Author: cherylmahoney

I'm a book review blogger and writer. I have published four novels, The Wanderers; The Storyteller and Her Sisters; and The People the Fairies Forget; and The Lioness and the Spellspinners. All can be found on Amazon as an ebook and paperback. In my day job, I'm a Marketing Specialist. Find me on Twitter (@MarvelousTales) and GoodReads (MarvelousTales).

Fables and Fairy Tales

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, Juvenile, Reviews1 Comment

Quest #2 of the Once Upon a Time Challenge was the trickiest.  This one required reading at least one book in each of the four categories–fantasy, fairy tales, mythology and fables.  The first two more or less fell into my lap, because I read those all the time, Rick Riordan took care of mythology for me, and that just left fables.  Fables was a genuine challenge.

I don’t think I had a firm grasp on what would be defined as a fable, which left me somewhat at sea for finding a retelling or novelized version of one.  So I decided to simplify and pick up a book that had the category right there in the name–and read a collection of Aesop’s Fables.

I’m not nearly as familiar with Aesop as I am with Grimm or Perrault or Anderson.  And I don’t think I liked the stories as well either.  Maybe it was partially the particular collection I read, but Aesop seemed much more about teaching a moral–every story was focused on some lesson about what you should or shouldn’t do.  I like stories to have a moral, but I like it to be woven into an entertaining narrative, rather than becoming the primary focus.

Fairy tales sometimes have lessons too, but they’re usually more subtle, sometimes more complex–and sometimes more questionable too.  But then, I agreed with some of Aesop’s stories, and disagreed with others.

My sense now is that fables are more likely to be about animals or natural forces, focus on ordinary people, and have that aforementioned moral.  Fairy tales, on the other hand, often involve royalty, feature splashier magic like fairies and dragons, and are less obvious about teaching anything.  Which doesn’t explain at all why the graphic novel series Fables is called that, when they’re really more based on fairy tales, but oh well…

I suppose I could actually do some research and look up the difference between the two–but where’s the fun in that?  I’d kind of rather hunt my own conclusions based on what I’ve read.

In this collection, I only recognized one fable: the lion who spared a mouse, which later rescued him in turn.  Maybe there’s a reason that one has filtered into the culture more than others–it was my favorite!

The Once Upon a Time Challenge ends today, so I’ll be posting an update on what I read tomorrow!

The Magic Hill Rewritten

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fiction Friday1 Comment

A. A. Milne is best known as the author of the Winnie-the-Pooh books (which are lovely, by the way), but he also wrote a picture book called The Magic Hill.  It was about Princess Daffodil, a little girl who made flowers grow wherever she walked (a gift from the Fairy Mumruffin).  To keep the palace gardens looking nice, Daffodil was only allowed to walk in the flowerbeds, while the other children could only walk on the paths and lawns–and never the twain shall meet.

Spoiler alert here if that worries you!

Daffodil becomes very depressed because she’s separated from the other children, and finally the court physicians decide the answer is to let her go play on a hill outside the palace.  Flowers grow there, it becomes known as the Magic Hill, and everyone is much happier.

It’s a cute story, but, with all due respect to Mr. Milne, I’ve never liked the ending.  Why should Daffodil be happier playing alone on a hill rather than alone in the flowerbeds?  So after I read it, I wrote a new ending–which is what makes this a Fiction Friday rather than a book review.  🙂

A note before we begin: this is a little cutesy in spots, but bear in mind that it’s a continuation of a picture book (one with characters named Daffodil and Mumruffin!) and I was echoing Milne’s style a bit.  🙂

My writing picks up just before the physicians tell the King and Queen that Daffodil should visit the hill.  In the original, they say she must be like other girls, and then send her to the hill.  Mine goes differently…

**********************************

“In short, Your Majesty, although she is a princess, she must do what other little girls do.”

“But she is not like other little girls,” the Queen sighed.  “She is a princess, and one who spreads flowers besides.  What are we to do?”  So the King and the Queen fretted and fussed and the Doctor shook his head wisely and no one knew quite what to do.  They consulted physicians and herbwives and tried to contact Fairy Mumruffin but she had gone away for a long trip (and wouldn’t be back for at least a year and a day, and probably longer) and so everyone went on fretting and fussing.

Continue reading “The Magic Hill Rewritten” →

Wizards and Luggage, Traversing a Disc

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, Reviews1 Comment

I’ve read upwards of ten books in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, but until recently I hadn’t actually read book one, The Colour of Magic.  It’s one of those series where you can really drop in at any point (though some books are better starting places than others).  I think there are over thirty books in the series, so if you, like me, feel a little baffled at where to begin, don’t bother–just grab something and go (though I recommend Guards! Guards! or The Truth as good starting points).  Or, of course, you could start with #1.

The Colour of Magic introduces us to Discworld, an alternate world which exists as a flat disc, riding on the back of four elephants, who are on the back of a giant turtle.  That right there may give you some idea of what we’re dealing with–a truly bizarre and wonderfully hilarious world.

The Colour of Magic begins in the ancient and cheerfully corrupt city of Ankh-Morpork, where Twoflower has come as the Disc’s first tourist, thrilled by the quaint bars and eager to meet heroes and see real Ankh-Morporkian brawls.  Rincewind the not-very-good wizard ends up roped in as his guide, and they embark on a perilous and hysterical adventure around the Disc.

It sounds almost reasonable, until I mention that Twoflower is followed everywhere by an animate trunk with hundreds of legs known as The Luggage, Death shows up every so often and is rather put out that Rincewind keeps stubbornly not dying, and at one point they encounter imaginary dragons who live inside a giant inverted mountain.  And that, of course, is only the half of it.

If you’re having a gloomy, depressing day, read a Discworld novel.  It will brighten everything.  Pratchett’s books are gritty but hilarious, have a grown-up feel but aren’t really inappropriate for young adults either.

There’s a vast cast of characters who wander in and out of the Discworld novels, and there are some subseries within the larger series (although good luck finding a comprehensive, helpful list of which books fall into which subseries), which focus on particular groups of characters.  There are the witches; the City Guard; the magicians; and let’s not forget Death.  I’m especially attached to the City Guard, led by noble but cynical Sam Vimes.

The Colour of Magic doesn’t focus particularly on any group of characters I recognize from later books, but it will definitely give you a solid introduction to the world of the Disc.

And, a random story: years ago I was on a bus, and overheard a couple of people talking about a book.  A wizard wound up in a tree, and was being visited by what seemed to be Death, but turned out to be a non-fatal disease.  The wizard objected that no one died of that disease, and he couldn’t be killed by him.  Sounds fun, right?  Of course I didn’t hear the book title, and I didn’t ask, and despite a little Googling I never could figure out what the reference was.  But now I’m reading along through The Colour of Magic and lo and behold: Rincewind lands himself in a tree, a cloaked figure appears with a scythe–but it’s not Death, it’s Scrofula.  Death was busy.  Rincewind objects, “I can’t die of scrofula!  I’ve got rights.”

Long-time mystery solved.  And almost as randomly as Discworld itself.

Seeking vs. Browsing, Revisited

On By cherylmahoneyIn Ruminations1 Comment

A couple of months ago I wrote about two methods of finding books to read: browsing, finding random books at a library or bookstore; and seeking, deliberately looking for specific titles.  I’ve always been a browser, but lately I’ve decided to give seeking a try.

I must be a pretty good browser, because I haven’t noticed a big overall change in the quality of what I read by seeking.  There’s been a few really great ones; a lot that are good; and a few that are so-so or just bad.  My reading seems to follow a bell curve in quality!  I feel like that’s about the same as it’s always been.

I have felt more anticipation about what I’m reading.  I’m much more conscious of what I have lined up next, and I’m looking forward to books more–which is a bit of a paradox, when I don’t feel like the overall books have actually improved drastically!

Seeking definitely makes it easier to get to those books I’ve been meaning to read forever, to make progress on my To Be Read list, and to keep up with my reading challenges.  I feel more accomplishment about what I’m reading, like it’s goal-achieving instead of strictly recreation.  But it’s also fun to browse through the library and stumble on something wonderful–and I’ve found plenty of favorites that way.

In the end, I suppose I’m not coming to any startling conclusions.  There are merits to both methods, and I’ll probably do a bit of both in the future.  But I’ll stay a staunch seeker of television.

Traipsing through Greek Mythology with Hercules

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, Reviews, Young Adult3 Comments

As another foray on the Once Upon a Time Challenge‘s cinema quest, I’m going to review Hercules: The Legendary Journeys.  I recently watched Hercules and the Underworld, which fulfills the goal for the challenge.  It was a pretty good movie, but I think we’ll be better off here if I talk about the series at large.

If you’re not familiar with it, Hercules was a TV show in the nineties following the adventures of the mythological hero, as he journeys through ancient Greece.  There was a six-season TV show, plus five made-for-TV movie prequels, and two spin-offs (I’ll get to them later).

Hercules is basically the greatest guy you could ever want to meet.  He has super-strength from his father, Zeus, the king of the gods, “a strength surpassed only by the power of his heart,” as the opening sequence puts it.  And he’s brave, noble, thoughtful, ethical to a fault…but without ever being annoyingly nice.  Some characters come off as too good, and he’s not that–he’s just a really great guy.

Hercules’ wife and children were killed by his evil stepmother Hera (in a careful revising of the original myth), and now he’s decided to dedicate his life to fighting evil and helping people.  How exactly he makes a living at this I don’t know–but it’s great premise for a TV show.  Generally each episode features a new monster, or a new band of brigands threatening a village, or a new plot by Hera.  Hercules comes in to help, risks his life in feats of daring, and eventually saves the day…to go on to help the next group of people.  And there’s often a lot of humor mixed up in there too–sometimes campy, always fun.  The episodes rarely follow a particular myth, but they frequently weave in elements and ideas from mythology.

Usually Hercules is accompanied on his travels by another character who’ll play the major supporting role for that episode.  Sometimes it’s a character with a one-time appearance.  Most often it’s his best friend, Iolaus, who joins him fighting in battles and defeating monsters.  I was thrilled, reading Greek myths years ago, to discover that the original myth records an Iolaus who helped Hercules fight the Hydra.  I thought he was strictly an invention of the TV show.  Iolaus is a pretty great guy too–a little more flawed, a little more apt to lose his temper or do something foolish, but absolutely someone you’d like to know.

And here’s something I think is important–I think anyone watching the show can pretty clearly see that Iolaus is Hercules’ sidekick.  After all, Hercules is the one with his name in the title, and usually he’s the one who does just a little bit more, and is just a little bit better.  BUT–I don’t think Hercules knows that Iolaus is his sidekick.  I think he would maintain that he and Iolaus are equal partners.  It wouldn’t be false modesty–it would be very sincere.  I think that makes a difference in the character, and in the feel of the show.  Hercules never makes much of his own importance–he just tries to help people.  It adds a lightness to the show.  More on that later.

The other most frequent supporting character is Salmoneus, who is basically an ancient entrepreneur.  He always has a new get-rich-quick scheme, which he always wants to get Hercules involved in.  Hercules always declines (although you’d think that maybe he ought to join forces with Salmoneus some time, since he has no visible means of support himself).  It’s pretty much a guarantee of a comedic episode if Salmoneus turns up.

There’s also Autolycus, the cocky and exceedingly self-confident King of Thieves.  And of course the Greek gods turn up now and then too: particularly Ares, the surly (but very handsome) god of War, and Aphrodite, the beautiful and flirty goddess of Love.

As I said, Hercules has two spin-offs, the possibly more famous Xena: Warrior Princess, and Young Hercules.  I enjoyed Xena, but never as much as Hercules, even though it had a cool warrior girl for a hero.  I think it was that Xena took herself too seriously.  She was just never as much fun as Hercules.  And I think Xena and Gabrielle both knew that Gabrielle was the sidekick in the relationship, and I don’t like that as well as Hercules and Iolaus’ equal friendship.  Don’t get me wrong–it’s a great show too–but if you’re picking one, watch Hercules.  As to Young Hercules, it had a younger target audience so they made it more simplistic, and personally I could never get past the fact that young Hercules did not look like he could ever grow up to be Kevin Sorbo (the actor for the main show).  And I was right–he grew up to be Ryan Gosling, from The Notebook.

There are four novels as well, a couple of them pictured above, which are also great.  They’re not novelizations of episodes; they’re original stories, and it’s fun to get inside the characters’ heads more than you can in a TV show.

Hercules was my favorite show for a period as a kid.  I’ve been rewatching them recently, after years of not seeing them, and I’m convinced I had good taste.  🙂  They’re all available streaming on Netflix.  If you have any interest in Greek mythology, or funny adventure stories, check them out!