals, including productions in Italy, Slovenia, Finland, Hungary, Russia, Corea, Japan and Australia.

As you might expect - the reviews are excellent. You can find more information about the company and the sort of shows they have HERE and read some of the reviews there too.

For those lucky enough to be local, you can find more information about times and tickets (which are very reasonably priced) HERE.

The presentation reminds me of seeing shows in shopping centers and malls when I was just beginning "big school" - a wonderful way to introduce the public to the power of storytelling and theater - and of turning up to dark mysterious theaters with no idea what I would see, only to be thoroughly entranced by what followed. Those experiences marked me for life in the best way and I wish there were more traveling and available I could take my son to experience (he's just started "big school" this year so it's very much on my mind).

Maybe one day there will be enough Once Upon A Blog readers in close proximity that we could actually put together something amazing ourselves (to be filed under "Big Dreams I Will Never Give Up On").

Kaguya-Hime Gets A Full Trailer (And It's Beautiful!)

This is one film that shouldn't disappoint. Everything about the trailer, from the brushwork style, to the iconic scenes in the 10th Century tale, to the scroll-like artwork, to the very human moments, evoke a beautiful and beloved story - and show a film that does it's best to uphold all that people love in the legend, bringing it to life as best they can.

Miyazaki has always held the title as the fable keeper of Ghibli, while Takahata has been better known for exploring themes of human tragedy, though both have been equally as impressive as animation artists and directors. With Kaguya-hime no Monogatari (The Tale of Princess Kaguya), Isao Takahata is showing the world that he, too, can make beautiful and beloved tales for families, and his place in the hearts of the people in Japan is secured with bringing their most ancient and beloved tale to life.

I'm really looking forward to seeing this film. Here's the full trailer:

There's still no word on a release date outside of Japan, but Japanese audiences will see their beloved fairy tale in theaters starting November 23, 2013. Studio Ghibli's current film playing in theaters is Miyazaki's The Wind Rises, which will be released in theaters in the US on February 21st, so Princess Kaguya won't come out till after then. Remember they will be putting together the subtitles, translation and foreign voice actors. Theatrical releases outside Japan will either have subtitles with the original cast or a whole new English-speaking voice cast - no word yet on which way they've decided to go, but we should see news on a release date at least, very soon now.

Note: The images are from a flyer/pamphlet promoting the movie in Japan, found on eBay.

"Cruel Beauty" Book Trailer & Behind-the-Pages with Author Rosamund Hodge

NOTE: The trailer AUTOPLAYS! Argh!

I really hate autoplay functions so apologize for this. I've been into the HTML but can't figure out what to change/delete so it doesn't do it. I'm going to leave it like this for a bit while I try to figure out something else. In the meantime it's very annoying (sorry!) but until they upload the trailer to YouTube we're stuck with this. Very sorry!

Now that I've finally read a little about the book from the author, I'm actually interested. I've seen so many variations on Beauty & the Beast be published for the YA demographic but rarely do they seem to have a unique take, so unless they are a favorite author of mine to start with or one of those poetic and edgy authors who handles words as well as Francesca Lia Block, my eyes to to glaze over quickly.

However.

Ms. Hodge not only finds a way to make Beauty more interesting (to me) but has found a way to blend the dichotomy of Beauty and the Beast and Bluebeard, into a single, smooth narrative. Color me intrigued.

The book keeps catching my eye because of the ridiculously stunning cover (genius really), so when I saw an author interview posted I quickly skimmed, then went back and read it properly when I realized what the premise actually was. I think it might be worth picking up when it's released in January 2014.

Here are some excerpts in which the author shares what drew her to a Beauty who was cruel:

Rosamund Hodge

I never thought I could retell Beauty and the Beast. I liked it. I read Robin McKinley's Beauty and watched the Disney movie, and I enjoyed them both. But the story felt finished. Complete. What drives me to write retellings is finding the holes, the mysteries that don't add up. Beauty learns to love somebody who looks like a monster and Beast learns to love despite the monstrous parts of himself. It's a moving story, but what's to retell? 

by Erik Dreyer

When I read (East of the Sun, West of the Moon), it was like lightning in my mind! Suddenly Beauty and the Beast wasn't a static and separate little unit; it was one thread in a tapestry of stories where brave young women travel to strange places and marry men who are really monsters, or monsters who are really men. 

And then I thought: Who says there is only one monster? 

What if the brave young woman is one, too? (a la Mean Girls) 

Loving a monster when you're beautiful and sweet and kind — that's a good story to read. Finding the courage to love a monster when you feel just as ugly yourself? That's the kind of story I want to tell...

You can read the rest of the (much longer) article HERE.

There's another interview post on Ms. Hodge's website HERE which asks a question fairy tale folk in particular should be interested to hear:

CRUEL BEAUTY is loosely based on the classic stories of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and BLUEBEARD. Did you read a lot of fairy tales and fantasy growing up? How did they influence your writing? 

by Twinnovations

Sometimes I hardly read anything else! I also devoured a huge quantity of mythology, which has deeply influenced my writing. (In fact, Cruel Beauty is based almost as much on the myth of Cupid and Psyche as it is on Beauty and the Beast). 

What I love the most about myths and fairy tales is how you are never just reading a story. You are reading the hundredth iteration of a story that’s been told for thousands of years. And when stories are told and retold for that long, they acquire a life of their own. They follow a peculiar, dream-like logic that doesn’t always make sense, but feels like it would make sense if you could just peel back a few more versions of the story. You can feel the bones beneath the skin. You look at the story, and it looks back at you. 

And a good fairy tale retelling taps into that sense of story-behind-story. It feels inevitable. You read it and you think, Yes, obviously, this is what happened. This is what it means. Writing a fairy tale retelling feels like discovery, not invention. Why did I combine Beauty and the Beast with Bluebeard? Because I was thinking about those stories one day and I realized, Beauty married the Beast in order to kill him. She’s afraid she will die like his previous wives. That’s what happened. How else could it be?

A cruel Beauty reminds me a little of issues in Pride and Prejudice but this looks like it will be much edgier, what with the assassin training, Bluebeard references and all!

Take a look at the book trailer:

UPDATE AT 1PM ON FRIDAY:

I HAVE DELETED THE TRAILER AS I CAN'T GET IT TO STOP AUTO-PLAYING, WHICH IS BEYOND IRRITATING! To see it, please click the link below and scroll down to the end of the article to view it.

My apologies for any inconvenience regarding the auto-play function for the past half day and now the need to go see the trailer on another page. Hopefully one day I'll be able to update this and embed a trailer you can choose whether to view when you're ready to, or not.

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CLICK HERE TO GO TO ARTICLE WITH BOOK TRAILER

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 Rosamund Hodge will also be releasing a novella, Gilded Ashes, retelling of Cinderella in April (which you can see a glimpse of at the end of the trailer). To me, this is even more intriguing than the Beauty and the Beast blend. See what she says about it:

Tell us about GILDED ASHES, your digital novella set in the world of CRUEL BEAUTY. 

by Cindy Bean

It’s a retelling of Cinderella, which is a fairy tale that most people feel needs an explanation. Traditionally, Cinderella is sweet, obedient, and cheerful despite being relentlessly abused. Why doesn’t she rebel against her wicked stepmother? Why is she happy? 

I started thinking about the Brothers Grimm version of the story, where Cinderella doesn’t have a fairy godmother; instead, it’s the ghost of her dead mother who gives her the dress and sends her to the ball. I wondered, why would a mother haunt her daughter? To protect her, of course.  And suddenly it all became clear: Cinderella’s dead mother haunts the house and destroys anyone who makes her daughter cry. So no matter what her stepfamily does to her, Cinderella has to smile and be happy. Or all of them will die. 

But, of course, everything gets a lot more complicated when she falls in love.

See what I mean? I like the way this author thinks.

Even though I'm not a big YA reader, both of these are now officially on my to-be-read pile.

Online Magazine "la Vie Sirène" Is Featuring Fairy Tales EVERY DAY During November!

The lovely Joy Siren has an obsession very much like mine. She adores everything mermaid and her Siren School is the place to go if you want to fish for what she knows. The depths of her knowledge on the subject are DEEP folks! (Puns intended as they're also completely true.)

Just as I find more than I can post on every day regarding fairy tales, Joy does the same for her mermaid students and siren scholars, and her daily magazine, la Vie Sirène, is brimming full of delights and treasures.

It's no wonder, then, that our paths would cross at some point (which they did not too long ago, thanks to Facebook) and this month I was delighted to find out that she is focusing on all things fairy tale, yours truly and this blog included.

I'm a little in awe of the life this amazing woman has led and the brave choices she's made. I'm also stunned by how just one person can accomplish so much on so little and inspire so many people in doing so. Because of this, I was incredibly humbled when she asked to interview me for the November fairy tale issue. Let me tell you, Joy's questions had me squeaking the rust out of my brain bolts to answer her insightful questions. She forced me to articulate - in black and white! - a lot of what I end up talking to people about when they ask "why fairy tales", so if you want the scoop, check with Joy. She is holding the key to all my fairy tale secrets. (And I believe I finally let out a little family "secret" I haven't shared before too...) ;)

In the meantime she has something new to read every day, and just posted an interview with the photographer she worked with, Love BEA Photography, to make the cover for the November "fairy tale special" issue.

And if you love mermaids, or inspirational women connecting and making their lives beautiful - which is so much of what Joy does - Siren School is everywhere online! You can find Joy and her school:

• On Pinterest HERE
• On Twitter HERE
• On Facebook HERE
• On Tumblr HERE
• On YouTube HERE
• On Google+ HERE
• The daily magazine, la Vie Sirène  - currently in fairy tale mode - is HERE
• The blog is HERE (with cool regular features I might add)
• And much, much more, which you can find on the main website, HERE

And you noticed the "school" aspect, right? It's not just a pun. Ms. Siren actually runs classes and workshops, activities, socials and more! Anyone is eligible to enroll and there are many choices, depending on how far you want to dive in. It's really quite amazing. You'll just have to go see her site for yourself.

Go! Enjoy! And tell her you love what you see. (And send some cheers to Love BEA Photography for their fantastic foray into the fairy tale realm as well.)