Guest Post on Outland Entertainment!

Hey FF readers!In an attempt to generate some buzz about my upcoming novel, A Smuggler's Path, I wrote a guest post for Outland Entertainment about the search for universality entitled, Fairies with Dark Faces. Drop by the website and then feel free to learn more about my book on my other website, booksbyilcruz.com 

In search of other stories--part one

As you know, dear readers, I have a complicated relationship with fairy tales. On the one hand, they're a great source of historical values and entertainment. But on the other, the anachronisms are hard to stomach sometimes. Especially as a woman.Even with my serious case of doublethink, I seek the stories out to better understand them, and to understand where we came from. Not only do I read fairy tales and folklore, but I also love mythology. I read Greek myths as a child and thought they were the perfect mix between fantasy and history, just like a fairy tale. And their purpose was to explain the unexplained. That led me to Norse mythology, Celtic folklore, and then it hit me. What about the other stories?I know I've beat this drum before--diversity and inclusion is something I'm passionate about--but I'm not talking about that exactly. The other stories I'm talking about are related to other cultures. I think I remember learning about a trickster storyteller from an African culture and one or two stories about Hindu gods, but very little else. As a Latina and specifically a Puerto Rican, I learned nothing about Taino mythology. Why is that? Honestly, the only answer I have for that is if they're not looked for, they can't be found.Indigenous peoples all over the world have myths and legends that are strikingly similar and vastly different than the ones from northern Europe. Stories about fairies, little people, monstrous creatures, gods and goddesses. These are stories that should be available and told again and again.In the coming weeks I hope to do my part, small as it may be, to help shed light on other stories and show how similar, and how different they are from the stories we all know. I hope you'll share stories, too. 

Losing it

I’ve been thinking about loss and fairy tales lately. It’s the prologue to most stories, shaping the hero’s or heroine’s current misfortune. Be they motherless, fatherless, or orphans loss is the beginning of a story in fairy tales. Disney has made this fact into a cliché. It’s been joked that Frozen didn’t become a true Disney movie until (spoiler alert) the parents are lost at sea. I almost think it’s pointless to warn you of the spoiler because as I mentioned before, it’s Disney’s hallmark.So what can fairy tales tell us about loss? Is it the impetus that makes ordinary people into heroes? Do princesses (or would be princesses) jump at the chance to marry royal strangers because of “daddy issues”? Are feelings of abandonment just the push a boy needs to take on giants and consider thievery as a way of life? Maybe yes, but maybe nothing so blatant.As a historian, I’m aware that these stories were written in a time when disease, war or poverty would likely tear apart families. But fairy tales don’t care about the mundane. They focus on the fantastical, spinning tales that take us out of the everyday. Wouldn’t you want to escape a reality in which becoming orphaned probably only meant a life of impoverishment and servitude? In the real world, Cinderella would have grown old and haggard at the beck and call of those three spiteful cats. Or she would have run away to the city and been forced into prostitution to survive.But I’m not just a historian. I’m a person with whimsy who sees imprisoned souls in strangely shaped trees. All it takes is a too bright moon and I immediately start to spin a tale about a community of nightwalkers affected by its phases, collecting magical Moonshine. Not all the ideas become a full-fledged story, but more than a fair share get filed in my ideas folder. And one of the most basic things everyone wonders about is death and loss, so why isn’t it a prominent feature in fairy tales? Sleeping Beauty side-steps it with a sleeping spell meant to keep her in suspended animation for a century waiting for her “true love.” Snow White is barely cold in her glass coffin before Prince Charming comes along and dislodges the chunk of apple the dwarves were clearly too short to Heimlich. Red Riding Hood and her grandmother are swallowed whole by the Wolf only to be cut out of his belly by the Woodsman. Even the newest old story, Frozen, gives us a heroine who sacrifices her life and is rewarded by it being returned to her.In my search for loss in fairy tales, I came across a story from my childhood. It falls under folklore and legend more than fairy tale, and is a popular story in Puerto Rico. It’s called La Leyenda de la Piedra del Perro, or The Legend of Dog Rock. Not far from El Morro in Old San Juan there’s a small beach with a long natural rock wall. At its tip is a rock formation that when looked at from the right angle resembles a sitting dog.The story goes that a soldier, Enrique, from back when Puerto Rico was part of Spain, was stationed there, far from home and lonely for companionship. One day he finds an injured and emaciated puppy whom he nurses back to health with food and love. In return the dog never leaves his side and becomes his best friend. As is inevitable with all soldiers, Enrique is called to a battle which requires him to leave the dog behind. They part tearfully and as the boat carrying his human companion sails away, the dog (called Amigo) swims to the rock wall and sits there from sun up to sundown awaiting his return. There’s a brutal battle in which all hands, including Enrique, are lost. The dog overhears the news and rushes out to the wall waiting without respite. He stays so long and so still he turns to stone and remains there to this day.I’m not sure what that story teaches us. On the one hand loss is something that can’t be gotten over and you can remain stuck in a moment of despair without moving on. Or it could mean that loss forces out the very nature of a being. For the dog, it was loyalty. It could be said that for the characters of popular fairy tales, it was a desire to be more or escape their current situation. In both cases, it led to profound change. Fairy tales teach us that no matter how mundane today might seem and yesterday was, tomorrow could be extraordinary--either good or ill. They teach us that loss is not the end of the story.

At the Crossroads of Fairy Tale and Folklore

According to my outdated (read: paper copy!) Webster's Dictionary the definition of fairy tale is a story about fairies, magic deeds, etc., while folklore is defined as the traditional beliefs, legends, etc. of a culture. So does that mean all fairy tales and folklore have in common is etc.? What's etcetera anyway in this case? I like to think that the etc. in a fairy tale are the traditional beliefs and legends and the etc. in folklore are the fairies and magical deeds. Which means they're the same, right? Well, now I suppose I have to address the 800-pound gorilla. That gorilla is called culture.Does culture determine whether a story is a fairy tale or folklore? Does that imply that anything that doesn't originate from Northern Europe (from where most popular fairy tales come) is folklore? Moreover does that imply that Northern Europe doesn't have a culture? Neither should be the case. Fairy tales started out as folklore which became so popular that they transcended culture. That means that all folklore, despite culture, can grow to fairy tale status. All they need is a little push in the direction of popularity.One of the barriers to wider appeal for many folk tales is language. Would we love Grimm's Fairy Tales or the stories of Hans Christian Andersen so much if someone hadn't decided to translate them? We should invite more cultures to the party. Right now the subject of diversity is really hot with writers, especially YA/MG writers of which I am one. It's kind of a minefield of emotions, political correctness, and common sense that everyone has to wade through. As a parent, I want to make sure that my daughter sees herself reflected in the books she reads and the shows and movies she watches. As a writer, I want to insert my reality into my writing (even though I write mostly YA fantasy). But as a bona-fide member of the person of color club, not to mention being part of the largest minority--womankind--I feel as though I shouldn't have to bang the drum too loudly because it's worse than preaching to the choir. Instead of asking for change, I'm going to make change (I know there's some funny cashier joke that I should make, but I can't think of one--any suggestions?). For my own edification and hopefully for your enjoyment, I want to explore folklore that begs to be more popular, starting with my own.