Bargain Ebook: The Magnolia Sword: A Ballad of Mulan by Sherry Thomas for $1.99

The Magnolia Sword: A Ballad of Mulan by Sherry Thomas is on sale for $1.99 in ebook format.

Book description:

CHINA, 484 A.D.

A Warrior in Disguise

All her life, Mulan has trained for one purpose: to win the duel that every generation in her family must fight. If she prevails, she can reunite a pair of priceless heirloom swords separated decades earlier, and avenge her father, who was paralyzed in his own duel.

Then a messenger from the Emperor arrives, demanding that all families send one soldier to fight the Rouran invaders in the north. Mulan’s father cannot go. Her brother is just a child. So she ties up her hair, takes up her sword, and joins the army as a man.

A War for a Dynasty

Thanks to her martial arts skills, Mulan is chosen for an elite team under the command of the princeling—the royal duke’s son, who is also the handsomest man she’s ever seen. But the princeling has secrets of his own, which explode into Mulan’s life and shake up everything she knows. As they cross the Great Wall to face the enemy beyond, Mulan and the princeling must find a way to unwind their past, unmask a traitor, and uncover the plans for the Rouran invasion . . . before it’s too late.

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TODAY ONLY: New Book: Pages & Co.: The Lost Fairy Tales by Anna James for $1.99

 

Pages & Co.: The Lost Fairy Tales by Anna James (Author), Paola Escobar (Illustrator) was released this past May. It is on sale TODAY ONLY for $1.99 in ebook format, down from $9.99.

Book description:

The second magical bookwandering adventure in the nationally bestselling Pages & Co. series, featuring Tilly Pages as she journeys to France to wander inside a peculiar book of fairytales. Perfect for fans of Inkheart and The Land of Stories.

Tilly and her best friend Oskar are bookwanderers: a remarkable group of people who, using the magical power of books, can travel inside any story they choose. But on a wintry visit to Paris, the friends wander inside a book of fairy tales to find that peculiar things are happening: characters are getting lost, stories are all mixed up, and mysterious plot holes are opening without warning . . .

It's up to Tilly and Oskar to figure out what--or who--is behind the chaos. And after the friends come face-to-face with an old foe, they realize that villains can exist outside the pages of books . . . and that sometimes, you don't get to live happily ever after.

SurLaLune's Small Print:

As an Amazon Associate, the SurLaLune Fairy Tale site earns a percentage from qualifying purchases as a referral incentive which helps support the site. Your cost does not increase by using the links on this site. Read SurLaLune's Privacy Policy here. 

The Grim Truth Behind the Pied Piper on BBC News

BBC News in the Travel Section has an article today about the Pied Piper: The Grim Truth Behind the Pied Piper by Raphael Kadushin.

The tale in fact has survived for a very long time. Originating as medieval folklore, the story inspired a Goethe verse, Der Rattenfänger; a Grimm Brothers’ legend, The Children of Hamelin; and one of Robert Browning’s best-known poems, The Pied Piper of Hamelin. And although each writer tinkered with the story, the basics remained the same: the Piper was hired by Hamelin to rid the town of its plague of rats. Trailing after the hypnotic notes of the rat-catcher’s magical flute, the rodents politely filed through the city gates to their presumed doom.

They weren’t the only ones lured by his music, though. When the town refused to pay the Piper for his service, the saviour turned into a more satanic seducer and came for Hamelin’s children. Entranced by the notes of his flute, the transfixed boys and girls followed the Piper out of town and simply vanished.

The article goes on to describe many ways Hamelin capitalizes on the tale, from rat shaped bread and other dishes to reenactments. Then it delves deepest into the possible sources of the tale which is  a complex set of theories such as there is for many popular tales. 

And it's always fun to read about folklore in the popular media. Even one--or especially one--with macabre elements. 

Read D. L. Ashliman's Pied Piper of Hameln page, including the Grimms' version of the tale.

Read about the Pied Piper on Wikipedia.