Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Legend of Knockfierna [Short Story Review]

[This blog spoils the entire story.]

"The Legend of Knockfierna" is a short Irish fairy tale by T. Crofton Croker. Another one by this fella. He's pretty good.

The story goes that a man named Carroll O'Daly was not a believer in the fairies. He thought them to be old wives' tales. Yes, we've been here before. Never a good thing.

While traveling down the road, he runs into an old farmer and they talk for a bit. The farmer mentions a place where the "good people" live. At first Carroll doesn't understand but then mentions that the farmer is talking about "the fairies." This being willful ignorance on his part, the farmer rebukes him for not calling them the right thing and then wishes him a good day.

Carroll follows the farmer up a hill and finds a cavern with a deep hole. It's so deep that he can't see down to the bottom, but he figures that the made-up fairies must live down there, at least that's what everyone was believing anyhow.

So just to prove that everyone was just being stupid, Carroll picks up a rock and tosses it down into the hole as hard as he can. He then leans down to listens to see if it would ever hit the bottom. Too bad for him though, for that rock comes right back up out of the hole as hard as he had chucked it. It smashes right into his face so hard that it sends him rolling out of the cave entirely.

To be sure, he had no reason to be disrespectful to the "good people" ever again after that. A lesson well learned.

"The Legend of Knockfierna" is a great story, and I recommend it. T. Crofton Crocker is a talented writer, and I hope to find more Irish fairy tales by him in the future.

This blog was written on August 25, 2023.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Rundlestone of Oz [Book Review]

[Contains spoilers for a book nobody reads anymore.]

"The Rundlestone of Oz" is the fiftieth book in the Oz series created by L. Frank Baum. It was written by Eloise Jarvis McGraw. It was published in 2001.

Well, there goes another ten books! I have read fifty Oz books. Not stopping here. Nope. Gotta keep going all the way to the last one. You have no idea how much money this is costing me.

"The Rundlestone of Oz" is about a living marionette boy named Poco who is apart of a troop of performers that travel around Oz in a wagon. He and his troop are transformed by an evil magician who is... kind of a jerk on top of being evil. He just does it because he likes having power over people. I thought it was amusing honestly.

Poco must find a stone called a Rundlestone in order to change all his friends back into their true forms without the magician figuring out what is going on. The stone itself is a mystery in how to use it. You have to hold it the right way, you have to be able to read the writing on it, you have to actually see the writing which can only happen if you look at it in just the right way, and if you make any mistakes, you get cursed.

There are a couple of things that make this book different than other Oz books. The first thing is that this book almost completely and entirely focuses on characters who are non-returning canon characters. Although Ozma shows up for the very first chapter, you have to deal with Poco and his friends until the last few. This creates a very interesting perspective that does not happen much at all in Oz. You get to see Oz from the perspective of one of its many citizens outside of the view of the Emerald City celebrities.

The second thing that should be said about this story is that it is extremely well and eloquently written. It feels more like an adult book intended for children. Every single aspect of the characters, there feelings, their hopes and dreams, were carefully constructed in this book. It was a marvelous undertaking. It was all spectacularly paced as well. I could even see this being a movie.

Even though these characters are not the usual Oz fair, you will care about them as you learn about their uniqueness and personal qualities. All the characters, both main and supporting, good guys and villains, were very cool to learn about. By the end of the story, I felt as if I had always known them, even though they had only appeared for this single story. Bravo.

If I had only one criticism to mention, the names of everyone in this book are very hard to pronounce. They were made long and cumbersome as a means to make them seem silly. The worst of it was a man who was called Blo-ab-Ditherdum-cum-Trumm-nun. Yes, that was an entire name that got repeated in full for the entire story. None of the other names were much better honestly, but it really did not bring the story down that much. Don't worry about that.

I absolutely recommend "The Rundlestone of Oz" for just being a wonderfully constructed story with very interesting characters. I got really invested in this one, and I think you will too if you choose to read it.

This blog was written on August 16, 2023.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader [Book Review]

[Only minor spoilers included.]

"The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" is the chronologically fifth book of "The Chronicles of Narnia" series written by C. S. Lewis. It was published in 1952. This is an extremely unusual one and is not very similar to the ones that came before it, although it is very much a sequel to the story of "Prince Caspian."

The basics of the story is that Edmund, Lucy, and a real brat of a boy by the name of Eustace end up going to Narnia by way of a painting. They end up on a sailing vessel called the Dawn Treader. The entire story is a sea fairing adventure that visits a number of islands before ultimately encountering the end of the world.

The thing that makes this particular Narnia book unique is that it actually kinda reads like an Oz book. I'm not joking. I was getting some real Oz vibes from this one. The characters are constantly encountering these strange enchanted areas and having to deal with them as a problem. This is a very common thing found in Oz stories. There was even very silly moments as well in reference to the Duffers. I think this book bridged the gap between Narnia fans and Oz fans quite well.

The story does still end very seriously though, and I should say that it was one of the most wonderful endings in the whole series. For those of you who have read "The Pilgrims Progress," this one will especially speak to you. The endings of both books have a similar feel.

On the new character Eustace: I liked him. He reminded me of Colin from "The Secret Garden." Very similar character-type! I liked them both for the same reason.  He's a bratty brat, but he learns humility and ends up with a bit of maturity for it too. Great stuff!

I lastly want to mention that this is the final story of Reepicheep. This is his best book of the two he is in. Absolutely a main character and wonderful from beginning to end. He's perfect.

I don't wanna spoil anything else. "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" is a fantastic read, and I recommend it.

This blog was written on August 3, 2023.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Oz Gazette #16 [Review]

"The Oz Gazette" is a sort of mock newspaper created by the International Wizard of Oz Club, which I am a member of. The present one I am reviewing is #16 which is the Spring 2023 edition. I'm mainly going to review the idea of this to begin with and then talk about what this edition was about.

The whole concept of "The Oz Gazette" is that you are reading an actual newspaper that somehow got from Oz into your own hands. So you are reading news that is happening in Oz about the same time as its happening.

It appears, from what I can tell, that the Scarecrow is the lead editor. He isn't the only writer though. For example, it appears that the Woggle Bug has his own section, which honestly makes a lot of sense. There are also sections that can be written by Royal Historians or other people who may have gone to Oz and come back. Cool!

The newspaper also acknowledges the books and the authors who wrote them. This kind of makes sense since the official Oz books were supposed to be written by people who were either in the know or had actually been there. They were not called Royal Historians for no reason.

I should say that it is a little too bad they didn't call it the Ozmapolitan which is the actual canon Oz newspaper, but perhaps it could be said that there is more than one in the Emerald City. What do you think? Should they have used the more canon newspaper name for this?

As far as issue #16, I was a bit shocked to find out that the Nome King had taken over Ozma's throne. They were all tricked by a henchman made out of paper, claiming to work for Ozma in her absence. As for Ozma, she had been whisked away to our world on a live-stream of some kind. Sounds fishy to me!

Most of the newspaper had articles about the Nome King, much of it trying to figure him out since he is not a very good person to have ruling over you. There was even a section about different types of eggs in case you need ammo to fight back. (Nomes apparently consider eggs to be poisonous.) On that note, one of the first things the Nome King did was turn Billina the chicken into a penguin which can apparently only lay one egg per year... or something. Clever though!

The newspaper was fully illustrated too, and I admire the work they put into it. I admit to being very interested in the modern goings on at the Emerald City. Makes me feel like the place is actually somewhere out there. I feel bad for the Scarecrow who has to edit this newspaper in some closet since he's presently trying to hide from the treacherous Nome King.

Do I recommend this thing? Well.. yes. But how are you going to get this yourself? These are very hard to find, and you pretty much have to have a membership to receive them. Either way, I'm sold. Good stuff. I like what this organization is doing, and I hope they continue.

This blog was written on August 3, 2023.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Fairies' Revenge [Short Story Review]

[I summarize and spoil the entire story.]

"The Fairies' Revenge" is a short story written by Lady Wilde. It is another Irish fairy tale that I have come across recently.

The idea here is about a farmer who does not believe in the fairies and how that works out for him. There was a plot of land that was very green and lovely, and because it was so nice, the fairies loved to spend time there, claiming it all as their own. The farmer buys this plot of land and, despite warnings from the locals, he ignores all the fairy stories and builds there anyhow.

Despite his disbelief in the fairies, they begin plotting against the farmer in order to set him right. As usual, they attempt to test his morality, something very common in these stories. They pretend to be an old lady who simply wants some of their fresh cow's milk, but they tell her that they do not like dealing with tramps. Shortly after, the cows fall to pieces... like their teeth fall out and such. A complete mess.

Later the fairy woman returns wanting a piece of cake, but the farmer has rightly assumed that this woman has poisoned their cows and throws her out, although he doesn't think it is because of any fairy magic. At this point, the fairies set their target on their son.

Every night they take the boy away and rough him up. They beat him and also force him to dance through the night before returning him to his bed. This means that the boy is going to be tired and useless every single day. The boy does know that its fairies that are doing this to him, but his parents are nonbelievers and just think he is sick.

Eventually, things get so bad for the boy that he screams out that he needs a priest. The fairies have resorted on jumping up and down on his body even as he lays in his own bed. Still unbelieving, the parents actually do get him a priest just to give their son some comfort.

The priest does help out and it does comfort the boy, but he soon begins to hear and see the angels of God claiming that they will be taking him away soon. He says this several times before saying to his mother that they are finally here... and then he dies on the spot.

This whole thing completely ruins the morale of the entire family. The farmer no longer tends to the farm and eventually just leaves it. Nobody else will purchase it, and so the fairies take it back with no trouble. After all, all they wanted to do was dance and have fun on land they considered their own.

"The Fairies' Revenge" gets a big recommendation from me. It proves that not believing in the fairies will not protect you from them. Good stuff!

This blog was written on August 2, 2023.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Wicked Witch of Oz [Book Review]

[Spoilers included for a book nobody reads anymore.]

But you should read it... because it might be the best Oz book ever written!

"The Wicked Witch of Oz" is the forty-ninth book in the Oz series originally created by L. Frank Baum. It was written by Rachel Cosgrove Payes, and it was published in 1993. Feels like we're getting closer to modern day here, doesn't it? At this point, Oz is nearly 100 years old, and it will be by the next one.

In many ways, this book is the sequel to "The Hidden Valley of Oz" which came out way back in 1951. Written by the same person too. It once again stars Percy the giant rat, and that is pretty much enough to make me love this book already. Percy is awesome. He is sunshine in a rat.

But it's not just Percy that makes this book so great. It is the revival of the fairly unknown Wicked Witch of the South, named Singra, that also makes this book amazing. She is great too, even though she is a very bad person. I found her wickedness to be about equally as entertaining as Percy's rattiness.

Singra had been asleep for 100 years and was woken up by a clock with a 100 year long alarm setting. The book even cleverly demonstrates this with illustrations showing the clock ticking down for a while before the story ultimately begins. These pictures are by Eric Shanower, by the way, who may actually be the best illustrator of the whole series.

Singra wants revenge against Dorothy for killing her two sisters (one by house and the other by a bucket of water), but she accidently turns Dorothy's friend Trot into a piece of cheese. This leads to a great quest headed by Percy the rat to find this cheese and bring her back to be unenchanted.

Along the way, they meet Leon the Neon who is a man made out of neon lights. He's pretty cool too! He sort of flashes as he talks. His body is based on an old cartoon gag where someone gets electrocuted and turns into neon lights. I didn't mind it at all. He's cute.

Percy's cleverness and ratty ingenuity is what saves the day in this one, and I can't express enough how much I love him. He is actually my favorite Oz character. It's a shame that he only seems to end up in two books. He's just so charming. And yes, I admit to being biased towards rat characters, but come on! He's so much fun!

I absolutely recommend "The Wicked Witch of Oz" to anyone interested in the Oz stories. I would also recommend "The Hidden Valley of Oz" as well if you want to see Percy's origin story. There needs to be more books about him. He's wonderful.

This blog was written on August 2, 2023.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: Prince Caspian [Book Review]

"Prince Caspian" is the chronologically fourth book in "The Chronicles of Narnia" series written by C. S. Lewis. The book was first published in 1951. It involved the return of the four children who originally entered into Narnia in "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe."

This one doesn't quite feel like the others so far. It is far more relaxing. When the children are called back to Narnia, they are stranded on a island and have to figure out where and when they are in Narnia. This leads to a more relaxing and calm read.

Since time moves differently in Narnia than it does in our world, Narnia has been altered by time itself. This means that nothing is really all that recognizable to the children anymore. They pretty much have to relearn everything again and try and figure out what is and what isn't on their own.

Once they find and rescue a dwarf, the story then goes into a lengthy flashback sequence which also takes up a large percentage of this story. This is then followed by some travel. Once again, a mostly relaxing read.

All this is building up to Prince Caspian which really ought to be King Caspian of Narnia. At some time in the past, Narnia was invaded by some bad people called the Telmarines, and they have been suppressing all of the talking animals and fairy creatures. But one of their own, Prince Caspian, actually wants Narnia to go back to the way it was. He joins forces with the Narnian creatures in order to make this happen.

Although the majority of the story is very slow and simple, it ends with an absolute banger of a battle. Not to mention that this is when Reepicheep the brave mouse and his little mouse knights show up. Yep, they are wonderful. I'm not going to talk too much about this battle, just know that it makes the whole book worth it. The sights and sounds of it all... just awe-inspiring really.

"Prince Caspian" gets a total recommendation from me. Just note that it is a different sort of book than the others that proceeded it. It draws you into a world comfortably and then slams you into a fantastic battle at the end. What more could you ask for in a fantasy story?

This blog was written on July 26, 2023.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: TekWar [Book Review]

"TekWar" is a science fiction novel written by William Shatner. It was published in 1989. It is a very strange view into the 22nd century where robots have taken over most every job you can imagine. There is also a drug called Tek that can make your fantasies come true, or at least it will seem like it.

Despite the name, the story is more of a missing person's private detective story. It almost entirely takes place in Mexico as well, so there is a lot of random Spanish words thrown into the dialog. This is something I remember seeing back in the 90's whenever Mexicans were main characters. I think they still do it a little today. It's all mostly English, and it never holds the book back at all.

The story centers around Jake, a cop turned private investigator, who has been tasked with finding a missing professor and his daughter. Along the way he finds the daughter's copy android who acts just like her and has all of her memories. Weirdly enough, they are forced to work together to find the real girl. I've never really seen anything like this before, and I found the coupling to be really cool.

The world itself is halfway to being a dystopia, but it never quite makes it there. It functions well enough and just comes across as a futuristic depiction of modern society. The omnipresent robots are actually really amusing. Pretty much if there is a job nobody wants to do, a robot is doing it now. I think this was my favorite thing about the entire universe.

I don't really want to spoil anything about the main plot, but I should say that I did not think much about the ending. It felt kind of forced, and I felt it lacked the realism and impact of the majority of the book. That said, if you are looking for a 90's style, gritty scifi to read, I do recommend it. It's not the best thing out there, but it's certainly far from the worst.

This blog was written on July 26, 2023.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: Paddy Corcoran's Wife [Short Story Review]

[This blog spoils the entire story.]

"Paddy Corcoran's Wife" is a short Irish fairy tale written by William Carleton. It is a very quick read and gets straight to the point.

There is a woman named Kitty Corcoran who has been sickly on and off for 7 years. It comes and goes but is so frequent that it has pretty much uprooted her life. Nothing can be done about her.

One day, while she is sick in bed as usual, a woman walks in and claims to be one of the Good People (a fairy.) This fairy woman points out that the reason Kitty has been sick for no less than 7 years is because she had her children throw out the dirty water at the very two moments of the day that the Good People would normally pass by her house.

The fairy goes on to explain that if she doesn't want to be sick for the rest of her life, she will simply tell her children to toss out the water at different times so as to not drench the fairy people. Kitty does this, and lives a happy life thereafter.

Now consider: She had no idea that her actions were causing harm to the fairies, yet they still punished her for 7 long years before they even gave her an opportunity to right the problem. Kitty did not know her sickness was supernatural at all. It stands to reason that if they had come to her on the first year, she likely would have fixed the issue then and there.

Moral of the story: Fairies are petty assholes.

Good story though. I recommend it if only so you can see how horrible these creatures can be.

This blog was written on July 23, 2023.

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