Shiny new notebook design: The Lilac Fairy, based on the 1844 published fairytale bundle book by Andrew Lang. Which you can read at the Gutenberg project and the Open Archive.
https://lydiavvinters.com/2025/04/10/grimoire-the-lilac-fairy/
In honour of #NationalUnicornDay have my original #fairytale collection #eBook "Gift of the #Unicorn" for #FREE from #Smashwords with coupon code PA65L for the next 24 hours! https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1661869 #bookstodon #indiebooks #ebooks #fantasybooks #fairytales #unicorns 
I read the attached article for a bit – at least until things began to fall apart.
"some researchers argue that [H. C. Andersen] used his storytelling to describe his autistic experience […]."
I accept the proposition; some people have wondered if Andersen might have been autistic. OK.
"No wonder I've been drawn to Andersen's tales long before realizing, as an adult, my own autistic characteristics."
Again, I accept the premise; the author is one of these people who have wondered if Andersen might have been autistic, so for the rest of the article, he is autistic. Again, OK. Andersen may certainly be read as such.
The evidence of Andersen's autism the author presents is a link to a 20-page article published by the College English Association (i.e. not a psychiatry, psychology, or even a pedagogical publication), which begins in a rather sophomoric manner:
"Everyone knows the story of how "The Ugly Duckling" was different, and therefore mistreated by the other little ducks"
The presentation of bullying thus takes the bullies' perspective: "You're different and deserved to be picked on as a consequence." The reason anyone is bullied has nothing to do with that person, however, but with a deficiency of the bully: people are bullied, not because they are different, but because there are bullies in the world. (This distinction is important for the mental well-being of the victim.)
But leaving that aside, let's return to the psychology article.
I continued to read the author's valid interpretations of Andersen's fairy tales, until I reached her conclusion on "The Emperor's New Clothes."
"The dysfunction Andersen depicted in "The Emperor's New Clothes" [the child speaking up, drawing attention to the emperor's nakedness] mirrors what happens in groups without honest neurodivergent perspectives."
And that's when I stopped reading, for in this one sentence, the author has implied a number of things:
1. The child in the story is neuro-divergent or at least represents neuro-divergence
2. Neuro-nondivergent people are apparently incapable of direct honesty
3. Neuro-divergent people are honest.
I meet a lot of different people in my line of work – some with diagnoses, some without. Some of these people are nearly always honest, but most are less so. Neuro-divergence has little–to–nothing to do with the level of honesty. All the circles in an illustrative Venn diagram would intersect, but none wholly.
So let me counter the conclusion of the bit of the article I read: neuro-divergence is not a moral issue, and attempting to make it such would be dishonest.
(The remainer of the article breaks off at an incongruous angle.)
Unexpected journey. #grickledoodle #fairytales #gingerbreadman #fox #cartoon #friendship #art #drawing #funny
From "The Bee Wife"
"Little Flor’s eyes traveled from his father to the shimmering image of his mother and back again, full of wariness. His troupe’s repertoire of plays included plenty in which supernatural beings took on human form, and they generally ended poorly."
(link is to Kobo, but also available at the other online sites, or directly, if you message me)
... if I wrote Little Red-Cap...
#Illustration by Massimiliano Frezzato
Threading Folklore Through Your Novel
Author Allison Gunn shares her thoughts on threading (old and new) folklore and fairy tales through your novel.
The post Threading Folklore Through Your Novel appeared first on Writer's Digest.
https://www.writersdigest.com/threading-folklore-through-your-novel
#WriteBetterFiction #WritingTechniques #fairytales #Folklore #Retellings
@indieauthors
The professional and audience reviews are coming in, and Disney's Snow White is something of an unsatisfying mess.
However, if you'd like to get your fairy tale fix, check out my new novel The Fairy Godmother's Tale. Snow White is in there, along with Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and quite a few fairy tales you probably have never read:
https://www.amazon.com/Fairy-Godmothers-Tale-Robert-Marks/dp/1927537932
My little mermaid having her spring bath in the virtual wall of the Bologna Children Book fair!
I suffer from a gigantic imposter syndrome about children illustrations, so it took me a lot of determination to finally decide to submit it to such a high-profile event.
And it feels so good to see it there!
https://www.bolognachildrensbookfair.com/focus-on/illustratori/virtual-illustrators-wall/virtual-illustrators-wall/10790.html?country=ITALIA
A quotation from Barbara Brown Taylor
At home we read Pinocchio instead. We read Black Beauty, Doctor Dolittle, Little Women, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. What I learned about darkness from stories, I learned from books like these — and also from the unedited works of the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen.
According to a recent article in the New York Times, few parents expose their children to those works in the original these days, and some of their reasons make sense. Who wants children growing up with the idea that stepmothers are wicked, ugly people are evil, women can get by on their beauty, and princesses are all white? At the same time, I worry about children who grow up thinking that every story has a happy ending and no one gets permanently hurt along the way.
Barbara Brown Taylor (b. 1951) American minister, academic, author
Learning to Walk in the Dark, ch. 1 (2014)
Sourcing, notes: wist.info/taylor-barbara-brown…
The initial influencer reviews of Disney's Snow White are starting to come in, and they're a bit...um...TOO glowing. One even repeats word-for-word a Rachel Zegler quote, which is...suggestive.
But, Disney's new Snow White could NEVER be fully faithful to the original fairy tale, and neither could any adaptation for a 21st (or 20th) century audience. And, a little while back, I took a look at why:
https://robert-b-marks.medium.com/snow-white-the-most-difficult-fairy-tale-7d2c07a8ba8e
The Complete Norwegian Folktales and Legends of Asbjørnsen & Moe. The most comprehensive edition ever. The whole collection appears for the first time in English.
Paperback editions, or .pdf files for less than half the price. Details here: https://norwegianfolktales.net/books/the-complete-norwegian-folktales-and-legends-of-asbjornsen-moe
#norwegianfolktales #norwegianlegends #folklore #folklorethursday #folktales @norwegianfolktales @folklore #fairytales @folklorethursday #bookstodon
Hans Christian Andersen: “Nissen hos Spekhøkeren” (1852).
Susanna Mary Paull: “The Goblin and the Huckster” (1867).
Hans Lien Brækstad: “The Brownie at the Butterman’s” (1900).
Jean Hersholt: “The Goblin and the Grocer" (1949).
Me, a foreign-born Norwegian speaker, wading in: “Ah, easy! ‘The nisse visits the killer whale’” (probably not forthcoming).
#Andersen #HansChristianAndersen #folklore #folklorethursday @folklore #fairytales @folklorethursday #bookstodon
Disney's Snow White is not looking like it's going to have a promising start, but how about an alternative? I adapted Snow White in The Fairy Godmother's Tale, and I think fairy tale fans will enjoy my historical fantasy take on it...
...and since the book is out right now, no need to wait a couple of weeks to find out...
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DF96MZYT
https://www.amazon.com/Fairy-Godmothers-Tale-Robert-Marks/dp/1927537932
This is the last of four scheduled track releases from The Folklore & Fiction Ballads; an Appalachian version of Tam Lin sung to a quiet drone and embellished with birdsong, featuring Margaret instead of Janet in the role of heroine.
A quotation from Mignon McLaughlin
We tell our children things which we know are not so, but which we wish were so.
Mignon McLaughlin (1913-1983) American journalist and author
The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 2 (1963)
Sourcing, notes: wist.info/mclaughlin-mignon/75…
@bookstodon If you missed the Disability and Fairytales event a couple of weeks ago you can catch up on all the presentations online at the link below. Scroll to the bottom of the page to access the recordings
#disability #bookstodon #fairytales #folklore #publishing
https://www.disabledtales.co.uk/programme-2025.html
