Oh August! The month where my lawn turns scorched-sun yellow and the humidity poofs out my hair like Monica on Friends...
Once Upon a Time...there lived a girl who loved fairy tales. Until she realized they're dangerous.
April is such an awesome month, I can almost barely stand it. First, it's National Poetry Month. April also means spring and flowers and warm weather. And, today, April 2, is International Children's Book Day. Just another reason to love April.
With all the swirl around Beauty and the Beast lately, I thought it might be fun to talk about fairy tales. Disney has done a laudable job of Disney-ifying classics with positive messages and happy endings. And while I remember obsessing over Disney's Aladdin well into my teens, I also remember going to Blockbuster and renting videos (yes I predate even DVDs) called Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre. And Shelley showed the truth about those fairy tales - they were dark.
It's Saturday, so I thought I'd have a little fun storytelling time. As a writer and an author (The Travelers), I tell stories. That's basically the essence of a writer. I thought it would be fun to write down some of my oft told stories. When I think about this story, it feel a little like a fable in that there is a moral embedded in here somewhere. So I'm going to write it that way. Once upon a time....
January 1st isn't the only time to ring in the New Year. Many cultures celebrate different New Years throughout the world. Saturday, January 28, marked the start of the Lunar New Year.
I obviously have an interest in witches and magic. I've been exploring spiritual shops and tarot readings lately. I wrote a young adult fantasy novel where the protagonists are witches (The Travelers). All of this witch exploration got me thinking about witches in popular culture. Where did this love of all things witchy really take hold? How far back does it go? Before the spicy spell casting scarlet-haired Willow and even before nose-twitching Sabrina, who were the witches that paved the way for them?
K.L. Kranes 