Random Joy in Weird Times

Whenever I'm given unexpected good news, I think about the Valiant Tailor. It was a small thing, working away at his trade and then pausing for a snack only to be interrupted by pestering flies. He ended their buzzing with one blow and was so tickled by the fact he made himself a sash proclaiming …

Not all those who wander…

When I was about eight, I watched Alice in Wonderland over and over again. I loved the chatty and catty flower garden. I memorized all the Cheshire Cat's lines. I hated the ending. I didn't want Alice to back to her old life. I hoped she would learn to navigate the ins and outs of …

Miss Plot?

For those who don’t know, I love Star Trek. While I’m iffy on the original series, I’ve seen the original cast movies more times than I can count. I watched them after discovering my first love, Star Trek: The Next Generation. My love affair continued through Deep Space Nine, Voyager and even Enterprise (although don’t …

Suspend belief

I spend a lot time on this blog criticizing fairy tales (as only someone who really loves them can), but there is one thing that I truly love about fairy tales--the ability for fairy tale characters to believe in the extraordinary. Cinderella just ran with it when her mother's grave started granting her wishes. The …

Living a Fairy Tale Trope

It’s a familiar trope in fairy tales. Cinderella had her father’s estate. Snow White and Sleeping Beauty both had a cottage in the woods. Rapunzel had her tower with no doors. Belle had the Beast’s castle. In fairy tales, princesses tend to find themselves in isolation. It’s not unusual. These stories were written in a …

A Smuggler’s Path by I.L Cruz

Witty and Sarcastic Bookclub

In Canto, magic is a commodity, outlawed by the elites after losing a devastating war and brokered by smugglers on the hidden market. But some know it’s more–a weapon for change.

Inez Garza moves through two worlds. She’s a member of the noble class who works as a magical arms dealer–a fact either group would gladly use against her. Neither know her true purpose–funding Birthright, an underground group determined to return magic to all at any cost.
But the discovery of a powerful relic from before the Rending threatens her delicate balance.
Inez’s inherent magic, which lies dormant in all the Canti, has been awakened. Now the Duchess’s daughter, radical and smuggler must assume another forbidden title–mage, a capital crime. This will bring her to the attention of factions at home–fanatical rebels bent on revolution, a royal family determined to avoid another magical war, her mercenary colleagues at the hidden…

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Simple Kindness is Golden

Ever get the feeling that rudeness in on the rise? I know it's not a new idea, but that doesn't mean it bears ignoring. Just like anything that requires correcting, it should be revisited. In fairy tales princesses and women who will be princesses are always praised for their quiet accommodation and politeness, which I …

Author Anniversary: Special Edition

As Fairytale Feminista readers know, I don’t usually post on Fridays, but today I’m making an exception. Happy Valentine’s Day! I don’t celebrate, but last year I found a new reason to mark the occasion. Last year I published my first novella, The Cemetery Circle. It seemed appropriate to release it on Valentine’s Day because …

Fairy Justice

Imagine if you will Rapunzel still wandering the swamp with her twins in tow and the prince elsewhere, still blind and searching for his love. Imagine the maiden in Rumpelstiltskin handing over her baby to the fairy who demanded her as payment. Imagine the Woodsman never happened by Grannie’s house and Red Riding Hood still …

The Spinster Queen

Real fairy tales have no end. And this one in particular makes me nostalgic because reading it was the start of my writing career. Check out Rachel’s other After Ever After stories.

Rachael Farrimond

Introduction

Please note that ‘Spinster’ in the title is using the original meaning of the word, i.e. a woman who spins, rather than the modern meaning of an unmarried woman.

This is the third story that I wrote for Christmas 2018, this one for my mum. The story she chose as the jumping off point was Rumpelstiltskin. At the time, I thought this was quite an odd choice as Rumpelstiltskin is not the most savoury of characters. But my mum explained that she chose this because the heroine of the story (the miller’s daughter) saved herself.

I had never thought of the story in that way and had to go back and re-read it to pick up on what she meant.

If you are not familiar with the tale of Rumpelstiltskin, it starts with a miller boasting about how his daughter is such a good spinner…

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