There is a huge appetite for titles like this: a collection of strange, unnerving, and sometime ghoulish tales suitable for upper primary readers. ‘Strange Tales’ features nine such stories inspired by folklore and myth from Daniel’s travels around the world.
Make sure you read Daniel’s piece about his work as a storyteller and what inspires him…
“Bears, wolves and weird tangles of fate, these eight Strange Tales from master storyteller Daniel Morden have it all. In these pages you will meet travellers, tricksters, unlikely heroes, and animals who may not be what they seem… Honed folk and fairy tales favourites from a lifetime of performance, retold with a contemporary twist, stories such as ‘Tatterhood’, ‘Fearless’ and ‘The Luck Child’ will become family favourites for those who love the uncanny, the unnerving and the downright bizarre.”
Guest Blog – Daniel Morden
Since 1989, I have made my living telling traditional stories. I have performed everywhere you can think of – mostly schools, but also theatres, festivals, hospitals, museums, churches, universities, forests, hotels, caves, cathedrals, prisons, palaces….
Sometimes the audience is just children, sometimes just adults and sometimes families. Whoever they are, they want the same thing – to forget themselves, but also to recognise themselves in the actions of the characters. To meet a character whom they like, who is in a tight spot. What will happen next? How will he/she get out of it?
The question I am asked most is, is this your job? – yes! It is a surprise to me too, even after all these years. Occasionally I lie about what I do, because I am embarrassed to explain that I tell stories for a living to – say – a builder.
The next most frequently asked question is, do you make them up?
No.
When I was eleven my parents gave me THE NORSE MYTHS by Kevin Crossley-Holland (I wonder if they later regretted that gift!). It is on a shelf to my left as I write this. It is a bit battered now like its owner but, unlike its owner, it is still beautiful. The illustrations are elaborate and the writing austere. At the tender age of eleven I discovered that a raven sat on each of Odin’s shoulders, and one was named Thoughtand the other Memory. Ever since then I have tried to solve the riddle of this image.
The old stories are full of such riddles. The glass mountain. The devil’s grandmother. The bridge of one hair. They fascinated me then and still fascinate me now. How could I possibly invent images as intriguing? Why bother to try? Why not just tell the old ones? Maybe one day, in the heat of the moment, I will describe the glass mountain in a slightly different way and in doing so come closer to understanding the hold this image has over me.
And I find it touching that by telling these old tales I become part of a chain of voices stretching back into prehistory. In the Scots Traveller tradition they say that whenever you tell a story, over your shoulder is the ghost of the person you heard it from, making sure you tell it properly and if you don’t you will feel a dig in your ribs. Whilst I love the idea that there’s a ghost behind me listening, there’s also an audience in front, wanting to be charmed, chilled or thrilled. I have an obligation both to the living and the dead. If I lean too far back, the audience can’t relate to the story. If I lean too far forward, thevery mystery that drew me to the story is lost.
Some of these tales have been favourites of mine for decades. They have been shaped by repeated telling to the point that when I go back to the original version I started with, I discover I have forgotten some characters and invented others. My attempts to acknowledge the audience in front of me mean I often find the wise old woman was originally a man, and there were a lot more weddings!
In one story we discover that every one of us has a Fate, a magical being who accompanies you throughout their lives, helping or hindering you on a whim. In another story there’s an ointment that enables you to see the creatures that usually move among humanity unseen. In another that there were once bridges between our world and the world above. Strange tales indeed! If these images intrigue you, if you like your stories to move at a clip and leave you with questions, then STRANGE TALES is the book for you!
I really enjoyed the mix of stories included in this collection. Some were quite gruesome, some were ironic, and some made me think.
I found it fascinating to read how Daniel’s stories started to evolve organically as they were shared aloud with an audience. I think we can all agree that there’s something quite magical about a shared tale on a autumn’s evening.
Jo.
*Many thanks to Firefly Press for inviting me to be a part of this blog tour*
Library Girl and Book Boy 