~UnFairy Tales From UnderLand~
If you've never visited Underland before, you will spend every waking moment yearning for the time you can return. If you are a returning soul, ensure you have a proper safety line as this time, you may find it difficult to leave.
Beware, there is an immediacy and an intimacy Swimming below the surface that threaten to pull you under to join them. Selene has made an art form out of taking her broken and fragmented pieces, cleaning, polishing, and faceting them into fine jewels before slicing open your heart with them.
Dive into the Underland for a frolic, but understand that the rules have been changed, and the old gods no longer have any power here. Mythology is bent to her will as her indigo blood rewrites their history.
Introduction By David W. Moore III {author of Marie Laveau's Hot Pink Hearse and From the Midst of the Maelstrom
~In The Garden Of Her Bones~
I know I can go back
I simply know it
because . . . .
my skin remembers the stroke of midnights
on a path
filled with well dressed roses
and poppy gourds shaking blue dust
on the inside of their cheeks
coloring my iris
with every blink of my many eyes
my ribs remember the texture
of juniper bushes
in a cross brush on crawling knees
through the brambles
to the cedar door with brass latches
I had found the key tucked
under my voice box one night,
in notes, my windpipe wept in striations
against the tapestry of wild men
embroidered through a stone hall
I had followed the piano keys
floating with pollen seeds
across an indigo sky,
to the forgotten door
where my key bent tiny particles inside metal
and unhinged another world, another time
I know I can go back
I simply know it
because . . . .
my palms remember the marble skin of Boy
the glass transparency of his eyes
how he lay there, wound in vines
in a coffin of violets, wearing a masculine version of my face
my hips remember the strong hands of my personal Pan
bent into my shoulders, his lute echoing off the bone walls of the garden
as he coaxed my tragedy of being alive another day
from between my floating ribs
I had found Pan years before, sewn into the leather spine of an old book
he had come loose with little coaxing of my marmalade fingertips
licking every drop from my aristocratic nails
following me back into my canopy of silks
where he became a part of my frame
I know I can
go back
backward with a song
a key
a boy tucked tightly in the nest of my sacral nerves
because I have never truly left the secrets of my garden
and Pan tells me, that to go forward
one must always go
back
excerpt From UnFairy Tales From UnderLand <----download your version in under a minute by clicking this link~ or Paperback it HERE
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~Rave Reviews For UnFairy Tales~
Kristy A. Raines (TEMECULA, CA, US) -
UnFairy Tales From UnderLand (Kindle Edition)
After reading Unfairy Tales From Underland, I find myself going back to the book many times, unpeeling Selene's writings like an onion..unfolding more and more each time I read it. With her very unique and flamboyant style of writing, you can't help but go back into Underland searching for a deeper understanding of what is written between the lines. I have never read anything quite like the works of Selene. She is one of the most talented writers that I've ever encountered. You will read this book and then go back and read it again... wanting more. You won't be disappointed with anything that is written by Selene. Her words are like no other... I loved it.
~*~
Adina V. Pelle -
UnFairy Tales From UnderLand (Kindle Edition)
Extraordinarily addictive writing; beautiful, confident, truly original. Moody and dreamlike, Selene's writing drew me in and was reluctant to let me go. There's quite a hypnotic quality; a storyteller's voice that's part-magician, part-poet.
Reading it reminded me of the first time I discovered Dylan Thomas' poetry - the more I read, the more I wanted to write, and if I read too much at a time I ended up drunk on words.
Like everything we do, our thoughts and dreams start with words and return to being words after they reached their destination. Words are the baggage we carry with us on the road of life.
"Tell me what words accompany you, and I'll tell you who you are. "
Selene's words are eye opening, fresh, magical and ultimately healing. Sometimes a sorceress mesmerizing her audience with the power of her language and other times no other then modern day Sappho piercing through infinite layers of life awareness. Selene is not just good as in accomplished, she's good as in talented - and there is a very important difference in my mind. UnFairy Tales From UnderLand holds something very unique and many times painfully honest.
~*~
MIND FOOD, SOUL FUEL . . . .
review by Bard Constantine, author of THE TROUBLESHOOTER
It's hard to find outstanding poetry. You know -poetry that STANDS OUT from the heaving sea of poets all writing about subjects pertinent to them, but alien to the rest of humanity.
Stop right here.
Victoria Selene Skye Deme.
That's four names. Most of us have three at most, but with all this talent, Selene (as she's known to prefer)surely needs that extra bit to contain the load of creative talent that she has at her disposal. Poetry? Yes it is, but wait -it's poetry for people who don't like poetry.
You'll find nothing pretentious here, nothing boring or stale or rehashed. What you will find is the surreal, the dark, the warped reflection, the biting satire, the reborn myth and legend that we forgot when we cast those things aside in exchange for video games and reality TV.
Don't believe me? Wrap your mind around this excerpt from the poem Shells:
I surface
fingerprints on the screen
I've clocked in
searching for my killer
soft soled shoes leave the imprint of myths across uninspiring tiles
and there
above the city
life surges in mercury
encases me at his mercy
his dreams, in doe sinew, dip under
over
sewing a new hyde into my hips;
he will do unimaginable things to the shell
not understanding that I have learned
that my carapace
is not me
Selene's world is biography dipped in myth, lined with razor blades and drenched in that darkness that is prevalent in all true fairy tales, that truth that the world is filled with
monsters that feed on the human spirit. Take this excerpt from Low Lying Clouds
In a Pearl Colored Skye:
Blue eyes glancing off red poppies
the dead girl beside the soldier
so white in her naked display
her throat an open dream left unfulfilled;
she was a singer
he was her lover
her killer
in that town
in that year
of 1968
the two were interchangeable
that love thing
that thrill kill thing
We left the
dead girl in the field
the poppies sighed
was it relief?
I think
so
and the soldier was kind enough to remove his bloody gloves
before he
took my hand
and walked me under clouds
back to the monsters of Bone Woods
Selene has a bizarre way of masking horrifying events behind the beauty of her words. One has to perform a double take, take a closer look and realize the brutality in between the eloquence of her phrases. Her purpose is not to confuse the reader as some poets are wont to do, but at the same time she doesn't dumb down her writing for the sake of those who will undoubtedly scratch their heads in stupefied wonderment.
I could go on and on. (This is not a small book, by the way. Worth every cent) But rather than that, I will simply say that I am a fan, and would recommend this collection to anyone. Yes, even to those who do not read poetry. Selene is too talented to ignore. Take
the plunge, and you will see why... Bard Constantine, Amazon
~*~
"Selene is a unique child. Every word she pens is nothing like you would find anywhere else. Her unique set of mythos is enthralling and fresh to the western reader. You may not always get the meaning on first read, but you'll feel something. You'd have to be dead not to feel from her writing (and even then, I'm not sure.) I love to read each piece, first not looking for meaning, but just letting it wash over me while I revel in the feeling. Then let it percolate for a while, before going back to read a second or third time for meaning.
The raw honesty that lines each piece is sometimes painful to take, but, it touches a place inside that resonates with those feelings. Her writings are mesmerizing. I keep saying I'll just read one more then go to bed. Okay, maybe just one more.
This, her eighth book, is by far her best (which is saying something if you've read any of her previous.) If you've read any of her other books, you must add this to your library. If you haven't, then this is a great stepping stone into the fabulous Underland that is Selene's world. " ~ Shadows May 26, 2012 Amazon
~*~
4peace2b -
UnFairy Tales From UnderLand (Kindle Edition)
Through her bewitching use of words to create image and sound, author and poet, Victoria Selene SkyeDeme takes the reader on a kaleidoscopic journey to UnderLand. Using tales woven rich with myth, she depicts the unmapped world of UnderLand, at once both present and clear, yet elusive and otherworldly.
Victoria Selene SkyeDeme reveals her true poetic prowess often throughout this book, as in the first four lines of "Apples in Our Wicked Blush¸" or in her haunting reference to Allen Ginsburg's Howl, in the poem "Scream - 1981."
I started making a list of my favorite poems in UnFairy Tales from UnderLand, such as "Skin Prints," "She," and "Noir," and then realized that there are just too many to list. "Quilting Mother Strings of Sons," for example, finds me in tears.
Even if poetry is not always your top pick, and especially if it is, UnFairy Tales from UnderLand is sure to leave you richer, and wanting even more.
~*~
"Like a hot bath the poetry of Selene closes over our soul as we are immersed in a world we not only see, but feel. I cannot say I "get" every poem, or see what she sees as she writes her vision of truth, any more than one blind from birth can describe the passions of the color red, but you can't read her words without being taken to a place that we never want to leave, but leave we must, because to stay in her world would forever spoil us for our own. She takes us on a breathtaking whirlwind tour through the warrens of her glittering mythology where we are at once enthralled by the sparkling beauty of the pain she shares. Her world is not for everyone, but what she has, she bares, and we are free to imbibe...if we dare. Is it enough to just stare at the flickering flames that mesmerize...or do we reach to hold them in our hands...and feel the heat of her genius? Your choice.
~Stephen B. May 26, 2012 Amazon
~*~
Unfairy Tales from Underland is exactly what the name implies; it is a trip through the spiral staircase of an ancient soul unfolding her memories in technicolor truth. Victoria Selene Skye Deme is a mad hatter with a magic pen that never stops moving. She dips into the paints of
mythology, science, pop culture, and religion, and somehow, comes out with
works of art with a theme of hope, that there is always hope. Her writing has
the layers of an eternal onion, she allows the reader to choose how many layers
they would like to reveal. She realizes that once we acknowledge truth, there
is no going back.
Pan's Unpuzzled Puzzle Girl is a sharp jab at society and what the masses want. Everyone wants the story without getting their hands dirty. If the description is nicely dressed up there is no need to take responsibility or action, just sit back and watch the show at the lion's
den. Girl Who Stripped Skin From Unfairy Tales transports the reader back into those bedside stories that were better off left in a closed book. She eludes to the taboo of incest and how it strips childhood away.
Nereid's Prayer is a deconstruction of a familiar children's rhyme turned into a little
girl's made up world and hope for better days. Low Lying Clouds In A Pearl
Covered Skye is a peek into a world ruled by men. An apathetic shrug of the
shoulder towards life, death and childhood when you were a female in that day
and age. This is another page stolen from Selene's book of childhood.
In The Garden Of Her Bones, Shake and Bake, Pocket Watch and Thimbleful Of
Thumbelina are heartbreaking writes of a young girl being abused while taking
solace in make believe.
Dragonfly is a touching 911 tribute seen through the author's stained glass eyes.
There are poems that show the softer side of love with a tender heart. Children Caution: Do Not Over Saturate is a wise love story to mothers and to children. Casualty of Blue Eyes and Little Boy Blue are love stories that don't have the classic happy ending.
Notes From Underland and Unfolding the Origami are examples of dealing with reality
and being self- aware as to not sink into an emotional well. Some days simply
are, and then we move on.
Subjects such as rape and anorexia are brought into light as she does not play the victim, she is the hero of her story. Selene is an inspiration to women of all ages. Young women need to read Selene's words, poems such as, Grasshopper Girl, the Living Art of Self Consumption and Scream let the reader know that someone else has walked in their shoes and there is a way out. Undressing Beauty and She are windows of escape from the patriarchal society. They celebrate women rising above adversity and not only living, but thriving.
She writes her own mini autobiography with Kissing Butterflies that draws the reader in deeper to the crazy daisy life of which Ms. Deme has led. Her hip hop steps and cleverness elude to the harshness of the world and her way through.
A theme throughout this book is hope. No pretty packages wrapped in bows will be found
here, only solace in being able to tell your own story and not be ashamed.
Somehow coming out even stronger than you ever thought possible with a hell of an attitude.
Unfairy TalesFrom Underland spells out each painful moment growing up, her hip hop steps and cleverness elude to the harshness of the world and her way through. She leads us into her fray, from infancy, to present day pop culture. Hang on tight as you delve into dark subject matters colored in Selene's cherry on top kind of attitude. Selene writes of her life for her
life.
P.S. BUY this book! You will absolutely LOVE it!
By Kelly Karls
~*~
Very rare, the authentic voice. It usually requires a life lived, experiences gained and, often lost to achieve. Those that have that voice' are wonders or horrors to us based upon our own makeup.
UnFairy Tales from UnderLand by Victoria Selene SkyeDeme provokes the sense of wonder in both the child and adult in those of us with the right eyes.
Lines such as...
(from: Angels waiting In A Bar At The End of A Lonely
World~)
"There's a bar in Barcelone
made of pyrite and prayers god forgot to answer
layered in the old foundation and walls;
sometimes the bar shimmers
and hops a ley line in the bent arm of mother earth pounding
for the last vein and ends up elsewheres...."
provide the framework for a worldview at once fresh and weary as only the beautiful who no longer revel in attention can be.
SkyeDeme has seen the elephant and it looks remarkably like us all.
Unconventional? Certainly. Unusually formatted? Very much so.
Thought and feeling provoking, often mutually exclusive, very very much so.
At 282 pages it would be easy for such an unconventional viewpoint to become stale, and frankly this is not a book for cover to cover consumption in one sitting.
The ideas, opinions and experiences need processing, digesting, even elimination to garner understanding.
With the best works understanding my not be available for everyone, those that achieve it though will be enriched, opened to a world they had never realized pertained to them
and emboldened. What more could anyone ask?
~Lloyd McDaniel
