Steampunk Fairy Tales (11 page)

The Giant rose from his
seat and said, “You’re clever, little one. Once, a naughty boy
entered me land to steal me grandfather’s harp and hen. Are you
here to steal too?”



“
I’m not a thief,” I
replied. “Neither is my mother.”



“
The gentlemen Below
delivered a notice to Freithos. They explained your theft to reach
me kingdom.” Freithos pushed a brass lever next to his throne,
releasing multiple rattling cogwheels. A wide net covered me from
above.

The web pulled up with me swinging inside
it. I was trapped like a wounded animal. “Release Mother,” I
shouted with a gasp. “Father is a cruel man with hatred nesting in
his heart. I’d rather serve here with Mother than slave in the
World Below."

Freithos grinned, exposing
colossal teeth like stalactites in a cave. “Humans can tell any
lies. Me wife trusted the boy who came here long time ago, but me
does not.”



"Please, Freithos, listen
to me! I’ve come with a gift – a new hen.”



“
A hen?” Freithos’ bushy
eyebrows raised to this forehead.



“
Pecky,” I said. “She’ll
serve you well.” I opened my satchel and set Pecky loose. It
pecked, nibbled, and jabbed the net until it gave in and both of us
fell out, landing on the carpet with a thump.

“
That’s a chicken!” roared
the Giant. “I have no use of that.”

“
She’s a mechanical hen
that will help you around the castle,” I said. “By the looks of it,
you might need it.” I turned the knob on Pecky’s back, and with a
whirl it pecked the carpet clean of dust.

The Giant inspected the carpet for a moment
and said, “Me shall release you in exchange for the hen and send
you to the World Beyond.”

Freithos pulled a bronze
lever. A ticking clockwork with emblazoned symbols and dials
appeared through amber steam on the carpet. In the centre sat an
emerald stalk. “Your mother awaits you inside,” said Freithos and
motioned for me to step inside the clockwork.



As soon as I entered, the world changed into
scarlet and azure, glinting into a haze of warm colours. I lost
track of time and space as my bearings disappeared into a rainbow.
When I finally came to my senses, I sat at the dining table in our
house. Mother sat beside me, a silver napkin spread across her
knees. “You are right on time for supper,” she said with a
smile.

“
Supper?”

Through the door came a procession of
servants, led by Father in a grey beanbag. They carried trays with
steaks, vegetables, and exotic fruit.  

“
May I serve chicken
soup?” asked Father with low voice. His monocle had disappeared and
around his neck dangled the symbol of a Giant.

Story Origins

How many did you
guess?

The Clockwork
People-

Pinnochio

The original story about a wooden puppet
that came to life was created by Italian writer Carlo Collodi.
Angela Castillo decided to rewrite the story with clockwork dolls,
therefore creating a steampunk twist.

Perfection-

Bluebeard

To him, Steampunk—indeed, any of the “punk”
genres—has always felt like something darker than similar styles,
and so when the idea of a steampunk fairy tale was brought up, what
came to Chris Champe’s mind was more in the realms of The Brothers
Grimm than Walt Disney. “Bluebeard” felt like a story that could be
adapted to fit a steampunk setting very well, and through the
course of writing it, it started asking a question about humanity:
at what point was Doctor Blaubart no longer terminating a failed
experiment, but instead murdering his wife?

The Mech Oni
and

the Three Inch
Tinkerer-

The One-Inch
Boy

Dave here!
The Mech Oni and the Three Inch Tinkerer
is a retelling of the popular Japanese
story,
Issun Boshi
, or
One-Inch Boy
.

Issun Boshi has many versions, which take
place in different regions of Japan. We chose Hokkaido as the
setting, since we called that island home for a year. We not aware
of any other retellings that take place in Hokkaido.

Although set in Japan, we
kept the language and cultural references minimalistic.
Ganbatte
is what
Japanese people say to wish each other luck. While thinking back to
my semester in Sapporo, I remember a young Japanese woman who was
helping us withdraw money motioned for us to come to the desk. To
everyone’s confusion and amusement, the Americans and I sat down,
since the Japanese hand gesture for “come here” is the American
gesture for “sit down.” This is why Yuki points to her nose,
instead of placing her hand on her chest, when she introduces
herself.

One less subtle reference
is Mr. Suenaga asking Issun if he was a
Koro-pok-guru
.
Koro-pok-guru
are tiny people in
Ainu mythology that traded meat and other goods with the Ainu
people. They didn’t like to be seen, so when a young Ainu man, who
wanted to know what they looked like, waited to ambush them,
the
koro-pok-guru
were so offended that they quit trading and have never been
seen since. One familiar reference in the Western world is the
Picori from
The Legend of Zelda: The
Minish Cap
, who live beneath house plants
and leave gifts for the player. Since the Ainu are native to
Hokkaido, and
Issun Boshi
is a tiny man, we felt the reference was
appropriate.

We aimed to stay true to
the roots of
Issun
Boshi
, even though our
oni
, which is a kind of Japanese
ogre, was actually a giant automoton.

The Copper
Eyes-

The Crystal
Ball

The Copper Eyes
was inspired by a short story called
The Crystal Ball
by The
Brothers Grimm. I came across it while looking for a piece to adapt
for our collection. It was a happy mess, with every fairy tale
element shoved into a two-page story. When I decided to work with
it, I tried to make it more cohesive. The witch mother became the
inventor mother. The ‘Crystal Ball’ became Oliver’s goggles, which
were used throughout this version. The animals became metal
machines. The biggest change was Aileen. I wanted a female
character that kicked butt instead of a damsel in distress stuck in
a tower like in the original. So Aileen was created, and I am
extremely happy with how it turned out.

Strawberry
Sins-

Beauty and the
Beast

This story started with
“how would the Beast from
Beauty and the
Beast
be transformed in a steampunk
setting?” Perhaps because of my love of
Girl Genius
, the answer was “it was
a science experiment gone wrong”. Mad science and villainy soon
followed.

The Yellow
Butterfly-

The Dream of
Akinosuke

The Dream of
Akinosuke
struck me as a story brimming
with wonder and that touch of sadness that many folk and fairy
tales hold. I tried to hold onto and expand that while bringing in
the steampunk element. To do so, I needed to add a villain and
technology, but I wanted to keep certain visual elements like the
ants and the yellow butterfly from the original too. Hopefully
together, it all adds up to something new!

Aubrey and the World
Above-

Jack and the
Beanstalk

This story is inspired
by
Jack and the Beanstalk
with a dark twist.
It
contains references to the original where Jack was a villain. There
are also influences from other fairytales such as
Cinderella
.

As a child I was
influenced by the Swedish author Astrid Lindgren’s tales (my
favourite being
Mio, my
son
), and I’ve tried to instill some of
that atmosphere here.

Author Information

There's magic all around
us, if we just know where to look. Angela Castillo has a goal as an
author: to help people see. She comes from the small town of
Bastrop, Texas, where she loves to walk in the woods and shop in
the local stores. Castillo studied Practical Theology and Music at
Christ for the Nations in Dallas, Texas. She was home-schooled all
through high school and is the oldest of 7 kids. Castillo's
greatest joys are her little girl and two boys, who 'are the best
inspiration for writing ideas.'

Angela has several books
available in paperback and on Kindle, including short stories,
middle-grade fiction, and historic fiction.

Excerpt from
Hidden Pictures, Twisty Little Short Stories and
Poems: TAMER

Evening approached and with it, blessed
relief from heat and the road. The circus troop made camp within a
few miles of a small town, the morning’s destination. People sank
into makeshift beds of canvas and straw; animals fidgeted in heavy
chains and cages riddled with filth.

Geneva made tiny squeals behind her great
trunk while she begged for a pail of water to splash over her tired
body. She squeezed her massive hulk into the corner of the wagon.
Clean by nature, there was no escape from the piles of her own
waste.

The lion, Fanghorn, paced the twenty square
feet of wagon he had called home since a cub. Growls rumbled from
his emaciated body and sometimes evolved into roars which shook the
barred walls. Every mile traveled by the caravan increased his
misery.

Despite deep exhaustion from a hard week of
work, precious slumber would not come to Lurkey, the circus clown.
Errant bits of straw pricked into him and even turpentine failed to
ward of the gnats. His muscles ached and nerves twitched along his
back and shoulders. He gave up the fight and rose.

Lurkey glanced back at the other clown,
curled up child-like on a bundle of canvas. Gustav’s head was
thrown back, mouth wide open in a snore. The man could sleep
through anything.

He staggered out to the community water
barrel in the center of camp. Lurkey withdrew the dipper and poured
some into the tin cup hanging from a rusty chain on the side. He
swilled the lukewarm water in his parched mouth, spit it out on the
ground, and took another swig.

“
Trouble
sleeping?”

He choked on the water and dropped the cup.
Coughing, he held his arms up over his head until air flowed freely
again. The man in the shadows made no move to help him.

“
Gosh, Ringwald,” Lurkey
gasped. “You almost skeered me to death!”

The ring master stepped into the dim halo of
Lurkey’s lantern. His top hat added ten inches to his already
massive form.

“
Stupid clown,” Ringwald’s
grimace revealed a mouth full of rotten teeth. “Since you are
rested enough to fetch water, you should get to work. Go muck out
the elephant wagon.”

Links:

http://www.amazon.com/Angela-Castillo/e/B00CJUELT0/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1

http://angelacastillowrites.weebly.com

Chris Champe

Chris Champe has been found primarily in
West Virginia for the past few decades, rarely straying far from
home unless brought further afield by the promises of anime or
gaming conventions, large LARP events, or the occasional major
hiking trip. He’s mostly a fanfiction author and has only recently
begun focusing on more original work.

He’d like to thank his wife Heather White
for her support, editing, motivation, and inspiration, as well as
constantly pushing him to overcome his laziness and actually finish
a project.

Leslie & David T.
Allen

Leslie and Dave are
Pittsburgh, PA authors and caretakers to three unpredictable, and
often demanding, mutts.

Inspired by the worlds and
stories of David Eddings, Baldur's Gate, and Final Fantasy VI, they
strive to imbue their fantastical stories with a dose of humor and
plenty of intrigue.

On the rare instance they
aren't writing, they forge ahead on any of their other numerous
obsessions, such as gardening, programming, and putting together
Legos while watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

They are currently working
on a character-driven epic arcane steampunk series called
Bitlather Chronicles
.

Links:

Find out more at
http://bitlather.com

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of new releases, sign up for their publications newsletter
at
http://bitlather.com/newsletter/fairy