"Forbidden Doors" was a fun episode to write. It's sort of our season premiere, and I framed it like an episode of Law & Order: SVU involving internal affairs. Ciara Bloomfield is manifest story adjacent; in her original tale, she would never even have gotten a name. I appreciate that. With all these princesses running around, it can be easy to forget just how big the fairy tale world is.
It never forgets.
Game on!
August 11 2015, 16:23:44 UTC 1 year ago
August 11 2015, 19:52:41 UTC 1 year ago
1 year ago
August 11 2015, 16:40:38 UTC 1 year ago
August 13 2015, 02:03:27 UTC 1 year ago
Still, I worry that she may not make it to the end of the tale.
1 year ago
August 11 2015, 16:53:26 UTC 1 year ago Edited: August 11 2015, 17:03:42 UTC
- Brementown Musicians (type 130) - Group of animals standing on each others' shoulders impersonate a loud and terrifying human to scare off criminals.
- The Six Servants (type 513A) - one can lift anything, one can swallow the sea, etc., and they each cross an individual challenge to meet the objective.
These are just the ones that spring to mind from my own childhood. Anyone have others to add to the list?
My source for codes since I don't own the tome:
http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimmtales.htm
(Edit: Yes, Wikipedia has the list too, but didn't help me match up the names I remembered.)
--
On a completely different note, I would be SO TERRIBLE at keeping a Bluebeard in abeyance. I want to know if the Agency has tested having a third party X-ray the forbidden garage without telling the wife. Does that trigger the bad ending, or can they arrest the bastard without involving her?
(I do not expect any answer on this topic as it is clearly a subject for current possible plot tension. I just want the damn X-ray results. I would so die in that story.)
August 11 2015, 17:11:50 UTC 1 year ago Edited: August 11 2015, 17:12:11 UTC
Also, I apparently have a thing for subverted Bluebeard stories. Ciara's and Ursula Vernon's short story both make me super-happy.
1 year ago
1 year ago
1 year ago
1 year ago
1 year ago
1 year ago
1 year ago
1 year ago
1 year ago
August 11 2015, 18:04:56 UTC 1 year ago
I am a little suspicious though. Ciara's situation is very similar to Henry's, in fact one could argue that it's worse. She's a Bluebeard's Wife married to and living with her Bluebeard, which to me would be like Henry living with a prince. One would think under those circumstances she would be the last person assigned to review Henry's team, because she could be sympathetic to her -- the very thing they seem to be worried about in Henry's case. Is this a setup, or is there someone upstairs who wants a sympathetic person supporting the team?
I absolutely loved how Henry responded to the question about why she chose to go by a male name, and especially whether she experienced emotional distress over being called by a boy's name. "No, why would I?" For her it meant nothing, but for Gerald that one small victory, and especially that display of support, meant the world. I wish I had a sibling like that.
Thank you, Seanan, for your wonderful talent and imagination, and thank you for portraying the transgender as what we are, people who just want to live our lives and be happy. It's not something one sees often in mainstream media, and we do appreciate it.
August 11 2015, 19:55:57 UTC 1 year ago
Something that I was thinking about while reading this: how fairy tale can one choose to be? For example, Henry can't choose her looks, but she can choose to dress like an MIB rather than wear a stereotypical dress. How much flexibility is there? Ciara can dye her hair (and why does Bluebeard's wife have blue hair, anyway? Tried Googling for that and got nothing) but can't resist the pirate shirt. Sloane can sometimes choose to not poison drinks....
1 year ago
1 year ago
1 year ago
1 year ago
1 year ago
1 year ago
1 year ago
1 year ago
August 11 2015, 19:21:31 UTC 1 year ago
November 9 2015, 13:51:09 UTC 1 year ago
August 11 2015, 20:19:35 UTC 1 year ago
I'm very taken with the way your characters work around their fairy tales - Ciara seems to be walking a very thin line with her Bluebeard, but it works for them. I wonder how long that'll last.
November 9 2015, 13:51:25 UTC 1 year ago
What about that title?
August 12 2015, 01:52:07 UTC 1 year ago
RE: What about that title?
August 13 2015, 06:29:46 UTC 1 year ago
RE: What about that title?
1 year ago
August 12 2015, 12:24:12 UTC 1 year ago
Yay Indexing!
November 9 2015, 13:52:41 UTC 1 year ago
August 12 2015, 15:28:51 UTC 1 year ago
Not usually a super visual person, but now imagining it filmed up like a TV show as you analogize... hm!
Ever since Pratchett the idea of mirrors, fairy tales, and magic becomes a confluent association of ohnowhatnow for me....
November 9 2015, 13:52:52 UTC 1 year ago
August 13 2015, 05:46:54 UTC 1 year ago
I like the idea of Ciara's story in happy abeyance-- I've kind of wondered what happens to people who get the narrative's HEA. What was it like for Beauties and Beasts (back before the narrative evolved in a more dangerous direction)? Was it just like the narrative played matchmaker, and that was the end of it? There must have been more to it... Although of course most genuinely happy endings would be outside of Henry et al's job description.
Can't wait for the the next chapter!
August 13 2015, 06:30:16 UTC 1 year ago
1 year ago
August 15 2015, 02:31:30 UTC 1 year ago
November 9 2015, 13:59:39 UTC 1 year ago
August 15 2015, 02:58:20 UTC 1 year ago
November 9 2015, 13:59:53 UTC 1 year ago
August 16 2015, 17:50:35 UTC 1 year ago
November 9 2015, 14:00:03 UTC 1 year ago