Bloody fairy tales

Grimm fairy talesRapunzel is knocked up by her prince, the evil queen is Snow White’s mother, and a starving mother tells her daughters: “I’ve got to kill you so I can have something to eat.”
Never before published in English, the first edition of the Brothers Grimms’ tales reveals an unsanitised version of the stories that have been told at bedtime for more than 200 years.
‘It is time for parents and publishers to stop dumbing down the tales for children,’ the editor of the uncut edition tells The Guardian
Read the article
~~~~~
Free ebook copies of Random

I will send free (ebook) copies of my new book, Random, the first book in the YA series The Were Chronicles, to the first seven people who ask for it and pledge to leave a review (on Amazon, Goodreads, their own blog, what have you…)
Send an email HERE with the subject line “Free Random Offer”
Include:
(1) a valid email address to send the ebook to 
(2) a single sentence in the body of the email acknowledging that a review will follow.
Random, The Were Chronicles
 
“Random isn’t just a story about shape-shifters, it’s a story about humanity. It’s about what it means to be a member of a family, a culture, a race.” ~ Angela’s Library review
 
 
~~~~~
Africa if the white invaders had stayed home
What if the Black Plague had killed off almost all Europeans? Then Spain and Portugal wouldn’t have kickstarted Europe’s colonization of other continents. And this is what Africa might have looked like.
Uncolonized AfricaThe map – upside down, to skew our traditional eurocentric point of view – shows an Africa dominated by Islamic states, and native kingdoms and federations. All have at least some basis in history, linguistics or ethnography. None of their borders is concurrent with any of the straight lines imposed on the continent by European powers, during the 1884-85 Berlin Conference and in the subsequent Scramble for Africa.
By 1914, Europeans controlled 90% of Africa’s land mass.
Read the article
~~~~~
The dumpster is his home
Dumpster addressDumpster livingJeff Wilson, Environmental Science professor and Dean of Huston-Tillotson University in Austin,
For one year an Austin man will live in a 33 square ft dumpster, Michelle Burwell writes at Daily Good, transforming the “home” from its bare bones to a high-tech sustainable living quarters.
Jeff Wilson will monitor the minimum needed to survive and thrive. For the first few months of The Dumpster Project, Wilson was sleeping on cardboard boxes. He has since upgraded to a bed, minimal storage and even air conditioning. He will soon be connecting a shower and toilet.
Read the article
~~~~~
THIS ‘n THAT
First photo
Mashable finds the earliest known photograph to include a recognizable human form. It was taken in Paris, France, in 1838 by Louis Daguerre.Louis DaguerreRead the article
~~~
Buzz Feed finds:
51 Books That Prove Reading Can Change Your Life
Like the Flowing River“I was so depressed for quite some time, I didn’t know where life was taking me. With this book on hand, I went on a vacation in the countryside, out of the noise and busy urban life, away from technology. I had this book, read it, and when I was done, I had a whole new outlook on life and how to deal with it. ~ —Kristoffer E., via Facebook”
See the other 50
~~~
Temporary literary tattoos by Litographs
ulysseUlysses – by James Joyce
~~~~~
Quote of the Day
After nourishment, shelter, and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.” ~ Philip Pullman
~~~~~
Alma Alexander
My books
If you found this blog post interesting, amusing or helpful, then please use the icons below to share it with other writers, readers or the guy next to you on the subway.