France Month: Babayaga by Taï-Marc Le Thanh (Auteur), Rébecca Dautremer (Illustrations)

Here is Babayaga by Taï-Marc Le Thanh (Auteur), Rébecca Dautremer (Illustrations). No images of a chicken legged house in the online galleries although there may be one in thebook, but they are beautiful all the same.

Bargain Books: Peter Morwood's Tales of Old Russia

    

I didn't know about Peter Morwood's Tales of Old Russia series until I was exploring his bookstore in conjunction with my purchase of Diane Duane's Young Wizards book sale at Ebooks Direct. Looking back at the older covers, I vaguely remember them on the shelves, but they were originally released when I was in college and at that point Russian folklore wasn't high on my radar. In 1990, my focus was still on a physics major! Anyway, I bought them while they are half price because the titles are intriguing, the online reviews were positive, and hey, RUSSIAN FOLKLORE inspiration. Prince Ivan, Marya Morevna, Firebird, Baba Yaga--I'm so there. Of course, they are jumping into my TBR pile, but they will be there. They remind me of Orson Scott Card's Enchantment in description, one of my favorite Sleeping Beauty novels, although they are very different, of course.

So, yes, these are $3.00 each with the 50% sale this weekend only--the sale ends Monday. And again, I am sharing because of the sale--there are no affiliations with SurLaLune. But either way, these are very pertinent to SurLaLune's themes and don't appear to be available through other etailers either.

And now for the book descriptions with current covers:

Once upon a time, there was a prince...

In the tiny ancient Russian tsardom of Khorlov, strange doings are afoot. When Tsarevitch Ivan Khorlov's three sisters marry into magic, he sets out across the wide white world to see what fate has in store for him... and meets the mysterious Mar'ya Morevna, the most beautiful princess in all the Russias, whose castle holds a terrible secret that will change both their lives beyond recall.

For the sorcerous Mar'ya is the jailer of the awful being known only as Koshchey the Undying. When Koshchey breaks his bonds and spirits Ivan's true love away to the ends of the Earth, naturally Ivan has no choice but to follow... though he knows his enemy cannot be stopped by any merely mortal force. Prince Ivan must find his way to his beloved, and save her, with nothing to help him but his wits, his kind heart, and a little bit of magic.

But between them lies a wilderness full of unknown dangers. And his way to Mar'ya Morevna is barred by one of the worst horrors of legend -- one that waits hungrily just for him in a hut that stands on chicken legs...

In the dark winter of 1235 the Teutonic Knights are plotting a crusade against Russia. Their secret weapon is the foul witch Baba Yaga, out for revenge against her old enemy, Ivan, Prince of Khorlov.

In his second spectacular fantasy adventure in the lands of Old Russia, Prince Ivan finds himself battling against civil war at home, foreign invaders, the dreadful powers of the Inquisition, and the soured magic of an evil old woman.

But Ivan is not without allies. And the forces arrayed against him soon discover that they may have miscalculated when they find themselves up against not only Ivan and the forces of Khorlov, but a cranky sorceress-wife who may or may not be pregnant, a fabulous and deadly bird with its own agenda... and Volk Volkhovitch, the opposite of a werewolf.

Witty, thrilling, played out agianst the backcloth of a brilliantly realized medieval world, Peter Morwood's Firebird seamlessly weaves together Russian myth with real history to conjure up an unputdownable tale.

In the middle of the thirteenth century, the private quarrels of Russia's brawling little kingdoms are savagely interrupted by the ruthless advance of the Tatars. One by one the city-states fall to the irresistible force of the Golden Horde. Those tsardoms that resist are stamped out of existence and their inhabitants slaughtered. Only those that submit are spared, but each conquered Prince must travel to the great tent-city of Sarai and surrender his crown to the Khan. At last the choice comes to the little tsardom of Khorlov: bow down, or be destroyed!

Ivan Khorlovskiy, once Prince, now Tsar, needs all his cunning -- and all his patience -- to restrain his proud, hotheaded warriors from defying the mightiest army the world has ever seen, and bringing destruction on all his people. When the Khan commands him to Sarai with Khorlov's Great Crown, that command includes three treasures as priceless -- and as dangerous: Ivan's wife Mar'ya Morevna the sorceress, and their two small children. But once within the walls they find themselves facing a peril more terrible than even their captors: the dark pagan gods of Russia, starved of worship -- and of sacrifice -- for half a thousand years...

Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente

Since I already featured her other new book, I shouldn't ignore this one. Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente was released in late March and slipped past my radar until now. (I really have been very, very busy with my own books!) This one is fascinating because Valente draws inspiration from multiple Russian fairy tales and folklore figures, including Baba Yaya, Maria Morevna and Koschei the Deathless. No, I haven't read it, but Russian folklore is a great resource and I look forward to when I read this one and see how Valente has played with the story.
Book description from the publisher:

Koschei the Deathless is to Russian folklore what devils or wicked witches are to European culture: a menacing, evil figure; the villain of countless stories which have been passed on through story and text for generations. But Koschei has never before been seen through the eyes of Catherynne Valente, whose modernized and transformed take on the legend brings the action to modern times, spanning many of the great developments of Russian history in the twentieth century.

Deathless, however, is no dry, historical tome: it lights up like fire as the young Marya Morevna transforms from a clever child of the revolution, to Koschei’s beautiful bride, to his eventual undoing. Along the way there are Stalinist house elves, magical quests, secrecy and bureaucracy, and games of lust and power. All told, Deathless is a collision of magical history and actual history, of revolution and mythology, of love and death, which will bring Russian myth back to life in a stunning new incarnation.

'Baba Yaga Laid an Egg' Wins 2010 Tiptree Award

The James Tiptree, Jr. Literary Award Council is pleased to announce that the 2010 Tiptree Award is being given to Baba Yaga Laid an Egg, by Dubravka Ugresic (Canongate, 2010).

Baba Yaga Laid an Egg impressed with its power and its grace. Tiptree juror Jessa Crispin explains that the beginning of the book “does not scream science fiction or fantasy. It starts quietly, with a meditation on the author’s aging mother, and the invisibility of the older woman…. But things shift wholly in the second act, with a surreal little tale of three old ladies, newly moneyed, who check into an Eastern European health spa. There’s another revolution in the third act, where what looks like a scholarly examination of the Russian fairy tale hag erupts into a rallying cry for mistreated and invisible women everywhere.”

Crispin notes that the fairy tale figure Baba Yaga is the witch, the hag, the inappropriate wild woman, the marginalized and the despised. She represents inappropriateness, wilderness, and confusion. “She’s appropriate material for Ugresic, who was forced into exile from Croatia for her political beliefs. The jurors feel Baba Yaga Laid an Egg is a splendid representation of this type of woman, so cut out of today’s culture.”

Free Book for Kindle: Dreaming Anastasia by Joy Preble

Dreaming Anastasia by Joy Preble is free in the Kindle edition today to promote Preble's new book, Haunted, in the same series. The paperback edition is $9.99. I'm sharing this because the book includes  Baba Yaga as a major plot point.

Book description:

What really happened to Anastasia Romanov?

Anastasia Romanov thought she would never feel more alone than when the gunfire started and her family began to fall around her. Surely the bullets would come for her next. But they didn't. Instead, two gnarled old hands reached for her. When she wakes up she discovers that she is in the ancient hut of the witch Baba Yaga, and that some things are worse than being dead.

In modern-day Chicago, Anne doesn't know much about Russian history. She is more concerned about getting into a good college—until the dreams start. She is somewhere else. She is someone else. And she is sharing a small room with a very old woman. The vivid dreams startle her, but not until a handsome stranger offers to explain them does she realize her life is going to change forever. She is the only one who can save Anastasia. But, Anastasia is having her own dreams…

So this one might be of interest to those of you interested in the Romanovs and/or Baba Yaga. After all, it's free! As always, you don't have to have a Kindle to read a Kindle book, you can load the free software on your PC, Mac, smart phone and other devices. If you buy the book, it stays in your permanent library whether you download it to a device right away or not.

New to Paperback: Baba Yaga Laid an Egg by Dubravka Ugresic

The paperback edition of Baba Yaga Laid an Egg by Dubravka Ugresic, a Croatian author, is officially released today. It is a translation from the author original prose and first appeared in English last year but I haven't highlighted it before having just recently learned of it.

Book description from the publisher:

According to Slavic myth, Baba Yaga is a witch who lives in a house built on chicken legs and kidnaps small children. In Baba Yaga Laid an Egg, internationally acclaimed writer Dubravka Ugresic takes the timeless legend and spins it into a fresh and distinctly modern tale of femininity, aging, identity, and love.

With barbed wisdom and razor-sharp wit, Ugresic weaves together the stories of four women in contemporary Eastern Europe: a writer who grants her dying mother’s final wish by traveling to her hometown in Bulgaria, an elderly woman who wakes up every day hoping to die, a buxom blonde hospital worker who’s given up on love, and a serial widow who harbors a secret talent for writing. Through the women’s fears and desires, and their struggles against invisibility, Ugresic presents a brilliantly postmodern retelling of an ancient myth that is infused with humanity and the joy of storytelling.

About the Author:

Dubravka Ugresic was born in 1949 in Yugoslavia. She has published both novels and books of essays. Her books have been translated into more then twenty languages and she has received several major European literary awards. She is now based in Amsterdam.

The book is receiving overall positive reviews although one of the more accurate labels for it is perhaps esoteric so it might not be for everyone. Still, if you are interested in Baba Yaga, this should be of interest since it offers both fiction and nonfiction centered on the character.

Day 6: Kinuko Y. Craft in Fairy Tale Art: Illustrations from Children's Books

Kinuko Y. Craft is perhaps the most famous of all the illustrators featured in Fairy Tale Art: Illustrations from Children's Books. Her work is licensed in numerous places and is deservedly so. She is one of my favorite illustrators working today--I adore her Twelve Dancing Princesses. She was also a hit with my mother and husband who have very different tastes in art but reacted immediately to Craft's skill.  You can read more about her on her website.  Here's an excerpt:

Kinuko Y. Craft is one of the most widely respected and well known fantasy artists in the United States today. She considers herself a story teller. Her past commissions have included paintings for the book covers of many well known fantasy authors, opera posters, fairy tale books and covers for many national magazines. During her career she has become known for meticulous attention to detail, a passionate love of fine art and a deep knowledge of art history. Kinuko Y. Craft considers her self a story teller. Her fairy tale books are currently distributed in the USA, other English language countries, Europe, Greece, China and Korea. Her art is also widely licensed on calendars, posters, greeting cards and other consumer goods. Her work has been widely exhibited and is now in private collections in New York City, Atlanta GA, Santa Barbara CA, Dallas TX, Connecticut, San Francisco CA, Italy, Japan and Greece. It can also be found public collections at The National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian, The Cornish Colony Museum in Windsor, VT, The Museum of American Illustration in New York City, The National Geographic Society and other corporate collections.

Most recently, her original covers for the Simon Pulse Once Upon a Time series have been replaced in the new reprints, but I am happy I have the original covers. Her work graces many book covers, in fact, and appears in many posters and other forms. Her part of the exhibit was comprised mostly of giclee prints, but three were originals also.  All were beautiful but I was curious to see the brushstrokes--they are barely more detectable over the reprints they are so fine. Only the subtle paint texture revealed they were the originals.

From Sleeping Beauty

From Sleeping Beauty

From Sleeping Beauty

From Cinderella

From Cinderella (This was much darker in person.)

From Cinderella

From Baba Yaga and Vasilisa the Brave

From Baba Yaga and Vasilisa the Brave

Featured books:

  

Other books not featured: