Heidi Anne Heiner's Blog, page 85

New Book: Through the Woods by Emily Carroll

Through the Woods by Emily Carroll (Author, Illustrator) is released today. I have posted previously about The Hare's Bride by Emily Carroll, a webcomic. Now some of Carroll's webcomics are available in print for the first time. They are billed as horror tales, so be aware. As you can see below, one is inspired by Little Red Riding Hood.


Book description:

Discover a terrifying world in the woods in this collection of five hauntingly beautiful graphic stories that includes the online webcomic sensation “His Face All Red,” in print for the first time.

Journey through the woods in this sinister, compellingly spooky collection that features four brand-new stories and one phenomenally popular tale in print for the first time. These are fairy tales gone seriously wrong, where you can travel to “Our Neighbor’s House”—though coming back might be a problem. Or find yourself a young bride in a house that holds a terrible secret in “A Lady’s Hands Are Cold.” You might try to figure out what is haunting “My Friend Janna,” or discover that your brother’s fiancée may not be what she seems in “The Nesting Place.” And of course you must revisit the horror of “His Face All Red,” the breakout webcomic hit that has been gorgeously translated to the printed page.

Already revered for her work online, award-winning comic creator Emily Carroll’s stunning visual style and impeccable pacing is on grand display in this entrancing anthology, her print debut.

Children, Fairy Tales, and Richard Dawkins

So last month, Richard Dawkins, world-famous evolutionary biologist and atheist, started a brouhaha when he essentially said fairy tales are harmful to children. See the article at Richard Dawkins on fairy tales: 'I think it's rather pernicious to inculcate into a child a view of the world which includes supernaturalism'. He has since backtracked a little--he was musing, not demanding--when even his faithful adherents balked at his statement. But the media hasn't let up and lots of articles are a result.

Dawkins admitted that he had once questioned whether a "diet of supernatural magic spells might possibly have a detrimental effect on a child's critical thinking."

But he added: "I genuinely don't know the answer to that, and what I repeated at Cheltenham is that I think it is a very interesting question. I actually think there might be a positive benefit in fairy tales for a child's critical thinking ... Do frogs turn into princes? No they don't. But an ordinary fiction story could well be true ... So a child can learn from fairy stories how to judge plausibility."

He added: "Fairy stories might equip the child to reject supernaturalism when the time comes … Santa Claus again could be a very valuable lesson because the child will learn that there are some things you are told that are not true. Now isn't that a valuable lesson? Unfortunately it doesn't seem to have had the desired effect in some cases, because after children learn that there is no Santa Claus, mysteriously they go on believing that there is a God."

I obviously don't believe fairy tales are harmful to children. I also believe in knowing your child and deciding what they can or cannot handle. But I really don't have the inclination to enter into this particular fray with a longer discussion. My life's work is about this.

But what I would find interesting would be a study that compared the early life experiences of children who felt betrayed when they learned the "truth" about Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy and such versus those who were sad perhaps, but moved on quite easily, rather taking it as a step into adulthood, being let in on the secret, per se.

The latter reaction, or reporting of it, has been my more common experience when I've discussed this over the years with various people. The only person I can personally think of who was perhaps devastated was my own grandfather--one of his few happy childhood memories was staying up all night in the hayloft watching for Santa before falling asleep and missing him. He never admitted to devastation upon learning about Santa but there was a hint of it in the story which he told for humor, the loss of a happy outlet in what was a rough childhood, a childhood for which we received virtually no stories beyond playing sports and some farm chores. He did end up an atheist and occasional agnostic depending on the day. No scientific study and just anecdotal stories, but I have personally seen correlations to how the "truth" was discovered--and how fervently it was espoused by the adults prior to the "enlightenment"--to have a greater impact than the stories themselves.



Since SurLaLune is devoted to education about fairy tales, many of these articles and interviews will be helpful to those who are reading and writing about children and fairy tales. So I thought I would gather a few articles here.

Here we go:

Richard Dawkins is wrong to dismiss the power of fairytales by Marina Warner. Warner is another person who has devoted her life to fairy tale studies among other things. Her book, From the Beast to the Blonde: On Fairy Tales and Their Tellers, is must-read reading for anyone devoted to fairy tale studies.

When Dawkins remarks that besides science, everything else is "a second-rate explanation of existence", he can't really mean what this implies: that imaginative culture, however speculative and unverifiable, has little illuminating effect. You can criticise fairytales for a lack of ethics (does Aladdin deserve his fortune?). You can criticise this version or that for vile ideology (antisemitism in Grimm; female beauty as the ultimate good; rank consumerism; delight in cruelty). You can deplore the wishful thinking as peddling illusions. But literature and story-telling are in the paradoxical business of making things up to make us feel a little better, even as they confront the worst.

Dawkins's attack on fairytales has been reported unfairly – he was musing rather than laying down the law. But you can't attack the wonder tale for reinforcing belief in God! On the contrary, the agents of fairytale enchantments – Puck, genie, fairy godmother – act outside any existing scheme of moral or religious salvation. Besides, magic has its own history and belief its seasons, and children today are very canny – they know the difference between believing in earnest and believing in play. The crowd queuing at King's Cross to push the luggage cart through the wall to Platform 9¾ and board the train to Hogwarts don't believe it's there; but they revel in the pleasure of let's pretend.

Writer Lauren Child discusses Richard Dawkins' claims that fairy tales can be harmful to children at BBC Radio 4 Today

I don't think they are anything to do with supernaturalism – I'm sure he [Dawkins] must know that. It's about a way of working things out. Children are always using the imaginary to work things out. Fairy stories are not so much about the magic, they are about figuring out the world.

Richard Dawkins should know it pays to believe in fairy tales by Jenny McCartney

Yet while critical thinking is very important – operating in the questing mind – I can’t help thinking that fairy tales do something just as essential to a child’s development: they encourage intuition, which is experienced in the gut.

There is something fundamentally captivating about the best-known fairy tales, as if their stories of menace and survival are hard-wired to human instinct. That is why they are so often a playground for psychoanalysts. Their landscape is mined with treachery masquerading as innocence: devouring wolves dress up as grandmothers, and friendly old ladies proffer poisoned apples. Children are pushed into positions of extreme self-sufficiency, surviving on luck and wits. The tales derive from an era when childhood in the West was stalked at closer quarters by poverty and abandonment.

Fairy tales carry just as much cruelty and psychological complication as reassurance – which is why authors and film-makers keep discovering fresh ways to retell them, from Snow White and the Huntsman to the most recent Maleficent, which beckons in Angelina Jolie to reinterpret the vindictive fairy in Sleeping Beauty.

Richard Dawkins: Fairy Tales, Father Christmas May Harm Children; Prompts Angelina Jolie to Respond by ANUGRAH KUMAR

Oscar-winner Angelina Jolie responded to British atheist professor Richard Dawkins' comments that fairy tales and belief in Father Christmas may harm a child's development, saying "a little magic" helps impart important moral lessons.

"There are morals in these stories and you want a little magic – it's important to have something that we're a little bit in awe of," Jolie, 39, told the Psychologies magazine. "Kids grow up fast enough these days, so let's allow them to have a little bit of childhood for as long as they can."

Jolie, who is raising her six children, was responding to the 73-year-old evolutionary biologist's talk at the Cheltenham Science Festival earlier this week where he said it is "rather pernicious to instill in a child the view that the world is shaped by supernaturalism."

"The other day, one of the kids lost a tooth and I talked about the tooth fairy," Jolie continued. "Half of them are old enough to think: 'What are you talking about,' yet they're still not sure there isn't something. And I'm not lying to them. I say, 'I really can't tell you. I don't really know. Mothers are sworn to secrecy.'"

Why we need fairy tales by MANDY HAGER

Yet as a scientist he must know that the reverse is true. It is through allowing the mind to wander into thoughts and worlds not yet colonised by others' theories or expectations that we have made the most spectacular leaps forward in knowledge and understanding. In fact, imagination and speculation have always been scientists' friends. Archimedes, Kepler, Galileo, Newton, Darwin, Curie, Lovelace, Carson . . . all the brilliant thinkers who have given the world so much started with a thought that must have sounded something like "What if . . .?"

Discovery and invention are merely the imagination made real after fancy takes flight. In fact, Einstein said "If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales."

New Book: The Asylum for Fairy-tale Creatures by Sebastian Gregory

The Asylum for Fairy-tale Creatures by Sebastian Gregory is a new release this week, part of Harlequin's Carina ebook only line. Which means the book is priced to sell digitally, currently at $3.20.

According to the positive reader reviews, the book eventually focuses on Red Riding Hood in a asylum, blaming her grandmother's death on a wolf, but no one believes her. Lots and lots more fairy tale characters and tropes appear in the story, so it should be fun for those who like to play "name that fairy tale" games in their pleasure reading. Or non-pleasure reading. But isn't all fairy tale reading, pleasure reading?

Book description:

Once upon a nightmare…
Long ago, in a land where imagination meets the darkest nightmares, they built the asylum. Surrounded by a forest of thorns, it holds the most twisted minds in the fairy tale kingdom: a terrible collection of evil creatures and forgotten souls. Imprisoned within its walls, they are doomed to spend forever after telling their tales… and serving as a warning to others.

Now, you are invited to accompany Blood Red Riding Hood into the depths of this strange place – where you will meet its even stranger inhabitants. But be warned: walls this thick were built to withstand the darkest magic… so once you’re inside, you might just find yourself living horribly ever after… and wishing you were indeed in a land far, far away.

Praise for Sebastian Gregory

‘Every now and then you come across a book that blows you away, this is one of those books. ...it reminded me of a scarier Angela Carter...you have to read it, just do it in daylight!’ – Nicky Peacock

New Book: The Stepsister's Tale by Tracy Barrett

The Stepsister's Tale by Tracy Barrett was released in late June. I haven't read it yet but have been familiar with Barrett's work since she published Anna of Byzantium fourteen years ago. I have a paperback of that book on my shelf and handed it to my niece to read this summer.

I've met Barrett a few times at the Southern Festival of Books here in Nashville. She retired a few years ago from Vanderbilt University where she was a Senior Lecturer in Italian. Now she is focused on writing books and has several to her name, including ones inspired by Sherlock Holmes and mythology. This is her first foray into fairy tales.

I say all of this because the cover is rather generic and sways into the self-published book appearance. That's popular right now with mainstream publishers for some reason. I know many readers judge books by their covers, especially these days in the self-publishing world. Barrett doesn't fall into that camp. Her new book is published by Harlequin Teen and sounds intriguing. I am not against self-publishing, as we all know, but I do try to distinguish books that are traditionally published from those that are being published in new ways to help those who care about these things when choosing their reading.

Book description:

What really happened after the clock struck midnight?

Jane Montjoy is tired of being a lady. She's tired of pretending to live up to the standards of her mother's noble family—especially now that the family's wealth is gone and their stately mansion has fallen to ruin. It's hard enough that she must tend to the animals and find a way to feed her mother and her little sister each day. Jane's burden only gets worse after her mother returns from a trip to town with a new stepfather and stepsister in tow. Despite the family's struggle to prepare for the long winter ahead, Jane's stepfather remains determined to give his beautiful but spoiled child her every desire.

When her stepfather suddenly dies, leaving nothing but debts and a bereaved daughter behind, it seems to Jane that her family is destined for eternal unhappiness. But a mysterious boy from the woods and an invitation to a royal ball are certain to change her fate….

From the handsome prince to the evil stepsister, nothing is quite as it seems in Tracy Barrett's stunning retelling of the classic Cinderella tale.

Review
"Cinderella has bad manners, and, presto, Tracy Barrett reinvents the fairy tale-a magical book to devour late at night under the covers, flashlight in hand." -Maria Tatar, Chair, Program of Folklore and Mythology, Harvard

About the Author
Tracy Barrett writes both fiction and nonfiction set in the ancient and medieval past, as well as contemporary novels, for middle-grade and young-adult audiences. Her titles include the popular Sherlock Files series, as well as the award-winning Anna of Byzantium, Dark of the Moon (starred review, Kirkus), King of Ithaka (starred review, SLJ), and others. She loves traveling, and speaking to groups of students, teachers, and librarians.

Bargain Ebook: Entwined by Heather Dixon for $1.99 TODAY ONLY

Entwined by Heather Dixon is $1.99 for ebook TODAY ONLY. I paid full price from this when it was released a few years ago. It is a highly recommended retelling of Twelve Dancing Princesses.

Book description:

Come and mend your broken hearts here. In this retelling of the classic tale "The Twelve Dancing Princesses," the eldest princess must fight to save her family—and her heart—from an ancient dark magic within the palace walls. "Full of mystery, lush settings, and fully orbed characters, Dixon's debut is both suspenseful and rewarding."—ALA Booklist

Just when Azalea should feel that everything is before her—beautiful gowns, dashing suitors, balls filled with dancing—it's taken away. All of it. And Azalea is trapped. The Keeper understands. He's trapped, too, held for centuries within the walls of the palace. So he extends an invitation.

Every night, Azalea and her eleven sisters may step through the enchanted passage in their room to dance in his silver forest, but there is a cost. The Keeper likes to keep things. Azalea may not realize how tangled she is in his web until it is too late. "Readers who enjoy stories of royalty, romance, and magic will delight in Dixon's first novel."—Publishers Weekly

Fairy Tale Ebook Monthly Deals for $1.99

It's a new month which means there's a new set of ebook Monthly Deals for $3.99 or Less at Amazon. For July, we have a few fairy tale titles in the mix. The fairy tale titles have been on sale before, but are great titles if you don't already own them. I will share those and a few other gems.


Ella Enchanted (Trophy Newbery) by Gail Carson Levine is $1.99. If you don't know already, it's a Cinderella retelling and one of my favorites. If you only know this book from its movie, you don't know this book.


Princess of the Midnight Ball (Twelve Dancing Princesses) by Jessica Day George is $1.99. It is a Twelve Dancing Princesses novel.

And now for the extra gems:


The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner is $1.99. This is the first book in one of my all time favorite series. Whalen simply doesn't write fast enough for her fans!


What Matters in Jane Austen? by John Mullan is $1.99. Because who can resist a book with Jane Austen in the title?


Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan is $1.99. A rare novel for younger readers that captures the challenges of living in India. 2000 National Book Award Winner winner. I read it when it was released 14 years ago and still remember elements of it vividly.

Updating the Fairy Tale Timeline

I've spent the weekend updating the Fairy Tale Timeline on SurLaLune, a popular list for the internet apparently--it has a lot of direct linking from other sites, including Wikipedia. I realized I hadn't updated it for the past few years but as I looked at it, I wanted to add many more items.

Most of the items I have added the last few days are pop culture references since those are the ones most familiar to the general audience beyond regular SurLaLune readers. We all know how important film and tv are to fairy tale visibility, too. They bring fairy tales to a much wider audience.

I plan to add more images and entries but before I finalize the updates and consider the timeline "done" for a while, what important elements of fairy tale history would you like to see on the timeline?

What books do you consider seminal?

Theatre productions?

Other pop culture moments?

And please LOOK at the existing timeline before you post. Try not to make recommendations for items that already appear there. It confuses everyone else--including me--and I start thinking, "I thought that was already on there? Did I miss that?"

Post in the comments to the blog or email me directly. I have final editorial say, but I wanted to get some feedback from you readers in the know, too.

And thanks. SurLaLune is a kingdom of contributors!

$1.99 Ebook: The Woodcutter by Kate Danley TODAY ONLY

The Woodcutter by Kate Danley is $1.99 today only in ebook format. This book has been on a sale before but usually sells for $3.99 so it is half off.

Book description:

Deep within the Wood, a young woman lies dead. Not a mark on her body. No trace of her murderer. Only her chipped glass slippers hint at her identity.

The Woodcutter, keeper of the peace between the Twelve Kingdoms of Man and the Realm of the Faerie, must find the maiden’s killer before others share her fate. Guided by the wind and aided by three charmed axes won from the River God, the Woodcutter begins his hunt, searching for clues in the whispering dominions of the enchanted unknown.

But quickly he finds that one murdered maiden is not the only nefarious mystery afoot: one of Odin’s hellhounds has escaped, a sinister mansion appears where it shouldn’t, a pixie dust drug trade runs rampant, and more young girls go missing. Looming in the shadows is the malevolent, power-hungry queen, and she will stop at nothing to destroy the Twelve Kingdoms and annihilate the Royal Fae…unless the Woodcutter can outmaneuver her and save the gentle souls of the Wood.

Blending magic, heart-pounding suspense, and a dash of folklore, The Woodcutter is an extraordinary retelling of the realm of fairy tales.

Art Deco Fairytales Calendar: Key Nielsen

Art Deco Fairytales 2015 Square 12x12 Flame Tree is available for preorder. Art Deco here means Kay Nielsen. Pronounced "Kigh," Kay Nielsen, for those in the know was an established fairy tale illustrator tapped by Disney for preliminary designs for Sleeping Beauty. Nielsen is one of my favorites, especially his Twelve Dancing Princesses and East of the Sun and West of the Moon illustrations.

This calendar has been produced the last few years and in my experience it sells out quickly and is hard to find through most of the usual sources. So grab it if you want it. And enjoy the pictures for several months before 2015!






East of the Sun and West of the Moon: Old Tales from the North (Calla Editions) and The Twelve Dancing Princesses and Other Fairy Tales (Calla Editions) have also been reprinted by Calla and are fine editions of Nielsen's work for an affordable price. I've gotten to handle original editions that are a little finer, but they sell for thousands of dollars, so these are an affordable substitute.

Bargain Ebook: The Ordinary Princess by M. M. Kaye

The Ordinary Princess by M. M. Kaye has been charming readers for several decades now. I received an alert today that the ebook price has dropped to $3.59 from $5.12. I own it in hardcover, but it's always nice to have a more portable electronic version. I also appreciate that the publisher managed to not pretty up Amy too much on the cover. Always nice when the cover reflects the actual book contents, yes?

Book description:

Along with Wit, Charm, Health, and Courage, Princess Amy of Phantasmorania receives a special fairy christening gift: Ordinariness. Unlike her six beautiful sisters, she has brown hair and freckles, and would rather have adventures than play the harp, embroider tapestries . . . or become a Queen. When her royal parents try to marry her off, Amy runs away and, because she's so ordinary, easily becomes the fourteenth assistant kitchen maid at a neighboring palace. And there . . . much to everyone's surprise . . . she meets a prince just as ordinary (and special) as she is!