20230517 HaikuPrajna - Briar Rose [Book Review]

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Fairy-gifted sleep \\ within the castle of thorns. \\ Fate of a rose bed.

#HaikuPrajna - Briar Rose [Book Review]

Read online [ https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2023/05/20230517-briar-rose-book-review.html ]

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Hello readers,

Briar Rose is the Sleeping Beauty fairytale by the Brothers Grimm. A King and Queen wished for a child, which went unanswered until being granted to the Queen by a frog. 

In celebration, the new parents invite all the Wise Women, except one, to bestow their gifts on the princess just like this story's better known forms.

Before all the gifts were given, the uninvited thirteenth fairy interrupted their party and spoke only a curse, that the princess would prick herself on a spindle and die after she turned fifteen. The twelfth fairy, unable to prevent fate, was able to use her gift to alter the terms to be a century-long sleep, but the King nonetheless kept all spindles away from his daughter.

She grew up and was said to be beautiful and loved by everyone, but by the time she turned fifteen she had never seen a spindle before and her ignorance, never even knowing it existed, had led to her curiosity toward the first she ever saw [this one seems more like a lesson for the parents]. The entire castle falls into a kind of stasis as Briar-rose falls asleep after pricking her finger.

Over the next hundred years, a story spreads of a castle behind the wall of thorns, with many dying in an attempt to breach the bushes. 

A Prince, after listening to the story, walked through the thorns and among the castle's beautiful flowers the day the curse was to be lifted. Queue the kiss upon awakening followed by an immediate bedding and wedding. 

My immediate perception, shared by some other readers, was that the prince saved the agentless damsel in distress, but I believe that underneath this fairytale cliche hides the concept of predetermined fate, in this case from a curse casted by somebody else, where the prince was just the latest in a line of men who had died during similar attempts but who was just in the right place at the right time for Briar-rose to reawaken by herself, thanks to the twelfth fairy's gift.

The prince had little agency in Briar-rose’s fateful awakening, in this version of Sleeping Beauty, and he was in fact swept up at once into her Happily Ever After. 

In the follow-up tale, the prince’s previous fate hindered his new royal family's when the prince’s mother--or first wife--was revealed to be part Ogre, further solidifying Briar Rose's lesson of overcoming one's belief in their own fate.

Thank you for reading,

Until next time!

Allen W. McLean 

PS. April 23rd was the fourth annual HaikuPrajna Day, celebrating my haiku journey; submit to the #HaikuPrajnaChallenge, a monthly poetry prompt, to participate in the occasion! [ https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2023/04/20230423-haikuprajna-challenge-001.html ]

PPS. Hello readers, we're having a flash sale and free ebook promo for this Victoria Day Weekend on select stories!

Kindle $0.99 sales

Together in Forever Part III https://www.amazon.com/Together-Forever-Allen-W-McLean-ebook/dp/B0B7QWWD57

Falgara the Giant https://www.amazon.com/Falgara-Giant-Wisps-Allen-McLean-ebook/dp/B0BRYT41CM

Summond the Scarecrow https://www.amazon.com/Summond-Scarecrow-Wisps-Book-IV-ebook/dp/B0BWWHW25N

SM-SARA [1st release!] FREE! [until May 23rd 2023] https://www.amazon.com/SM-SARA-Allen-W-McLean-ebook/dp/B07SJYPSBD

Smashwords, Indigo Chapters Kobo and more - FREE!!

Ado the Owl https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1221994

https://books2read.com/u/4jqXzX

Hector Blake https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1221995

https://books2read.com/u/bP7O6l

Promotions run until May 24th 2023! [Amazon until the 26th!}

Happy May 24 weekend!

Thank you for reading, and make sure to catch the Free Mondays and Fridays this weekend as well! https://www.amazon.com/stores/Allen-W.-McLean/author/B0867C5D24

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All readers are gifted a Kindle eBook on Fridays and Mondays! Short stories rotate every few weeks - Follow My Author Profile [ https://www.amazon.ca/Allen-W-McLean/e/B0867C5D24 ]

I write mindfulness meditation scifaiku and haiku poetry on my book reviews and on previews of my metaphysical stories, such as "Escape Perennial City". Learn more about my reviews here [ https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/book-review-summary-study-notes.html ]

230331 Project Roadmap [ https://haikuprajna.medium.com/20230331-fourlief-the-leprechaun-project-roadmap-update-6daf8dbecdc4 ]

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April's psychedelic music videos, art and poetry is available on all streaming platforms; Electric Armchair - Rain At Night (Official Animated Music Video) [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAh2b8uSFdI ]

Electric Armchair - After Party (Full Album) [ https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/electricarmchair/after-party ]

  

Part I Trailer [ https://youtu.be/4QDnzzqkEDY ]

BATTLE Colosseum Pt II: Unified Field Theory is available on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited! Add to Goodreads and learn more [  https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/batt-le-colosseum.html ] 

Kindle ebooks can be read on any device at www.read.amazon.com

These poems will be collected in future editions of the HaikuPrajna Collection.

20230504 HAIKUPRAJNA - Star Wars: Darth Vader (2015) [Comic Book Review]

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Underestimate \\ an independent vessel, \\ forcing its order.

#HAIKUPRAJNA - Star Wars: Darth Vader (2015) [Comic Book Review]

Read online [ https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2023/05/20230504-haikuprajna-star-wars-darth.html ]

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Hello readers,

Happy Star Wars Day! I had read Kieron Gillen’s 2015 Darth Vader run while it first released and I often reread its 25 issues, spaced between its four books and one crossover event; Vader, Shadows and Secrets, Vader Down, The Shu-Torun War, End of Games.

These stories were part of the new Disney canon and featured a Starkiller like story with behind-the-Empire’s back adventures, introducing Doctor Aphra as a twist on the hidden apprentice trope, along with the titular Sith earning his title as Lord Vader while dealing with the Empire’s disrespect until then, when they all get their comeuppance. 

Vader’s one of my favourite characters, and Gillen wrote him well with Mustafar flashbacks when disabled, fighting his PTSD rather than “the light” fighting against “the dark”. Vader is broken and he was trying to live with his actions instead of wiping them away. On my most recent read throughs, I kept visualizing Hayden Christensen behind the mask, like in the Obi Wan Kenobi series.

Vader is a straight up murderer, though; any who sides with the Empire is tyrannical and in the company of backstabbers who will both reward and punish insubordination.

Highlights of the series include cyborg clones, Vader being independent of Palpatine’s Empire, other Imperials like the monocle guy believing in the Empire more than the Emperor, thinking Vader was better for the Galaxy than Palpatine, and Vader using the Force and sheer plot armour to make statistical impossibilities possible.

Both as Anakin and Vader, he wanted to establish order and he believed in his faith to overcome any hindrance. This pitted science versus the Force as the ruling power behind the Empire, which was interesting because it showed how the Galaxy at large thought the Force was a fairytale, while acting as an example for Vader's manifestation-like Force usage, his stronger willpower and his being more attuned to one's structure--to what one believes in.

Thank you for reading,

Until next time!

Allen W. McLean 

PS. April 23rd was the fourth annual HaikuPrajna Day, celebrating my haiku journey; submit to the #HaikuPrajnaChallenge, a monthly poetry prompt, to participate in the occasion! [ https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2023/04/20230423-haikuprajna-challenge-001.html ]

PPS.  Happy #freecomicbookday2023! Here's our haul, thanks to Mom and Dad coming along #fcbd #FreeComicBookDay #comics #marvel #disney #nintendo #spiderman #venom #AnimalCrossing #kirby #avengers #xmen 

...

Need more Bite-sized Insights to relieve your stress and suffering?

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All readers are gifted a Kindle eBook on Fridays and Mondays! Short stories rotate every few weeks - Follow My Author Profile [ https://www.amazon.ca/Allen-W-McLean/e/B0867C5D24 ]

I write mindfulness meditation scifaiku and haiku poetry on my book reviews and on previews of my metaphysical stories, such as "Escape Perennial City". Learn more about my reviews here [ https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/book-review-summary-study-notes.html ]

230331 Project Roadmap [ https://haikuprajna.medium.com/20230331-fourlief-the-leprechaun-project-roadmap-update-6daf8dbecdc4 ]

Support by connecting via email or social media [ https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/follow-on-social-media.html ]

Email

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Support me on Medium https://haikuprajna.medium.com/membership

Thanks to you, I am now a VERIFIED BOOK AUTHOR with over TWO-THOUSAND (2000!) readers who have joined us on Medium! Need to stay in the Medium Partner Program? Please follow and turn on email notifications; I will follow you back! "Ado the Owl" and "Hector Blake" are available to read, right now, on Medium.

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April's psychedelic music videos, art and poetry is available on all streaming platforms; Electric Armchair - Rain At Night (Official Animated Music Video) [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAh2b8uSFdI ]

Electric Armchair - After Party (Full Album) [ https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/electricarmchair/after-party ]

  

Part I Trailer [ https://youtu.be/4QDnzzqkEDY ]

BATTLE Colosseum Pt II: Unified Field Theory is available on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited! Add to Goodreads and learn more [  https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/batt-le-colosseum.html ] 

Kindle ebooks can be read on any device at www.read.amazon.com

These poems will be collected in future editions of the HaikuPrajna Collection.