The White Witch Returns, Celebrity Edition

Let’s look at some more White Witch depictions — and Snow Queens, Ice Princesses, Winter Maidens, and the like — that have been modeled by celebrities. Once I started looking, there were far more than I realized. And not all of them were female… but that’s gonna warrant it’s own separate post!

First, a classic.

That’s British TV presenter Olivia Attwood dressed as the White Witch from the 1988 BBC version of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. It’s not an exact replica of Barbara Kellerman’s costume, but if you’ve watched that series, it’s pretty obvious.

Emily Blunt as Queen Freya from the 2016 movie The Huntsman: Winter’s War. That movie was a sequel to Snow White and the Huntsman, an earlier take on Snow White. Both movies featured Charlize Theron as the wonderfully wicked Queen Ravenna, who wiped the floor with Kristen Stewart’s princess character in the earlier movie. The Huntsman: Winter’s War didn’t do as well as the first, even though it introduced Freya the Snow Queen as Ravenna’s icy sister. The series was discontinued, but it wasn’t the fault of Freya’s silvery, shimmering outfits (even though they appear to be more than a little ill-fitting.)

Maria Schrader, a German actress and director, as a witchy winter character with a stern, angry expression.

Bridget Fonda played the Snow Queen in a 2002 TV movie of the fairy tale wearing  this chic white ensemble topped with a Russian fur hat. This look should be more iconic than it is.

Singers Bjork (left) and Katy Perry (right) in avant-garde stage costumes that look chilly, icelike, and alien.

Maria Seiren, a contestant on Japan’s Got Talent, dazzles in a bridelike gown with a feathered headpiece that showed off her every movement on stage.

Lady Gaga at a 2020 music awards show (hence the mask.) Her look screams futuristic White Witch, but like many of her presentation outfits appears half-baked and hastily thrown together. In recent years she’s scaled back, given her hip and fibromyalgia problems, but they were fun while they lasted.

Gazini Ganados, Miss Universe Philippines 2019, dazzles in a showstopper of a pageant gown that recalls winter, ice…  and two giant eagles on her shoulders?

 

An Eight-Legged Aslan?

ERB cover for Thuvia, Maid of Mars

No… it’s just a whimsical illustration for a French edition of Thuvia, Maid of Mars, by Edgar Rice Burroughs, depicting a Martian banth (apex carnivore resembling a multilegged lion. )

Edmund’s Bargain

“More Turkish Delight, please. THEN I’ll tell you about my siblings, beginning with the oldest one.”

Worldbuilding Wednesday 7/31/24: Narniaworld, Part 5 (Narnia LVIII)

The famous apple tunnel espalier on the grounds of Cair Paravel, formed of heirloom fruit trees

Here is where everything else about Narniaworld goes… lodging, amenities, and non-ride attractions, all of which add to a park’s appeal. In making up this list, I put in what I’d like to see in a theme park. You can think of this as tying everything else together… lodging and services for guests, what guests can do when they’re not inside the park, and so on.

 

Narniaworld Non-ride Attractions and Amenities

The Apple Orchard
 Comprising two acres, the apple orchard lies next to and slightly below Cair Paravel castle and grows heritage varieties of the fruits that were popular in Britain before the 20th century. Park guests can observe workers using ancient and organic husbandry techniques to fertilize, nurture, and pick the fruits. The apples are offered for sale to guests and also used in the park’s kitchens. In addition to apples there are heritage pear, quince, and walnut trees. Tours of the orchard are given on the weekends and must be reserved.

After the spring Waking the Trees parade there is a ceremony here with Pomona blessing the trees. In Autumn there are apple cider making demonstrations.

Next to the apple orchard is the castle’s kitchen garden which is similarly cultivated and provides food and herbs for the park. A tour of it is included with the one of the orchard.
Beaversdam A hotel on the grounds of the park and the only hotel at present. Themed to the rustic, cottage décor of Mr. and Mrs. Beaver’s den. It can be considered a small resort. There is a heated outdoor pool, an indoor pool with sauna, and an outdoor children’s play area with a woodland theme. Off the lobby is a small grocer’s / souvenir shop and a restaurant, The Marmalade Roll, which offers a family afternoon tea. Puddleglum’s Place, which sells fishing and other outdoor supplies, is also located here. Hotels outside the park have begun to offer shuttle service to Narniaworld, so if you can’t find a place in Beaversdam or Beruna (they fill up quickly) don’t worry.
Beruna Campgrounds A large fully serviced campground with tent and RV hookup spaces by the river a short distance from the park. There are showers, picnic tables, and pavilions available. Guests can either walk or take the shuttle service to the park’s main entrance. During summer nights, the nearby Dancing Lawn picnic area is lit up with bonfires and character actors sing, dance, and swordfight. (All shows are improvised and never the same twice.)
Bicycle Rentals Available at both Beaversdam (The Jill) and Beruna (The Polly) by the hour or by the day. Paved bicycle trails run all around the park grounds and are also used by park employees to get around.
Charging Stations There are places to charge phones and other devices throughout Narniaworld park. All are free to use and have attendants.
Coriakin’s Mansion A supervised play area for young children inside the park where they can wander from room to room examining the fallen star’s belongings and magic tricks and even play dress-up. Outside is a hedge maze to get lost in, topiary animals, and a small water park with a fountain and water sprayers for hot summer days.
Fishing Lakes There are two lakes near Beaversdam hotel where guests may fish: Tarva Lake and Alambil Lake. No boats permitted but there are piers.
Garden of the Silver Apples A shady garden inside the park for guests to take a break in. Plantings are seasonal, there is water available, benches, and tables. In the center is the huge (but not living) tree of the silver apples with colorful animatronic bird guardians who talk and sing.
Nature Trails Narniaworld comprises a lot of land and much of it is yet undeveloped. More than ten miles of nature trails stretch through this area including a trek to the top of a small hill where, some nights, Dr. Cornelius sets up his telescope to look at the stars and an estuary where one can observe protected species of birds.
The Professor’s Study An educational exhibit about Narnia and its creator C. S. Lewis inside the park. Includes artifacts, artwork, original manuscripts, and interactive displays.
Swanwhite’s Boats Swan paddle boats are available for rent to use in the bay. The rental pier is located down the hill from Cair Paravel inside the park.
The Talking Hound A place for people to board their pets while they visit the park (fee is extra.) Grooming services available. It lies between Beaversdam and Beruna.

Knowing what I do now about the park, the infrastructure just wrote itself.

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Aslan Shows His Colorful Side

Posters for theatrical productions of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe usually adhere to traditional imagery for the book: trees, snow, lamppost, wardrobe, faun, in wintry colors like pale blue, black, and gray. But this one, for a London production, goes bold with rainbow hues for Aslan and his mane.

 

The Product
[Reading Challenge 2024]

The Product

by Marina Fontaine
Conservatarian Press, 2022
[ #23  After the fall: A post-apocalyptic or dystopic book. ]

This book kept popping up in my Kindle feed, so I chose it for the “Dystopia” category of this year’s challenge.

It occurred to me when writing this review that “Russian Dystopia” is perhaps a subset, one I have sampled before when I read Boris and Arkady Strugatsky’s Roadside Picnic for the 2022 challenge. The country in this short novel is never named, yet it’s clear it is a stand-in for the Soviet Union during its drabbest time… post-WWII when everything had been modernized but was utilitarian and gray for the common folk and under constant threat of surveillance. As such, I consider it an alt.universe science fiction fable, an allegory. As a dystopia it was softer than the English and American varieties, with more humanity. It was a short work, novella-sized, but had all the impact to me of One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.

(The author was born in Russia before the fall of the Berlin Wall, so she has firsthand experience.)

The story is about Kevin, a young dealer of “The Product” (you find out what that is later, and it’s essential for citizens not to give up hope and keep their sense of empathy) who is captured by the secret police and horribly abused. This takes up, I’d say, the first half of the book. It’s a lot like fanfic in its length and detail, and I couldn’t help feeling some of it was gratuitous; yet, it served the story with upping the stakes for the characters later in the book. Miraculously, he escapes with aid from his fellow dealers, who form a secret underground society of sorts. He returns to his girlfriend, Lily, and struggles to set up a new identity and a new life. There’s a surprise twist at the end. I won’t reveal it here. But the story didn’t end horribly like I expected, or was conditioned to expect, from books like Orwell’s 1984.

The author has her own voice. She broke a lot of writing rules I’ve seen posted on the Authors Water Cooler boards and elsewhere, but it was mesmerizing and kept me on the edge of my seat up to the end. In that she was similar to another of my favorite authors, Storm Constantine, also a breaker of rules, but also mesmerizing.

The story alternated between Kevin’s and Lily’s POVs, which often changed mid-chapter, and at times, went off into omniscient or into a side character’s. The emotional detail was very fine and I felt I knew everyone inside and out, even if broadly (in the case of a sadistic policeman who takes delight in torturing the dealer.) At times the characters did things I didn’t expect, which was a delight, such as forgoing sex until an official wedding ceremony is performed by a pastor masquerading as an appliance installer, no less. I grew up on SF of the 1970s where it was the in thing for the characters to have sex on the drop of a dime, so that touch was sweet. (Though that’s all I’ll give away of the plot.)

In the end, recommended. Readers who devour YA dystopias should take a look at this; it’s way more mature and nuanced, and even romantic.

Russian and Ukrainian Editions of The Chronicles

In looking up foreign editions of the Chronicles I came across some unique editions that were published in Russia and Ukraine. You can consider this post a companion to The Return of the White Witch: Russian Edition.

The three books above, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Horse and His Boy, and The Magician’s Nephew, came from a themed set. What’s interesting to me is that the cover artist clearly cribbed from Pauline Baynes’ pen-and-ink work, but added his or her own touches.  Aslan in LWW looks like he has a white beard and goatee while the White Witch is as slinky as Baynes’ version, with her tall spiky crown. In the center pic, Bree is black and not the grayish dappled horse indicated in the text. And in the last, Strawberry, or Fledge rather, was a chestnut colored horse and not white — Baynes, who was very familiar with the text, colorized him so for special edition illustrations.

The common border the books share may be cribbed as well, though I’ve yet to find the original source. It incorporates a lion and unicorn at the top, nicely alluding to Narnia’s birth (through Aslan) and destruction (indicated by Jewel rearing in the flames) as well as the English nursery rhyme. The rest of the border includes Talking Mice, Telmarine soldiers, Eustace as a dragon, a faun, Cair Paravel, and a magic ring.

I am not 100% sure these covers were unique to Ukraine; as an artist and SEO detective, I have the nagging feeling I’ve seen them on some other editions. So much of the artwork is similar, if not incorporating Baynes’ original drawings it’s re-interpretations of them. But for the moment, I’ll say that they are.

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Narnia Chinese Editions, Peoples Literature Publishing House, 2018

Left, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe; right, Prince Caspian

I found these Chinese translations on Amazon.com during my search for Narnia images. All have artwork I’ve not seen duplicated anywhere else, and I’m guessing it was localized. I think it’s worth examining.

First, the cover design of this edition of The Chronicles (I’m assuming it was for the whole series not just the four books I’ve found) seems more like that for a manga than for a book. I haven’t seen the insides, so I’m not sure that is the case. But it would definitely attract a young reader. The background design of tree branches remains the same throughout, only changing color. The four mini portraits at each corner are unusual, and I’m guessing (going clockwise from top left) they’re Edmund, White Witch, Peter, and Lucy. But what happened to Susan? Why has she been excluded? (Has the translation edited her out?)

Looking at the individual artwork the LWW cover nicely shows the conflict between Aslan and Witch, summer day dawning vs. snowy winter night. It’s effective, IMO.

On the other hand Caspian looks older than he was in the book,  common for a lot of PC illustrations. Reepicheep mugs as usual. I’ll say it’s effective as well.

Left, The Silver Chair; right, The Magician’s Nephew

The SC cover art is an odder choice. Eustace and Jill are depicted hanging out with the owls which was only a small part of the overall story. (It may have been due to riding the Harry Potter gravy train.) The grim, determined glares on the kids are also unusual. Jill with her striped shirt and jacket might be emulating a Japanese schoolgirl’s uniform, but what the heck is Eustace wearing? It looks a little like a Nehru shirt with a pocket protector.

As for MN, Fledge should be chestnut, not white. And he’s certainly larger than he is in the illustration where he’s more the size of a carousel pony the two kids are riding, who resemble neither Digory or Polly from the book.

There’s many more fascinating editions from China that I will get to.

The Giant’s Causeway

For a long time (ever since I read the book at 11 or 12 in fact)  I’ve wondered if C. S. Lewis, a native of Ireland, ever visited The Giant’s Causeway and received inspiration from it to create the titanic stone bridge over the River Shribble. As you remember, Puddleglum, Jill, and Eustace crossed it to reach the Northern Moors. In all my research I’ve never heard it said that he did, though fans speculate. The two formations, bridge and causeway, later became mixed up in my own mind so that in between Chronicle readings I wasn’t sure if the bridge was an arched one or a low-lying tidal one.

The Giant’s Causeway in Ireland is formed of lava squeezed out from the earth like toothpaste from a tube, forming distinct hexagonal columns that cooled and solidified. (Why hexagons? I don’t know.) Similar extrusions formed The Devil’s Tower in Wyoming and the valley walls of Glacier Basin in Mt. Rainier National Park, which, in certain light conditions, I’ve found look very similar to a ruined city.

However, it turns out the Irish formations are not so epic after all, judging by this pic.

I would still like to visit though.

Worldbuilding Wednesday 7/24/24: Narniaworld, Part 4 (Narnia LVII)

Left: Trufflehunter’s Cave has stuffed toys and chocolates for sale.
Right: Glasswater Collectibles. (AI art)

Most theme parks have tons of merchandise associated with them. Such merchandise screams “Hey! I’ve been to the Magic Kingdom!” or “I could afford to visit Harry Potter’s Magical World of Wizarding for three whole days!” It doesn’t matter if you’re way too old to be wearing a purple Stitch backpack or a chibi Hermione pin. Hell, if you’re old, you’re likely wearing it out of duty anyway, having spent $60+ dollars on the thing.

OK, I confess, I’m not immune either. For many years I proudly wore a “Saturn 5” t-shirt I bought at Cape Kennedy Space Center, which in addition to being a working spaceport and historical attraction, has many elements of a theme park… and the gift shops to match, which were sumptuously themed around aviation and space.

Since theming is everything, what sort of shopping would Narniaworld offer? I came up with these ideas.

 

Shopping at Narniaworld

Christmas Market Many tents and booths line Narniaworld’s main thoroughfare from late November to the New Year in homage to the popular European Christmas markets that sell ornaments, toys, Christmas décor, and gifts. Father Christmas has his tent here and food wagons sell hot cocoa, cider, kettle corn, Queen Susan’s butterhorns, and roast chestnuts. Narniaworld carolers gather hourly to sing Medieval Christmas songs. (Most rides and attractions remain open at this time.)
Glasswater Collectibles Items made of artisanal and hand-blown glass.
The Great Souk of Tashbaan
 Due to open next year, this open air marketplace will feature stalls and small shops selling beads, Middle Eastern jewelry, textiles, and Turkish Delight to take home.
King Caspian’s Confectionery Large shop selling candies of all kinds with seasonal offerings and displays.
Lasaraleen’s Trinkets and Treasures Currently located near Archenland in the park, but will be moved into The Great Souk of Tashbaan next year. Women’s accessories including jewelry, sunglasses, shopping bags, backpacks, purses, and hats; but lately more popular for its line of organic makeup, soaps,  and perfumes.
Lucy’s Diamond Cordial A small shop offering drugstore type items like sunscreen and aspirin for use within the park.
Puddleglum’s Place Store selling fishing poles, lures, bait and other outdoor gear (binoculars, etc.) to be used at one of the two nearby lakes or fishing piers outside the park. Located in the lobby of the Beaversdam hotel.
Royal Raiment Clothing store that sells souvenir-oriented items like t-shirts and hoodies as well as dress-up costumes for children.
The Night Owl Themed after Glimfeather, this shop sells astronomy-related items like star charts and telescopes; also sleep masks, alarm clocks, flashlights, and anything to get around in and/or enjoy the dark. Very popular with the campers.
The Wood Between the Worlds  General Narnia merchandise store just inside the main entrance. The interior of the store has columns in the shape of giant trees and different “ponds” indicate each section. There are interactive kiosks inside to supply information about the park and make reservations. Narniaworld’s largest and busiest store.
Trufflehunter’s Cave Sells — what else? — chocolate truffles of every sort. Boxed varieties are available to take home.

Some of these stores and the products they sell were suggested by name — like Glasswater Collectibles — while others fulfilled a need, and were then named, like Lucy’s Diamond Cordial. Others I thought up out of necessity; a campground likely would offer fishing and hiking, and thus a need for fishing poles and binoculors. Who’s the Narnian fishing expert? Puddleglum.

The shop I’m most proud of is The Night Owl. Now that’s a good concept!