My poem “Fairy Tale Prohibition” is out now at Alphanumeric. This piece examines cautionary themes in familiar fairy tales and the consequences that come from breaking the rules. This piece draws threads from more than a dozen fairy tales. Can you identify them all? In addition to Alphanumeric, this poem can be read in NonBinary Review Issue #25: Prohibition.
“Even when a prohibition in a fairy-story is guessed to be derived from some taboo once practised long ago, it has probably been preserved in the later stages of the tale’s history because of the great mythical significance of prohibition. Thou shalt not – or else thou shalt depart beggared into endless regret.”― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays
In other poetry news, “Radiant” was nominated for Best of the Net! This piece is a tribute to the radium girls, female factory workers who were poisoned by radiation while painting watch dials (1917-1926). Several of these women joined forces to file a lawsuit. Their eventual win paved the way for labor rights in America and the institution of industrial safety standards. “Radiant” is included in NonBinary Review Issue # 24: Industrial Revolution.
It also appears that I missed the Japanese translation of my story “An Embrace of Poisonous Intent” in Night Land Quarterly vol. 25. This piece was originally published by Egaeus Press in Bitter Distillations: An Anthology of Poisonous Tales (2020). This is my second appearance in Night Land Quarterly.
Carina Bissett 