Book Review Fairies, Myths & Magic II by Colleen Chesebro #yuletide #magic #fairies #myths #review #newbook

Blurb

In this second book in the Fairies, Myths, & Magic series, step into a world where dark fairies and other magical beings converge in a collection of poetry and short stories inspired by winter and the celebration of the winter solstice.

From autumn’s scary fairies to the forgotten female characters of Yule, prepare to embrace the magical winter solstice myths from around the world. Meet Frau Holle in the Wild Hunt, Befana—the Christmas Witch of Italy, and the Japanese goddess Ameratasu who controls the springtime. Prepare to embrace the Scottish trows, the Irish Goddess of Winter—the Cailleach Béara, and Snegurochka—the Snow Girl.

Learn how to make Yuletide rituals part of your celebration by embracing the symbols of Yule by decorating with evergreens and crystals.

My review

I really enjoyed reading the 2nd book in Fairies, Myth and Magic series. It’s a wonderful celebration of the winter solstice, with a fabulous mix of stories, flash fiction and poetry.

There are details of international myths and legends in the Introduction To The Myths & Legends of Yule section at the end, highlighting pagan yule traditions. Two of my favourites were Iceland’s Christmas Troll Grýla! And Amatersu (Shine Your Light,) from Feudal Japan.

I certainly learnt a lot from this book and it is clear the author, Colleen Chesebro researched, loves and breathes magic into her subject matter.

There is a light-heartedness within the collection with the tale of the winter Green Fairy and the fairies drinks recipes which the author shares! This continues with flash fiction pieces such as Trash or Treasure.

As well as this, there are more serious pieces such as Fairy Hoar Frost, a short but powerful piece of flash fiction about the ever growing fear of climate change.

Colleen is an accomplished poet and wordsmith. She runs her own weekly poetry challenge and there is no doubt that her poetry shines. I particularly loved the opening poem, Samhain’s song as well as The Night of The Mothers, a celebration of women and motherhood, and the luscious darkness of The Wild Hunt.

Highly recommended.
A lovely collection to savour at wintertime.

My rating 5 stars

I was recently part of the blog tour do visit that post here: https://mjmallon.com/2022/12/14/fairies-myths-magic-ii-a-winter-celebration-colleen-chesebro-newrelease-poetry-winter-myths-magic/

Colleen M. Chesebro is a Michigan Poet who loves crafting syllabic poetry, flash fiction, and creative fiction and nonfiction. Colleen sponsors a weekly poetry challenge, called Tanka Tuesday, on wordcraftpoetry.com where participants learn how to write traditional and current forms of syllabic poetry.

Along with JulesPaige, Colleen is also a co-editor of “Word Weaving, a Word Craft Journal of Syllabic Verse,” at wordweavingpoetryjournal.com. The debut issue of this journal will publish in October 2021.

Colleen’s syllabic poetry has appeared in various other online publications. Recently, she created the Double Ennead, a 99-syllable poetry form for Carrot Ranch. Colleen’s poetry has poetry in various anthologies and journals including “Hedgerow-a journal of small poems,” and “Poetry Treasures,” and Poetry Treasures 2: Relationships.

Colleen published “Word Craft: Prose & Poetry, The Art of Crafting Syllabic Poetry,” which illustrates how to write various syllabic poetry forms used in her Tanka Tuesday challenges; and a collection of poetry, flash fiction, and short stories called, “Fairies, Myths & Magic: A Summer Celebration,” dedicated to the Summer Solstice. She contributed a short story called “The Changeling,” in the “Ghostly Rites Anthology 2020,” published by Plaisted Publishing House.

Find Colleen at Word Craft Poetry at wordcraftpoetry.com, or her author blog at https://colleenmchesebro.com.

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Fairies, Myths, & Magic II A Winter Celebration – Colleen Chesebro #newrelease #poetry #winter #myths #magic

A warm welcome to Colleen who is here to celebrate the launch of her new book, Fairies, Myths, & Magic II. I have had the pleasure of reading book I too! Both are wonderful books.

I was delighted to receive an early copy of Fairies, Myths, & Magic II to beta read and review.

It is a delight and will definitely get you in the mood for winter and the Christmas season.

More about that below … and a review for now… A Lovely Celebration Of The Winter Solstice.

Day Fourteen: 12/14/22 Yule Blessings Book Tour

  1. Why you wrote your book, and how much research you did for it.

Hi, Marje. Thank you for the opportunity to share the news of my new book, just in time for the winter solstice and Yule.

In writing Fairies, Myths, & Magic II, I spent a couple of years researching the different winter and Yule celebrations from around the world. I might have slipped down the rabbit hole of research for a year or so. It was interesting to find that almost every culture celebrated the winter solstice in some form.

The poetry and short stories took months for me to write. I’m not a fast writer, and often mull things over before deciding the story or poem is what I meant it to be.

This book is the second in the series. The first book included poetry and short stories dedicated to summer and the summer solstice. In the coming months, I’ll make this a two-book series boxed edition.

  • I’d also like to know which winter customs you follow.

We’re Buddhist and Pagan, so we don’t celebrate Christmas. Don’t get me wrong, when our children were still at home, we celebrated Christmas with them. After they all grew up and moved away, my husband and I decided to celebrate the winter solstice which has become our main winter celebration.

I usually start the day with some prayers and meditation. I like to do some light cleaning to sweep out last season’s energies to let in the new.

Later, we fix a lovely dinner. Some years the food is special, other years we eat whatever we have. We always share a toast to the return of the light. I always leave some honey and bread out for the house elf and the good neighbors. I want to keep them all happy.

When the darkness falls, we light white candles to chase away the darkness. White is a symbol of hope and purification. This color of candle helps to clear your thoughts for a new season. Candles also help to purify your thoughts so you can release negative energy and celebrate the longest night of the year. The winter solstice is all about celebrating the return of the light… what better way to celebrate than with candles.

We have these wonderful built-in shelves next to the fireplace. They were perfect for my winter altar for Buddha. As you can see, I have my white winter solstice candles ready to light on December 21st.

Some years we exchange a small gift with each other. This year, our gifts were various house renovations. We’re happy to have finally finished our reno project, so no other gifts are necessary—it’s good to have each other and be together.

In past years, we always hosted friends and family for the winter solstice. What better way to bring in the magic of the new year than to celebrate with those who matter most to you.

  • And which is your favourite personal poem/story in the book and why, include excerpt of that. And anything else you would like to ask yourself.

When I started researching the myths of Yule, I found all this wonderful information about the forgotten women of Yule. I was captivated by the idea that women were the first figures to influence our modern holiday celebrations.

In fact, my research shared that many of the Pagan traditions were adopted by the Christians because many of the myths were firmly rooted in the culture of the people. It was easier to change the women of Yule into saints or witches. Over time, the changes took hold. Instead of goddesses, we began to describe these female figures as fairy godmothers.

Slowly, men replaced the likes of Frau Holle with Father Christmas, Santa Claus, and the Russian, Ded Moroz. These male characters are all believed to be inspired by Odin himself!

Mōdraniht, which translates to Mother’s Night was really a surprise. On December 20th, families used to celebrate motherhood and female ancestors, as the feminine ancestors were also considered to be the guardians of the family line.

The Winter Solstice is celebrated as the rebirth of the sun, so it made sense the ancient people would celebrate the feminine connection to fertility and crops. It all goes back to our humble beginnings as an agrarian society.

I love the idea of celebrating the women we came from. Here’s a syllabic poem to celebrate our female ancestors on December 20th:

Mothers Night

Rejoice on the Night of the Mothers

pay homage to our female roots

toast your mother, grandmother,

the women in your life

who touched you with love

be brave, protect

family

blood lines,

thrive

the

mother

goddess soon

rebirths our sun,

we honor with food,

grateful messages sent

to the women who gave of

themselves, they made us who we are

we offer you our lasting respect

To Our Mothers!

Thanks so much for helping me celebrate the release of Fairies, Myths, & magic II, Marje. Happy Yule.

It’s my pleasure Colleen and I love that poem.

About the Book:

In this second book in the Fairies, Myths, & Magic series, step into a world where dark fairies, and other magical beings converge in a collection of poetry and short stories inspired by winter and the celebration of the winter solstice.

From Autumn’s scary fairies to the forgotten female characters of Yule, prepare to embrace the magical winter solstice myths from around the world. Meet Frau Holle in the Wild Hunt, Befana—the Christmas Witch of Italy, and the Japanese goddess Ameratasu who controls the springtime. Prepare to embrace the Scottish trows, The Irish Goddess of Winter—the Cailleach Béara, and Snegurochka—the Snow Girl.

Learn how to make Yuletide rituals part of your celebration by embracing the symbols of Yule by decorating with evergreens and crystals.

Fairies, Myths, & Magic II Links:

Colleen’s Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Colleen-M-Chesebro/e/B01N9MV2RX

Amazon Universal Link: https://mybook.to/FairiesMythsMagicII

About the Author:

An avid reader, Colleen M. Chesebro rekindled her love of writing poetry after years spent working in the accounting industry. These days, she loves crafting syllabic poetry, flash fiction, and creative fiction and nonfiction.

In addition to poetry books, Chesebro’s publishing career includes participation in various anthologies featuring short stories, flash fiction, and poetry. She’s an avid supporter of her writing community on Word Craft Poetry.com by organizing and sponsoring a weekly syllabic poetry challenge, called #TankaTuesday, where participants experiment with traditional and current forms of Japanese and American syllabic poetry. 

Chesebro is an assistant editor of The Congress of the Rough Writers Flash Fiction Anthology & Gitty Up Press, a micro-press founded by Charli Mills and Carrot Ranch.

In January 2022, Colleen founded Unicorn Cats Publishing Services to assist poets and authors in creating eBooks and print books for publication. In addition, she creates affordable book covers for Kindle and print books.

Chesebro lives in the house of her dreams in mid-Michigan surrounded by the Great Lakes with her husband and two (unicorn) cats, Chloe & Sophie.

Find Colleen here:

Word Craft Poetry: https://wordcraftpoetry.com

Colleen M. Chesebro, Author, Poet & Unicorn Cats Publishing Services: https://colleenmchesebro.com

Facebook Page: Colleen M. Chesebro, Poet & Author: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100085941528913

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/colleen-m-chesebro-6b856b237

Here is a tentative schedule:

12/1/2022: Diana Peach

12/3/2022: D.L. Finn

12/5/2022: Elizabeth Gauffreau

12/7/2022: Willow Willers

12/9/2022: Ritu Bhathal

12/11/2022: Robbie Cheadle

12:13/2022: Annette Rochelle Aben

Me on the 14th

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Colleen’s Coffee Klatch: MJ Mallon, “Do What You Love,” #NewRelease – Colleen M. Chesebro

Thank you so much to Colleen for this lovely Coffee Klatch post and review celebrating the launch of my new poetry, short fiction release Do What You Love.

Colleen’s Review Recommendation:

Do What You Love is a fantastical journey between the author and the three sisters of fate told in poetry and prose. Many of the reminiscences are autobiographical, sharing memories and photographs accompanied by poetry and short prose pieces.

In this gentle journey from her past, present, and future, Mallon weaves together the poetic threads of her life influenced by the three sisters of fate: Atropos, Clotho, and Lachesis. She shares with them many conversations about meeting her husband, what it was like living in Scotland, and later her life in Cambridge, featuring stories about her children and her own sentimental stories of growing up.

It’s Mallon’s nature photos and poetry that always send me to far-off lands filled with the beauty of Autumn. Watch for one of my favorites, the flash fiction piece called, “A New Harvest.”

A lovely read that leaves you reminiscing about your own past, present, and future.

Source: Colleen’s Coffee Klatch: MJ Mallon, “Do What You Love,” #NewRelease – Colleen M. Chesebro

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New for all Your Authorly #SelfPublishing Needs – Unicorn Cats Publishing Services – Colleen M. Chesebro – DGKayewriter.com

Excellent publishing service by Colleen Chesebro do read on and find out more about Colleen’s new formatting and cover design service which I have reviewed. Excellent service – both formatting and cover design which I recommend wholeheartedly.

Read at source at Debby Gies blog:

Source: New for all Your Authorly #SelfPublishing Needs – Unicorn Cats Publishing Services – Colleen M. Chesebro – DGKayewriter.com

Today I want to help promote my Sister/Friend, Colleen Chesebro’s new publishing service business – Unicorn Cats Publishing. Don’t you just love the name? I want to help share wit…

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Word Weaving: A Word Craft Journal of Syllabic Verse: #1 New Release in Japanese Poetry & Haiku – Colleen M. Chesebro @ColleenChesebro

Congratulations to Colleen Chesebro on her new release Word Weaving – its doing so well!!!

So pleased to be a contributing poet with so many amazing community members being a part of it.

My review:

Word Weaving #1: A Word Craft Journal of Syllabic Verse by Colleen M. Chesebro

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I’m thrilled to be a participating author in this lovely collection of poetry compiled by Colleen Chesebro and edited by Jules Paige. My review relates to the other authors in the journal.

It begins with an introduction by Jules Paige in which she discusses the choice of theme in this particular collection.

There are haiku, senryu, tanka, tanka prose and many more forms, all of which are fabulous with so many favourites…

dancing in moonlight
in the autumn of our years
still chasing blue skies

Pat Raffington.

the empress rises
summer and winter curtsy
nature holds its breath
while the symphony begins
fireflies dance in the moonlight

Gwen M. Piano

Other highlights include D. L. Finn’s Moon’s Magic which I loved – about a lone black cat on the edge of the world, under the harvest moon and her “Harvest Moon,” Butterly Cinquain.

The collection concluded with a Best of Issue Poetry with favourites chosen by Jules and Colleen. The chosen poems were by D. L. Finn, Merril D. Smith and Ken Gierke. All excellent.

D. Wallace Peach’s “Moon-spun” tanka prose idyll – so magical and enchanting and her “Revolutions” Butterfly Cinquain.

Merril D. Smith’s Crapsey cinquain entitled “October Night,” her shadorma sequence “Harvest Moon,” and her abhanga “Through the Leaves.”

A new poet to me Sujata Khanna wrote a lovely double inverted etheree entitled “A Viaduct.”

And I particularly enjoyed Bill Engleson’s nonet, “Her Winged Way,” and his diatelle “Above Campbell Bay on a Hot August Night.”

Loved Colleen Chesebro’s Luna’s Soft Glow.

Shadorma took me to a “Moon Dance” with Ruth Klein’s contribution.

There was a “Meeting of Minds,” with a Badger’s hexastich written by Susmita Ramani and her “Autumn Half-Dream” “Prom-ises.”

A Triple Abhanga by Annette Rochelle Aben was lovely too.

I could go on and on. Do read this wonderful collection you won’t be disappointed.



View all my reviews

Find out more about this from Colleen….

Source: Word Weaving: A Word Craft Journal of Syllabic Verse: #1 New Release in Japanese Poetry & Haiku – Colleen M. Chesebro

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NEW Release: “Word Craft: Prose & Poetry, The Art of Crafting Syllabic Poetry” | 🌸Word Craft Prose & Poetry🌸

My good friend, and sis Colleen Chesebro has some wonderful news!! Her new book Word Craft Prose and Poetry is out in kindle! Such a huge accomplishment. I know that Colleen has worked so hard on this. It is a huge poetry community endeavour and she includes so many of her community’s poems as examples in the book.

I’m thrilled that my Garland #Cinquain poem about a copse of trees is included!

Over to Colleen…

In her words: I’m honored to share with you the Ebook release of “Word Craft: Prose & Poetry, The Art of Crafting Syllabic Poetry.” Are you ready to learn how to craft Japanese and American…

Are you ready to learn how to craft Japanese and American poetry? Consider this book the first step on your journey to learning the basics of how to craft syllabic poetry. Inside, you will discover many new forms, syllable combinations, and interpretations of the different Japanese and American forms and structures of haiku, senryu, haiga, tanka, renga/solo renga, gogyohka, haibun, tanka prose, the cinquain, and its variations, Etheree, nonet, and shadorma poetry.

So… what are you waiting for? Let’s craft syllabic poetry together!

Amazon.com

My review:

Word Craft: Prose & Poetry: The Art of Crafting Syllabic Poetry by Colleen M. Chesebro

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This is a comprehensive guide covering both American and Japanese poetry including Haiku, Senryu, Haiga, Tanka, Gogyohka, Haibun, Renga, Crapsey Cinquain Etheree, Nonet, Shadorma, and variations, as well as examples of all the forms and recaps to refresh the memory too.

It is written in such a way that it is easy to understand and get the most from.

The Art of Crafting Syllabic Poetry begins with an introduction to how Colleen’s journey began – her poetry community, and goes on to discuss definitions of “meter, syllable, and stresses,” and the hard work required to find your creative soul. She suggests ways to encourage creativity, and talks about figurative language too.

It is clear that author Colleen Chesebro has put her heart and soul into this guide and loves helping others to be the best poets they can be. She runs a wonderful community of poets with weekly prompts, (which again must be an incredible amount of work,) and is now expanding her repertoire to include online submissions to her poetry venture with poet JulesPaige. Colleen is also a co-editor of “Word Weaving, a Word Craft Journal of Syllabic Verse,” at wordweavingpoetryjournal.com more about that below in her Bio.

What an incredible amount of work, dedication and research has gone into this book and into everything that Colleen Chesebro does.

It is a wonderful resource for both new students of poetry to learn and to refer to whilst writing poetry and for old hands, (such as me,) to jog our memories and to avoid making careless mistakes about the forms!

There is a bibliography at the end with the names/links/detail of all the poets who have contributed to the anthology. I’m delighted that my #Garland #Cinquain poem is included amongst this section along with so many awesome contributions from poetry community members.

My recommendation: This is a fabulous book, and one that Colleen Chesebro should be very proud of.

5 stars. I’ll be buying a paperback to use as a resource.



View all my reviews

Source: NEW Release: “Word Craft: Prose & Poetry, The Art of Crafting Syllabic Poetry” | 🌸Word Craft Prose & Poetry🌸

More news! Today Colleen’s poetry submission window opens for her new word weaving journal. Pop over to her blog to find out the theme: https://wordweavingpoetryjournal.com/2021/05/15/announcing-the-theme-for-the-1st-word-weaving-poetry-journal/

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Colleen’s Book Reviews | “A Diamond for Her,” by Mark W. Sasse; “Lockdown Innit,” by MJ Mallon; “Joining Don & Wen,” by Stuart France & Sue Vincent – Colleen M. Chesebro

Source: Colleen’s Book Reviews | “A Diamond for Her,” by Mark W. Sasse; “Lockdown Innit,” by MJ Mallon; “Joining Don & Wen,” by Stuart France & Sue Vincent – Colleen M. Chesebro

Thank you to Colleen for including my latest poetry release, Lockdown Innit Poems About Absurdity in this wonderful bunch of reviews for Mark W. Sasse, Stuart France & Sue Vincent and yours truly!

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Soliciting Syllabic Poetry Donations Part Two

Colleen Chesebro is looking for syllabic poetry donations for Part Two of her book:

It’s time for an update on the poetry I need for examples for my new book, Word Craft – The Art of Crafting Syllabic Poetry. I’ve been playing with book cover ideas. The book is divided into two group: Japanese forms and American forms. This book covers the eleven forms we use in the weekly…

Source: Soliciting Syllabic Poetry Donations Part Two

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