Tender Morsels Wins World Fantasy Award

I wrote about Tender Morsels three months ago in my post about the Nominees for the 2009 World Fantasy Awards. Now the award has been announced and Tender Morsels is the winner. It is actually the joint winner with Jeffrey Ford's The Shadow Year.

You can read more about it here: Controversial teenage novel wins World Fantasy awardMargo Lanagan's Tender Morsels, described as 'sordid wretchedness' in the Daily Mail, takes joint prize with Jeffrey Ford's The Shadow Year. Here's an excerpt from the great article:

She was inspired to write Tender Morsels, she said, "when something down in my guts responded to the way the Grimm brothers had changed Caroline Stahl's story when they rewrote it". "I was annoyed with the moral message they forced the story to carry," she said. "Although my novel doesn't necessarily offer any more hope for the women characters than theirs does, at least it's less adamant than Snow White and Rose Red that the women's oppression is a good and necessary thing."

A book, she believes, is "perhaps the safest, the least confronting form" in which to explore tough stories, as it is much easier to decide to put down or take up an uncomfortable tale in a book, than it is to reject one on television or in a cinema. "If a young person (or an adult) is not ready, or not 'in the mood', for a particular story, or they need to pause in the reading, or even stop altogether, with a book they can pause, or stop, and no one else need see, know or comment," she said.

There's a full list of nominees and winners on Locus Mag and you can learn more about the 2009 World Fantasy Convention and Awards on their site.

Snow White in Apples

Courtesy of the BBC, I present: In Pictures: Snow White in apples

Famous scenes from Walt Disney's classic film Snow White and the Seven Dwarves have been recreated with apples by food artist Prudence Staite.

The artist used 14 different varieties of apples to make six scenes from the film which was first shown in 1937.

Ms Staite said: "It was fantastic to play around with such well-known, iconic imagery. The apple is such a big part of the story, it seemed right to use it to recreate some of the Disney magic in the works."

The work was commissioned by Disney to mark the film's release on Blu-ray.

You can see the images much larger on the BBC site, so please click through.


Thanks to Christine Ethier for sharing!

Fairy Tales in Stitches Week: Marilyn Leavitt-Imblum

Continuing with Fairy Tales in Stitches Week, I'm sharing designs by Marilyn Leavitt-Imblum for Lavender and Lace. Once again, I have sewn her designs--three of them at this point in time--but I won't picture those here. Instead I'm sharing the ones most closely related to fairy tales, especially the Fairy Godmother pictured above. She's another favorite and contender for my choice of winter project. Her hair color can be changed, but I prefer her with her well-earned grey.



The one above is Lady Claire, but I think of her as the sister in the Six Swans and have ever since first seeing the design years ago. I already own this one and plan to stitch it someday. I'll admit to ignorance as to what story she may represent.



The ones above and below are straight out fairies, of course. The three firefly ones remind me of Disney's fairies in Sleeping Beauty, but these are charming and more satisfying.


And finally, a tribute to an American story, Evangeline, made famous by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.



Under the Butternut Road brand name, Leavitt-Imblum has also designed Once Upon a Time, pictured below. This is another favorite of mine. It's rather generic in story, but I think it represents fairy tales in general very well.



Most of the patterns--and most of the images--I've shown this week are available through 123stitch.com. I am in no way affiliated with them or any of the designers I've discussed. However, I have ordered from 123 Stitch and am a satisfied customer.

Preserving Tales in the UAE

Found this article which made me smile: Tales preserved for the future by Matt Kwong

“There could be many, many different versions,” said Dr Khalid Salem al Dhaheri, the director of the National Library at the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (Adach). “Baba Darya is a spirit that is said to enchant the oceans of the Gulf. Of course the different takes on this tale depends on the imagination of who recites it.”

Dr al Dhaheri, now 29, last heard this and other Emirati fables at the age of 12 when they were recounted under the stars by his great-uncle in Al Ain.

“He would be one of the three or four remaining elders of our clan and we would go to him and we would sit very simply,” he said. “This was before the massive urbanisation, when you could sit outside the house together in the open. These storytelling sessions were one of the few methods of entertainment.”

As with many people near his age, he concedes, certain details of stories have now faded from his mind.

“My memory for some of these things is not so good.”

But a part of a nation’s heritage as vital as its folklore need not become a casualty of modern life, according to a group of Zayed University students. To give new life to the old stories, four communications students have catalogued and published a collection of traditional UAE fairy tales aimed at future generations.

And, see, the Grimms are not the only known editors of the tales:

The students are well aware that Khrareef is not the first anthology of UAE folklore published in English and Arabic. For last year’s Abu Dhabi International Book Fair, Adach printed 1,000 hardcover copies of A Key to Another World, a collection of Emirati stories translated by the Polish journalist Iwona Drozd.

But Ms bin Shaker believes Khrareef is the first collection of fables to target young children.

“A lot of the stories are a little bit dark, so we tweaked them a bit in our versions,” she said.

The article is considerably longer. And all I have to say is "Bravo for working to preserve the tales!"

Oh, and while you are clicking through to read the entire article, also read Palace of myths and legends by Rym Ghazal for a little more knowledge and learning today...

Fairy Tales in Stitches Week: Nora Corbett

As winter rapidly approaches and I find myself spending more time idly in front of the tv or in groups for conversation instead of summery activities, I feel a strong need to do something with my hands. My days are spent too long with the computer and words, my passion, but it is wonderful to escape temporarily into other worlds, recent favorites including The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency and Lark Rise to Candleford among others. (And, hey, I adore So You Think You Can Dance, too, but I can only watch it with nothing in my hands to distract me.) I like having handwork, too, to add to the distraction. My brain wanders too easily.



Anyway, every few years, I get the urge to work on a sewing project of some kind, probably since I never learned to knit. There's something soothing about the small acts of creation with no demands or expectations, just doing for the sake of doing, especially if something vibrant and lovely comes from the process. It's been five years since my last project and none of my stored patterns match my whimsy at the moment, so I've gone hunting for something new. My searches have included fairy tales, of course. So this week I will share some of my discoveries and hopefully choose my own project to commit to in the coming evening hours when my brain is too tired for anything else.

One of my longtime favorite designers is Nora Corbett of Mirabilia Designs. I have sewn one of her projects in the past, Garden Verses, which hangs in my bedroom so it is one of the first things I see each day and the last at night. The light is too gloomy right now or I would take a picture of her to share. This one is the model image from Mirabilia.


I love the romantic bent to her work, of course. She loves fairies and mermaids as well as Pre-Raphaelite inspired figures. She has also designed the most directly with fairy tales in mind with her Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty.



I like both but admit a preference to her Dreamer pictured below as an alternative Sleeping Beauty. It is in high contention for my winter project. It reminds me very much of Flaming June by Lord Frederic Leighton, but in color more suited to my home, although I change colors on almost every project. Garden Verses is one of the few I have ever followed exactly, excepting my choice for the base fabric.


I'm also partial to these two since they also answer my love for the night skies.



I've sewn Damask Roses (see below) before as a gift for my mother, sans the trees and bottom border, and completely changing the colors--her dress in royal blue and white with the woman holding yellow roses, all three being my mother's favorite colors. It hangs in her bedroom, too.


Finally, here's The Winter Queen who makes a fine Snow Queen in my mind. I own this pattern already and have debated making this, but I don't have anywhere that she suits at this point. There are four queens in this series, but each stand well on their own.



So far I'm debating between The Dreamer and the moon and star ones above--which are smaller and won't take as long--but there's more on my list that I will share during this week which I've dubbed Fairy Tales in Stitches Week. There'll be more this week than cross stitch, though, if this doesn't interest you. I have a pile of books begging to be written about and then shelved, for one thing.

Most of the patterns--and most of the images--I've shown this week are available through 123stitch.com. I am in no way affiliated with them or any of the designers I've discussed. However, I have ordered from 123 Stitch and am a satisfied customer.

New Book: Heart's Blood by Juliet Marillier

Due out this Tuesday in the U.S., Heart's Blood, by Juliet Marillier plays with my favorite fairy tale, Beauty and the Beast. It came out a month ago in the UK, here's the cover there via Amazon.co.uk. So far the reader reviews on Amazon.co.uk are five stars.


Description from the publisher:

The national bestselling "fine folklorist and gifted narrator"(Publishers Weekly) of the Sevenwaters novels conjures a new sweeping romantic fantasy.

Anluan has been crippled since childhood, part of a curse that has besieged his family and his home of Whistling Tor. But when the young scribe Caitrin is retained to sort through family documents, she brings about unexpected changes in the household, casting a hopeful light against the despairing shadows.

But to truly free Anluan's burdened soul, Caitrin must unravel the web of sorcery woven by his ancestors before it claims his life-and their love...

Not very helpful, is it?

Never fear, Marillier has a section on her site for the book. There's an excerpt available on her site as well as a pronunciation guide. The names are Gaelic, not elaborate creations of the author.

Even better, here is an excerpt from her author's notes for the book that explains some of her development of the story. There are spoilers further on that page (not here) so click through at your own risk if you haven't read the book yet. She explains more about the plot and how the hero is a beast as well as her setting choices.

Beauty and the Beast has always been one of my favourite fairy tales, and readers will recognise the bones of it in Heart’s Blood: a mysterious house with an alienated, disfigured master, a priceless plant growing in a forbidden garden, magic mirrors and unusual household retainers. The story of my novel has the same general shape as that of Beauty and the Beast.

However, this is far from a fairy tale retelling. It’s not even a close reinterpretation of the traditional tale. Heart’s Blood is a love story, a ghost story, a family saga, a story about people overcoming their difficulties, and a little slice of Irish history, as well as a homage to a favourite fairy tale. There were elements of Beauty and the Beast that I really wanted to include – the bittersweet central relationship, the mysterious setting – and aspects that I knew I didn’t want. I like a female protagonist who follows her own path and fights her own battles. I did not want Caitrin to be as passive as Beauty, who is so much at the mercy of her family’s poor decisions. I took out the character of Beauty’s father, making Caitrin an orphan. Rather than being sent to the Beast’s house because her father stole a rose for her, Caitrin joins Anluan’s household of her own free will. However, she brings with her a heavy load of past troubles, and has her own emotional journey to make. The cliché selfish sisters of the fairy tale are replaced by Caitrin’s grasping kinsfolk, and her reluctant journey home, later in the book, is part of the personal quest she must undertake in order to defeat her demons. In addition, I made Caitrin not simply someone’s daughter, but a skilled craftswoman seeking to earn her own living in a time and culture where independence for women was rare.

Finally, here is a link to a thoughtful reader review at Tempting Persephone. I haven't found any professional reviews yet but I'm sure they are coming considering Marillier's name.


Marillier, of course, is adept with using fairy tales in her lush and compelling novels. Her first was the wonderful Daughter of the Forest, which draws inspiration from the Six Swans. More recently she has offered Wildwood Dancing which draws from Twelve Dancing Princesses, vampire lore and other folklore. In other words, Marillier's favorite tales tend to mesh well with mine.



I preordered my copy a while back and can't wait for it to arrive this week.

Aladin (2009)

The hype for Aladin has been building for several weeks from various new sources, so I decided it was time to feature it here, too. Most of the articles have been trying to stir up interest with actor controversies and such, not something I care about even when I know the players. Oh, the media machines and how they churn...

So far, the film has only been released in the UK and India from what I can see. It will eventually make its way to other countries, of course.

Here's the official website: Aladin. There are many videos and lots of content on the site. Video embedding isn't enabled from YouTube either, but here's a link to the trailer.

An article:

He dreams of Genie: The director of ‘Aladin’ on making a ‘summer movie’, the importance of fantasy in cinema, and his influences by Anindita Ghose

Excerpts from reviews:

Aladin is the best we have seen in a Hindi film in the fantasy fiction genre so far by Sanjukta Sharma

But Aladin’s charm lies in its story and characters. It’s not an original, but a mish-mash of the classic tale of Aladin and the magic lamp, and Harry Potter. Aladin Chatterjee (Riteish Deshmukh), a shy, simple fellow who just wants to be liked, lives alone in an antiquated house in Khwaish town after the death of his parents and grandfather. The boys in the town bully him because of his name. When Jasmine, (Jacqueline Fernandez), a beautiful girl, joins the college, Aladin is enraptured. Once, while being bullied by the other boys into rubbing a lamp, Genius, the genie (Amitabh Bachchan) appears. Aladin’s life changes for the better, but only until Ring Master, an evil wizard, comes looking for the lamp Aladin possesses.

Aladin - Movie Review by Tushar Joshi

Granted the special effects and the wizardy is enchanting enough to appreciate the hard work that went behind putting up those green screens, but dude... where's the kahani ? It's like there is a drum follow without a follow-up.

The post- genie Aladin isn't that different from the one before, except that he has a new found friend in a charged-up and over-animated Genuis.

Vishal-Shekhar's score is in sync with the genre, but the songs pop out of nowhere like those annoying internet ads you want to block! Riteish looks but doesn't feel the part. His Aladin takes too long to realise the real hero within him, and by the time he does you wouldn't care to bother. For Bachchan, it's all about indulgence.

REVIEW: Ritesh-Big B's Aladin
Neither magical enough for a fantasy nor identifiable enough to be real
By Anand Vaishnav

Verdict: Ghosh's setting is neither magical enough for a fantasy nor identifiable enough to be real. It’s too confusing for kids and adults alike. Except for a few laugh early on and Bachchan’s stand out act, Aladin is another addition to Bollywood’s failed attempts at fantasy.

So a mixed bag, but a must-see perhaps for Bollywood fans...