Ravens, Writing Desks, and Series Writing

When I was little I used to watch certain videos over and over again. One of them was Disney’s Alice in Wonderland. My favorite part was the mad tea party. It looked like it would be a good time if you weren’t desperately trying to get home. I imagined drinking cups of tea, talking to …

Fairy Support

This morning I woke up and yet again had to be reminded that a post is due. It was particularly difficult because I was finishing one of those books that makes you snarl at anyone who interrupts the experience. But the reading gave me my next post. First let me highly recommend Olivia Atwater. It …

Fairy Tale Issues

Readers, I’m supposed to post today, but for those who don’t know I am a US citizen and today is the Superbowl of politics for us (at least those of us who care about politics). It’s been on my mind for a while now and as such I’ve completely shirked my blog writing time. It …

Simple Pleasures (other than fairy)

I remember being 13 and pretending to be sick to stay home from middle school. I’m pretty sure my mother knew I wasn’t sick, but I was a good student, so she allowed the deception. And I used the day to read a book from cover to cover (another likely reason she let me stay …

Fairy Tale Billing Switch

Ever wonder how fairy tales get their titles? Some make perfect sense like Cinderella or Snow White, but how about Jack and the Beanstalk? I understand Jack, but how does the vegetation get higher billing than say, the Giant? Or what about Rumpelstiltskin? He might be pivotal, but the woman (who they didn’t bother to …

Lost in the World of Faery

Before the Victorians made fairies cute and cuddly, they were naughty and dangerous. It was said they would whisk a person away to dance at their court for what seemed like an afternoon and yet years would pass in the mortal realm. That’s how I feel these days. Like I’ve been taken away to an …

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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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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A Noble’s Path release: Part II

Anyone who has considered indie publication or is currently engaged in indie publications knows that, to paraphrase a well-known opening line, it is a truth universally acknowledged that no matter how well a plan is executed, something will gum up the works. For me, it's paperbacks. For my last book it took a month after …

After Ever After

Rachael Farrimond

Introduction

For Christmas 2018, I asked my family to name their favourite fairy tale or Disney film, and from their answers I wrote a short story for each of them looking at what happened after “Happily Ever After” had been uttered.

Well, I did for the stories based on my parents’ choices. The one for my sister went in a slightly different direction (I’ll get to that at a later date).

Anyway, here is the first of my After Ever After stories written for my dad and using The Sorcerer’s Apprentice as the jumping off point.

Does The Sorcerer’s Apprentice count as a fairy tale? If you’re thinking of the Nicholas Cage film, then probably not; but Disney’s animation of the piece of music by Paul Dukas most certainly does. Dukas wrote the music as a symphonic poem (basically music that tells a story). The story itself was…

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