Sunday, February 23, 2014

The Kingdom of Fairy Tale Blogs.


You know, technology can be an amazing thing.  Think about this blog, for instance.  Once upon a time, people couldn’t just post their thoughts and ideas for the whole world to see, as quick as we can now.  The best you could hope for was to write a widely distributed book or article and that would take a lot longer to produce than a single blog post.  I mean, I know I’m not exactly building an Iron Man suit her but it’s still pretty impressive.  It also seems that once you get into a technology, that you suddenly discover all the other similarly-minded people who have done the same.  So, that’s what I’m posting this week.  Here are some of the other fairy tale blogs I’ve discovered in my time before and after starting this blog.  Now, keep in mind, my descriptions are based on my first impressions and not years of reading them.  Also, I expect any of my readers to be respectful of the other bloggers should they visit them online.  Got it?  Good!

SurLaLune Blog- Sur La Lune Fairy Tales is one of the most well-known sources for fairy tales on the web.  Not only is it a great source for annotated tales, but the site also keeps a blog going.  I find myself visiting the blog frequently.  Sometimes, it can be a bit on the academic side, with articles about scholarly works on fairy tales (not a bad thing, necessarily.  However, it’s a road I’ve personally chosen not to go down for Geekily Ever After).  One of the SurLaLune blog’s greatest strengths for the fairy tale geeks out there is as a source for modern fairy tale fiction.  Recommendations, reviews and excerpts from fairy tale inspired books appear on the blog regularly.  So, if you’re ever looking for a new take on an old tale, the SurLaLune blog will likely point you in the right direction.

Enchanted Conversation- Enchanted Conversation is something between a blog and a full-fledged online magazine.  It’s actually bee referred to as a “blogazine” before.  The site hosts numerous intelligent, engaging articles on fairy tales in scholarship and popular culture as well as some original tales.  There are numerous contributors (note the rather large link to “submission guidelines”).  However, the head of the whole show, the publisher and editor-in-chief, is a woman named Kate Wolford.  She’s also the writer/editor of a great book entitled Beyond the Glass Slipper: Ten Neglected Fairy Tales to Fall in Love With.  The book is exactly as the subtitle describes it.  So, she’s kind of doing what I do with “Folk Tale Secret Stash” only without the pop culture references I drop in.  Also, she provides the whole tale while I just tease you with it.

Once Upon a Blog- Once Upon a Blog is run by Ink Gypsy, a blogger who is a self-proclaimed Fairy Tale News Hound.  She lives up to that title.  When there are events in the world that have some connection to fairy tales, she’ll usually be blogging about it.  Just recently, she’s done pieces about the connection between Russian fairy tales and the opening ceremonies of the Sochi Winter Olympics and a piece about an upcoming Beauty and the Beast feature film being made in France.

Tales of Faerie- This is the personal blog of a blogger known simply as Kristin.  Though she posts on a number of fairy tale related subjects including fairy tale related books, TV shows, commercials and products, she seems to have a real yen for digging into fairy tale history.  A recent post specifically went into depth on the origins of the red cap or hood from “Little Red Riding Hood”.

The Grimm Report- It’s basically The Onion (the satirical fake news site, not the vegetable), only with fairy tale stuff.  No, really!  Well, while the Onion seems a bit heavier on satire, the Grimm Report seems to tend more toward whimsy.  But still, check it out!
 
So many of these blogs are so much more streamlined and better designed than this one that I feel like a novice compared to them.  I don't even know how they get the cool page designs they have.  I'm learning though, and improving bit by bit.  If there are any other fairy tale related blogs out there that folks know about, please let me know so I can check them out.

3 comments:

  1. Sweet. I'd heard of some of these, but others are new to me (and total gems). Grimm's hilarious! Cheers.

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  2. I forgot to include this one: http://fairytalelobby.wordpress.com/. It's called The Fairy Tale Lobby and focuses on encouraging conversation about fairy tale related issues among storytellers and fairy tale fans. A notable aspect is that the blog is supposedly run by Russian fairy tale character Vasilisa the Wise, but she's always busy so it's instead it's always moderated by her "simpleton" friends Sagacia and Simplia.

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  3. The Grimm Report is new to me . . . so happy to have found it, thank you!

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