#62 Fairy Good Books: Romantasy pt. 1

In honor of America's favorite green holiday, let's talk fantasy! Jackie takes us into the realm of fairy tales with stories of the sidhe, fae, and elves.

Questions/comments/concerns/recommendations? Email us at [email protected]!

Definitions:

• sidhe (correlated fairy for purposes of this episode and understanding) - taken from Aes sídhe or daoine sídhe ( meaning the people of the mounds). "In Old Irish we see references to síd, síth, síodh, sídh, sídhe, síodha, or sídbrugach as ‘a fairy hill or mound’, and later in a more general sense, to mean something wondrous, enchanting, charming, or delightful. Subsequently, we see the term being associated with supernatural beings themselves, or fairies specifically." (Irish Pagan School, 2022)
• Tuatha De Danu - "people of the goddess Danu," Danu being a Celtic land or mother goddess
• euhemerization - any interpretation of myths that derives the gods from outstanding men, and seeks the source of mythology in history
• seelie/unseelie - derives from the Anglo-Saxon (ge)sælig/ sællic meaning ‘happy’ or ‘prosperous," associated with "seely wytes" in 17th c. Scotland
• Álfheim - Old Norse, "The Homeland of the Elves”
• ljósálfar - Old Norse,  light elves (or bright elves)
• svartálfar/ dökkálfar - Old Norse, dark elves/black elves
• Svartálfheim - Old Norse, "home of the black elves"
• dvergar - Old Norse, "dwarves"

Other episodes to listen to:

• #33 - Exploring The Final Frontier with Science Fiction and Romance
• #37 An Homage to Retellings in Romance Books
• #38 A GRIMM Understanding of Retellings

Books/Authors/People we mention:

• Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
• Arabian Nights / One Thousand Nights and One
• Beowulf
• Arthur Rackham
• The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser
• Folk of the Air series by Holly Black
• Fever and Highlander series by Karen Marie Moning
• A Court of Thorns and Roses and Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas
• What Lies Beyond the Veil by Harper L Woods
• Married to Magic series by Elise Kova (Accidentally named her "Air Awakens" series)
• WinterSong by S. Jae-Jones
• The Halfling Saga by Melissa Blair
• A River Enchanted by Rebecca Ross
• The Four Winds series by Alexandria Warwick
• Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett
• Dragon Heart Legacy series by Nora Roberts
• Stitches by David Smalls
• Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo

Sources:

• “Luck of the Irish: Folklore and fairies in Rural Ireland” (HRAF, Yale)
• “Fairies and Fairy lore: The reality of the Irish fairy” (Broderick, 2018)
• “The Sidhe – Irish Fairy Folklore” (Irish Pagan School, 2022)
• “Túatha Dé (Danann)” (CODECS)
• “Fairy in The Faerie Queene: Making Elizabeth Irish” (Severson, 2019)
• ‘A History of Elves” (Bradford, 2017)
• “The Seelie and Unseelie Courts” (British fairies, 2021)
• "Incredible History of the Tuatha de Danann: Ireland’s Most Ancient Race" (Connolly Cove, 2023)
• "Hallmarks of Fantasy: A Brief History of the Genre" (Pagan, 2020)
• "What Do Readers Want From Great Fantasy Fiction?" (BookViral, 2023)
• "What is fantasy fiction?" (Cliffnotes, 2023)
• "The Sidhe – Irish Fairy Folklore" (Irish Pagan School, 2022)
• "Everything You Need To Know About The Fae Folk" (Tea & Rosemary, 2021)
• "The Fae Meaning and Mythology Secrets You Need To Know" (Brethauer, n.d.)
• "The Seelie and Unseelie Courts" (Writing in Margins, 2022) 
• "Who Were the Celts?" (History.com, 2019)
• "Svartálfar" (Wikipedia, 2007)