The Vicious Fairies ★★★★ The Fallen Angels ★★ A Fairy Funeral ★★ Refereeing a Fairy Hurling Match ★★★ A Queer Walk ★ A Skeptic’s Story ★★★★★ Man Carried to The Vicious Fairies ★★★★ The Fallen Angels ★★ A Fairy Funeral ★★ Refereeing a Fairy Hurling Match ★★★ A Queer Walk ★ A Skeptic’s Story ★★★★★ Man Carried to Play Football ★ A Midnight Ride ★ A Musicians Story ★★★★ A Fairy Request Thwarted ★★★ Man Borrows a Fairy Horse ★★★ A Fairy Cow ★★ An Old Woman Changes Shape ★★★ The Rats from the Ashes ★★★ A Strange Pig ★★★ Meeting the Black Dog ★★ The Eel ★★★ The Fairy Frog ★★ The Bush That Bled ★★★ A Fairy Bush Moved ★ Man Cuts Briars in a Fairy Fort ★★ Respecting the Ancient Forts ★ A Sportsman Who Won’t Interfere ★ Let Very Well Alone! ★★ Mysterious Sounds from Two Forts ★ A Pregnant Woman Goes into a Fort ★★ The Man in the Coffin ★★★ A House Built Between Forts ★★ The Fairy House ★★★ Planting on a Fairy Path ★ Electricity Poles Moved from Fairy Path ★★★ Fairies Violently Object to Their Path Being Blocked ★★ Man Gets Warning from the Fairy Wind ★★★ Three Brief Stories of the Fairy Wind ★★★ A Woman Gets Knocked with the Sí-Gaoith ★★★★ Strange Gravity ★★ Man Prevented from Passing ★★ Latoon Dead Hunt ★★ A Fairy Mansion ★★★ Meeting the Cóiste Bodhar, the Fairies’ Hearse ★★ A Personal Experience of the Banshee ★★★ Banshee Comes for Dying Man ★★★ Banshee Alerts Family ★★ Banshee Heard in Manhattan ★★ A Prankster ★ The Barefield Banshee ★★ A Transaction with the Other Crowd ★★★...more
It's impressive that in coming back this series has made me not just indifferent but kind of hate characters I previously loved. Also, what exactly isIt's impressive that in coming back this series has made me not just indifferent but kind of hate characters I previously loved. Also, what exactly is the political message we're saying here? Evil must be done to make a better world but those worldbuilders aren't then allowed to live in it? Sigh. At least the next issue is the last....more
If your last name is Morrigh*Special Content only on my blog, Strange and Random Happenstance during For the Love of Book Clubs (February-August 2024)
If your last name is Morrighan you're going to have a tough time of it in Nothing, a town typically topping "most haunted" lists. Nelly Morrighan knows this all too well. She has been bullied and ostracized her entire life because the town believes all their woes can be laid at the feet of the Morrighans. All her sixteen years have been spent holding in the pain, keeping her head down, not thinking about her missing mother and her institutionalized father. Because the one time she lashed out at her bullies a kid ended up in the hospital. Her one reprieve is school, far away from Nothing, even if she's saddled with a roommate from home. Until her strict grandmother changes her mind and Nelly ends up boarding at the local school which is run by the mother of the boy she hospitalized. But these changes are nothing compared to the bigger changes ahead when she uncovers a secret. A secret that has been kept from her her entire life and revealed by two otherworldly figures she encounters on the Morrighan Farm late one night, Jack and Fig. Who just happen to be fairies. And Nelly's a half-fairy. And unlike almost all offspring of these forbidden interspecies liaisons she has power. And for someone who has spent their entire life cowering, you know when you are given power you must wield it responsibly. Which is why Nelly's off to the land of fairies. It was her powers that hospitalized her bully, and it was Fig's powers that has done the same to Nelly's grandmother. They can put things right by travelling to the other realm. Which is dangerous for a multitude of reasons, not the least of which is what Nelly is and the fact that Fig is a wanted criminal and that the government assumes that she is dead, which is what she will be if she is found back in fairy. But Nelly's eyes are opened there and she feels free for the first time ever, the food tastes different, she feels powerful, and no longer haunted by her name. Will she be able to hold onto this feeling when she returns to Nothing or will the past come back to haunt her?
As one of my friends said about The Ghosts of Nothing it's cinematic. He put into one word what I was struggling to say with way too many. This book reminds me of epic eighties fantasy movies, you know, cinematic. The Neverending Story, Labyrinth, Return to Oz, The Secret of Nimh, movies that are part of my DNA. These films showed us wonders as well as horrors. Sure, they might have traumatized an entire generation, but I wouldn't have had my childhood any other way. Because these films made me believe in magic. The Ghosts of Nothing connected me to memories I had long since forgotten. Growing up I had a huge sugar maple in my front yard and I would spend hours under it and near it, carefully prying open the propellers while watching a very specific section of sky which, thanks to the eighties Serendipity books series, I was convinced was the only place where a pegasus could come through to our world. I saw a unicorn at the circus, so surely a pegasus would visit me! I mean, I now know that that wasn't a unicorn I saw, but there was still the magic of nature under that maple. And reading about the maple keys, the distinct turn of phrase the inhabitants of Nothing use for maple propellers, brought all these memories flooding back. It also made me wonder how the inhabitants of this town use such a fairy turn of phrase. I'm wondering if there's a lot more cross-pollination between the worlds that we will learn about in the coming books. And that again feeds into the fairy tale origins of it all. The way stories are passed down through the generations and are used to teach us lessons and morals. And the thing is, these lessons can be terrifying, and those morals, they might just mean you life. This book doesn't shy away from the darker aspects of life. The politics in particular in the fairy realm will feel eerily prescient to anyone following today's news. Which is what fairy tales are all about, telling us a story but reflecting the world around us. Dark and light. I can't wait to see how Nelly embraces her powers, but I think the real lesson she needs to take to heart is to not be too hard on herself. The world is dark and full of monsters, be the light even if other people can't see it....more
I wish I had a sense of where this is going other than Peter Pan and Tinkerbell go on a murderous rampage. Also all the “protectors” are too self centI wish I had a sense of where this is going other than Peter Pan and Tinkerbell go on a murderous rampage. Also all the “protectors” are too self centered and as for some of the things said, about hitting back at your enemy so hard no enemies will ever cross you again... Not just white savior complex anymore we’re heading towards dictator....more
OK and magically this is really good. I love that the mother is inadvertently gaslighting the father about her daughter claiming that it’s hormones. IOK and magically this is really good. I love that the mother is inadvertently gaslighting the father about her daughter claiming that it’s hormones. It ties the changeling story with the transition story perfectly together. I was wondering where this was going or if it was going to make sense and now I can’t wait for the next issue....more
Oh yes, so much to love here! Peter Pan going full psycho and getting his ass handed to him, Cindy being anti guns, and then, best of all, the "protecOh yes, so much to love here! Peter Pan going full psycho and getting his ass handed to him, Cindy being anti guns, and then, best of all, the "protectors" of the forest getting smacked down basically by the forest....more
**spoiler alert** I mean, nothing much happened other than the Wolf family is still going all white savior on the Black Forest and we've been through **spoiler alert** I mean, nothing much happened other than the Wolf family is still going all white savior on the Black Forest and we've been through a five year time jump, I think mainly to have "Earth" catch up with the whole revelation of magic. But I still love the characters enough to enjoy it. And I can't wait to see what Bigby thinks of the twist... Of course if could just be the whole bring on a baby to revitalize the franchise gimmick... ...more
Anodos's father has died. Wh*Special Content only on my blog, Strange and Random Happenstance during For the Love of Book Clubs (February-August 2024)
Anodos's father has died. When going through his late father's desk he finds a compartment containing an old female fairy. She describes to him the land of Fairy and he dreams of it as he falls to sleep that night. When he awakes his room is transformed. There are recognizable objects, but the forest is encroaching on them. As he alights from bed he realizes that he is in the land of Fairy and that his adventure has begun. He soon learns that the land of Fairy isn't all wonder, there is both good and evil in this magical realm. The evil of the Ash and Alder Tree are notorious, and he has a frightful enounter with the Ash, being saved and protected by the Beech Tree. The Beech turns him to thoughts of love and he falls for a beautiful marble statue, but is tricked by the Ash once more. But soon the Ash isn't the only evil pursuing Anodos, his own shadow becomes antagonistic, and this evil presence weighs on him night and day. When he finds a palace he finally finds respite from the shadow. The library of the palace contains many books. But the magic of the realm of Fairy is that reading one of these books isn't like reading other books, you actually live the story. The adventure is your own. With this magic he lives many lifetimes, but his heart still belongs to the marble lady. He believes he sees her in one of the lives he reads but finds out the truth, she loves another, someone whom he has met. Yet still Adnodos searchs for her. He becomes obsessed that in the long checkered hall of the palace that the statues dance when he is not looking. And he believes that she is there. He is not wrong, but by now he should have realized you need to be careful what you wish for because pursuing the woman means leaving the palace and his shadow returns. The weight and despair plunge him into the depths of his psyche. He has been travelling for he doesn't know how long, always in one direction, towards the rising sun. But what little adventures he has had meeting with people begin to weary and tire him. Is he headed towards a goal? Will he be able to find redemption for the shadow he carries with him? An old woman holds some answers behind four doors. But will reliving his past trauma heal him? He remembers the death of his brother and it's two brothers that will help him to find purpose. They seek to slay tyrannical giants and it's Anodos's songs of his journeys and adventures through Fairy that give them strength in their preparations. But who will give Anodos strength to find his way home?
George MacDonald is probably best known for At the Back of the North Wind and The Princess and the Goblin, children's classics of the highest order. But his book Phantastes is probably the most influential. Within the first few pages you can see why C.S. Lewis referred to him as his "master." And yes, that's because there is a rather prominent wardrobe in the wilderness. You can just picture the Inklings bending over a table at The Eagle and Child and dissecting this tome page by page. Therefore it's hard to discuss this book on it's own. Because Anodos's journey through Fairy is rather prosaic. Nothing much happens and yet the vignettes showcased lit a fire in the minds of other authors. It's not hyperbole to say that Phantastes created the fantasy genre. It's a solid adventure on it's own and competently written, but my true enjoyment from reading it was every time it blew my mind because it connected to another piece of literature or film that I saw in a new light. C.S. Lewis and the wardrobe that took root started here, Lewis Carroll and his humorous turn of phrase to describe the surreal can be read in these pages, but don't forget L. Frank Baum and Dorothy! Though the two examples that most struck me happen in the palace that Anodos discovers. There there is a long hall with a checkerboard floor and music and mirrors and statues and red curtains. Two filmmakers took this as inspiration in their work. The first was Ridley Scott in Legend. When Lili dances with her shadow self and eventually becomes the darker version we then see in the mirror at the end, that was inspired by this! But then again Legend is heavily influenced by fantasy literature, as Terry Gilliam has said Legend is the only film that successfully captured the way he viewed the kitchens in his unrealized production of Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast. But the other auteur might surprise you because it's David Lynch. The antechambers of the Fairy palace's hall are the Black Lodge. The checkerboard floor, the statues, the red curtains, and there's always music in the air? Check, check, check, and check. Mind utterly blown. I'm sure if there was ever an annotated copy of this slim volume it would bulk it out to encyclopedic levels. One day I'd like to read that encyclopedia, as well as rereading Phantastes for itself. Though I have a feeling I'd still find the ending too preachy about "what we call evil." But MacDonald was a minister after all when he wasn't creating entire literary genres....more
Elizabeth (Miss Eliza)
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