Search Results

“Phaedra” is a powerful, well told tale of a minor character from Greek mythology whose story will matter a great deal to the reader. Set in the time of Theseus, Medea, Minos, and other ancient Greek figures of myth, this novel moves swiftly, and Laura Shepperson’s prose is astonishingly crisp and clear. Indeed, the clarity and unsentimentality of her words are what lift this book up among the current crush of novels about ancient myth and folklore. Phaedra is young, a pawn, and doing her best in a world that is brutal—it’s important that readers know that Shepperson does not shrink from telling how hard it was for women in ancient Greece. But as I read it, at times deeply unsettled about just how badly women fare in the Athens of Shepperson’s imagination, I thought, well, based on what we know of women’s status in Ancient Greece, the depictions in “Phaedra” are pretty plausible. I appreciated the feeling of truth this book had, despite its being grounded in myth. (Note: Rape and sexual assault are a point of focus in this book, but it is not gratuitous and is handled carefully. The book is also not a depressing read, despite its subject matter.) In this book, you’ll find mystery, tragedy, loss, myth, bull jumping, artistry, intrigue, bravery and treachery. All of the characters and plot lines work well together. “Phaedra” captured me and held my attention the whole way through. I’m glad I read it. Thank you to NetGalley for providing this book for review. Review by Kate Wolford, editor-in-chief, The Fairy Tale Magazine.

The Golden Age of Illustration is a term applied to a time period (1880s - 1920s) of unprecedented excellence in book and magazine illustrations by artists in Europe and America. Advances in technology at the time allowed for accurate and inexpensive reproductions of their art, which allowed quality books to be available to the voracious public demand for new graphic art. Today, The Fairy Tale Magazine is shining a spotlight on one of our favorite European artists from this time period, Kay Nielsen, whose art was influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement, Art Nouveau, and the Pre-Raphaelite and Post Impressionist artists of their time. In turn, Nielsen went on to influence many modern illustrators as well. Learn more about this artist below: Kay Rasmus Nielsen (March 12, 1886 - June 21, 1957) was a Danish illustrator who was popular in the early 20th century. After studying art in Paris from 1904 to 1911, Nielsen moved to England where he received his first commission from Hodder and Stroughton in 1913 to illustrate a collection of fairy tales. His 24 color plates and 15 monotone illustrations for the book, In Powder and Crinoline, Fairy Tales Retold by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, led to The Illustrated London News hiring him to produce illustrations for the tales of Charles Perrault (Sleeping Beauty, Puss in Boots, Cinderella, and Bluebeard) for their 1913 Christmas edition. From 1914 to 1925, Nielsen produced illustrations for several books including East of the Sun and West of the Moon; Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen; and Hansel and Gretel and Other Stories by the Brothers Grimm. He also worked, during this time, for the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen where he painted stage scenery. In 1937, after moving to California, he was hired by the Walt Disney Company where his art was used in the film, Fantasia, in the "Ave Maria" and "Night on Bald Mountain" sequences. To me, Kay Nielsen's striking art has a timeless, graphic quality that still speaks to modern viewers. Check out Nielsen's art: From East of the Sun, West of the Moon, 1914 L'art Magique, 1913 From The 12 Dancing Princesses, 1913 From In Powder and Crinoline, 1913 From East of the Sun, West of the Moon, 1914 From East of the Sun, West of the Moon,1914 From East of the Sun, West of the Moon,1914 From East of the Sun, West of the Moon,1914 From East of the Sun, West of the Moon,1914 From East of the Sun, West of the Moon,1914 From Hansel & Gretel and Other Stories by The Brothers Grimm, 1925 From Hansel & Gretel and Other Stories by The Brothers Grimm, 1925 From 1001 Arabian Nights, Published in 1976 From 1001 Arabian Nights, Published in 1976 From In Powder and Crinoline, 1913 From In Powder and Crinoline, 1913 And if you'd like to read East of the Sun, West of the Moon, illustrated by Kay Nielsen, you can read it free HERE Enchanted Conversation's contributing editor, Amanda Bergloff, writes modern fairy tales and speculative fiction. Her work has appeared in various anthologies, including Frozen Fairy Tales, After the Happily Ever After, and Uncommon Pet Tales. Follow her on Twitter @AmandaBergloff Join her every Tuesday on Twitter for #FairyTaleTuesday to share what you love about fairy tales, folktales, and myths. Also, if you like sharing your #vss fairy tales on Twitter, follow @fairytaleflash and use #FairyTaleFlash so we can retweet! Cover: Amanda Bergloff

The idea of writing poetry may call to mind the image of an isolated artist bent over a notebook trying to permanently anchor ideas with drops of ink, but Enchanted Creator Kristen Baum DeBeasi has found a way to bring poetry into the heart of the home by combining deep thoughts and lighthearted word play as she creates fairy-tale themed magnetic poems to grace her kitchen refrigerator. Kristen, who holds a Master’s in Music Theory and Composition, lives in Los Angelos where she plays the piano and composes scores for movies and concerts. She has also studied Writing for the Youth Market at UCLA, taken classes at The Carterhaugh School of Folklore and the Fantastic, and attended several poetry workshops where she has fallen in love with the idea of composing with words. Kristen has generously agreed to share more about her creative endeavors with Enchanted Conversation readers: How did you get started writing Refrigerator Poetry? Years ago, my fantastic aunt gifted me a set of magnetic words, and I have come across fridge magnets at collaborative writing retreats, but I got started during lockdown. I wasn’t sure what to do with myself, and the house was magically shrinking, so, I went online and ordered several different magnetic word sets so I could mix and match them. For two months I stared at my refrigerator door moving magnets around, learning the limitations and possibilities. What is your process for writing Refrigerator Poetry? I let inspiration percolate until I get specific ideas. Sometimes I take notes and other times I go straight to the magnets. Once I start building a poem, the process unfolds in spontaneous writing bursts. Phrases bubble up in my mind and get sorted out. I like plays on words, double meanings, and pointing to things and saying, “Look! What’s up with that?” and, “Why do we subscribe to that concept?” Fairy Tales feature heavily in your creative work. What is it about fairy tales that inspires you create? Fairy tales provide a strong through line in all my creative work, and I have completed a full-length middle-grade manuscript of a Pied Piper retelling. Fairy tales give me the safety to point at things happening today through a “once upon a time” lens. One example is the tale of Donkeyskin which features a plot that we don’t want to think can still happen. When I compose my refrigerator poetry, the magnets give me permission to be brief, while the fairy tale subject matter gives me permission to test the limits of the comparisons I’m making. This sets my imagination free within the confines of the words on my fridge so I can create poems that are outrageous, outraged, silly, or ironic. Have you ever worked with an obscure fairy tale that is less known? The more obscure fairy tales I’ve worked with include The Goose Girl and The Fisherman and His Wife. When I worked with The Fisherman and His Wife, I wanted to explore the idea of “serious” fish stories by Hemingway and Melville against the cultural tendency to consider fairy tales a less serious art form. So, I created a poem that points to the “fishiness” of that hierarchy. Your work often features words and phrases around the borders of your poem that meaningfully interact with the poem’s message. What inspired you to try this innovative form and what is the effect that you hope to achieve through your artful arrangement of extra words and phrases? I have always had an irreverent streak. When I was a child, it repeatedly got me into trouble! My fridge poems have given me an outlet for this irreverence. As I build each of these poems, I think of every phrase I can imagine relating to the poem’s subject matter. Then, as the poem comes into focus, some of those phrases don’t fit—or they never fit to begin with. They just made me giggle as I was creating the poem. The extra phrases function as my Greek Chorus (if a Greek Chorus were comprised of sassy fairies who like pointing out things in our society that are weird or off or funny). It’s a shift of the lens on our world that I’m interested in. So, I leave silly things in the margins—things that didn’t make it into the poem. Now people look for those extra words and phrases. My first hope is that they surprise and delight readers. I also want to provoke thought, especially if the poem’s focus is on current issues or things that are close to my heart. I want to draw attention to things that seem messed up in our world by placing them in fairy tales, which I believe amplifies the issues and lifts them up to scrutiny from a new perspective. I hope that new perspective makes people laugh because it’s unexpected. And through that, I hope it stays with them and they begin to think of our world—this realm, whatever it is (are we already in fairy land?) as important. Kristen likens her refrigerator poetry to the sand mandalas created by Tibetan monks which emphasize the process of creation rather than the final product. Composing through magnetic letters allows her to embrace the ephemeral nature of poetry because each fridge poem must be deconstructed so that its pieces become the building blocks of new poems. Kristen was kind enough to debut a brand-new fridge poem below entitled “here’s looking at a power struggle kid” for Enchanted Conversation readers! The poem offers a playful and poignant look at a conversation between the Evil Queen and her Magic Mirror. You can find out more about Kristen’s work on her writing website kbdebeasi.com and you can purchase the magnets she uses for her compositions at MagneticPoetry.com (they even feature a Brothers Grimm edition). We hope Kristen inspires you to participate in the joy of creation by writing your own fairy tale inspired refrigerator poems! Kelly Jarvis teaches classes in literature, writing, and fairy tale at Central Connecticut State University, The University of Connecticut, and Tunxis Community College. She lives, happily ever after, with her husband and three sons in a house filled with fairy tale books. She is also Enchanted Conversation’s special project’s writer.

Check out Kate's fabulous finds that you can enjoy, too! This week's pick: The Practical Wristlet This week’s pick is an inexpensive, practical wristlet that you can carry on its own or stick in purses to help keep things organized. It’s the SCOUT Kate wristlet. I bought it on Amazon in June for only $18 in the black gingham check, and it’s practical and earns me compliments. What’s so special about it? Well, it’s the right size for lip balm, a plus-size iPhone, ID, a credit card, a key fob and folding money. You could easily put a small comb in there too. In other words, it carries a lot of essentials. If you want something you can pop into purses, just remove the wristlet handle and go for it. Even better than its size is that it’s made of wipeable coated cotton. And absolutely best of all? It’s padded. Why is that good? Because it makes the wristlet easier to find in your purse, if you are using it on its own, it doesn’t get lost easily. It’s very light but has heft. The only downside is that the brand is summer oriented, so the designs are best for the hotter seasons, but there is a “Cindy Clawford” animal print I think will work great for colder weather, and I’m going to give it a try. Now I need to start thinking of a new pick for next week. See you next then!

This book comes together in a very meaningful way. By the end, I was teary-eyed, in a good way. The action takes place on a fictional island, (Mallow, outside of Charleston), and at the Dellawisp, a beautiful and haunted old place that’s got a few condos and a lot of ghosts. Indeed, the main characters are all haunted. They include college freshman Zoey, skittish Charlotte, sweet and lonely Mac, and Frasier, the apparent caretaker of the building who has a supernatural relationship with the rare Dellawisp birds who live in the garden. This being a Sarah Addison Allen book, the supernatural unapologetically exists in this story. I’d have been very disappointed if it hadn’t been. But the book itself seems haunted, and like ghosts, the outlines and details come together slowly. That’s okay, because Addison Allen pulls it all together slowly, then much faster and very completely. There are literal and figurative ghosts here, and Addison Allen doesn't shrink from showing that everyone suffers and that everyone keeps secrets. Yet it is not a book about suffering. It’s more a book about how we continue to grow up and surprise ourselves and others all of our days—and beyond. And the last few pages are exceptionally moving. Sarah Addison Allen is back, and in top form. Hooray! NetGalley very kindly gave me this book in exchange for a review. Review by Kate Wolford

The Vermilion Emporium by Jamie Pacton is a young adult fantasy novel that drips with beauty as it explores the value and cost of artistic creation. The novel alternates between the limited omniscient perspectives of Twain, an orphan boy who discovers a strand of long-lost starlight, and Quinta, an orphan girl who learns how to weave starlight into lace that can heal wounds, tell stories, and sway opinions. The 17-year-old protagonists discover a magical curiosity shop, become the target of powerful forces who want to use their starlight lace for political gain, and, of course, fall in love. The romance is predictable, as are the forces that conspire to pull the couple apart, but beneath the plot is a poignant commentary on art, science, beauty, and power that leads readers to contemplate the human desire for magic and the terrible sacrifices it requires. Pacton creates an intriguing world where human story and starlight intersect. Her settings burst with color and light. Her characters experience love and loss. The Vermilion Emporium will sweep you away to a fantasy world and return you to reality with a deeper understanding of magic and the artists who create it. Review by Kelly Jarvis

Check out Kate's fabulous fairy tale finds that you can enjoy, too! This week's pick: AN OUTRAGEOUS TREAT! I try to keep my picks affordable, but every once in a while, I find something so ridiculously fun, I go for it. Today, that’s “The Grand Chateau” gift box. Yep, it’s a box that holds a gift box and it’ll set you back about $125. I know, $125 is just too much, but this confection of card stock, glitter, crystals, and a chandelier—and that’s only part of the list—is so in your face frou-frou Marie Antoinette, that I simply have to share it. This beautiful confection opens the doors of the paper chateau (the exterior is beautifully line drawn) complete with a paper doll queen and gold medallions giving a lot of the decor. It’s too much, but it is delightfully rendered. It would be perfect for a little person who wants tosee where Cinderella lives after the happily ever after or for tucking a special gift like jewelry or concert tickets inside for a grownup who likes things on the fancy side. Unfortunately, because of Etsy shareability rules, I can’t do more than give you the link to the chateau, but the picture today is of a terrific Cinderella’s Pumpkin Coach box, which our heroine can ride in to and from the chateau. Kind of a twofer. Both are from Gilda’s Curated Designs. Stay enchanted! Kate See you next week!

“Ashes” is a fun, exciting, lighthearted read that kept my interest from beginning to end. Had I read it at 12, I’d have adored it. Our heroine, Ashley, is definitely not living the deluxe life as the stepdaughter of the truly horrid Veronica. She’s got two vapid stepsisters to boot—there are so many mean girls in this story! But Ashley is no wallflower. She’s got the spunk to take on the villains and push back. Fortunately, not only does she have an interestingly weird job after school, Ashley also has a terrific bestie, and Harry, her pop star love interest, is genuinely lovable. The positive supporting characters are as well-drawn as the villains. You don’t often see that. And of course, this is a fairy godmother situation. I loved how both Ashley and Harry had points of view chapters. Both of them were relatable, even though this is a supernatural fairy-tale-inspired book. They worry about prom and getting in trouble with adults, and feel shy and experience big feelings. Harry may be famous, but he’s a real person. I don’t want to tell too much, as this story could easily be ruined by spoilers. I’ll just say that even though the story is mostly light, the villain is genuinely treacherous, which definitely makes the book more fun! The book is set up for a sequel, and I’ll happily read it. Because of Fairy Tale Magazine, I also have a lot to compare this book to, and it holds up well against the competition. “Ashes” feels like a young teen’s book, but older teens and adults who want to escape into a charming, light read, will find it to be fun as well. Thanks to NetGalley for providing a copy of the ebook to read. Review by Kate Wolford

Each poem in Stephanie Parent’s collection Every Poem a Potion, Every Spell a Song showcases the poet’s love for traditional and popular variants of fairy tales that shape women’s lives. In a stunning blend of personal confession and narrative exploration, Parent weaves modern life into the plots of famous fairy tales like Cinderella, Snow White, and Rapunzel and introduces readers to lesser-known stories such as The Juniper Tree, Vasilisa the Beautiful, and The Maiden Without Hands. Often, as is the case with her series of poems on Jorinda and Joringel, Parent presents fairy tale plots through multiple lenses, providing new and seasoned readers with innovative ways of understanding the characters. Using words and images that both burn and soothe, Parent leads her readers to confront the beauty and horror of fairy tales as a way of exploring their own relationships, responsibilities, and desires, ultimately concluding that the tales, while imperfect, help us all to discover our identities and save ourselves. The writing in Parent’s collection will cast a spell over readers as they revel in her poetic potions which mingle the mundane with the magical, breathing new life into the old stories that remain an important part of our future. You can find Every Poem a Potion, Every Spell a Song HERE. Kelly Jarvis teaches classes in literature, writing, and fairy tale at Central Connecticut State University, The University of Connecticut, and Tunxis Community College. She lives, happily ever after, with her husband and three sons in a house filled with fairy tale books. She is also Enchanted Conversation’s special project’s writer.

Hello Enchanted Friends: I’m busy picking stories and poems for the next issue, and with that in mind, I want to let you know that the August issue will be a small one. We will then go on hiatus in terms of buying and publishing new work through the end of the current year. That means submission windows will not be open again for publication in 2022. We are doing this to allow us to save money and time for the new publication we are launching in 2023! This is a long post, but please read the whole thing. I hope you’ll like what I’m saying here. Here are some of the big changes: We have a gorgeous new site thanks to Amanda Bergloff, Art Director and all-around-site genius. Our theme for 2023 is LOVE, with a special emphasis on romance. There will be two reading periods for next year’s submissions. I haven’t nailed down the dates exactly, yet, but I’m thinking that the first will be from early December of this year through mid-January, 2023. The second will probably be from the beginning of next May through mid-June. I’ll announce them formally in the next couple of months. We are publishing four issues next year. We will still be paying $50 per work (and probably buy around 30 total works next year), but I am going to allow a wider range for length, because some writers would rather be paid less per word and tell a longer story. That has been a consistent concern for many writers for years when they submit to us. The four issues next year will be available in a splendid digital magazine form from the platform ISSUU. The issues will be filled with art, poetry, short stories and “The Best of” from years past. (Best of writers will be contacted and have a new contract when we do that, and can refuse to participate.) At the end of the year, we will publish a print yearbook for 2023. That means that stories and poems (including “The Best of”) published digitally from 2023 will be on actual paper! At last! We will formally be doing business as “The Enchanted Press,” starting Jan. 1, 2023. We will also be a nonprofit. That means that what we earn has to significantly go to the health and welfare of the business, and that’s how I’d like to run things. Our financial statements will have to be filed with the state of Indiana starting in January, because we will have to be transparent. The other reason why we are going nonprofit is that we are going behind a paywall starting in January, and I hope that knowing the magazine is run as a nonprofit will encourage people to pay the low subscription rate per year. I haven’t decided how much the subscriptions will be, but they will not be high cost, I promise. Yes, you will be able to buy single digital issues, but the value of a yearly subscription will be higher. The yearbook will be sold separately. We are going behind the paywall so the magazine can continue. It’s that simple. With the stock market in a mess, inflation on the rise, and my husband and I approaching our retirement years, I have to find a way to keep the magazine going and at least have it break even. But we hope to do so much more. If enough people subscribe and become patrons, we can become a small-time book publisher of anthologies and poetry chapbooks. We dream of making The Enchanted Press a small but very real player in the fairy-tale/magic realism segment of the book market. To that end, in addition to subscriptions, we’ll be offering memberships at different levels to help support the site, and we’ll be selling merchandise on the site. We will not be using Patreon—and that campaign was suspended at the beginning and of this month—but will have our own pledge system that cuts the cost of Patreon out. We hope the added value we offer next year will encourage people to subscribe and buy memberships that will allow The Enchanted Press to expand. Next to last: There will be a spectacular serialized novel for subscribers in 2023, and I couldn’t be prouder! I’ll be dropping more hints in the future, but it’s by Lissa Sloan, one of my favorite writers. (That’s in addition to all the great work the very talented Kelly Jarvis, Contributing Editor, will be doing for the magazine.) Finally, Enchanted Conversation has officially become The Fairy Tale Magazine. To be honest, I got tired of having to write out Enchanted Conversation a long time ago, and I want the publication to reflect fairytalemagazine.com. The new site will reflect the name change. That’s all! Feel free to comment below or email me at katewolford1@gmail.com. Yours in Enchantment, Kate Wolford

Check out Kate's fabulous fairy tale finds that you can enjoy, too! This week's pick: THE BLACK FORAGER Here’s the first of what I hope will be many of “Kate’s Picks.” I was raised to shop and to consume with care and intuition (thanks Mom!), and I greatly enjoy sharing my finds. In fact, picking stories and poems and publishing them is a lot like shopping for an important meal. All of the ingredients must be chosen to work both individually and as a whole. As for food, my first official pick is the “Black Forager,” a.k.a., Alexis Nikole. This 2022 James Beard Award winner for social media influence has TikTok, Instagram and Twitter accounts—and are they ever fun and informative. Inspired by her African and indigenous roots, the Black Forager, using incredibly peppy and charmingly informative videos, teaches fans how to forage for edible foods wherever they find themselves. I’ve seen her forage, cook and eat something improbable in a one minute video. And I’ve laughed while watching her do it. For instance, look up her “daylily pickles.” She teaches you how to find the “ditch lily” buds, and how to pickle them, and of course, eat them. As a pickle fiend, they look scrumptious to me. But there are other little videos on issues like the various zoning laws that might affect the forager. As NPR reports, “For those not familiar with the term, Nelson says foraging is essentially ‘a very fun way to say, I eat plants that do not belong to me and I teach other people how to do the same thing.’” Even with all the fun, the serious issues get addressed. If you’re wondering what foraging has to do with a fairy tale site, I’ll tell you: Just how do you think all of those fairy tale protagonists sustain themselves over the long, long journeys they often have to take? Do you think they never forage for blackberries like my sisters and I did back in the ‘60s and ‘70s? Or scarfed up onion grass like my grandson does? Even Hansel and Gretel were able to find a few berries. “Foraging,” “folklore,” and “fairy tales” all start with “F” and that’s just one connection. As for Black and indigenous Americans, of course they would have supplemented their regular diet with foraging. So did white people. Foraging is a thing humans do, period. All over the world. We always have and we always will, and it’s especially beautiful to see Alexis Nikole tapping into her own roots. Nowadays, fancy restaurants take city people on foraging tours, and it’s a hot food trend. But I can’t imagine anyone delivering foraging lessons with more zeal and humor than Alexis Nikole. With her fabulous glasses, hair accessories and perfect lip color, she’s a bright spirit, delivering what you need to know with laughs, bouncy filming, and many closeups. There’s also a whole lot of wisdom and science and safety warnings delivered painlessly. Indeed, the Black Forager’s frequent video signoff is perhaps the funniest, most folkloric thing she could say: “Happy snacking. Don’t die!” I’ve linked a YouTube video on dandelions HERE, but the Black Forager is easiest to find on: TikTok @alexisnikole And Instagram @blackforager You can also find her on Twitter @blackforager Join the millions of fans who already love the Black Forager. Some bandwagons are worth jumping on and this is one of them. See you next week!

Editor's Note: Today's Poetry Showcase is a summer jewel of a poem originally published in 2016. Enjoy! The Summer Fairy wears a sea-green bikini under a diaphanous yellow tunic and shiny flit-flops on her feet. Her wings look like bright, intricately patterned Japanese paper lanterns. She has a small fan at the back of her neck that magically whirs to life when it gets very hot. The Summer Fairy’s eyes are the blue of a chlorinated swimming pool in August; her voice sounds like the boom and rushing spatter of a July thunder storm. The Summer Fairy can sometimes be glimpsed in the floating dark spots you see after staring at the sun too long. Because she is the best swimmer of all the fairies, you might also catch sight of her through the glaze of sunlit water on your face as you break the surface from diving. The Summer Fairy enchants adults into taking extra vacation days and makes children forget everything they learned in school that year. In the city, she goes to picnics in parks and parties on apartment rooftops where she clings to swizzle sticks and the little paper umbrellas in drinks and snacks on dips with baby carrots, buzzing over them like a firefly. Afterward, the hostess will wonder why she ran out of appetizers when she made sure to buy extra. Often the Summer Fairy is drawn by the scents from street fair booths that sell magical oils and incense. Then she’ll help the Tarot card readers by whispering secrets to them about their clients. She’ll make vegans want to eat greasy sausage and peppers and corn dogs. Her hair becomes woven with blue and pink wisps of spun sugar as she whirls around for a fun ride in the cotton candy machine. If you win at the street fair toss games or wheels of fortune, it’s because she likes you, and wants you to have a large sparkly stuffed unicorn. If you always lose, try leaving her some funnel cake and a vanilla milkshake on your kitchen floor by moonlight. The Summer Fairy answers those anonymous ads on Craigslist posted by people who have fallen in love with an attractive stranger glimpsed once while commuting. Usually, it's her they’ve seen, and when they meet again, she whisks the unsuspecting, besotted humans off to Fairyland, never to be seen till many seasons later. She’ll deposit them, spent but happy, like empty soda cans on the nearest cold beach in the fall. Lorraine Schein is a New York writer. Her work has appeared in Strange Horizons, Mad Scientist Journal, Gigantic Worlds, Aphrodite Terra, and the anthologies Drawn to Marvel, Phantom Drift, and Alice Redux. Detail from Alphonse Mucha painting.