Demeter’s Spicebox

Demeter’s Spicebox has moved! The microzine is now known as Delinquent’s Spice, to suit the evolution of this venue for hypertext fiction. However, DS remains true to its core ethos ‘” to be a boundary-challenging venue for the retelling/re-envisioning of lesser-known folktale and fairytale variants. Nin has kindly allowed us to archive Demeter’s Spicebox here.



For the inaugural issue of Demeter’s Spicebox, we wanted to revisit a tale that stands poised in between the active or passive heroine. ‘Tatterhood’, or the Aarne-Thompson folktale type 711, is a tale about both motherhood and what it means to be either the beautiful or ugly twin.
Inaugural Issue Editorial
Lavanya and Deepika by Shveta Thakrar
Sister and Bones by Mari Ness

The 1812 map of Asia featured on the cover is by Aaron Arrowsmith and Samuel Lewis. The map is in the public domain. Cover design by Nin Harris.


Demeter's Spicebox Issue 2It is not surprising that salt is the feature of not just one tale type, but two intersecting types, the Aarne-Thompson Types 510 and 923.
Love Like Salt: Editorial
Salt by Joshua Gage
The Salt of Aksum By Mae Empson


Demeter's Spicebox Issue 3The Aarne-Thompson-Uther (ATU) folktale type 2031C, ‘The Mouse who was to Marry the Sun’, is a deceptively simple story, with a message of understanding where you belong in the world.
Islands: Editorial
Flower of Flowers, Bird of Birds by Alicia Cole
Mouse Choirs of the Old Mátra by Bogi Takács
Stronger Than The Wind, Stronger Than The Sea by Mari Ness
Something Old, Something New: A DS Artistic Experiment

The cover is remixed from and based on a photograph from the National Land Image Information (Color Aerial Photographs) from Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Japan. It is an aerial photograph of the Kagoshima prefecture Kusagaki Islands in the South China Sea. Remix and cover design by Nin Harris 2013.