Do Hangfire And V.F.D. Share A Secret Criminal Past?

Lemony Snicket's Calendar of Unfortunate Events

Jan 12: Birthday of Jacques Snicket, as well as that of his sister.

Feb 26: Jacques Snicket “taken” and initiated into V.F.D.

Mar 18: Jacques Snicket, given his first assignment, disguises himself accordingly.

Mar 31: Alleged date the alleged Baudelaire mansion allegedly burned down.

Apr 8: Isadora Quagmire’s whereabouts unknown.

Apr 17: Jacques Snicket disguise discovered. Alternate disguise employed.

May 13: Nine cows arrested by the authorities under the suspicion of involvement with V.F.D. Jacques Snicket, disguised as the tenth cow, escapes on a stolen tractor.

Jun 26: Jacques Snicket arrives in Paltryville to continue Baudelaire investigation.

Jul 6: Jacques Snicket reports his findings to The Daily Punctilio.

Jul 7: The Daily Punctilio does not publish Jacques Snicket’s report.

Aug 9: V.F.D. declares Jacques Snicket “either missing or on vacation.”

Sep 23: Summer is dead and Jacques Snicket does not return. V.F.D. changes his status to “missing.”

Oct 10: The remaining Snicket siblings open their investigation into Jacques Snicket’s disappearance.

Nov 7: Jacques Snicket reported murdered.

Dec 2: Jacques Snicket reported ill.

Jan 4: Director and screenwriter Gustav Sebald reported missing.

Jan 10: Gustav Sebald found murdered.

Jan 27: V.F.D. declares remaining Snicket siblings “either missing or on vacation.” Very few vacations are scheduled in January.

of course I do

maya angelou in a 2010 facebook post / lori preusch - one thousand stories high, 2016 / vintage library card from the public library of toronto / ta-nehisi coates, between the world and me / matilda (1996) / two pictures from “why our future depends on libraries, reading and daydreaming”, a 2018 photo essay with words by neil gaiman & art by chris riddell / caitlin moran, moranthology / istanbul modern library, turkey / tianjin binhai library, china / real biblioteca del monastario de el escorial, spain / jean-paul sartre, the words / lemony snicket, horseradish / ekua holmes - girl - literature, 2015

i was made for the library

What books on the fae would you recommend?

In no particular order:

W.Y. Evans-Wentz,  TheFairy-Faith in Celtic Countries (1911). *

Lady Isabella Augusta Gregory and William Butler Yeats, A Treasury of Irish Myth, Legend & Folklore (Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry / Cuchulain of Muirthemne).

Emma Wilby, Cunning Folk and Familiar Spirits.

Claude Lecouteux, Witches, Werewolves, and Fairies: Shapeshifters and Astral Doubles in the Middle Ages.

Katharine Briggs, The Fairies in Tradition and Literature (Routledge Vol. 30)

Reginald Scot, The Discoverie of Witchcraft (1570). *

Celtic Folklore (free ebooks). *

Robert Kirk w/ Andrew Lang, The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns and Fairies (1893). *

Lectures & Papers of Note

Dr. Ronald Hutton, Traditional Fairy Beliefs for Manx Heritage. *

Emma Wilby, “Burchard’s strigae, the Witches’ Sabbath,and Shamanistic Cannibalism in Early Modern Europe.” *

Emma Wilby, The Witch’s Familiar and the Fairy in Early Modern England and Scotland. (JSTOR) *

AND, for a good read… this series of articles on British fairy traditions by Dr. Alexander Cummins (@grimoiresontape) is quite good: The Rain Will Make A Door, Part One; Part Two; Part Three. 

* indicates links to public domain / open resource materials

Notes: I didn’t bother listing the few academic texts that may be cost prohibitive. They tend toward having a more specialized focus anyway. Also, my main, personal approach to fairy lore is through the realm of historical witchcraft, which is evident by a number of my selections.

A Series of Unfortunate Events is a Passover Story

So I’ll be honest, I’m not the best Jew to be writing this post. I first saw Fiddler on the Roof at age 19, and the first words out of my mouth were, “Wow! This is really Jewish!” (Meanwhile, my mom was commenting on the Yiddish anachronisms of this play about Russian Jews, because she’s a good Jew who actually Knows Jewish Things) But I hadn’t really heard or seen much about just how incredibly Jewish A Series of Unfortunate Events is, which is a shame because Lemony Snicket/Daniel Handler is himself Jewish. So Jewish, in fact, that he helped write the New American Haggadah (including a part about how, just as there are Four [types of] Children who ought to be accommodated during Passover, there are Four Parents who really ought to be ignored.) But seeing as I can’t find anyone better to write about all the cool Jewish culture and symbolism in A Series of Unfortunate Events, I’ll take over until someone else comes along and does a better job.

Spoiler warning, of course. There’s a lot of deep lore that gains new meaning when looked at through a Jewish lens, including the symbolism behind horseradish and the sugar bowl.

Keep reading

V.F.D’s Codes (Happy bi visibility day!)

Oh yes, that period piece about a gay couple with an age-gap living near the water

we need more books that are written like YA novels but have characters in their 20s… like I can’t keep reading books about teenagers but I’m also not ready for the weird adult romance section of the book store