Chatter Archive

Weekly Twitter Link Round-Up: April 11th-17th

Wow, I’m a week behind, so here are the links from two weeks ago and the one link I tweeted last week. More on vampires and their ethics, Fairy tales and their shocking roots, laws you didn’t know you were breaking (you naughty book blogger you!), and tips true for anyone looking to be taken seriously as a professional online but set out for authors in particular. Enjoy!

Fairy Tale Friday: The Butterfly

It’s so refreshing, not to mention exciting, to get to do a fairy tale that I have not heard of, seen, read or knew about before today. I feel like I’m walking in fresh snow as I sit down to write this post, and that’s a good thing! Most fairy tales are very, very old and have been around for centuries. They’ve been picked apart and put back together in new ways, they’ve been discussed, debated, banned and treasured by generations of people from all over the world. With Hans Christian Andersen most of his fairy tales are wholey original. They have only been around a mere hundred years or so and some of his fairy tales have simply seemed to drop through the cracks and probably won’t be picked up again for another hundred years or so, if ever. “The Butterfly” is one of those seemingly forgotten stories.

March 2010 Wrap-Up

So, in a continuing effort to whip my reviewing slump into shape I’m writing another long overdue wrap-up post so that I can get my butt in gear and finish up these long overdue reviews! I will also link up my discussion posts for the read-a-long once I get to them. If you think this list is bad you should see the post read-a-thon review pile I’m staring at for April!

Fairy Tale Friday: New Modern Versions

I first started reading modern takes on classic fairy tales in Junior High when I stumbled across Terri Windling for the first time in the adult fantasy section. Terri Windling is a fantasy writer and editor who has contributed to a lot of great projects including quite a few that involve rewritten fairy tales!

My favorite works, that both Terri Windling and Ellen Datlow collaborated as editors on, would be the six volumes of short stories that are all made up of re-told fairy tales, or as they call it, “our series of fairy tales for adults.” They have gone out of print, half were republished, and those are now slowly going out of print again but I simply love this series and am determined to get a full set one day!

The books in the series are:

• Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears
• Black Thorn, White Rose
• Silver Birch, Blood Moon
• Black Heart, Ivory Bones
• Snow White, Blood Red
• Black Swan, White Raven

I reviewed one of the books, Black Heart, Ivory Bones, a while ago and it was just as wonderful as I had remembered it! I really wish they would come out with a matching set so that I can collect all six in the same binding. (I have three, two paperback and one in library binding from the first printing).

I did read all six when the library near where I grew up had them. They completely changed how I viewed fairy tales and are probably responsible for kindling the spark that grew into my life long love affair with them. If you can get a hold of a copy of any of these at the library or see one at a used book store, snag it! You won’t regret that you did.

See? I can write a short Fairy Tale Friday after all! As an aside I also recommend any and all of the books on my blog with the fairy tale tag. Yes, I read so many they require their own tag!

Weekly Twitter Link Round-Up: April 4th-10th

Not a lot of links this week. Spent most of it getting ready for Easter and then the read-a-thon! So there are some links related to that and a lot of links about YA and, of course, my new found love for graphic novels that I am exploring a bit more nowadays. It looks like there are going to be way more links next week as I get caught up with my Google Reader so stay tuned for that! Hopefully will even update on time on Saturday, won’t that be a novel experience?