I've often thought about what it would be like to open a book and have it magically pull me into its pages. If you're a reader, you've probably thought the same thing at some point or imagined what it would be like to walk the streets of a novel or converse with the characters of history.
I am on Facebook often. Social media is part and parcel of being an author (The Travelers, Saguaro Books). You have to stay connected. Some parts of social media I enjoy more than others. Honestly, I find the Facebook part mostly taxing. So what does this have to do with metaphors? It's kind of a strange leap. But here it goes...
This will probably be a controversial opinion on Harry Potter, even in my own house...
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.
Almost everyone, at least in the US, watches TV daily. We consume shows and movies like they're candy that our parents might suddenly take away. We all have our favorite genres and actors.
I love strong female characters. And since it's women's history month, I thought a blog about some of my favorite badass female characters in TV, movies and literature and why they rock, would be fun. So here it goes!
Tuesday marked the end of Mardi Gras. Perhaps you've been or just witnessed it on the internet. Either way, you'll probably agree it's a spectacle. It also gives a glimpse into the the unusual, mystical city itself. In a way, Mardi Gras is the anthem of the musical opus of New Orleans.
I love movies almost as much as I love books. And I love watching the Oscars. However, if there is a movie based on a book, I'd really prefer to read the book first. So, I'm always interested to know what movies have books as their basis. If you are too, here is a list of the movies nominated for Oscars that are based on published books and novels.
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 