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An Interview with Kristen Baum DeBeasi Many of us have long been fascinated by creatures of other realms. And while we may collect them, read stories about them, or even watch movies in which non-human creatures are the main characters, there are some folks who spend time bringing them into our lives and enriching us all in the process. As part of our celebration of The Troll Issue here at Fairy Tale Magazine, we have interviewed a couple who do exactly that. As they say it, they " predominantly bring to life trolls in various forms." We think that is pure magic! Jim & Nat with their mentors and friends Brian & Wendy Froud with Brian Froud's Troll Witch, which Jim & Nat created with the Froud's blessing. Welcome to a land of wonder and fantastical beings created by Jim and Nat of Elfenwild ! Here you'll meet a powerhouse couple who work together to bring magical beings into our world. These two have complimentary skills that, when combined, have everything needed to draw, sculpt, paint, and clothe the creatures they create. Read on to see Tell us a little bit about yourself and your backgrounds. What first drew you to trolls and when did you began creating these wonderful trolls? We have both always had a love of nature, fantasy art and creativity, Jim has a background as a mural artist and illustrator and Nat studied fashion and textiles with a love of sewing and fabrics from a young age. After having had various roles within social care and education we decided to follow our dream of using our creativity and love of the beings from other realms. In 2023 with the blessing of the Frouds, we began creating The Troll Witch, a being from the front cover of Brian and Wendy Froud’s book “Trolls.” With the guidance of the Frouds, she fully manifested in her life size form in March 2024 and, following her completion, The Elfenwild started to unfold. Jim began sketching images of various beings from our travels to Dartmoor, Devon and Somerset that we had met upon the land and we felt that the images and beings were of the Fae realm. When sketching, Jim found himself being drawn quite significantly to the Troll realm where more and more Trolls began appearing! Tollin and Potterdawn pause on a bed of moss to say hello We feel the Troll Witch has brought us closer to the Fae realm unlocking a flow of creativity to bring the Elfenwild forward. The Fae realm is around us all, they are ever present, always near, glimpses out the corner of your eye and quiet whispers in your ear. We believe they are here to interact with and connect with if you are open to them.   We listen intently, we create what comes forward and sometimes these beings may not have an appearance that’s seen as appealing to humans with their warts and wrinkles and dirty clothes but we believe it is important to honour what comes through. We aim to bring them into the human realm as accurately as possible. The Elfenwild are our interpretation of the realm between spaces, as we see it and feel it. The unfolding of The Elfenwild also has a human aspect to it, we are extremely grateful to the support, inspiration and mentorship of both Brian and Wendy Froud and William Todd Jones. The Fae realm and the realm of an artist needs grounding at times and guidance, which we thank them for in our journey. These trolls can be playful, soulful, or serious. Here, Odhan says hello to the Hellebores. What is your artistic process when creating something new? Do you see it in your mind’s eye then sketch it before beginning to create each creature in the three-dimensional human world? Our process, not always, but often is to visit locations mostly in Somerset and Devon. We spend time there connecting with nature and gaining inspiration from the land. Jim will then sketch the beings that come to him. Sometimes we may meet these in our home or at a friend’s house. Recently Jim sketched along to a composer friend of ours as she played Fae inspired music and playful pixies appeared from the pages of Jims sketch book. Those that come through loudest with most clarity are then created. They don’t all arrive at once, sometimes a few days will pass before we fully connect with a being. Often the Trolls come through slower in comparison to speedy little pixies or playful elves. Once sketches are here, Jim will begin the sculpting of each being and whilst the sculpting takes place, stories start to be heard. The character starts to manifest in our hands. Nat will then dress each being, sometimes from sketches and other times through a knowing of what they’d choose…. Some beings can be quite indecisive! But not the Trolls, they come forward clearly with grounded energy they don’t flit about with different preferences of colour or texture. A sketch by Jim, including an image of The Olde Troll Mother at the bottom The Olde Troll mother first appeared in early 2024 and her face was different from the other Trolls we had met previously, but we knew she was wise and we honoured the form she wanted to be seen as.  She was sculpted soon after her sketch but then sat waiting. She remained patient as many other faeries, pixies and trolls manifested before her. The call to fully create her didn’t come until June 2025 when we began creating for the Widdershin’s exhibition in Dartmoor. We knew instantly that this was the time the Olde Troll Mother would manifest as we believe she had been waiting for the exhibition. Once we began working with her, her presence grew stronger. She was a joy to bring through; her energy is gentle but solid as stone. Each trinket created and sewn on had meaning and added roundness to her being. The Olde Troll Mother, photographed in Dartmoor Is there a particular troll tale or fairy tale that you return to again and again? Are you inspired by other folklore or fairy tales beyond the realm of trolls? We are inspired by all the realms of Fae, but the Trolls do appear to us with the most clarity. We love to read the folklore of the land we are closest to: Somerset, Devon and Cornwall. We have a personal connection with these lands, having either been born there, lived there or spent long periods of time in them. They are full of magical tales of Dragons protecting hillforts filled with gold, Pixies dancing in woodlands and enchanting tales of faeries. But there are few tales of trolls in the folklore of the British Isles that we’ve come across. Their presence here is mainly from the old Norse lands. However, in the far north, the trows of Orkney and Shetland keep their place in local legends and stories. They are kin to the trolls, beings of stone and earth. Our Trolls, we feel, are born from that lineage and the inspirational art and spirit of Brian and Wendy Froud’s book Trolls . Their work reminds us that the trolls were never simply grumpy beings beneath bridges but they are part of the living land itself, the strength of the hills, and stones of the land. We believe the Trolls want their stories to be heard. Just as the faeries have been given voice, so too must the Trolls. The Taleteller and The Wanderer being regaled by Odhan , who is telling a fantastic tale! Note: With the exception of The Olde Troll Mother, all troll images in this article were taken in the Froud's beautiful garden, where the Troll’s very much felt at home. Where can people find you and your creatures of Elfenwild? We are 'Elfenwild' on Instagram and Facebook, we are hoping to start sharing more to YouTube in the next year. There's more information on our website www.elfenwild.com   Kristen Baum DeBeasi is Editor in Chief of The Fairy Tale Magazine. She has loved faeries and fairy tales for as long as she can remember. She is a poet, writer, and composer with a Master of Music in theory and composition. The marriage of storytelling and music guides her creative expression. Visit her at:  https://www.kbdebeasi.com/

Note: This was originally published in 2021 in a small newspaper I used to write for. It was a post-Thanksgiving column, but I think it’s potentially perfect for this year’s feast. Not everyone likes turkey, and when there’s lots of houses to visit on the big day, this is perfect for a breakfast celebration. Here’s the article in its original glory. Thanksgiving has come and gone, and it’s Black Friday. I won’t set foot out of the house on Black Friday. People are too nuts! You stand in line forever, and the best deals have come and gone before I wake up.  Cecil and Todd, on the other hand, are hardier souls and are preparing to face the multitudes. No doubt they still feel fortified by the delicious ham and egg casserole we had for Thanksgiving dinner. Yep. No turkey.  We just don’t like it. We’re a ham family. Our Thanksgivings are a little different from most, as we have brunch. That way Matt and Cecelia can visit his side of the family and have time between feedings. This normally means that we have a breakfast casserole, and this year was no different. We had the hammiest egg casserole ever. It’s simple to make, but remember, the quality of the ham is very important, because the dish takes on the flavor of the meat. I do think you could probably make this with cooked sausage or bacon—make a pound if you substitute one or the other of them for ham. We bought HoneyBaked ham, and it was worth it, because the taste was so predominant. We also used quality dinner rolls for the bread, and (this is very important), we pulled the bread the night before and put it on paper towels to get stale before making the casserole Thanksgiving morning. The casserole would have been too mushy had we not dried out the bread. With those tips in mind, here’s the recipe, adapted from the website The Happy Brown House . The Hammiest Casserole 2 cups of best diced ham (a little more is fine) 6-7 good quality dinner rolls, pulled into small pieces 6 large eggs, beaten 2 cups of milk 2 cups of shredded cheese, your choice Salt and pepper to taste 1 teaspoon ground mustard (powder form)   Preheat oven to 375 and grease a 13-by-9-inch casserole dish (egg bake will be shallow after baking). By the way, I haven’t tried it yet, but I think this could be quite good in a smaller dish.  Mix the meat, dried bread and cheese together thoroughly. Put mixture in the bottom of the greased casserole dish, and spread it around evenly.  Mix all of the other ingredients together thoroughly. Pour the wet mixture over the dry, and tip the dish around so the egg mixture is spread evenly. This mixture will not look super wet before you cook it, but it comes out just fine. Bake for 40 minutes, but you may need to do more, depending on your oven. Let rest for 10-15 minutes, then serve. This is great with fruit salad and three bean salad. This recipe was a real success for us and I hope it will be for you as well! News: This is the next-to-last Cinderella’s Hearth. Next year, I’ll be doing longer-form deep dives into fairy tales and folklore, and I’m really excited for it. So Cinderella will soon be riding away in her pumpkin carriage and away from the hearth, but our posts will always be here! Kate Wolford was the publisher and editor of The Fairy Tale Magazine  for many years. She’s now enjoying being Resident Fairy Godmother.

We are delighted to present The Troll Issue! The first poem and story are meant as invocation—the call to enter the realm of the trolls. From there, the issue is created as a “choose your own troll adventure.” Once you’ve downloaded  the PDF, you may toggle between each section using the Table of Contents to choose which section you want to experience first. Alternately, feel free to read from the beginning to the end. It’s curated to be fun however you choose to experience it.  Scroll down for a list of featured authors and first lines for each piece in The Troll Issue . Click on the PDF to download and read the issue. A donation of $7.00 is greatly appreciated to keep The Fairy Tale Magazine  running and able to pay its authors, its hard costs, and create our beautiful PDFs.  Click the box to download and read our Fall/Winter 2025 issue! What’s inside:  The Moss-Trolls Are Hunting (poetry) – 5 A rush, a hush, a whisper of leaves Christine Walker  is a never-before-published writer. She lives in North Carolina with her mad-scientist husband, where she mostly writes stories about dragons. ______________________________________________________________________________ Never Seen One   (prose) – 6 They say there’s a troll in the mountains. I’ve never seen one. Brian D. Doyle  lives in Missoula, Montana where he enjoys hiking up mountains and spending time down by the river with a good book to read. He works at the public library, running library programs for aspiring writers and gamemastering roleplaying games where anyone can be somebody else. ______________________________________________________________________________ Non Fiction Don’t Feed The Trolls: A Brief Overview of Trolls in Folklore, Literature, and Popular Culture – 10 If you search for famous words about trolls, you will no doubt happen come across a quotation attributed to Irish poet and playwright Oscar Wilde; “Don’t feed the trolls,” he is rumored to have said, “nothing fuels them so much.” Kelly Jarvis , author of Selkie Moon , is the Contributing Writer for The Fairy Tale Magazine. Her work has   appeared in a moon of one’s own,   Blue Heron Review , Corvid Queen, Eternal Haunted Summer,   Forget Me Not Press, Mermaids Monthly , Chamber Magazine , and Mothers of Enchantment . Visit her at https://kellyjarviswriter.com/ ______________________________________________________________________________ Trollcore: Grounding Through Fashion – 15 Have you ever wondered if fey beings are just as susceptible to victimization by stereotyping as humans? Grace Nuth  is a writer, artist, and wonder seeker. She is the coauthor of The Faerie Handbook and former senior editor of Enchanted Living Magazine. When she isn’t matchmaking readers with stories in her day job, you can find her writing tales of her own, or talking with the faeries.    ______________________________________________________________________________ By Hammer, Torch, and Hand   – 18 This is the mostly true story of the Bay Bridge trolls, their makers, and their friends.  Steven "Aelfcyning" Aultman  sees the Bay Bridge, though not its troll, from his abode. He’s been seeing trolls under bridges for years, and he crosses them anyway. He’s an occasional amateur blacksmith, and he knows good iron work when he sees it. He hopes you find this tale riveting. ______________________________________________________________________________ On the Hunt for Thomas Dambo’s Trolls – 21 They are the villains of fairy tales, the comic relief of epic fantasies, and the monsters of rugged Scandinavian landscapes, but in the hands of Thomas Dambo, a recycle artist from Odense, Denmark whose life mission is transforming trash into treasure, trolls become the wise and peaceful guardians of the natural world.  Kelly Jarvis (bio above) ______________________________________________________________________________ For the Love of Trolls   The Rose Woman (prose) – 25 A long time ago on the banks of a riverbend in a great city there lived a poor artist. Mike Neis  lives in Orange County, CA and works as a technical writer for a commercial laboratory. Mike’s fiction work has appeared in The Fairy Tale Magazine and elsewhere. Besides writing, his outside activities include church music, fitness, and teaching English as a second language. ______________________________________________________________________________ Troll Bride | True Bride: On Removing Three Drops of Wax from a Fine Linen Shirt (poetry) – 29 Wax is tricky Lissa Sloan  is the author of Glass and Feathers , a transformational continuation of the traditional Cinderella tale. Her poems and short stories have appeared in The Fairy Tale Magazine, Niteblade Magazine, Corvid Queen, Three Ravens Podcast, Eternal Haunted Summer , and anthologies from World Weaver Press. Visit Lissa online at lissasloan.com . ______________________________________________________________________________ Stars, Moss, and Stone (prose) – 32 Bo grunted, hacking at the edge of the briars that had grown wild through the wood. Alison Weber  is a writer and artist inspired by fairytales and the Golden Age of Children's Book Illustration . Her work is for everyone who still dreams of magic. Alison lives near Seattle with her tiny family and beloved creatures. She is currently building her dream business in writing and illustration. ______________________________________________________________________________ Traditional Tales & Poems Troll Bridge (poetry) – 37 In the old tales, we were fearsome: Kelly Jarvis  (bio above) ______________________________________________________________________________ Soul of a Bridge Troll (prose) – 38 Stay away from the troll bridge.   Rae Lori  is the award-winning author of the Ashen Twilight  series and the recently released fairytale fantasy books, The Beast's Healer  and The Pumpkin King's Bride . She can usually be found with her head in the clouds, daydreaming of her next story. ______________________________________________________________________________ Grendel's mother (poetry) – 41 I was a woman monstered, bred in a cycle JV Birch  is a British-born Australian poet living on Kaurna land (Adelaide). She has four chapbooks and a full-length collection with Ginninderra Press. Her latest, ice cream ‘n’ tar , was a winner of the James Tate International Poetry Prize 2022 and published by SurVision Books. ______________________________________________________________________________ Alva and the Troll-Prince’s Bride (prose) – 42  Far away in the northwest lands, there is a village at the foot of a mountain so tall it scratches the sky, on the banks of a fjord so deep it knows no fathom. Rosie Forsythe  is a writer from New Zealand, who has begun to suspect it may be too late to outgrow her lifelong fascination with folktales and fairy stories. ______________________________________________________________________________ Trow Magic (poetry) – 46 Wild as the windswept shores of Orkney, Deborah Sage  lives in Louisville, Kentucky. She has been published in Eternal Haunted Summer, Fairy Tale Magazine, Literary LEO , the 2022 Dwarf Stars Anthology, Amethyst Press All Shall Be Well  anthology for Julian of Norwich, Eye to the Telescope, Lothlorien Poetry Journal, Ephemeral Elegies , and Aphelion  among others. ______________________________________________________________________________ The Modern Troll The Troll in The Stacks (poetry) – 48 Not for me the mossy lair, nor dank dark caves where bats convene, Jane McCarthy  recently wrapped five years as a co-founder of a deep-tech company, wrangling ideas, words, and the occasional engineer, in her role leading communications and marketing. Originally from the UK and now based in Portugal, Jane’s pursuing ghostwriting and voice-over work while writing her debut novel. https://janemccarthydna.medium.com ______________________________________________________________________________ Modern Troll (poetry) – 54 She wraps her moss around her necklike a forgotten heirloom, Veronica Tucker  is an emergency and addiction medicine physician and a writer. Her work has been published in ONE ART, Medmic , and Red Eft Review , with additional work forthcoming. She writes about themes of identity, resilience, and transformation, often drawing on her experiences in medicine and motherhood. ______________________________________________________________________________ A Love Story by Any Other Name   (prose) – 56   This is not a fairy tale. This is a love story.  Except for that one time she ran a haunted inn, Laurel Hanson  has been a long-time educator and theater director. Her stories have appeared with Havok, The First Line, Moonday Magazine , and in the latest anthologies from Read on the Run and the Best New England Crime Stories. ______________________________________________________________________________ The Troll, The Bridge, and the Business Plan (prose) – 60 Hawkett, the human embodiment of a meeting that should have been an email, presided over his desk at the ‘Consortium for Intangible Assets’ - a place where logic came to have a nervous breakdown. Dimitry Partsi  specializes in finding the absurdity in modern corporate and social life. He is a frequent contributor to multiple humor-adjacent online and offline publications such as The Haven, Daily Drunk, Little Old Lady Comedy  and many others. He is currently working on a collection of short stories. ______________________________________________________________________________ Foodways Mushroom Stew (A fairy recipe, with notes from a troll) (poetry) – 64 In a cauldron forged by dwarves, suspended over dragon fire Jo de Groot  lives in the Canadian prairies, where she spends far too much time reading, dreaming, and thinking about writing, and not enough time going on adventures, eating cake, or actually writing. She has had poetry published in Tales from Fiddler’s Green Vol. 2  and The Fairy Tale Magazine . ______________________________________________________________________________ A Troll's Feast (poetry) – 66 You say we eat your children Rebecca Buchanan  is the editor of the Pagan literary ezine, Eternal Haunted Summer . Her poems, short stories, and novellas have been published in a wide variety of venues, including Abyss & Apex, Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores, Eye to the Telescope , and Faerie Magazine . ______________________________________________________________________________ Troll Kitchen (poetry) – 67 The trolls are making pies out of ghost apples Allison Burris  grew up in the misty Pacific Northwest and currently lives in Oakland, California. She received her MLIS from San Jose State University and her whimsical poetry appears and is forthcoming in various journals, including Passionfruit Review, Hoxie Gorge Review, Heartlines Spec , and Metphrastics . Connect with her via https://linktr.ee/allisonburris . The Fairy Tale Magazine  is made possible in part by the generosity of our Fairy Godparents Club. Our staff members volunteer their time. If you enjoy this issue and giving feels good, we welcome your donation! A donation of $7.00 helps keep The Fairy Tale Magazine  running and able to pay our authors, our hard costs, and create our beautiful PDF Issues.

Spells, Strings, and Forgotten Things  begins “on a summer day ripe with dreams and mischief,” introducing readers to a trio of magical sisters, Thalia, Eurydice, and Calliope, who have been abandoned by their mother. Ten-year-old Calliope finds a Grimoire that whispers of forbidden magic, and by the time chapter one begins fifteen years later, the Grimoire has become Grim, a sentient friend. The three sisters are Lightcraft Witches who have been warned away from magic because it costs them their memories, but Calliope, still reeling from the loss of her mother and the breaking of her heart, risks losing memories in order to perform simple spells. When the sisters’ magic begins to fade entirely, Calliope accidentally binds herself to a tall, dark, and handsome Shadowcaster, and together, they must navigate their passionate rivalry as they discover family secrets to protect the town. This book is a cozy, witchy, romantic escape from everyday life with a sweet look at the relationship between three sisters. The talking Grimoire reminded me of other endearing objects turned into characters in books like Howl’s Moving Castle and The Spell Shop , lending a particular strain of cozy enchantment to the narrative. Although there is some spice in the budding relationship between the dark and light witches bound to one another, and although the message of the novel is about finding balance in a complicated world, Randall’s prose oozes with comforting details. The sisters own a tea and book shop called Tea and Tome , and the back of the book is filled with recipes for the items they serve: Mnimi Soup with Crusty Cottage Bread and Honey Butter , Sage and Brown Butter Gnocchi , Apple Cinnamon Melomakarona Cookies , and Orange Fairy Tea Cakes . There are even drinks like Witches’ Wisdom Tea and Moonlight Elixir Cocktail . These details help create a comforting atmosphere that can keep the magic flowing once the story is complete. If you are looking for a lovely distraction from the real world and a sweet exploration of the magic of memory, give Spells, Strings, and Forgotten Things  a try. You can find it here . Thank you to NetGalley for a free copy of the book in exchange for a fair review. Kelly Jarvis is the Contributing Writer for The Fairy Tale Magazine. Her work has also been featured in A Moon of One’s Own,   Baseball Bard , Blue Heron Review , Corvid Queen, Eternal Haunted Summer,   Forget Me Not Press, Mermaids Monthly , The Chamber Magazine , The Magic of Us, and the World Weaver Press Anthology Mothers of Enchantment: New Tales of Fairy Godmothers . Her first novella, Selkie Moon , comes out in 2025. You can connect with her on Facebook (Kelly Jarvis, Author) or Instagram (@kellyjarviswriter) or find her at https://kellyjarviswriter.com/

Intrepid Troll Hunter in Seven League Sneakers One of my assignments for The Fairy Tale Magazine’s   upcoming Troll Issue was a summer road trip to visit Thomas Dambo’s  seven New England Trolls. Armed with a talking map (on my phone), a stylish pair of seven-league sneakers, and plenty of snacks, my husband and I journeyed from our home state of Connecticut to Ninigret Park in Rhode Island and then up to Botanical Gardens in Maine to do a little troll hunting. It was an epic adventure, and as soon as we returned, I set our travels down in ink and sent my manuscript to Editor-in-Chief Kristen Baum DeBeasi for some enchanted formatting. It wasn’t until the design of the article was well underway that I learned some top-secret news: Thomas Dambo was building three more trolls in Rhode Island and they were all scheduled to debut on August 24th! So, like any fairy tale protagonists with tasks to complete, my husband and I resumed our journey, returning to the Ocean State to bring the story of the three new  trolls to our Fairy Tale Magazine  family in Troll Hunting: Part Two (appearing before the original Troll Hunting article which will publish in our Troll Issue on November 1st). Mrs. Skipper We started with Mrs. Skipper at Kettle Point Pier in East Providence. She is the only New England troll located in a city landscape, perched on an outcropping of boulders overlooking the Providence River. We walked through a construction site to reach her, wondering aloud if we were in the right place. “Just keep walking,” the foreman told us. “You can’t miss her.” He was right. We reached the river and looked to the left, and there she was, resting on the rocks, a recycled lifeboat hoisted over her head. Dambo initially wanted Mrs. Skipper to hold an excavator or hurl a car into the water, but he settled on a lifeboat when he found one for sale on Facebook Marketplace. Mrs. Skipper can be seen from the public fishing pier, but guests who want to get close to her have to scale a series of slippery rocks or approach by kayak. Crafted of reclaimed bourbon barrels and “various odds and ends,” Mrs. Skipper is a guardian of the water, her whimsical personality entertaining boaters who travel past her shores. Following the trail We traded East Providence’s urban landscape for the deep woods of Ryan Park in Kingston, Rhode Island, where we followed a series of overgrown paths marked with yellow arrows to locate Iver Mudslider, a daring young troll seated atop a steep hill. Iver is also made from the wooden staves of barrels, but his hair is crafted of sticks collected in Ryan Park. His wide smile sits in a face made of recycled shelving, and he hoists one arm high into the air as if cheering on the mountain bikers who fly down the paths on both sides of his hill. Like Mrs. Skipper, Iver wears a necklace of birdhouses, providing safe shelter to his winged friends. He seems youthful and exuberant as he invites brave adventures to climb his steep hill and join him among the trees. Iver Mudslider Next we traveled to the Exeter/Richmond town line where we found my favorite of the three new trolls hidden deep in the Acadia Management Area. Young Boulder was the most difficult troll to locate, but he was worth it. We wended our way through the forest before finding this gentle giant overlooking a peaceful pond. Young Boulder sits cross-legged on a rock, holding a long post with a birdhouse on the end across his lap. He has a beard of wooden slats, and wears earrings made of local sea glass. While Mrs. Skipper and Iver Mudslider encourage light-hearted mischief with their animated poses and facial expressions, Young Boulder exudes a steadfast calm. He is so at peace with the natural world that we even found a tuft of moss growing between his wooden toes. Young Boulder Our Troll Hunting: Part Two  journey ended with another visit to see our old troll friends Erik Rock and Greta Granite in Ninigret Park, and we even picked up a troll souvenir at a Norwegian shop in Connecticut’s Olde Mystic Village on our way home. With more than one hundred and fifty giant trolls in countries around the world and more trolls planned for release (including two more scheduled to complete Rhode Island’s Thunderstone Exhibit), Thomas Dambo teaches us that the best road trips never truly come to end. His trolls, which showcase the importance of recycling materials and taking care of the earth, have been visited by over four million people worldwide. “How cool is it,” Dambo said at the unveiling of the new Rhode Island trolls, “that we can bring so many people out just to look at trash.” Sea Glass Earrings To learn more about Thomas Dambo’s New England Trolls and to be dazzled by troll-themed poetry and prose, be on the lookout for The Fairy Tale Magazine ’ s upcoming Troll Issue scheduled for release on November 1st, and, while you wait, lace up a pair of seven-league sneakers and plan a troll hunting adventure of your own, because when it comes to hunting Thomas Dambo’s trolls, the ongoing journey through nature, magic, and whimsy is its own happily-ever-after. Works Cited Jarvis, Kelly. Troll Pictures. August 2025. McNamara, Elizabeth. “Meet Our New NK Neighbor: ‘Iver Mudslider.’” EGNews, 26 August 2025. Kelly Jarvis is the Contributing Writer for The Fairy Tale Magazine. Her work has also been featured in A Moon of One’s Own,   Baseball Bard , Blue Heron Review , Corvid Queen, Eternal Haunted Summer,   Forget Me Not Press, Mermaids Monthly , The Chamber Magazine , The Magic of Us, and the World Weaver Press Anthology Mothers of Enchantment: New Tales of Fairy Godmothers . Her debut novella, Selkie Moon , was released in 2025. You can connect with her on Facebook (Kelly Jarvis, Author) or Instagram (@kellyjarviswriter) or find her at https://kellyjarviswriter.com/

Readers will revel in the wisdom of trolls and other nature spirits in Ben G. Price’s fantasy novel Ogden: A Tale for the End of Time. The book begins with a prologue presenting language as a “Spell of Words” that creates false memories in our minds and separates us from nature. Then it launches into the tale of a baby troll born deep in the wilderness. The troll’s father, Huth, has been instructed by the voices of his ancestors to abandon the baby in the woods where it will be found by humans. Erebus Drowden, a wealthy 18th century man with a keen interest in folklore, decides to raise the orphaned troll, teaching him to speak and behave properly. Known as Odgen, the troll grows quickly, and his interactions with Drowden’s family and the rest of the human world are both humorous and poignant. Unlike the human characters who are living on the cusp of industrialization, Ogden is one with the natural world, and he listens to the stars which sing without words. He speaks of places “without names” and explains that “some things are real even if you can’t say them.” Although Drowden’s wife and children are initially skeptical of Ogden’s place in their home, they come to love his endearing personality, unique wisdom, and authentic approach to life. In addition to being a story about Ogden’s adventures, Price’s novel is a parable about our interaction with the natural world. The Spirit of Nature has sent Ogden to live among people and remind them that their industrialization may have devastating effects upon the planet. Price, a member of the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature, is a passionate advocate for peace between the natural and human worlds, and his mission to educate is on display in every word of his heartwarming novel. His book’s conclusion is a call to action that will redefine the way readers understand their place in the natural ecosystem. Price’s narrative is classic in its construction with prose that will draw readers into the plot of his story. Those who enjoy books like The Hobbit  will delight in Price’s magical world building. Ogden: A Tale for the End of Time  is an entertaining and poignant read about memory, magic, learning and love. You can find it here . Kelly Jarvis is the Contributing Writer for The Fairy Tale Magazine. Her work has also been featured in A Moon of One’s Own,   Baseball Bard , Blue Heron Review , Corvid Queen, Eternal Haunted Summer,   Forget Me Not Press, Mermaids Monthly , The Chamber Magazine , The Magic of Us, and the World Weaver Press Anthology Mothers of Enchantment: New Tales of Fairy Godmothers . Her first novella, Selkie Moon , comes out in 2025. You can connect with her on Facebook (Kelly Jarvis, Author) or Instagram (@kellyjarviswriter) or find her at https://kellyjarviswriter.com/

(Note: I originally published this in a small weekly newspaper that I wrote nearly a thousand columns for over many years. I hate to see them disappear, so I’m recycling them. You’ll be seeing plenty of these going forward. This gem is from 2021, and it really is a delicious treat! We now have a granddaughter as well as a grandson, and this pudding is still a hit. KW) The other night, my daughter texted me, raving about a delicious lemon pudding she makes that both her husband and son love. It’s incredibly easy, requires only three ingredients and comes together in one minute. Really. I haven’t made it yet, but I went to the website that originally published the recipe, and it looks so yummy and so easy that I had to share it. The site is called Owl B Baking , and I’m pretty much going to replicate the recipe here. Cecelia did the same. She does add a crunchy crumble on top of it, and I’m including that recipe as well. She can’t remember its origin, and maybe she made it up herself, but I’ve had it on other treats she’s made. It’s yummy. The pudding recipe absolutely relies on the citrus to make it thicken properly. You can substitute limes for the lemons, or possibly orange juice. You must, I repeat, must, do the steps exactly in the order they are given, or you won’t get pudding. The pudding is a bit runny when it’s first put together, but if you refrigerate it for eight hours or overnight, it will thicken like other puddings. You can use this on fruit, over pound cake, in a trifle, as part of a parfait, as a fruit dip, etc. just use your imagination. Here we go. Easy Lemon Pudding 1 14 ounce can of sweetened condensed milk 1 cup of heavy whipping cream 3.5 to 4 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice  (roughly 1 to 2 lemons)       Pour the sweetened condensed milk into a large bowl, then add the heavy cream. Whisk them together just to combine. You don’t need to do more than that. Next, add the lemon juice and then stir immediately. You should see the thickening begin in seconds. Continue whisking for about a minute or until the juice is completely combined. Refrigerate. It keeps for about three days. This makes roughly two cups and is very easy to double. Cecelia’s Crunchy Crumble 4 full-size graham crackers, in pieces 2 tablespoons brown sugar 2 tablespoons melted butter         Mix all ingredients together and spread on parchment paper that’s on a cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool. Break up if needed. You’ve got a crunchy crumble that’s great on the lemon pudding, ice cream, fresh fruit, etc. Cecelia says you can mess around with the ingredients, adding nuts, for example, and it will still taste great. It’s hard to quantify how much it makes, but it easily satisfies the three of them on a variety of desserts. There you go. I’ve given you two recipes you might use for Thanksgiving or any time of the year.

Autumn has arrived in the Northern Hemisphere, and with it comes The Fairy Tale Magazine’s  list of spooky tales and forest reads to keep you warm as the temperatures begin to fall. Rake up our recommendations while you can! It’s always fun to begin spooky season with a classic tale, and Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow   definitely fits the bill! Ichabod Crane, the new school teacher in Tarry Town, is haunted by the legend of a headless horseman, and readers will be haunted by Irving’s rich detail and luscious prose. The Haunting of Hill House  is another classic story best read when the nights darken early. Written by Shirley Jackson, this novel, which features an odd collection of people who gather together to collect ghostly phenomena, is the ultimate haunted house tale. It even inspired a Netflix show filled with well-placed jump scares to get your heart beating! The Curse of Penryth Hall  by Jess Armstrong is set at a haunted estate in the Cornish countryside. This is the first installment in the adventures of bookseller Ruby Vaughn and folk healer Ruan Kivell, and it will delight fans of folklore and murder mystery. You can read my review here . The sequel, The Secret of the Three Fates is fabulous too! Ghosts can haunt more than houses in The Ghosts of Beatrice Bird   by Lousia Morgan; they can also haunt people. This book presents ghosts as manifestations of the past and looks at how trauma can influence a person’s life. You can read my review here . In The Warm Hands of Ghosts , Katherine Arden takes readers back to World War I. The legend of a fiddler who haunts soldiers in a strange hotel speaks to the juxtaposition of beauty and horror, life and death. You can read my review here . Juliet Marillier’s Heart’s Blood  is a Gothic retelling of Beauty and the Beast with spooky autumn vibes. Whistling Tor is a place full of secrets, and Marillier captures the complex emotions of her characters in this stunning novel. If spooky Fairy Tales and Folklore are your vibe, check out Leanbh Pearson’s collection Three Curses and Other Dark Tales . Stories of vengeful goddesses, shadowy travelers, and uncanny folk will keep you up at night, and while you lay awake, you can read another volume of frightening tales edited by Pearson, Cursed Shards: Tales of Dark Folklore . Just be careful what you wish for! The autumn woods are on display in Kathryn Purdie’s fairy tale novel The Forest Grimm . After 66 people disappear in the forest, a hero is chosen to search for them each year. Filled with red capes, rampion, wolves, stone towers, castles, and spinning wheels, this is a novel for fairy tale fans! You can read my review here . Into the Woods ,  by Loraine Murphy, is another forest themed novel for fairy tale fans. This book has a true crime feel, and though it is set in contemporary times, it is full of fairy tale references. You can read my review here . Walking the Celtic Wheel , by Julie Armstrong is a book that will help readers celebrate autumn and all the seasons of the year. This bewitching memoir explores the equinoxes, solstices, and fire festivals that connect us to the spirit of nature, helping readers revel in whatever gifts the seasons have to offer. Although After the Forest  by Kell Woods doesn’t take place in the autumn, the rich gingerbread baked by the protagonist, Greta, gives the book an autumnal feel. If you have ever wondered what happened after Hansel and Gretel defeat the witch in the woods and grow up, then After the Forest  is for you! And, if you are interested in the “after” of traditional fairy tales, then add Lissa Sloan’s novel, Glass and Feathers  to your reading list today! This book looks at Cinderella’s life after she marries the prince and learns her glass slipper no longer fits. Cinderella is the most autumnal of tales, and Sloan’s Cinderella character spends plenty of time in the forest. Happy reading! Kelly Jarvis is the Contributing Writer for The Fairy Tale Magazine. Her work has also been featured in A Moon of One’s Own,   Baseball Bard , Blue Heron Review , Corvid Queen, Eternal Haunted Summer,   Forget Me Not Press, Mermaids Monthly , The Chamber Magazine , The Magic of Us, and the World Weaver Press Anthology Mothers of Enchantment: New Tales of Fairy Godmothers . Her first novella, Selkie Moon , comes out in 2025. You can connect with her on Facebook (Kelly Jarvis, Author) or Instagram (@kellyjarviswriter) or find her at https://kellyjarviswriter.com/ Cover Image by Pixabay

Note: I’m a frugality tourist. I like to cut corners when I want to buy, say, a roll of imported wallpaper to back our bookcases, which is what I’m researching these days. Back in 2018, when I was on a serious frugality kick, which lasted about a month, I bought The Complete Tightward Gazette . It was a delightful, useful read, and even though some of the references are dated, it’s still worth it. This column was previously published in September 2018, and I think it still holds up. I hope you’ll agree! KW *** I’m on a frugality kick. No doubt it will pass any day now. I’m from a long line of people who do love to shop, although we do save money well. I don’t think I’ll change my ways too much at 56. But it’s awfully fun to read up on tips. I purchased an old copy of The Complete Tightwad Gazette recently, and while author Amy Dacyczyn, a.k.a. The Frugal Zealot, stopped writing about 20 years ago, she remains the mother of the current frugality movement. The book is over 900 pages and  is packed with a dizzying amount of useful advice and ideas about living the frugal life. Dacyczyn (pronunced “decision”), freely admits that her book is filled with tips that not everyone will want to do. In fact, she doesn’t do a lot of the strategies in the book, because many of them came from readers of her popular ‘90s newsletter The Frugal Gazette . The complete book, which I’m currently reading, it’s actually three books in one. Each book was enormously popular, as is the complete one, to this day. Enough background. Here are some tips: Do you have a good top sheet with no fitted sheet? Tie knots in the four corners and make sure the knots are tucked under the mattress. Voila! A fitted sheet. Here’s a wild one: If you don’t have a salad spinner, rinse your lettuce, shake off the excess water, put a tea towel at the bottom of a plastic grocery bag and add the lettuce. Whirl it around for 10 rotations and you’ve got ready greens.  This is a really great Christmas gift for a friend or family member who aspires to frugality: Develop a list of prices and other tips—putting it in a small notebook would be a great idea. Then the gift recipient can start off the year on a frugal foot. While we’re on Christmas, which is in less than three months, Dacyczyn suggests making homemade gifts. I totally agree. She notes that some people think they are inferior, but I would much, much rather have something made with love and attention than another tchotchke cluttering up my house. Our daughter makes chocolate candy and crystallized orange peel, and jams and jellies and sends it to family for Christmas. They love it! They all agree they have too much stuff and would rather have homemade goodies. Many people I know have the same attitude. Olive oil is a very cheap and effective face and body moisturizer. You could keep a discount brand in the bathroom and your skin will be smooth as silk. Do use it on an inconspicuous spot on your skin the first time you try it, just in case you are allergic, which you probably aren’t. Also, be aware that olive oil can cause acne for some people. I love this one: The basics of a casserole consist of one cup of your main ingredient, like shredded chicken or diced ham; another cup of a main ingredient, often a vegetable like mushrooms or corn or peas; a cup or two of starchy food like cooked rice or noodles; and a binder like canned soup or sour cream. If you’d like, add something “fun “ like olives or water chestnuts, maybe a half cup or so. Mix it all together, then check to see if it’s too dry. If so, add a little water or milk or broth. Place in a greased casserole dish and top with cheese or buttered cornflake crumbs or crushed potato chips. Bake at 350 degrees and start checking for doneness at 35 minutes. Let it rest at room temperature for at least 15 minutes before serving. Dacyczyn gave up her newsletter and book writing in the late ‘90s, so there are some pretty dated references in the book. I admire her for giving it all up. It’s a rare person who has the sense to quit while he or she is ahead. Despite the vintage feel of the book’s ideas, it is inspirational and highly enjoyable glimpse into a way of life that continues to flourish despite our insanely consumerist society. If you’ve never read it, give it a try. It’s great fun to read, and you might even save money. Kate Wolford was the publisher and editor of The Fairy Tale Magazine  for many years. She’s now enjoying being Resident Fairy Godmother.

The Magic All Around  is an enchanting book about a family living in a magical Victorian house built from trees grown in the Appalachian Mountains and felled during the full moon. Although the Russell women have always maintained the homestead which bends to their desires by playing tunes they love to hear and magically stocking its pantries with all the ingredients needed for their recipes, Lilith Russell was the exception, raising her daughter Mattie on the road and dropping her off at the family home in Ivy Ridge, Georgia only during the summers to spend time with Lilith’s sister Penelope. When Lilith passes away, she leaves Maddie instructions to complete a scavenger hunt through her hometown, and as Maddie completes the tasks she learns about herself, her family, and the depths of love.  Moorman’s novel shines with magical realism, and her focus on a family homestead may remind readers of books like Practical Magic . The book has a simple, cozy feel that offers readers a light escape while exploring topics like art, friendship, the relationship between mothers and daughters, and the discovery of an authentic self. Told through the alternating perspectives of several characters, the book presents different romances and relationships that will entertain readers looking for a heartwarming tale. I especially loved the character of the old Victorian house which lends the novel a sense of place and makes readers contemplate the comforts of home. This is a fun book for those looking for a sweet story about life and love. You can find the book here . Thank you to NetGalley for a free copy of the book in exchange for a fair review. Kelly Jarvis is the Contributing Writer for The Fairy Tale Magazine. Her work has also been featured in A Moon of One’s Own,   Baseball Bard , Blue Heron Review , Corvid Queen, Eternal Haunted Summer,   Forget Me Not Press, Mermaids Monthly , The Chamber Magazine , The Magic of Us, and the World Weaver Press Anthology Mothers of Enchantment: New Tales of Fairy Godmothers . Her first novella, Selkie Moon , comes out in 2025. You can connect with her on Facebook (Kelly Jarvis, Author) or Instagram (@kellyjarviswriter) or find her at https://kellyjarviswriter.com/

It is a story as old as time itself; a prince meets a maiden and falls head over glass slipper in love. We all love to read about fairy tale romance, but we are often so focused on the prince’s wealth and the maiden’s beauty that we forget the social context which brings the young couple together. In most variants of the fairy tale known as ATU 510A, Cinderella and her prince meet at a harvest festival, an event that is a long-standing tradition in agricultural communities around the world. Harvest festivals are annual celebrations occurring around the time of a harvest, and they are ancient in their origins. Celtic pagans marked the wheel of the year with three harvest festivals (Lammas, Mabon, and Samhain), and in China, the place from which we collect one of the earliest variants of Cinderella , Yeh-Shen , people have long celebrated a Mid-Autumn Festival with moon cakes, dragon dances, and floating sky lanterns. Harvest fairs and festivals are featured in literary texts as well, serving as places where characters gather with their communities. In E.B. White’s novel Charlotte’s Web , it is at an autumn harvest festival that the main characters in the story, both human and animal, come of age. “They’ve got to grow up some time,” Mr. Arable, the father of the protagonist says as he watches his children run off on their own to enjoy the festivities, “and a fair is a good place to start.” Harvest festivals are not a celebration of spring’s first blooms, but a recognition of the growth we have made across the ripening seasons of our lives. Apple Tree , Pixabay In my corner of the earth, a place once visited by the legendary Johnny Appleseed , our autumn celebration is known as The Apple Harvest Festival. My town has celebrated the Apple Harvest since the middle of the twentieth century. Residents come together on our town green and its adjacent fields in the last week of September and the first week of October to mark the ripening of the apples grown in our Connecticut valley: Gala, Honeycrisp, McIntosh, Macoun, Cortland, and my favorite, Empire. Our festival features a traveling carnival, an annual parade, fried fair food, and homemade craft booths, but it is most famous for its Apple Fritters, a delicacy of battered apples deep fried in oil and rolled in cinnamon and sugar. The secret recipe for my town’s Apple Fritters, which are only made and sold during the two weeks of the Apple Harvest Festival, is safeguarded by the Zion Lutheran Church, and the treat is so popular that customers stand in line for hours, waiting to trade their coins for a taste of our town’s enchanted confection. Although our Apple Harvest Festival is not sponsored by a royal family like the harvest festivals of Cinderella  stories, up until last year, it featured a ball complete with the crowning of a Harvest Queen, a ritual that dates back to early European harvest processions. In traditional festivals, a young woman was crowned with a wreath of wheat, fruit, and flowers as a way of expressing gratitude for earth’s plentiful harvest. I wasn’t wearing glass slippers on the night I attended the Apple Harvest Ball during my senior year of high school, and I wasn’t crowned with wheat or fruit when I was chosen to be the Apple Harvest Queen, but I did marry the man who danced the night away with me, and we are still living happily-ever-after in the home town where we were both born. We still visit the Apple Harvest Festival with our three sons each year, waiting in long lines for a paper bag filled with precious Apple Fritters, grateful that the social context of a harvest festival played a role in the fairy tale of our lives. A Very Old Newspaper Photo circa 20th Century In contemporary times, when we can easily purchase exotic summer fruits in the dead of winter, it is easy to forget the importance of the harvest, but without a harvest ball, Cinderella might never have left the hearth and met her prince. Harvest festivals, and the fairy tales that feature them, help us to appreciate the foods, communities, and relationships that sustain us, reminding us that we are never truly alone.   Kelly Jarvis is the Contributing Writer for The Fairy Tale Magazine. Her work has also been featured in A Moon of One’s Own,   Baseball Bard , Blue Heron Review , Corvid Queen, Eternal Haunted Summer,   Forget Me Not Press, Mermaids Monthly , The Chamber Magazine , The Magic of Us, and the World Weaver Press Anthology Mothers of Enchantment: New Tales of Fairy Godmothers . Her first novella, Selkie Moon , comes out in 2025. You can connect with her on Facebook (Kelly Jarvis, Author) or Instagram (@kellyjarviswriter) or find her at https://kellyjarviswriter.com/ Work Cited: White, E. B. Charlotte's Web , Harper & Brothers, 1952