- Fresh Apples
- CdF in Print
- Demeter's Spicebox
Fresh Apples
Scheherezade's Bequest 14
Finally! The latest issue of Scheherezade’s Bequest and its companion non-fiction articles are online. This issue was a long time in coming: due in September, posted in December — somewhere along the way we got lost in the woods and for that, we apologise. First let’s talk about the fiction. This 14th issue of Scheherezade’s Bequest is dark like the longest night, humorous and difficult and full of everything that makes a fairy tale real. These stories and poems hearken back to the original tales, and this issue is not for the faint of heart.
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View Cabinet des Fées in Print for more information.
Demeter's Spicebox
Demeter's Spicebox is a new project for Cabinet des Fées and something of a storytelling adventure! We are inviting storytellers from different cultures to revisit specific fairytale types. This is a hypertextual project; while each piece of storytelling, be it via fiction or poetry stands alone, writers are encouraged to find ways to connect each independent storytelling fragment with the one before. The result is a storytelling patchwork which will invoke the feeling of a fairytale potluck, where different cooks with different spices will create variations of very old recipes. The Spicebox's aim is to explore lesser-known fairytale types with strong heroines and protagonists who know that the truth behind the feminine is that of collaboration, as well as the complexities underlying characters who are neither perfect, nor altogether good. We will accompany each run of these tales with an article introducing the fairytale type as well as the surrounding themes. Visit Demeter's Spicebox for more information.
Featured
Catherine Rémy: Where myth and landscape meet
Catherine Rémy: Where myth and landscape meet by Erzebet YellowBoy & Catherine Rémy The cover art for the 14th issue of Scheherezade’s Bequest was provided by Catherine Rémy, a visual artist who draws inspiration from landscape and myth. Her work has been exhibited at the Chatham Arts Centre, Covent Garden’s Jubillee Centre, the Medway Arts Centre, the
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An Interview with Kirsty Greenwood
Kirsty Greenwood, the artist whose “Fighting Faeries” was featured on the cover of Scheherezade’s Bequest 13, has a talent for expressing the unworldly and transient nature of her subject. Describing herself as “a quixotic painter, illustrator, sculptor and seamstress”, she engages with paint and pencil, with wood and fabric, and with her own dreaming self to
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The Silence of Trees - review
The Silence of Trees By Valya Dudycz Lupescu, 2010 Reviewed by Donna Quattrone “I eagerly went onto the unknown, looking for magic, for mystery, for adventure. But sometimes magic finds you. Sometimes it comes in the least likely of forms: in a small black river rock, a deck of hand-painted cards, a sprig of purple herb, or an
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Let England Shake - review
Let England Shake By PJ Harvey, 2011 Reviewed by Tanya B. Avakian The minstrel boy to the war is gone In the ranks of death you will find him, His father’s sword he has girded on And his wild harp slung behind him. “Land of song,” said the warrior bard, “Though all the world betray thee,
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No Happily Ever After for XX: The Obligation for the Feminine Gender of the Human Species in the Western Region of the Planet Earth
By Lyz Reblin During my nine-month journey to my destination I chose to research the planet before encountering its inhabitants. In the spaceship’s library, I found a text titled “The Classic Fairy Tales” edited by a human named Maria Tatar. The tome seemed to be a misnomer, for no fairies were to be found within its pages. Instead, I found a collection of
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“The Glass Coffin” and “The Ensorceled Prince”: An Asexual Reading
By Elizabeth Hopkinson Almost everyone knows the familiar fairy tale ending: the prince marries the princess and they live happily ever after. But does this simple conclusion embody all that fairy tales have to tell us about human sexuality? By no means! “Intentionally or not, (fairy tales) have been used to enforce what has been termed
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Captive in Fairyland: The Strange Case of Robert Kirk of Aberfoyle
By Sophie Masson Aberfoyle, Perthshire, Scotland It is a pretty track from the manse to the hill. Early spring, and the trees are beginning to put out new young leaves. Subtle colour permeates the landscape; the pale purple of growing tips, the russet of lingering winter, the film of green beginning to thicken, the darkness of the
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Kate Crackernuts: The Hen-Wife and her Cauldron of Wisdom
Kate Crackernuts: The Hen-Wife and her Cauldron of Wisdom by Colleen Szabo This tale is a wisdom tale featuring the old symbol of creativity and wisdom, the nut. We still use the term “nut” to denote the head, one location commonly assigned for wisdom; in fact, nuts are sort of like brains in a skull (shell). I suppose in
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The Lost Machine - review
The Lost Machine Written and Illustrated by Richard A. Kirk Radiolaria Studios, 2010 Reviewed by Erzebet YellowBoy Richard A. Kirk’s The Lost Machine is a delightful yet dark tale about a man named Lumsden Moss who first appears in a prison cell, waking from a nightmare. We never learn exactly why the door to his cell is open that
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Discovering the Anti-tale
This past March, I had the pleasure of attending the Myths and Fairy Tales in Film and Literature post-1900 conference at the University of York. As well as being a sort of CdF reunion, with Helen Pilinovksy and I seeing each other in person for the first time in several years, I had the opportunity to meet one of
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Cabinet des Fées in Print
Our third issue in Print Cabinet des Fées: A Fairy Tale Journal Volume 1, Issue 3 Edited by Helen Pilinovsky & Erzebet YellowBoy Prime Books, 2010 116 pages Table of Contents Just Like Your Grandfather by Bret Fetzer Blackberries by Helen Ogden The Woman of Ebonstone Hill by Marcie Tentchoff Crossroads by Kim Kofmel Bricks by Rebecca W. Day The Underground by
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Our second issue in Print Cabinet des Fées: A Fairy Tale Journal Volume 1, Issue 2 Edited by Helen Pilinovsky & Erzebet YellowBoy Prime Books, 2007 180 pages Table of Contents Katabasis by Sonya Taaffe Stranger at the Wedding by R.W. Day The Devil Factory by Bret Fetzer The Hiker’s Tale by Mike Allen Giantkiller by A.C. Wise The Tower by JoSelle
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Demeter’s Spicebox
Lavanya and Deepika by Shveta Thakrar Lavanya and Deepika by Shveta Thakrar Once upon a time, in a land radiant with stars and redolent of sandalwood, where peacocks breakfasted on dreams salty with the residue of slumber, a rani mourned. On the surface, the rani had everything: a kingdom to care for, fine jewels to wear in her long black hair, silken saris threaded through with
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Sister and Bones by Mari Ness Sister and Bones by Mari Ness They say that before we were born, our mother gathered four cups and pounded plum blossoms and cherry bark and leaves from nine trees caught before they reached the ground into her powdered green tea, fresh as a spring after the departure of the winter snows. The tea hissed and bubbled
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Reviews
Mermaid: A Twist on the Classic Tale - review Mermaid: A Twist on the Classic Tale By Carolyn Turgeon, 2011 Reviewed by Valentina Cano A retelling of the classic “Little Mermaid” tale, this is an interesting, even darker take on the story. The atmosphere is fantastic, Nordic and stark, a perfect setting for an ocean myth to take hold. There is a nice contrast between the lushness of the
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The Silence of Trees - review The Silence of Trees By Valya Dudycz Lupescu, 2010 Reviewed by Donna Quattrone “I eagerly went onto the unknown, looking for magic, for mystery, for adventure. But sometimes magic finds you. Sometimes it comes in the least likely of forms: in a small black river rock, a deck of hand-painted cards, a sprig of purple herb, or an
[continue reading…]
Interviews
Catherine Rémy: Where myth and landscape meet Catherine Rémy: Where myth and landscape meet by Erzebet YellowBoy & Catherine Rémy The cover art for the 14th issue of Scheherezade’s Bequest was provided by Catherine Rémy, a visual artist who draws inspiration from landscape and myth. Her work has been exhibited at the Chatham Arts Centre, Covent Garden’s Jubillee Centre, the Medway Arts Centre, the
[continue reading…]
An Interview with Kirsty Greenwood Kirsty Greenwood, the artist whose “Fighting Faeries” was featured on the cover of Scheherezade’s Bequest 13, has a talent for expressing the unworldly and transient nature of her subject. Describing herself as “a quixotic painter, illustrator, sculptor and seamstress”, she engages with paint and pencil, with wood and fabric, and with her own dreaming self to
[continue reading…]
Fairies and Fairy Tales
No Happily Ever After for XX: The Obligation for the Feminine Gender of the Human Species in the Western Region of the Planet Earth By Lyz Reblin During my nine-month journey to my destination I chose to research the planet before encountering its inhabitants. In the spaceship’s library, I found a text titled “The Classic Fairy Tales” edited by a human named Maria Tatar. The tome seemed to be a misnomer, for no fairies were to be found within its pages. Instead, I found a collection of
[continue reading…]
“The Glass Coffin” and “The Ensorceled Prince”: An Asexual Reading By Elizabeth Hopkinson Almost everyone knows the familiar fairy tale ending: the prince marries the princess and they live happily ever after. But does this simple conclusion embody all that fairy tales have to tell us about human sexuality? By no means! “Intentionally or not, (fairy tales) have been used to enforce what has been termed
[continue reading…]
Storytellers
The Gates of Bordertown Have Opened For thirteen years, the gates of Bordertown have remained closed, its denizens living on only in the memories of readers, both newcomers and old-timers alike, and the vast assortment of fan groups and websites and more. Now, with the publication of Welcome to Bordertown, those gates have once again been opened. Like any gate to faerie, the passage through is fraught with danger and excitement.
My Hans Christian Andersen Pilgrimage By Carolyn Turgeon. Mermaid, which just came out in March, is my third novel and second based on a classic fairy tale. My last book, Godmother, imagined the “real” story of Cinderella’s fairy godmother… It was a tricky book to write, but the moment I put myself in the head of the godmother, and of Cinderella herself, I knew
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