Baba Yaga’s Magical School for Abandoned Girls

November 12, 2016September 1, 2018 Ania Onion BulaAnna, Baba Yaga, Iskra, Kasia, Lidiya4 Comments

In a dark, dark, forest stands a dark, dark, cottage. In this dark, dark, cottage is a dark, dark, hallway that leads to a dark, dark, room. In a dark, dark, corner of this dark, dark, room stands a dark, dark trunk.

As you might imagine, given where this trunk could be found, it was a magic trunk. On the surface, it looked ordinary. The kind of place where one might keep spare blankets. To all appearances it seemed like just an empty trunk, and yet, if one knew how to look and the right words to say, you would find a staircase.

And this dark, dark staircase, led to a world of magic: Czarnoksięstwo
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Baba Yaga’s School for Abandoned Girls (Part 1)

November 12, 2016April 21, 2020 Ania Onion BulaBaba Yaga, fantasy, FictionLeave a comment

And this dark, dark staircase, led to a world of magic: Czarnoksięstwo

Continue reading “Baba Yaga’s School for Abandoned Girls (Part 1)” →

Thinking about Writing: Internalized Ableism

November 4, 2016September 1, 2018 Ania Onion Bula1 Comment

Because apparently I am a masochist, in addition to doing NaNoWriMo for my cookbook that I am trying to write, I am also devoting a significant amount of energy to a story I am trying to write. For months now, I’ve been thinking that if I am going to keep talking about the importance of including disability representation in fiction like fantasy, I should do my best to put up or shut up. In truth some of the ideas I had suggested as possibilities for fun ways to include disability in an incredibly versatile genre like fantasy had inspired me. I wanted to write stories that incorporated some of these ideas.

I started with some of the short stories I had posted earlier this year.

Then this silly idea started niggling at me. I had become enamored of this concept of Baba Yaga I had and it led to this idea of “what if she ran a magical school for abandoned girls?”

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The Twisted Ladle Cookbook: Splain You a meal?

November 2, 2016November 2, 2016 Ania Onion Bulabeef wellington, bigos, crab, pho, steak, taco, taco cornbread, tamales, udon2 Comments

I’ve been coming up with my own recipes for a few years now. I love to play in the kitchen: from combining strange flavours, to trying to make things as much from scratch as possible, to canning my own food and making my own spices, and more.

The last few years of living in difficult financial circumstances has also meant that I have learned several tricks for as many parts of whatever ingredient I use. Thrift led to the creation of my tomato powder, which has added an entire new dimension to some of my sauces and rubs. Thrift led me to figure out how I could make three separate meals with one roast, and the prep for all three involved just one slow cooker.

All of my recipes have to work within the limits dictated by my crohn’s. Not just ingredients, but also textures and smells. The wrong combination of any of these can lead to an unpleasant day or even series of days. It can mean that my symptoms get worse.

I want to share all the things I’ve learned with other people like me. Other people with crohn’s and gut issues, other people who need to know how to make great tasting food on a limited budget, and other people who want to learn how to do some really interesting things in the kitchen.

My stretch goals also include goals that could bring me to a community center or classroom near you! You could get the chance to have me cook you dinner.

If you are able and willing to donate to help make this the best cookbook ever, please do.

If you can’t donate but want to help, help me spread the word by sharing my Indiegogo with your friends on Facebook, on twitter, on Instagram, anywhere where people might see it and want to donate to help make it happen.

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How to write a disabled character.

May 13, 2016 Ania Onion Bulacharacters, Disability, how to, writing8 Comments

As I work on expanding the diversity of my characters, one idea keeps popping out. How do I write good disabled characters? How do I create something that isn’t a stereotype or falls into a lot of the traps that most media do when depicting characters with disabilities. Even as someone with a disability myself, I struggle with not falling into the same tropes as other people.

With that in mind, I decided to try and put together a guideline of sorts on how to write disabled characters.

Don’t Make Their Super Power Negate their Disability

This is one that I see happen pretty often. A character reveals that they have a disability but it’s ok because their super-power is an enhanced version of the part of them that is “impaired”. For example, bling characters who have their super power be an enhanced version of super-sight. They can use vibrations caused by sounds, or have a connection to the earth, in some way that lets them see what others can’t. In this way their disability becomes an “asset” rather than a burden the way mainstream society expects all disability to be.

The only time the disability is otherwise mentioned is for comedic effect: when they are asked for specifics that their ‘enhanced sight’ wouldn’t let them see. This might be words on a page, pictures on a poster, etc.

The problem with this is that it creates the perception that the only way that disabled characters can be useful is if their disability is completely negated. It plays into the idea that disabled people are on their own useless and burdens.

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