A to Z 2026 Reflections

         My A to Z  Blog Challenge theme this year was the book launch of Beyond Pomegranate & Thorns, my brand-sparkly-new collection of short stories, poems, and art inspired by and riffing on traditional European fairy tales, classical myths, and other legends and folklore.  I certainly appreciated the comments and encouragement from all those who stopped by during the month!  (Thanks, too, to the A to Z organizers who made this possible.)

        Usually I like to use the Reflections post to add any little extras that didn’t fit into the main alphabet posts, so in that spirit I shall tease you with mention of just a few more stories I played with and included in Beyond Pomegranate & Thorns:

Little Red Riding Hood (You can read a prior post on Little Red Riding Hood’s Family Tree)

The Princess and the Pea

The Frog Prince

Jack and the Beanstalk (You can read a prior post about the Beanstalk!)

The Six Swans

Eve and the Apple (You can read a prior post with a detail of Albrecht Dürer’s The Fall of Man)

Mary the mother of Jesus

The Theban Sphinx

The North Wind and the Sun (You can read a prior post about The Sun and the North Wind: An Allegory of Power)

Area 51

The Itsy Bitsy Spider (You can read a prior post about I is for Itsy)

The Mona Lisa

    … and probably a few other bits I’m forgetting.

        But one fairy tale you will not see anything about is “Beauty and the Beast,” which is actually one of my favorites.  (But here’s a prior post about other artists’ interpretations of The Beast.)  I can’t say exactly why I didn’t have any inspiration to reimagine that one, but I suppose there’s always Volume 2!  (Just kidding.  Certainly at present I have no plans for another collection, although you never know.)

        The other thing I want to do in this post is give a rousing cheer to some of my favorite fellow A to Z blogs this year.  I visited about 50 blogs more-or-less regularly, which is really too many (and why I got around to each of them only sporadically), but I especially enjoyed

        The Multicolored Diary, in which I always learn such strange, fascinating, new-to-me folktales, this year’s being from small towns in and around Hungary.

        The Confusing Middle, in which we visited 26 alternate Earths, all intricately thought-out and beautifully written.

        Monica Hawthorn, in which we were presented with a delightful Austenesque romance in 26 vignettes.

        Tao-Talk, in which an alphabet of goddesses, some of whom were new to me, invited me to consider what sort of goddess I might be.

        Danab Cycle, in which a fascinating future world was hinted at, through the musings of a non-human fan of Earth and humans.

        How Would You Know, with a treasure trove of info about all things fiber and textile.

        Very Important Stuff Here, in which an unfortunate human undergoes inexplicable trials from the gods in an interesting array of literary forms.

        The Versesmith, in which an A to Z of poems are inspired by pieces of art in the artist’s collection.

        So, that’s another year’s challenge completed, and the moral of this year’s theme is that telling stories – and retelling, and sharing, and adapting, and telling again – is perhaps the most human thing there is!  It’s how we make sense of the world, and how we try to share our sense of the world with others.  Lest we lose our very humanity, let’s keep telling each other our stories, and just as importantly, listening to each other’s stories.

        And also, if you should by chance be interested in reading Beyond Pomegranate & Thorns, you can find it at IngramSpark, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or by contacting me via my web site.

        What’s one of your favorite fairy tales, myths, or legends?  And have you ever tweaked it in your imagination, or thought about ways it could be even more satisfying to you?

        Also, want to play a game of "How Much Do We Have in Common?"  Check out my post Birds of a Feather? to find out.

[Beyond Pomegranate & Thorns, book cover by AEGNydam, 20026;

Black Forest Cake, rubber block print with watercolor by AEGNydam, 2026, from NydamPrints.com.]