Angela VanWell

Author | Reader | Traveler | Tea and Coffee Drinker

Inspiring Authors

Inspiring Author of the Week: Eoin Colfer

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I worked at a recycling centre with a Take It or Leave It, Book Shed. I wish I had a picture to share, but it was a long time ago. It was a small aluminum building commonly used to hold lawnmowers and garden gnomes. There were three solid walls, and the fourth consisted mostly of the doorway. The shed was popular and frequented by many of the citizens who recycled. We would take turns tidying and organizing the shed, so it was easier for people to search for treasures to read. There were many copies of Artemis Fowl there, and I ended up reading the entire series from the shed. I didn’t have to worry about finding the next book in the series, as the children’s section had a high turnover rate. The city of full of voracious readers.

From the inside of the book jacket:

Artemis Fowl is a child prodigy from Ireland who had dedicated his brilliant mind to criminal activities. When Artemis discovers that there is a fairy civilization below ground, he sees it as a golden opportunity. Now there is a whole new species to exploit with his ingenious schemes. But Artemis doesn’t know as much as he thinks about the fairy People. And what he doesn’t know could hurt him…

Eoin Colfer, Artemis Fowl

Criminal child mastermind? From Ireland! The front jacket already told me I would get to travel to Ireland and experience the magic from Artemis’s point of view. I loved the idea of a child criminal looking to take advantage of the fairy people and looked forward to experiencing the chaos Artemis was about to unleash.

Unlike the ebook, the paperback books contain the gnomish code at the bottom of the pages. A fun puzzle for those inclined to translate it.

You might notice the water stains at the bottom of the page, I picked this copy up at a used bookstore. Someone previously loved it either in the tub or maybe lakeside, as there was a bit of mould present as well. Don’t worry, I disinfected it:)

Artemis follows in his father’s footsteps as a criminal mastermind. The family fortune gone, Artemis has come up with the most clever of the scheme, to steal the fairy gold. Lacking parental supervision, his father has vanished and his mother mentally ill, Artemis, with support from Butler, his um, butler, searches for the means to refill the family coffers. He discovers fairies are real, finds a sprite who, in exchange for the return of her magic, lets him make a copy of The Book. The Book holds all rules for the fairy world, and with it, he hatches a plan to separate the fairy world from some of its gold.

This book has a fun antihero the reader must remember is twelve years old and therefore makes decisions a pre-teen would make. Solely focused on his own goals, he sets a trap to kidnap and ransom a fairy. Unfortunately for him, Captain Holly Short, a member of the LEPrecon Unit, will not sit quietly while he steals the gold. Holly is my favourite character, followed closely by Foaly, her centaur friend. Will Artemis be able to outsmart the fairy world and take their gold? Will Holly outsmart the boy genius?

From the beginning, I was on Holly’s side. Though Eoin Colfer did a good job of making me sympathize with Artemis and understand his drive to regain the family fortune. An ill mom and a missing dad will do that to you. To take control of his life without his parents, to remind him to consider if he should. Butler and his sister Juliet, both Butlers, were wonderful characters, but in the end, serve the family and therefore cannot be Artemis’s ethical compasses. It is only through his interactions with Holly, Artemis understands there is more to life than wealth and power.

I thought it would be fun to share a translation of the symbols at the bottom of the book. My daughter translated some of it, but this translation is from the Artemis Fandom site. It drove me crazy when I read the book that an important clue was sitting there waiting for me to unravel it.

Goblins shall rise and Haven shall fall.

A villainous elf is behind it all.

To find the one who so disappoints,

Look ye to where the finger points.

Instead of one face, this elf has two.

Both speak false and none speak true.

While publicly he lends a helping hand,

His true aim is to seize command.

Eoin Colfer, translated by Artemis Fowl Fandom

When I heard the movie was coming out, I was overjoyed. I made my daughter watch the teaser often enough that she would roll her eyes when I brought it up. I then forgot about it as the pandemic combined with international living became more challenging. My daughter stayed with her cousins for a few weeks and watched it at their house. I asked, with bated breath, what it everything I hoped it would be? Did they bring the magic to life? Her answer, “It was okay.”

I decided we would watch it again together. After all, I still hadn’t seen it, and seeing it with a different crowd changes how we perceive movies, books, and TV shows. After we watched it together, I knew the truth, she was being kind.

It was not the story I loved. They reduced Butler to a soft butler who didn’t even want to be called Butler, the opposite of the books. It made me want to cry. No-fault lies with the acting. Whoever wrote the screenplay reduced his importance to the detriment of the story. Changing Butler’s sister Juliet to a niece was another loss. She lost her skill set; I missed the old character.

I didn’t even reread the book before the movie; I have made that mistake before. The movie story changes were so obvious, and not for the betterment of the story. I won’t watch any more movies in the series. It seemed they wanted the sole focus on Artemis and forgot the importance of team dynamics. I think ultimately, it will reduce the redemption arc Artemis had in the books, where he learned ethical behaviour and the importance of other people and fairies in his life. If you watched the movie first, prepare for different character development in the books.

Still, I will reread the book series and get the movie out of my head. I enjoyed it the previous times I reread Artemis’s adventures. I am sure I will enjoy them again.

If you are interested in a light adventure with a young male protagonist, I would suggest this series. Although I was not a fan of Artemis, I understood his reasoning and hoped he wouldn’t win the gold, but maybe a family in the end. His growth through the series was fun to watch and Eoin Colfer gave the supporting characters true depth in the book series.

Happy Reading!

Inspiring Author of the Week: Patricia Briggs, River Marked

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Patricia Briggs has been one of my favourite authors of a long time. Her Mercy Thompson Series brought a kindred spirit in a strong female protagonist who is passionately independent yet dependable for her allies. Another piece of Brigg’s writing I enjoy is how she enfolds Native American Folklore into her stories. Mercy’s father’s history is shrouded in mystery, other than he was a cowboy. Beyond that, she only knew he was from Browning, Montana, which made Mercy believe he was of Blackfeet descent. Her introduction of Coyote in River Marked, opened my eyes to the importance of tricksters as a flaunter of the rule and laws of humanity and nature.

My first post of the Mercy Thompson series, found here, focused on Mercy as a character, and I shared my favourite stories in the series. This time I was to share why I love River Marked, her usage of Native American folklore, and the realization I grew up surrounded by their history and took it for granted.

Locations for rock carvings were almost always places of power or mystery—places where the forces of nature were believed to be especially strong.

Wolf carving

Petroglyph Park, BC Parks, Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada

As an adult, and an anthropologist, I have learned the value of storytelling and its importance in culture. There is a mix of carvings representing animals; both real and supernatural, wolves and sea wolves, mythical creatures who were part wolf and part killer-whale. Much like the River Devil, “the creature’s face looked a little like a fox—a mutant fox with very big teeth and tentacles. Its body was snakelike. It was like a cross between a Chinese dragon and a fox with the teeth of a wolf eel.” – Patricia Briggs, River Marked

Sea Wolves, at Petroglyph Park, BC Parks, Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada

The Great Spirit sent coyote to help the first people who lived near the river. The people were lost and the great river monster was there and wanted to eat him. Coyote, being a trickster, hatched a plan to free the first people from the monster while making it promise to eat no one. In the book, the river monster is back, woken by the fae, and is extremely hungry.

Mercy, with her new husband, Adam, was enjoying alone time on their honeymoon when they came upon the problem. Sent by the fae, warned by Coyote, Mercy will do whatever it takes to beat the River Devil. The story mixes American Indian folklore with European Folklore in a beautiful action story where Mercy and Adam’s life together might end before the honeymoon.

Fully of sarcasm, humour, pain, and trust, the story is character-driven as Mercy deals with the changes in her life while marked by a mythic monster who wants to consume us all. While learning more about who her father really is.

I loved this book as Mercy and Adam do not have the support of the vampires, the fae, or the werewolves at their side. Instead, they learn more about Mercy’s history and the strength of the Great Spirit and Coyote. Mercy handles herself well, and Adam is always there to support her as she comes face to face to the mystery behind her father and his death. It was a beautiful book with vivid descriptions of petroglyphs, pictograms, and history-rich in the blood of the North American Indian Nations.

I have added the area to my bucket list of places to visit and explore in Washington State. Here is a little peek of the Stonehenge setting in the book. Have you visited the area? Have you visited the museum, Stonehenge or Petroglyphs? If so, I would love to hear your stories.

Read the whole series, it is worth it. I can’t wait for the next installation.

Happy Reading!

Inspiring Author of the Week: Elizabeth A. Lynn

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Fairytales fed me throughout my childhood. My mother read them to me as I fell asleep and Disney showed me their magic on Sunday nights. I love the innocence of those fairytales. I see the magic in the world thanks to them. As an adult, still loving the fairytales of my childhood, I learned the original tales were much darker and many beloved characters did not live happily ever after. Instead, fairies were creatures of light and darkness, and most times, to be feared. In the Anthology Snow White, Blood Red, many dark retellings are visible, exploring the darkness.

Unlike the others, the short story, The Princess in the Tower by Elizabeth A. Lynn, took a lighter approach, in her retelling of Rapunzel.

Those who have been reading my blog for a while, or who skimmed through my blog’s page, will know I also wrote a twisting of the Rapunzel Fairytale.

I shared the original tale, as shared by the Gutenberg Project. then shared my retelling, where Mother Gotham is not the evil in the story. She is an empathetic fairy, making a home for the darker things found in our world. My visit to the Alnwick Castle Poison Garden inspired her story.

The Alnwick Garden plays host to the small but deadly Poison Garden—filled exclusively with around 100 toxic, intoxicating, and narcotic plants.

Visitors are strictly prohibited from smelling, touching, or tasting any plants, although some people still occasionally faint from inhaling toxic fumes while walking in the garden.

https://www.alnwickgarden.com/the-garden/poison-garden/

The link to my version of Rapunzel is here.

Elizabeth A. Lynn used lighter tones. Most of the fiction I read has a lighter tone to it, to flip her Rapunzel retelling, to provide a clever look at the norms of society rather than magic. Her Rapunzel, Margheritina, was born in the Mediterranean, in an area where the beauty standard is a voluminous woman with an appetite to fit. Margheritina was oddly thin, and would push away her first plate while “others were only into their second portions.”

At last, her mother took her to the doctor to determine what was wrong with her. He diagnosed her with a rare condition, “most common among the daughters of the rich,” anorexia nervosa. A disease without a cure and she would be safest kept at home. Therefore, her mother pulled Margheritina, at thirteen, out of school and locked her up at home.

As Margheritina sewed herself harem pants, listened to rock music, and drank, her mother thought her mad.

As she danced and sang and drank to life, the village considered her quite mad. Margheritina threw herself into her chosen role with gusto.

When the amber bottles were empty and dry she inserted into them bits of paper on which she had written, in her round schoolgirl’s script, I am the princess in the tower.

Elizabeth A. Lynn, The Princess in the Tower

Then one day, Federico Dominico Tommaso, better known as Fred, arrived at the hidden lands where Margheritina lived. While not a prince, he was the eldest son of a prominent landowner, destined to great things that “made him twitch.” Upon hearing a woman’s voice belting out the Beatles, he found Venus.

Fred saw Margheritina, not as scrawny as the villagers did, but as beautiful.

They ran away together where they, their children, and cousin’s daughter, ran a restaurant. They lived happily ever after, and yes, to Fred, Margheritina remained his Goddess.

I loved this story so much, with Elizabeth A. Lynn’s clever twist on current social norms and the idea of beauty. They lived happily ever after by striking out on their own and supporting each other. My daughter loved it as well, I had to share after I found it; it was nice to read a fairytale where the girl embraces her journey rather than feeling like a victim.

This is the first story of Elizabeth A. Lynn’s that I have read, and I look forward to reading more in the future. Her narrator’s voice is light and clever. With the heaviness of the past year, this is what I am looking for in my reading.

The Princess in the Tower is in the Snow White, Blood Red Anthology. I have read half of the stories so far, and many are dark and twisted. So beware of the dark and twisted and delight in the light and clever stories within. If you know of other fantasy and science fiction anthologies that play with fairytales and folklore, please share. I am always looking for more to read.

Happy Reading!

Folklore and Fairytales, W.B. Yeats and his exploration of the Light and Dark in Irish Fairy Tales Part 2

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What do you do when you come upon a Fairy ring, Fairy mound, or Fairy fort? If you put your clothes on inside-out, do you fix them or wear them? Have you ever placed a piece of clothing on a rag tree? Today’s talk by the National Library of Ireland shared the impact of Irish Folklore and Fairytales on Yeats and discussed superstitions that are alive and well today.

I took a trip to Ireland several years ago. Our home base was in Dublin. There are many wonderful reasons to visit Dublin, but our primary focus was exploring its fascinating history. From Vikings, monastic sites, to fairies, there was a lot of history to explore. We visited the National Museum of Ireland, the Clontarf 1014: Brian Boru and the Battle for Dublin exhibit was the highlight. The exhibition of Clontarf, the best-known battle in Irish History, explored the myths and evidence of what really happened in the battle of the pagan Vikings versus the Christian King, Brian Boru. The battle ended with the Vikings leaving Ireland. It was the most exhilarating exhibit; I am grateful we explored it while we were there.

When we entered the Albert Bender Irish Artistic Connections collection, there were correspondences with J.B. Yeats. This was the first time I understood the importance of W. B. Yeats to the historical preservation of Irish history, specifically folklore.

Having since read both Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry and Irish Fairytales by Yeats, the world of historical and modern Irish folklore and superstitions emerged. W. B. Yeats took Irish fairytales seriously and is most likely the reason people shared their personal stories of interactions with the Gentry with him.

The National Library of Ireland shared how their belief in fairies helped the peasants deal with the harsh realities of life. They shared fairytales to learn about morals and instructive for life’s challenges. How Irish fairytales different from many fairytales we are familiar with today, it that the Irish fairy or the Gentry should be respected and feared.

For as Yeats said:

Fallen angels who were not good enough to be saved, nor bad enough to be lost, say the peasantry.

Yeats, Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry

While the hour-long talk included many of Yeats’s poems, the one I was most interested in was The Wicked Hawthorn Tree. A poem I was not overly familiar with. Hearing it with the Irish accent was beautiful. He wrote the poem originally for a play to be performed in a Japanese-style theatre, intended to be sung. Yeats believed he should write poetry like music, creating a trans-like atmosphere for those watching the play.

The Wicked Hawthorn Tree

O, but I saw a solemn sight;

Said the rambling, shambling travelling-man;

Castle Dargan’s ruin all lit

Lovely ladies dancing in it.

What though they dance; those days are gone;

said the wicked, crooked hawthorn tree;

Lovely lady and gallant man

Are cold blown dust or a bit of bone.

O, what is life but a mouthful of air;

Said the rambling, shambling travelling-man;

Yet all the lovely things that were

Live, for I saw them dancing there.

Nobody knows what may befall;

said the wicked, crooked hawthorn tree;

I have stood so long by a gap in the wall

May be I shall not die at all.

W. B. Yeats

Irish believed the Hawthorn tree to be the meeting place of fairies and the portals into the fairy realm. Current superstitions believe they must protect solitary Hawthorns. Farmers build stone fences around the trees to keep the cattle from tearing at their leaves and bark. The trees are good luck when left alone, but plucking their flowers or cutting them will bring misfortune. The theory that stuck with me was the Hathorn tree, believed to guard the portals to the fairy realm, was discussing the passage of time with one of the Gentry. Mourning the brevity of life while the Hawthorn tree guarded what remained: The belief in fairies.

So, if you see a field filled with Hawthorns or a fairy mound, what would you do?

Happy Reading!

An té a bhíónn siúlach, bíonn scéalach

He who travels has stories to tell

Irish Proverb

Inspiring Author of the Week: Ilona Andrews

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Yes, you who have been with me for a while are correct, I already shared Ilona Andrews as an Inspiring Author. Why have I brought the duo back so soon? Women’s Independence Day! I love the Innkeeper Chronicles and the independent females who take on what scares them most to reach their ultimate goals, find and create a family.

They use Earth as the crossroads of the Galaxy. As the crossroads between wormholes and dimensional gateways, Earth has a lot of unique visitors and needed a place for them to stay during their travels. Enter the Innkeepers. The Inn and the Innkeeper have the extraordinary power to cater to all of their guests’ needs, be it a Vampire castle or a specialized chicken coop, while maintaining their secrets from humanity.

Dina Demille grew up in an Inn and became an Innkeeper herself. As she focuses on bringing the long-abandoned Inn back to life, Dina is desperate for magical guests. Although she had a long-term tenant, who incidentally has a bounty on her head, Dina must keep her tenant safe while dealing with space vampires, werewolf soldiers, and bounty hunters.

Dina spent the last few years searching the Galaxy for her parents and their missing inn. At last, she realized another way she might find them was through the guests at her own inn, Gertrude Hall. Something unworldly is attacking the dogs in her neighbourhood and Dina gets involved.

This was a territorial kill, left for everyone to find — look how bad and clever I am.

Ilona Andrews, Clean Sweep

I am a huge fan of both sci-fi and fantasy stories. Books that can include the best elements of both are my favourite. The new and enticing use of magic in my world, the visitation of aliens, even if they are space vampires. They see Earth as not a particularly interesting place, except for its location. I think Clean Sweep and the rest of the Innkeeper Chronicles fit my criteria well. Dina is a magic-filled human. She has the same challenges as many new business owners; she needs to find her clientele to maintain her business. Who can’t relate to that? The quirky fun is that her inn, Gertrude Hall, is somewhat sentient, and her guests are unique and more violent. She is also a good neighbour and doesn’t like that some alien entity with claws is killing the neighbourhood dogs. I wouldn’t either.

International Women’s Day

is a great day for me to celebrate examples of independent female characters in fiction. Why does it make me think of Dina? She is young, alone, and made hard choices in her life. At first, she thought she wanted to be an average human to fit in. Then, when she lost her parents and no one could explain how or why, Dina and her brother searched the Galaxy for answers. When she still did not find them, she focused on an Inn to draw the answers to her instead of searching for them. Not once did she give up. She focused completely on her desire to find her parents and made her choices independently.

No matter if there was a sexy vampire or a stubborn werewolf interested in her, she moved forward with what she knew was best for her and meeting her goals. She also learned her own blind spots through the series and learned to compromise where it made sense and to hold to her standards the rest of the time.

Maud, her sister and the protagonist in the second trilogy of the Innkeeper Series, is no slouch either. A skilled warrior, poet, and survivor of the most savage vampire-held planet, she trusts no one outside of her family. After she, and her daughter, are rescued by her sister, she learns there are others she can trust, if she can open her heart.

Vampire worldview, condensed into three sentences: If it’s not food or a pet, kill it, it might be poisonous.

Ilona Andrews, Sweep of the Blade

I love both sisters and their survival instincts. I cannot wait for the next book in Maud’s journey. If you are interested in learning more about the Demille sisters, you can find their information here.

Happy Reading!

Folklore and Fairytales, W. B. Yeats and his exploration of the light and dark in Irish Fairy Tales

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Would you cross, let alone build, on a fairy ring? Do you plead with the elemental powers to take your love away? Have you heard the faery cry, inviting you to come away from the world filled with sorrow? William Butler Yeats explored the oral history of Ireland and added to it. He was an Irish poet, was born into an artistic family, surrounded by artists and poets. His early works focused on Irish mythology and folklore as he was one of the artists responsible for the Irish Literary Revival and creation of the Dublin Abbey Theatre.

It is those ancient tales and his accounts of collecting Irish myth and folklore that I appreciate the most. It is not surprising as I love myths and the twists and turns they undergo when used in modern poetry, novels, TV series, and movies. The collection, Fairy and Folktales of the Irish Peasantry, is filled with real-world accounts of encounters with the faery realm.

He listened to the stories of his home countrymen and wrote them faithfully. The collection of stories was a connection to the Irish identity, a unifying piece of his country. He seemed to interpret the faery realm and the realm of the dead. And later, when he moved his focus to mysticism, he sought to find more answers.

Come away, O human child!

To the waters and the wild

With a faery, hand in hand,

For the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand.

W. B. Yeats, The Stolen Child

Yeats wrote Fiary and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry in a dreamlike quality. Similar to a ghost story in events shared by individuals who experienced a faery interaction. Many of the events shared were dark and troubling, perhaps a reflection of the times. Children stolen away, changelings left in their place; of the hardships of life and outwitting the faery folk; or a man ending his vices after interacting with faery folk. Stories where Mermen keep souls in cages under the sea, and priests are heroic. A mixture of tales based in late nineteenth century beliefs.

If you would like to read the collection, it is available at Project Gutenberg: Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry by W.. B. Yeats I suggest you read Soul Cages by T. Crofton Croker. It is too long of a short story to share here, but a unique tale of a merman keeping the souls of drowned sailors.

“when I see a good storm coming on, to set a couple of dozen of these, and then, when the sailors are drowned and the souls get out of them under the water, the poor things are almost perished to death, not being used to the cold; so they make into my pots for shelter, and then I have them snug, and fetch them home, and keep them here dry and warm; and is it not well for them, poor souls, to get into such good quarters?”

T. Crofton Croker, The Soul Cages

Excerpt From: “Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry.” Apple Books.

If you are interested in learning more about Yeats’ interest in Irish Folklore and readings of several of his works, The National Library of Ireland is hosting a talk next Friday: National Library of Ireland Talk

I look forward to their view of Yeats’ works and the pieces they will be sharing.

Happy Reading!

Heaven and Fairyland—to these has Biddy Hart given all she dreams of magnificence, and to them her soul goes out—to the one in love and hope, to the other in love and fear—day after day and season after season; saints and angels, fairies and witches, haunted thorn-trees and holy wells, are to her what books, and plays, and pictures are to you and me.

W. B. Yeats, Irish Fairy Tales