Labby the Rat has been published on Smashwords!

Labby may have looked like an ordinary lab rat, but with the help of advanced human science, he may end up becoming the savior of the entire planet. Bullied and misunderstood by his peers, he struggled with the vast potential within him to ascend to heights no rodent has ever known. Within the course of three stories, you will come to understand how one small rat somehow changed the course of the world as we know it.

Labby the Rat: The original tale of an intelligent and misunderstood rodent and his rise to greater things.

Blue Skies: Two rats are trapped within an automated lab that seems out to kill them.

Rodents of a Doomed Planet: The Earth becomes a wasteland filled with monstrosities. A brave group of rodents work together to escape to the moon.

This new collection of stories by T.K. Wade is filled with adventure, comedy, and action like no other.

Available for $1.99 on Smashwords by clicking HERE! Paperback coming soon!

Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Wolf

There is a reoccurrence in fairy tales of a wolf. I have yet to really find one who is not villainous. Some people complain about this portrayal. They see wolves as majestic pack animals who should not be vilified. I would like to begin this blog by rather bluntly laying out that I do not really care what these people think. A wolf being cast as a villain so many times in history does not strike me as centuries of ignorance as much as it seems to speak of bonafide truth.

Wolves only seem to be friendly when it benefits them. Inside, they are opportunist looking to make the most of their stay on planet Earth. A good number of fairy tales confirm this--if you are willing to look past all the modern-day hearsay about them. Now, am I saying that I believe wolves of today to be truly creatures of evil that are not to be trusted? The wolves of today: no. Should you trust them? Also no. The wolves of today are mere animals, but the wolves of ancient days gone by may have been something much worse.

Imagine, if you are so inclined, a creature who is literally at one with cynicism. That is to say you are born into the world with the inherent belief that there is no point to trying to make the world a better place. Even more so, you believe that evil is actually the proper way of things. The strong live well by oppressing the weak. To devour your lessers places you higher in the world where it is safer. And so be safe is the greatest thing of all. You get to live your life and let those beneath you provide you with your meal.

The wolves of old fairy tales have always been cynical creatures. They look for opportunities to kill the innocent to suit their own happiness. And they desperately wish to be happy. For a wolf to sneer is to know that it has succeeded in its efforts in some way. They have bested you or someone like you. No crime is too much for them to commit. They simply do what they need, when they need, in order to survive. And everyone but them is expendable.

Now, are not these tales of wolves really just examples of abhorrent human behavior? Why, yes. They certainly are. They are also about the wolves who inspired these people. The answer is really that these stories are both about humans and wolves. Indeed, there are people living on this planet that live the cynical lives of these wolves. They may not actually eat someone... maybe. It's not off the table, so to speak. They may simply devour people in other ways. Perhaps, simple murder. Maybe, they just steal from them. You see, the thing about wolves is that they only do what they need to survive. Too much often times will cause them unwanted attention, and wolves do not like attention.

The object of the wolf is to remain alive and safe. If they achieve decadence, they will indulge. But outside of that, they will employ every sin in order to continue surviving. They will use every trick in the book. They will employ disguises. They will speak with the tempting voice of a snake. They will murder. They will rape. They will destroy all that is good in the world if only for one good night's sleep. The wolves came first, and there are humans who have learned from them. Don't throw around your trust so easily. You might end up a bloody meal.

Thank you for reading my creepy blog! If you enjoyed it, you can comment below, or you can email me at tkwadeauthor@gmail.com. Snarl.

Rat - Available in Paperback and Ebook!

An old, maniacal rat who wants to control others.
​
A white slave rat who never knew freedom.

A son coming to terms with his father's evil ways.

The lives of rats are cruel and deadly.

Enter into their world and discover the darkness within.

"Rat" by T.K. Wade follows the adventures of an evil rat named Cornelius Wolfington the Fourth. He will stop at nothing to control his destiny even at the expense of those around him.

On sale at www.tkwade.com!

[Warning: This book is not intended for children!]

A Wolf in My Bedroom - Available in Paperback and Ebook!

Imagine if your daughter was secretly being visited by an evil entity every night in her bedroom… and you were unawares. In this dark tale, T.K. Wade relates the story of Darlene–a young girl who has developed a relationship with a brooding wolf named Shadow. In many respects, this is a modern-day take on Little Red Riding-Hood and focuses on a feminine desire to be possessed, controlled, and ultimately devoured.

Can Darlene ultimately overcome the creature’s possession, or will she inevitably become his meal? "A Wolf in My Bedroom" is a slow-measured horror story intended for young adult readers and up.

On sale at www.tkwade.com!

Fairy Tale Spotlight: Little Red Riding-Hood

This blog contains spoilers. You have been warned.

Many of us have heard this story growing up, but very few bother to seriously examine it. "Little Red Riding-Hood" is one of those stories that have been authored by many. Its true origin is uncertain. There are many variations of it, and some of those variations are more telling than others.

The basic concept of "Little Red Riding-Hood" was that a girl leaves to see her sick grandmother with some sort of gift--usually food. On the path to meeting with her, she runs into a talking wolf who advises her to take a different path or proposes a race. The wolf always gets to the house first and devours the grandmother. He pretends to be her which may or may not involve cross-dressing. Upon the little girl's arrival, Little Red will marvel over the non-human features of the wolf which produces a number of clever explanations from the disguised wolf. Upon saying the line, "My, but what big teeth you have!" The wolf will reply, "The better to eat you with!" and then promptly devour the girl. That is the story in its most basic form. Anything else added to it is a modification.

In later years, likely within the 1800s, a new character was introduced to the story. In the Grimm's version, a hunter comes along--quite randomly--and finds the wolf sleeping, with the girl and grandmother stuffed in his belly. He promptly chops the wolf open and rescues them from a very untimely digestion. This is the version I hear about more often. It is also the most unrealistic version. People would argue that anything is possible in fairy tales, and I would agree. However, I believe the most beloved fairy tales generally have origins in truth, The Grimm's version is cartoony and ridiculous. It is not to be taken seriously by an adult.

The advent of the hunter also seems like it takes a little too much from a different story known as "The Wolf and the Seven Little Kids" which also has a belly opening as a rescue attempt. Where it is a common thing to see similarities between tales, I must still insist that the hunter event is a modification of a much simpler story. People only liked it cause it made them feel safer. I don't mean to upset them, but wolves are actually very dangerous animals when they are hunting you.

Although I am sure it was not the first version of this story, the earliest copy of "Little Red Riding-Hood" that I was able to read was by French author Charles Perrault--published in 1697. Not only does this story end in death, there are some other anomalies of note that you may find striking and even quite horrible. Perrault made no secret that the story was a parable about how little girls should be wary of older men. This version of the story makes that quite clear.

For one, the girl seems quite pleased to meet the wolf on the road. She is goaded into a race to her grandmother's house, and she does not dissuade him in these thoughts. He runs off, and she continues at as a more casual pace. The wolf eats up the grandmother as usual, and as far as I could tell, he does not really cross-dress. He only pulls the counterpane up to his face. Now, it was clear that the girl knew what a wolf was and did not seem to care. When she goes into her grandmother's house, there is a strong sense that she already knows that it is the wolf pretending to be her grandmother. She may even know that her grandmother is dead already. There might even be blood. Either way, she does not seem to worry about it.

This suggests that the famous questionnaire is a simple game between Little Red and the wolf. It really does not help that she undresses and gets into bed with him before it begins. She is teasing him, and he likes it. But perhaps, the teasing goes too far. He devours her... and she dies. And that is the end of the story.

Obviously, if you look at this from a sexual perspective, this is actually an attempt to keep little girls away from men she does not know. She may think she is in control, but she does not entirely understand the nature of a wolf. If you replace the wolf with an older man and the devouring with rape, then the story suddenly takes new meaning--perhaps, its true meaning.

Alternately, if we go back far enough, this could be a look into a dark age where animals really could talk. And we may find that the little girl really was that uncaring, heartless, and quite frankly, stupid. Whatever the case, "Little Red Riding-Hood" will forever be a very powerful story in support of personal vigilance.

One a final note: I have written a fictional novella which is expounds heavily on the darker meanings of the Charles Perrault version of "Little Red Riding-Hood." It is called "A Wolf in my Bedroom," and it is available as an eBook or in paperback. You can find out more about it at my website: www.tkwade.com.

What did you think? If you would like to say something about my blog, you can comment below, or you can email me at tkwadeauthor@gmail.com. My! What a big blog I had!

Fairy Tale Spotlight: Repetition

I have encountered extreme examples of repetition in a number of old fairy tales. These especially occur within the Grimm tales. Repetition is when a particular series of actions or dialog take place over and over again--occasionally with minor tweaks each time. These incidences of repetition often happen in threes, but not always.

Repetition is a common storytelling technique that is still used to this day. It is primarily an oral tradition entity. We hear it a lot in narrative jokes. In fairy tales, repetition happened in the form of a person having to do a series of actions or a set of dialog several times until some outcome occurs.

Here is an example of repetition: A young maiden awaits her lover to come home from war. She fears for his life. A bird was conscripted to keep watch over him, and every morning, the bird flies to her home and alights on a tree outside her window. When the maiden awakens, she opens the window and says, "Oh, beautiful bird up in the tree, will my lover come back to me?"

To which the bird will reply, "Your lover is well. I've seen him today. Any more than that, I cannot say."

This little ritual could go on many times throughout the story. The maiden may see her lover again, and she may not. But the point of repetition is that on each day, she must say those lines exactly in the same way with no deviation, and the bird must follow along as well unless her lover has actually died.

Repetition can also surface as a spell. A good example would be the evil queen of the famous story "Snow White." Remember what she said to the magic mirror? "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?" The reason this qualifies as repetition is because she says it several times throughout the story. The reader pretty much expects it by the last time she does it. Verbal spells in stories do not require repetition. However, it is something that occasionally happens, and the rhythm it creates becomes a memorable aspect of the story as a whole.

Repetition also helped making stories easier to remember for the purposes of oral tradition. A complicated story that is always changing is much harder to tell from memory than one that has a repeating mechanic to it. In fact, it's part of the fun of telling it. It winds the listener up into the narrative and they will likely stick around to see where it is going.

Next time someone tells you a joke where a repetition is present, keep in mind that that person is utilizing an ancient storytelling gimmick that really works. Human beings pretty much invented storytelling. We're damn good at it! Repetition is only one of many techniques that proves we were made for this sort of thing.

Thank you for reading my blog! Liked it? You can comment below or email me at tkwadeauthor@gmail.com. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Solar Eclipse

In the real world, a total solar eclipse is super cool. It is basically when the moon passes between the sun and the Earth causing a momentary blackout in the middle of the day. As cool as it looks and sounds, that's really about it. It's rarity is what draws people to it, Let's be honest: If this happened every single day, nobody would bother looking up and burning their eyes out trying to see it.

The rarity is actually one of the reasons that the solar eclipse is important to our tales. Look at it from a tribal standpoint. You are doing your best trying to serve the gods as well as you can. One day, you make a little mistake and hope that the gods didn't notice. Enter then the solar eclipse. The sun gets blotted out for 2 and a half minutes. It's night time in the middle of the day. Obviously the gods were paying attention that day and have decided to take the sun away as punishment. Probably a good time to panic.

Indeed, we did not always understand what the solar eclipse was. That can have a major effect on ancient tales. My very first memory in life was a partial eclipse. At the time, I thought my mother had the power to turn the sun off at will. You can imagine how impressed I was.

Often fairy tales pitch the blotting out of the sun as an extremely bad omen. It can even be a clear and present danger. We all know how the dark creatures of the world like to roam around at night. What if it was eternally night? Those horrible things would suddenly have free reign to murder us, and the world would be a far gloomier place to live.

So does that mean that our solar eclipses are a bad sign? No, not really. At the very least, it does not seem to be much more than a simple rare solar event at the moment. Perhaps, there was more significance to it at an earlier time. Sometimes, fairy tales are true. Either way, there is clearly a fascination with the solar eclipse due to its strangeness and rarity. And we shall always have the inclination to imagine bad things when it makes a rare appearance within our skies.

How did you like my blog? You can leave a comment below, or you can email me at tkwadeauthor@gmail.com. Thanks!