Hwaet! Zine Issue 6: Storytelling - Fairy Tales

“Once upon a time…”

At once familiar and mysterious, accessible and cryptic, the world of fairy tale is an ever-elusive place filled with magic and beauty but also darkness and cruelty. How do we unravel these interweaving strands of story, where characters and narratives are sparse and abstract, yet the meanings are vast and complex?

For this issue we’re leaving behind the material landscape we’ve trodden before and setting off for the unknowable land of Elsewhere, a realm of wonder and peril, where monsters dwell in forest and castle alike, where faustian bargains are made and upheld, and where eternal themes of love, loss, pride, mortality, and greed are examined.

In this, the first instalment in a trilogy centered around storytelling, we delve deep into this unique off-shoot of the folk tale, setting out to reclaim these stories from the shackles of adolescence. Our own inclinations and proclivities, as well as those of our contributors, has drawn us to some of the darker tales, and there’s also a strong undercurrent of the feminine power with which fairy tales have had a long and complicated relationship, but this zine is also an attempt to reseize the magic that society tells us to forego as we age.

FEATURING:

- CHILDHOOD FEARS AND THE LIES WE TELL OURSELVES
- VISCERAL HORROR AND MONSTROUS MOTHERS
- A FAIRY TALE TIMELINE
- ANGELA CARTER AND LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD
- VISIONS OF THE BEAST
- DEALS WITH THE DEVIL
- MAGICAL WOMEN OF MEDIEVAL ROMANCE
- CANNIBALISM AND THE ULTIMATE TABOO
- POETRY: ‘WOLF SONG’ AND ‘WOOD WITCH’
- INTRUSIONS FROM FAERIE
- WITCH WAY: A WOODLAND PUZZLE

Including written contributions from L. B. Limbrey, Chiara Amendola (Occulture Magazine), Gavin Lees (Scary as Folk), Olive Morris, Yasmina Floyer, and Team Hwæt!. As with each of our zines, this issue includes a themed reading list and watchlist, as well as a fairy tale-inspired playlist (via Tidal).

Art from Gabriel Midgley, Jennifer Wright, Jessica Ditchfield, Aurélie Beatley, Nona Limmen, Abi Turner (The Quiet Orchard), Dàlida, and Bunty May Marshall.

Cover art by Max Harley Taylor.

A5 zine, 82 pages, perfect bound, printed on natural recycled paper.