Leaves

            So I’ve been to Boston in July, November, March, April, and September. I’ve been so often I should get resident status (sorta). But one thing I’ve never been able to do is partake of the changing of the leaves.

M3 Cinderella

Yay! We’re off to wreck another childhood favorite! The Perrault version is the one Disney based their movie from, and the one most people are familiar with, so we’ll use that.

F3 Vase

            I stared at the vase with some trepidation. It was small, not even big enough to hold flowers. It looked like it was a drinking vessel, really. The style made me think Greek, but it was unadorned with any kind of drawings, not that that was unusual.

Modifying Fairy Tales for Fiction

            This is the second half of the information I gave at my conference presentation. I felt weird for not putting it up before, but Mondays are reserved for going over myths, not writing or modifying them. But here’s that info now, forever preserved online. Or at least until the servers lose it.

M3 Little Sleeping Beauty Brier-Rose

            Next on our list of tales to destroy, one of my personal favorites: Sleeping Beauty. First, I have a confession. The reason I really like this story is because of the Disney version. Maleficent rules! Not the later live action version, the original animated version.

And here we go. I am going to look at the Little Brier-Rose version of the story. I generally prefer the Grimms to Perrault (Perrault gets preachy and has to include some kind of moral to the story. I’d rather derive my own from reading the story.).

F3 Backlash

            Professor Alex Henderson stormed through the hall, his expression hard enough to deter colleagues that tried to talk to him, but flinched back on sight of his face. Deidre Jenkins made the sign of the cross to ward away evil.

CTRWA Fiction Fest Aftermath

            Fiction Fest was a success, and I'm not just talking overall, which it was, but my end of it. My presentation/Q&A went very well. I fulfilled my promise of ruining childhood fairy tales for everyone, but we all had a good time doing it (heh).

M3 Little Red Riding Hood Cap

            I chose Red for our first foray because she’s well known, and there have been some recent film interpretations that have left people scratching their heads, especially regarding the sexual under(and over)tones. Each of these analyses will be relatively short since I don’t want to spend one full post on each of the interpretation (though I could do that if asked nicely). So here we go.

F3 Sobering Drinks

            I skimmed in low over the black water at almost midnight. Despite the number of ships, there was still a path for a Storm Rider cloud surfing into New York City. I had never been here before, though everyone knew that skyline.

A Break from Summer

            I’m in Boston (about to go to Connecticut), enjoying a break from summer. Yes, it’s September, but in Arizona, summer can last until November. Triple digits will persist throughout the entire month, so I am really digging the cool of Boston right now (though it could be cooler still for my tastes).

Analyzing Fairy Tales

            I need to preface this by talking about analyzing myths (though it applies to lots of different kinds of literature). Most myths have a lot of specific information. The characters are more fleshed out and definite. The setting is established, rooted in the particular culture that created the myth, and so by careful analysis it’s possible to derive specific messages of intent and find patterns that help establish what the myth is to be about and any hidden messages underneath.

F3 Referral

            Kate and I watched in satisfaction as the storm delivered its payload over Belport. The sweltering heat had helped the storm’s convection cycle faster, dropping copious amounts of rain over the city, but it didn’t develop into a full thunderstorm, which was perfect for what we wanted.

Out of Here

            So I’m off to Boston where I’ll visit some dear friends before relocating to Connecticut for CTRWA’s Fictionfest, where I’ll be presenting on Fairy Tales. I just need to make sure I pack all the right stuff: magic beans, glass slipper, spinning wheel, apples, basket of goodies, fairy dust, leprechaun . . . nope, that’s the wrong kind of faerie. Get out of here, you!