Continuing Review of Weird Tales Mag... Fae For a Day by Teet James Glenn

I think the most amazing thing for me was seeing the literary quality of this magazine. I don't have much experience with what's available in magazines now--my early years of checking out Cosmopolitan, the one slick mag I purchased on occasion, versus, older reading when romance story magazines were the rage, on newspaper-quality paper, remember? Well, you get the idea that I'm not a magazine reader to any great extent...

However, I found that not only the entire layout, editing, and art was being exceptionally done, but that the contributing writers were, apparently, well known as well as published in the genre. Not knowing a genre's writers and contributors does not stop me from knowing quality when I see it... And not knowing the genre as well as many of you, did not stop me from appreciating the stories...albeit some more than others. Those I'm going to give an overview review so you'll know more on some of the ones I really liked...

Take for instance, the 3rd Weird Story...

Fae For a Day

By Teet  James Glenn

Sure, everybody knows that the Irish are known for keeping the Fairy Folk (Fae), the little people happy... I guess they've learn they'd better??? For this author tells us that some of them, mostly living in the West Village have a bad rep with the cops. Robin Flannigan had been working that beat for 8 years when, on Halloween night, one of their precinct cars was stolen! Flannigan had been stupid brave by trying to stop them by standing in front of the car and shooting!

Now Flannigan was on disability with little likelihood that he'd ever be back... Well, there was always his favorite cop pub where the drinks ran continuously and the stories were shared, so he was always in the loop, at least. But he tried something different this night, Robin was there...and it was Halloween...again!

"So I drank. A lot.

"That was why I was in that weird bar on Halloween as a patron.

"The watering hole was called the "Phantom o the Opera Club" on Seventh Avenue sould of Christopher Street and Sheridan Square. It was a tourist trap. To me, booze is booze. They had beer from thirty countries so I could do a lot of world traveling in a night without leaving my barstool.

"The bouncer was a big black dude named Marvin who was the size of a house, gay as Tuesday and the nicest guy you'd ever want to meet. Just don't cross him.

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"I was almost to Fiji via Melbourne when there was a commotion at the door. Two bridge and tunnel jerks dressed as Jason and Freddy Krueger respectively with cheap store bought masks were arguing hotly with Marvin because he didn't want to admit anyone with "weapons." Jason's machete looked too real for the bouncer's taste and I'd swear Freddy in the movie didn't carry a baseball bat..."

"I was going to get up and offer at least moral support when this strangely dressed dude stepped right up between the three of them and everything stopped dead cold..."

~~~

Now any of us who have seen Freddy or Jason in action knows that a guy who looked like a Regency Dandy didn't have a chance, right?

"The golden giant moved like he had stepped out of an Errol Flynn film. He avoided the bat with a deft sidestep, spinning in the process to slice the blade upward along the underside of Freddy's left arm. A thin red line appeared along the entire arm, pit to wrist and Freddy let out a scream...

"Jason came in swinging his wooden sword with hard overhand. The dandy nimbly danced away, turned and yelled "Elah!" and did a perfect old movie lunge that put the sword point directly through Jason's left bicep and continued the thrust until the blade went through the right, connecting the two arms. Then the gold-haired gent stepped back leaving the sword piercing the touch guy's arms..."

But this wasn't just a man dressed up for Halloween in fancy clothes... Robin of course went over to introduce himself  and discovered who had really been fighting...

"My name is Oberon, "King of the Fairies, he said as I started to tilt over again. I managed to say, "Sure thing," before I pitched forward out cold... I came to, convinced I had been carried into a Halloween party. All around me were characters that looked like the cast party for Lord of the Rings except that the armor didn't look plastic and I had no way in hell to explain the guy with the goat legs and horns sticking out of his forehead. "Hey, hey," goat guy said to me, "I hear we have the same name. I'm Robin Goodfellow." He was clean-shaven and had almost a child's features though his body was definitely "fully developed" based on the size of his sch****. Yes, he was "naked" save for his fuzzy legs. "Hi," was all I could manage. I mimed a drinking motion and almost magically the satyr had a huge tankard in his hand. I managed to sit up enough to take a swig and wow! Grade A stuff..."Looking for Obi?" Robin horn-head asked. I looked at him with an expression that must have looked as puzzled as I felt. "I call him that because he hates it so much. I mean Oberon..."

                                                                                 ~~~

About that time Robin remembered the golden guy Dandy and began to wonder exactly where he was and who was who...and, more importantly, what?! Suddenly he realized that OMG, he was in the land of the Fae and every story that his beloved grandmother had told him came back to him...

What was going to happen next?!!!

Now, here's where it really gets weird, and I'm going to close so you can prepare for Halloween, but I will give you one little tidbit of gossip...What happened to Jason and Freddie? Why, they were placed under a spell and now were madly in love with each other! LOL, but...true... and... Robin? Well, here's a hint... Ohhhhh, My!

But now, he's only Fae just every once in awhile...

Enjoy this weird adventure story, just as much as I did,  in Issue 361!

Have a Happy Halloween, and if you happen to heard the Overture to the Phantom of the Opera...

Please...RUN!

Guest Reviewer Jon Koons on the young readers novel The Girl Behind the Glass by Jane Kelley

"Girls! No one had said that word in the house on Hemlock Road in an awfully long time.
“GIRLS!”
A woman stood on the front porch behind a curtain of rain, calling out to somebody. Could she be talking to actual girls?
There hadn’t been any humans living in the house for over a year. Oh, people drove by to stare. Boys threw their rocks at Halloween. A few ran all the way up to the front porch and boasted they were brave. Sometimes in the spring, when it wasn’t so gloomy, people considered moving in. Men tramped through the rooms and asked about the electrical wiring. Women hoped to find charming details under the peeling paint. There was a fancy hall tree mirror by the front door. For some reason, no one liked to see their reflection in that cracked glass.
Then, just as summer was ending and the chokeberry bush by the front porch was tinged with red, a man hurried through the rooms. He didn’t even look in the attic or the basement. Soon after that, workers replaced the broken windows and swept up the trash. Painters covered the gray walls with white. Furniture was dragged in. The front hall filled with boxes. Only the lazy mice were glad—humans made it so much easier for them to find food. The spiders hated having their webs swept away. After all these years, the bats and some others just wanted to be left alone.
And yet everything could be different if girls were in the house.
“Come unpack!”
There hadn’t been any yelling in the house either. There had been screaming. And shrieking. And gasping. And that odd, strangulated flutter from the back of that old man’s throat. But there hadn’t been any yelling like only mothers could do.
The woman had bright orange hair, cut so short it stood up. Her earrings were feathers and bits of cloth. She wore denim trousers, like everybody always did these days. Her shirt had been pieced together in odd and colorful ways. She didn’t look at all like a mother. But she was. She was so angry; it was easy to know her thoughts. She was thinking how much work she had to do before her family could sleep in the house that night. She was thinking those girls were plenty old enough to help. She was thinking she hoped it wasn’t a mistake to move to this house on Hemlock Road.
“Stop hiding in the car!”
A silver car was parked in the driveway, not far from the hemlock trees. Rain rattled on its roof. The fogged windows made it difficult to see in or out. But there they were, two girls sitting side by side on the backseat.
The girls both had long noses and straight brown hair, cut just above their shoulders. They were identical twins. That was the most wonderful way to have a sister. No one could be jealous of the other when they both had very green eyes.
They wore denim shorts and shirts with red words. The blue shirt had a drawing of a pigeon and the words PARK SLOPE. The orange shirt had a drawing of a squirrel and the words PARK SLOPE. The girls looked like they were eleven—the most perfect age for them to be.
“Hannah Anna, I’m losing my patience with you!”
One twin was thinking that she didn’t recognize that yelling woman. Someone must have put an evil spell on their mom.
The other twin was wishing she had paid attention to the roads. Then she could drive them back to Brooklyn.
Which one was Hannah? Which one was Anna? Knowing their minds didn’t help. Most people never said their names with their thoughts.

~~~

What happens when a family is forced to temporarily move into a repeatedly abandoned house while their new home is being built? What happens when two twin sisters begin exploring? A ghost, that's what.

The Girl behind the Glass is a Young Adult novel written by Jane Kelley. Focusing on the relationship between twin sisters Anna and Hannah, eleven years old (the requisite age for all young heroes and heroines to this post Harry Potter world), the book explores what happens when twins begin to develop their own interests, stretching the bond between them. When they are separated into different classes of their new school, Anna makes friends easily, whereas Hannah has a harder time of it. Hanna sees her sister's new friends as rivals for her affection, so although Anna tries to include her, Hannah will have none of it. As Anna socialized with her newfound friends, Hannah withdraws more into her books and the house in which they are staying, rumored to be haunted.

As the story unfolds, Hannah discovers that not only is the house home to her mom and dad, annoying older sister and estranged twin, but also mice, bats in the attic, and, in fact, a ghost. Gradually the ghost makes herself known to Hannah and the reader, through her own thoughts.

The Girl behind the Glass, although often light in tone, is a dark exploration of the psyche which should make young readers think. The characters come to terms with numerous emotions, frustrations and new awarenesses which both kids and adults can identify with. There are also family relationships, adventures, mischief, books, school and moral issues to contemplate. Jane Kelley has created an engaging story with a winning mix of suspense, humor, daily life and creepiness which should well satisfy her intended readership. Proficiently written, with skillfully crafted characters and situations, this is a tale well told, and amounts to an enjoyable read for kids and adults.

Jon Koons

JON KOONS
Author, Producer, Actor


JON KOONS is an author of both fiction and non-fiction, children's books, novels and short stories. He has also penned scripts, text books and articles for periodicals.

Jon Koons is also a contributor to Weird Tales! The Fairy Tales Issue is now being read and will be reviewed in the near future. BRH has been given permission to use sample material from the Summer 2013 Issue prior to that final review. Selections are made by me and do not reflect any significance in relation to my review... This review has been selected as a book I think might be of interest to BRH readers...

Tyra Banks Whirls Fashion and Fantasy Into Fun Fairy Tale!

Image via WikipediaModelland


By Tyra Banks




Take a touch of Willie Wonka, add a bit of Cinderella, and add lots of fashion and accessory savvy and you will be reading Modelland! Fairy Tales seems to be taking a new forefront these days with Grimm and Once Upon a Time taking rave reviews for the latest TV programs... So Banks' choice of presentation for her story is coming at a perfect time for everybody who enjoys lots of fantasy along with a few scary spots and a fable-like moral. I was impressed with the underlying story and support it for our youth...

Two sisters live with their parents in Metopia--Myrracle is a beautiful, graceful young teen who was early on spoiled and pampered, being primed to be chosen to enter Modelland. Tookie De La Creme, her sister, "with her untamable hair, large forehead, and gawky body", has silently been ignored by anybody and everybody for as long as she remembers. Her latest attempt to be somehow recognized, even if she has to be hurt in doing so, is to lie down in the middle of the hallway at school, hoping at least to be acknowledged. But everybody somehow not only does not step on her, they still succeed in not even realizing she is...there! She was a true "Forgetta-Girl..."

Consider, if you will, a world where beauty is paramount and becoming a model is the highest, loftiest goal to which any young girl, and some boys, can strive for. Whereas Cinderella was the only girl that was not going to the ball, in Metopia and across this world all activities evolve around the world of fashion. And, there in Metopia, the fashion capital of the world, anybody who was not destined for becoming a model was forced to work in the many fashion and beauty product factories that supported those few who were beautiful. There were also some questionable activities and experiments that took place on some young girls, although nobody really acknowledged them...

And so the grand annual "call" was to take place. A few were sent special invitations; but people would flock from all over the world to Metopia to symbolically walk the red carpet up the mountain. For you see, Modelland was located above Metopia! It was a secured magical place where, once chosen, the girls would be taught how to find their magical abilities, hoping for as many as possible to gain recognition and stature. Seven would become "Intoxibellas" each year...but many would stay there in Modelland to serve the chosen...

It was rare that anybody left Modelland...although many would have if permitted...

But something happened this year--a rouge Intoxibella! Not only had she gone nuts, she was being hunted by many far and wide. But she was there as a scout that day and, instead of Myrracle, she took Tookie! And once she had Tookie, she went blissfully through the town selecting three more young women who were definitely not the typical model type! In fact, when they all reached Modelland, they were considered as new seamstresses or anything other than new members of the classes that would soon start!

One thing we know about the U.S. is that successful people have the ability to influence--for good or bad. The intent of this novel is important and I think Tyra Banks has done an excellent job of helping young women realize that looks are not what makes beautiful people. She's written what she knows and done it in a way that is fun as well as refreshing in its honesty, albeit in the very fairy-tale world of Modelland! You might find taking advantage of the story will be more important than anything you might say yourself to the young people in your life.

I plan on sharing this with my great-niece to whom I've already told a little. She's watching the two new TV shows mentioned above and enjoying them...in fact, if you are watching these programs, then I highly recommend you consider the first book by Tyra Banks.

Book received via

Amazon Vine

GABixlerReviews

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Review: Sicilian Tales Brings Bilingual Fairy Tales to America!

Sicilian Tales
By Luigi Capuana
Dante University Press.
ISBN: 9780937832516
382 Pages


One might say that Sicilian Tales by Luigi Capuana is really three books in one! First it presents an extensive survey of Sicilian literature and its writers, an overview of its history and even a few wonderfully illustrative pictures of the architecture there by Santi V. Buscemi. Second is Buscemi’s translation, in a bilingual edition, of short stories, providing on one page the original Sicilian and on the other an English translation. It certainly provides all interested families an opportunity to share Sicilian and Italian heritage in a significant way!

For some reason, I chose to start reading the stories first. Reading 20 fairie tales one right after the other, rather than the norm where one story at a time is shared, allowed me to evaluate the overall tone of the stories. I was not surprised, but still gratified, that my opinion followed that of the analysis by Buscemi. Indeed, in nearly all of Capuana’s tales, he portrays royalty in a less than kind manner. Not surprising, then, it is the magical creatures, a fairy or a good witch that is the one to make good things happen. Still, Capuana’s preface reveals that it was the children in his community, that daily came to pester him for a story that brought about his movement into writing these stories. As we think back to our own stories of Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, magic has always been exciting for us when we were young. Shall I tell you of my favorites?

Serpentina tells the story about the Queen whose baby was a serpent!

The Penny with a Hole in It is about a poor widow, who always told her sickly infant that he was going to become a king.

The Teller of Tales is about a storyteller who has no new tales to tell the children!

The Princess tells the tale about her mother raising a louse...that winds up being involved in finding the future husband for the Princess!

Luigi Capuana was called the Father of Verismo, “the most important literary movement in nineteenth-century Italy...Capuana created a narrative technique that viewed the human personality with detachment, allowing for no sentimentality or moral posturing.”(p. 41) Additional highlights regarding Sicilian literature include:

Very little of Sicilian literary heritage is known in this country.

One of the most important writers of ancient Sicily is Diodorus Siculus, the historian who wrote a forty-volume Library of World History. Sadly only 25 of the 40 volumes of this work survive.

Sicilian poets made a number of important breakthroughs in the history of literature, including the invention of the sonnet!

Sicilians invented a new literary language, the first in an Italianate tongue.

The Sicilians wrote poetry to be read, while their predecessors had written it for performance.

Sicilians first introduced materials—images, information and language—from a variety of disciplines, studies and occupations, to write poetry of love!

Some believe that Sicilian’s poets were the first to write parodies, a completely new form.

Students of literary history will find this a mandatory addition to their reference library. For adults and children alike, the short stories by Luigi Capuana will provide a new set of tales that may not have been read since the late 1800’s! What better way to introduce a wonderful heritage than by having the original language, as well as the translation to use and enjoy at the same time. An Excellent addition for our Italian-American libraries!

G. A. Bixler

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