Please allow us to introduce you to the Loathly Lady, the first print issue of Scheherezade’s Bequest.
As You Wish gathers together fiction, poetry, and non-fiction in an exploration of what it is women (and men) truly want. We chose the theme of the Loathly Lady for this issue in order to challenge modern perceptions of beauty and to explore the notion of sovereignty. Authors responded to our call for submissions with a diverse arrays of stories, poems, and academic insights into the Loathly Lady trope. Their answers to our questions may surprise you.
The cover art for this issue is “Telling Stories to the Trees” by Rima Staines, who uses paint, wood, word, music, animation, clock-making, puppetry and story to attempt to build a gate through the hedge between the worlds. Some of Rima’s recent work can be found on an album cover for The Dark Mountain Project, and in the latest issue of Land Magazine. Prints of Rima’s work are available in The Hermitage Etsy Shop. Inside, the issue opens and closes with interior art by Kirsty Greenwood, who was featured on Cabinet des Fées in 2011.
Introduction by Donna Quattrone
Sovereignty, Agency and Perceptions of the Grotesque in Two Medieval Interpretations of the Loathly Lady by Anita Harris Satkunananthan, PhD
Eveligna of the Wilderness by Alexandra Fresch
Cut by Martin Rose
Wallen: A Self-portrait by Brooke Shaden
The Lady of St. Mark’s Place by Brittany Warman
The Woman at the Fair With No Face by Jason Lea
Tree Bark Magic by Alexandra Seidel
Seed Pearls by Jennifer Adam
Truth Powder by Monika John
Old and Cursed by Rebecca-Anne C. Do Rozario
The Dispossessed by Wendy Howe
Skin Like Carapace by Steve Toase
Sovereignty: A Prologue by Sara Cleto
Old Oak and the Maiden by A.L. Loveday
Fat Is Not A Fairy Tale by Jane Yolen
The Loathly Lady as Mystagogue by John Patrick Pazdziora
Special Thanks to the Artists
This issue is scheduled for an early May release.