Two Bargain Romance Novels: Eloisa James's Fairy Tales

A Kiss at Midnight by Eloisa James is $.99 for ebook format. A Cinderella inspired romance novel, the one that started the series for James.

Book description:

Miss Kate Daltry doesn’t believe in fairy tales . . .or happily ever after.

Forced by her stepmother to attend a ball, Kate meets a prince . . . and decides he’s anything but charming. A clash of wits and wills ensues, but they both know their irresistible attraction will lead nowhere. For Gabriel is promised to another woman—a princess whose hand in marriage will fulfill his ruthless ambitions.

Gabriel likes his fiancée, which is a welcome turn of events, but he doesn’t love her. Obviously, he should be wooing his bride-to-be, not the witty, impoverished beauty who refuses to fawn over him.

Godmothers and glass slippers notwithstanding, this is one fairy tale in which destiny conspires to destroy any chance that Kate and Gabriel might have a happily ever after.

Unless a prince throws away everything that makes him noble . . .

Unless a dowry of an unruly heart trumps a fortune . . .

Unless one kiss at the stroke of midnight changes everything.

The Ugly Duchess (Happily Ever After...), another James novel is discounted to $2.99. This one is inspired by The Ugly Duckling.

Book description:

How can she dare to imagine he loves her . . . when all London calls her The Ugly Duchess?

Theodora Saxby is the last woman anyone expects the gorgeous James Ryburn, heir to the Duchy of Ashbrook, to marry. But after a romantic proposal before the prince himself, even practical Theo finds herself convinced of her soon-to-be duke's passion.

Still, the tabloids give the marriage six months.

Theo would have given it a lifetime . . . until she discovers that James desired not her heart, and certainly not her countenance, but her dowry.

Society was shocked by their wedding . . . and is scandalized by their separation.

Now James faces the battle of his life, convincing Theo that he loves the duckling who blossomed into the swan.

And Theo will quickly find that, for a man with the soul of a pirate, All's Fair in Love—and War.

Today's Bargain Ebooks: Faerie and Mermaids

Lament: The Faerie Queen's Deception (Gathering of Faerie) by Maggie Stiefvater is $1.99 TODAY ONLY in ebook format. I bought it at $2.99 a while back so you get to save an extra dollar.

*Starred Review* from Booklist:

Sixteen-year-old Deirdre Monaghan, a gifted harpist who regularly plays for weddings and other events, has the kind of stage fright that makes her physically ill before a performance, which is an inauspicious way to start a romance; but while vomiting before a competition she meets a gorgeous boy who comes into the restroom to hold her hair. He is Luke Dillon, a flautist who proceeds to accompany her in a truly stellar performance. As four-leaf clovers start appearing everywhere, Deirdre develops telekinetic powers and encounters strange, unworldly people who seem to bear her ill will. Her best friend, James, also a talented musician; her beloved grandmother; and her mother all are in danger, as Deirdre is targeted by the queen of Faerie. Deirdre eventually discovers that she is a cloverhand, a person who can see the denizens of faerie, and Luke, not the only immortal who has her in his sights, is a gallowglass, an assassin assigned by the queen of Faerie to kill Deirdre but who falls in love with her instead. This beautiful and out-of-the-ordinary debut novel, with its authentic depiction of Celtic Faerie lore and dangerous forbidden love in a contemporary American setting, will appeal to readers of Nancy Werlin’s Impossible (2008) and Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series. Illustrations by Jeffrey are fitting. Grades 9-12. --Diana Tixier Herald

Emily Windsnap and the Siren's Secret by Liz Kessler is also $1.99 today only, part of the Emily Windsnap mermaid series for younger readers.

Book description:

Emily Windsnap is finally enjoying a swimmingly peaceful life on Allpoints Island, hanging out with her mermaid bff, Shona, and her new friend Aaron (half-merperson like herself). But their idyll is cut short when Emily learns that the Windsnaps and friends must return to their old home in Brightport, where construction projects are threatening a secret mermaid community under the sea. Neptune’s mandate? No less than an interspecies intervention to bring merpeople and humans together, a task the imperious god feels the mixed Windsnap family is well suited for. There are just a few snags for Emily, however, like dealing with old nemeses Mandy and Mr. Beeson, figuring out her feelings toward Aaron—and untangling a high-suspense mystery related to a group of legendary lost sirens. Everyone’s favorite half-mermaid is back with a splash in a sparkling new adventure her fans will be eager to get their fins on.

New Yorker Cartoon: Cinderella and Cop by Michael Maslin

"Would you mind stepping out of the pumpkin, please?"

Art.com has a new series of New Yorker cartoons with fairy tale inspirations available for order. I thought I would share a few over the next few days. This one is by Michael Maslin. Published October 18, 1999. A traffic cop with a flashlight has pulled over Cinderella's coach after it turns back into a pumpkin.

I think some of these also appear in Mother Goose on the Loose, which is out of print, but I haven't had the inclination to check. They are available individually from Art.com.

Bargain Ebook: Princess Academy: Palace of Stone by Shannon Hale

Princess Academy: Palace of Stone by Shannon Hale is $2.99 TODAY ONLY in ebook format on Amazon. This book was released last August and so this is pretty early for this deep of a discount--it's not even in paperback yet! And, yes, it's the sequel to the Newbery Honor book. I gave the hardcover to a niece for Christmas.

Book description:

Coming down from the mountain to a new life in the city seems a thrill beyond imagining. When Miri and her friends from Mount Eskel set off to help the future princess Britta prepare for her royal wedding, she is happy about her chance to attend school in the capital city. There, Miri befriends students who seem so sophisticated and exciting . . . until she learns that they have some frightening plans. They think that Miri will help them, that she should help them. Soon Miri finds herself torn between loyalty to the princess and her new friends' ideas, between an old love and a new crush, and between her small mountain home and the bustling city.

Picking up where Princess Academy left off, this incredible stand-alone story celebrates the joys of friendship, the delight of romance, and the fate of a beloved fairy tale kingdom.

Greek Cinderella and Her Cannibal Sisters

Ready for some more Cinderellas? How about some Cinderellas with a hefty dose of cannabalism? I mentioned earlier that Cinderella is guilty of many vices in her many variants, but cannibalism, not. Although even that is up for debate and personal choice as I will show with another tale tomorrow--stay tuned!

But these tales do not spread beyond Greece and Cyprus in this form although many variants have been found in Greece itself. They greatly resemble other 510A tales, as well as ATU 511 One Eye, Two Eyes, Three Eyes in which an animal magical helper is cooked by the (step)mother and the Cinderella character refuses to partake of the meat, often honoring the bones of the beloved animal. These Greek tales, however, skip the animal helper--who is usually interpreted as the mother's spirit or mother reincarnated--but sticks with the mother herself. How about psycho-analyzing this tale to your heart's content? Some great papers here...

Another interesting twist in these tales is that the sisters are the villains here. The majority of Cinderellas in 510A and 511 have a mother or stepmother as the primary villain while the sisters are merely her lackeys. Here they are the villains, front and center.

From "The Three Sisters" (from Cassabi, Greece) in my book, Cinderella Tales From Around the World:

THERE were three girls sitting spinning with their mother, and they agreed that whosesoever thread broke first they should kill and eat. Their mother's thread broke, but they said, “Let us spare her for having carried us in her womb,” and went on spinning.

When the mother's thread broke a second time, they said, “Let us spare her for having suckled us from her breast.” But when the mother's thread broke a third time, she had to be killed. The two eldest killed her, cut her up, cooked her, and eat well of the flesh, but the youngest would not join them, and when they had finished she collected the bones and put them in a large earthenware jar. Every day for forty days she incensed them.

And from "Little Saddleslut" (from Epeiros, Greece):

THERE were once three sisters spinning flax, and they said, “Whosever spindle falls, let us kill her and eat her.”

The mother’s spindle fell, and they left her alone.

Again they sat down to spin, and again the mother’s spindle fell, and again and yet again.

“Ah, well!” said they, “let us eat her now!”

“No!” said the youngest, “do not eat her; eat me, if flesh you will have.”

But they would not; and two of them killed their mother and cooked her for eating.

When they had sat down to make a meal of her, they said to the youngest, “Come and eat too!”

But she refused, and sat down on a saddle which the fowls were covering with filth, and wept, and upbraided them.

Many a time they said to her, “Come and eat!” but she would not; and when they had done eating, they all went away.

And from "Saddleslut" (from Zagora, Greece):

THERE was once a mother with three daughters, and they went to spin on the terrace, and the mother’s spindle fell twice, and they said, “We will excuse her.” It fell again, and they made a cow of her and slew her. And when they were killing her, she said to Kálo, the youngest, “Don’t you eat, but bury my bones in the barn, and burn incense over them every evening; and at Easter uncover them.”

The other two, Stamáto and Máro, put her under the packsaddle, and called her “Saddleslut.” When Easter came round, the two went to church, and Saddleslut unburied the bones and found a thousand and two treasures. Then she also adorned herself and went to church, and threw down coins, and fled, and went and sat on the packsaddle. The others came home, and said to her, “A lady came and scattered gold, and you, to your loss, were not there.”

And finally, "The Story of Cinderella" from (from Cyprus):

ONCE upon a time, my lady, there was an old woman who had three daughters. Well [the two eldest], because the mother loved the youngest best, were jealous, and sought some pretext for killing their mother. They agreed to go up on a high terrace with their mother, and take their spindles, and that whoever should first let her thread break they would eat. Of course the mother being old and feeble, her thread would be sure to break. So they took their spindles and went up to the terrace. The poor old woman, her hands were weak, and she broke her thread once.

“Ah, dear mother mine,” said they, “we will eat thee!”

Then says she to them, “Ai, my daughters, forgive me this time, and if it breaks again, eat me.”

Then they began again, and let down their spindles, and again her thread broke.

“Ah, dear mother mine,” they cry, “we will eat thee!”

“Ai, my daughters, forgive me also this time, and if it breaks a third time, then eat me!”

So they began again, and let down their spindles, and again hers broke.

“Ai, we can’t let you off again, we shall eat you!” And they took their poor mother and began to make ready to kill her. When she saw that they were really going to kill her, she called her youngest daughter, and said to her, “Come, my daughter, and let me counsel thee! Take my blessing,” she said, “for they are about to kill and eat me; all the bones that fall do thou gather and put them in a jar, and keep them with care. Watch them and smoke them [with incense] for forty days and nights and go not forth from the chamber where they are; and on the fortieth day,” she said, “open it [the jar], and see what they have become.”

“Gladly,” she replied, and began to weep for her mother.

“Don’t weep, my daughter,” said she, “for what can you do now that your sisters are determined?”

They seized and slew their mother, and set to and cooked her, and began to eat.

“Come, girl, and eat thou too; thou wilt see what good food it is—our mother.”

“No, my girl, God does not permit me to eat of my mother!” and she gathered up the bones wherever she found them, and placed them in a jar without being observed. When they had finished eating and were satisfied, they rose. What did she do now? She took and lighted a great fire and sat day and night to watch them, and smoked them day and night.

I think I can guarantee that this Greek Cinderella will never, ever, ever be interpreted into a picture book for children!

And who thought Cinderella was boring?

New Yorker Cartoon: Cinderella Makeover by Sam Gross

"I'll call you back. I'm in the middle of a make-over."

Art.com has a new series of New Yorker cartoons with fairy tale inspirations available for order. I thought I would share a few over the next few days. This one is by Sam Gross. Published March 19, 2001

I think some of these also appear in Mother Goose on the Loose, which is out of print, but I haven't had the inclination to check. They are available individually from Art.com.

New Release: Follow Follow: A Book of Reverso Poems by Marilyn Singer

Follow Follow: A Book of Reverso Poems by Marilyn Singer, one of my most anticipated new books of the year, was released last week. My copy arrived on Thursday and I have been reading it in savory bits since then, not wanting to read it all in one sitting although it can be done in just a few minutes. It's a picture book of short poetry, after all.

I'll admit, I was scared. I ADORE the companion title, Mirror Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse. When it was released three years ago, it lived in my living room for months, awaiting my next visitor (victim) to be shown its wondrous glory. (And books do not reside in my living room. I have a few book-free zones in the house to preserve sanity.) Well, my visitors were impressed, but it helps if you love fairy tales and poetry, or at least fairy tales. I love both and appreciate the careful wordsmithing that these books require. So does the new book live up to my hope and hype?

YES! It does. In fact, it may surpass it. I have favorites in the first book, and some lesser favorites that were not as strong for me. I would skip over those when sharing the book with my unsuspecting victims. With this new book, I won't be skipping any. Wherever the book may fall open, I will read and share. I would only choose favorites based on favorite fairy tales, not the poem itself, for each reverso is strong. Margaret Singer has perfected her invented form quite well.

Book description:

Once upon a time, Mirror Mirror, a brilliant book of fairy tale themed reversos – a poetic form in which the poem is presented forward and then backward – became a smashing success. Now a second book is here with more witty double takes on well-loved fairy tales such as Thumbelina and The Little Mermaid.

Read these clever poems from top to bottom and they mean one thing. Then reverse the lines and read from bottom to top and they mean something else - it is almost like magic!

A celebration of sight, sound, and story, this book is a marvel to read again and again.

And usually this means that the reverse poem gives a different character's perspectives on the events of the tale. It makes an excellent classroom book for teaching writing, perspective, fairy tales, so much!

Here's an excerpt from the Little Mermaid poem that illustrates:

For love,
give up your voice.
Don't
Think twice.

And in reverse:

Think twice!
Don't
Give up your voice
for love.

To entice you fairy tale fans, here is the Table of Contents. See all of the lesser known tales you adore?

Fairy Tales (general poem about writing)
Your Wish Is My Command (Aladdin)
Birthday Suit (Emperor's New Clothes)
Silly Goose (Golden Goose)
Ready, Steady, Go! (Tortoise and the Hare)
Will the Real Princess Please Stand Up? (Princess and the Pea)
The Little Mermaid's Choice (Little Mermaid)
Panache (Puss in Boots)
Follow Follow (Pied Piper)
No Bigger Than Your Thumb (Thumbelina)
Can't Blow This House Down (Three Little Pigs)
The Nightingale's Emperor (The Nightingale)
On With the Dance (Twelve Dancing Princesses)
Now It's Time to Say Goodnight (general ending poem)

Finally, the poems are enhanced by Josée Masse's illustrations, too. The bright colors and opposites portrayed are charming and will pull in younger readers. Wonderful wonderful!

Lovely Tribute: Read to a Child

I just read an obituary that ended with a wonderful family request. Welsford Hone "Gus" Clark was an elementary education professor for over 30 years at BYU. He died a week ago and there are many loving remembrances passing around the internet about him. That is how I came across his and his family's final request in his official obituary, one I would include in my own obituary.

The Clark family suggests that you can honor Gus by purchasing a children's book and spending precious time reading it to a child.

Of course, I would be tempted to narrow it to a fairy tale book, but any children's book being read to a child is a wonderful tribute to those of us who love sharing literature with the rising generation. At the top of the page, I added images of some of the picture books that have brought me and a child in my life joy by reading  it together, ones I look at and have vivid memories of sharing. There are many, many more, of course. My picture book collection literally circles the bottom shelves of my library and gets regular usage. And the pop-up books are even more used.

Last week was a niece's 3rd birthday--after the presents were opened and the cake was eaten, she turned to me and asked for the "magic bag." It hadn't come with me that time because of the presents and cake--and, yes, everything was princess themed this year--but it gave me a moment of joy to think that amidst that orgy of toys and sugar, she still wanted a few moments with me and a book or two. I didn't say it to her then but in my mind I promised Kensie many, many more shared bookish moments in the years to come.

Bargain Ebook: Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling

Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling is $1.99 TODAY ONLY in ebook format on Amazon. This one usually hovers at $6.59 likes its sister books.

Book description:

In their third critically acclaimed collection of original fairy tales for adults, World Fantasy Award-winning editors Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling present 21 new stories by some of the top names in literature today. Dark, disturbing and delightful, each story was written expressly for this superb collection of distinctly grown-up fantasy -- a brilliant companion volume to Datlow and Windling's acclaimed anthologies, Snow White, Blood Red and Black Thorn, White Rose. Contributors include: Susan Wade, Tanith Lee, Garry Kilworth, Nancy Kress, Farida S.T. Shapiro, Joyce Carol Oates, Roberta Lannes, Michael Cadnum, Lisa Goldstein, John Brunner, Nancy A. Collins, Gene Wolfe, Susan Palwick, Milbre Burch, Gahan Wilson, Anne Bishop, Kathe Koja, Ellen Steiber, Neil Gaiman, Jane Yolen, and Delia Sherman.

Unhappy Ending Cinderella: Denmark's The Two Princesses

Sorry I have been absent the last few days. And, no, not from illness. Just plain busyness and plain old being overwhelmed. I am trying to get back to a somewhat normal routine, but we will see. I obviously caught up with myself on Cinderella entries, but there's always more if I can just find time to think!

For today, I wanted to share one of the Cinderellas with an unhappy ending. The tale, The Two Princesses (De to Kongedættre), comes from Denmark and was summarized by Marian Roalfe Cox in a supplement to her book she published in Folklore journal in 1907, from M. Winther's Danske Folkeventyr. The following is a summary of the tale edited from Cox's article.

While I included many Cinderella summaries in the collection, I edited each one from the tabulation format she used to a more narrative style, replacing articles (especially "the") and fixing awkward grammar. The summaries lose some of the details of the original narrative--Andrew Lang expressed his dissatisfaction with them--but they are often quite sufficient for getting the flavor of the tale and its key elements. And since the task of trying to translate each of the roughly 200 tales that have no English translation already would have taken years of work with minimal benefit, the summaries are beautiful!

From my book, Cinderella Tales From Around the World:

A KING has two daughters. The elder is wicked and ugly while the younger is beautiful and good. The elder daughter is beloved and lives with the king in the most gorgeous rooms of the palace. The heroine lives with the servants and shares their work.

A neighbouring king arranges a festival to last several days. The elder daughter attends it with the father. The heroine is left in the kitchen. She sits crying in the twilight in her small room. Suddenly, a strange little man appears and offers to fulfil a wish for her. The heroine wishes to see the ball where the father and the sister are. She may go, she is told, on the condition that she returns before midnight.

The man vanishes, and the heroine stands in costly dress, wearing heavy gold chains and a crown of diamonds. At her door is a magnificent coach with four snow-white horses whose golden manes reach the ground. The heroine enters the coach and soon finds herself at the palace, admired by all, and unrecognised by her father and sister. As twelve o’clock strikes, she mounts the coach and is soon back in her shabby clothes in her dark room.

The next day the father and sister talk incessantly of the fair, unknown princess. In the evening they go to the festival, leaving the heroine hard at work. Seeing a red glare in the sky from the illuminated palace, the heroine longs to go. Immediately she is beautifully and magnificently dressed. This time her horses are yellow with jet-black plaited manes. At the ball she is admired and courted beyond measure. As the clock strikes midnight, she leaves in the midst of a dance.

On the third evening, a heavy gale blows. She wears a triple crown of sparkling diamonds. Her coach is drawn by eight flame-coloured horses with manes like shining gold. Everyone wants to dance with her. She stays beyond her given time and leaves in her black working dress, only to find outside, instead of a coach, an old wheelbarrow drawn by four small mice. She weeps bitterly over her forgetfulness and in the future passes her days as a common servant in her father’s kitchen.

As you read, this particular tale is also unusual in that the 510A tale has a father and sister who persecute the heroine--persecuting fathers are usually reserved for 510B tales. Not a mother, stepmother or multiple sisters in sight. We also have an almost Rumpelstiltskin type of magical helper--this is less unusual actually, but still rare enough--although no bargains are made. Virtue is its own reward--to a point!

And then the unhappy ending is fascinating. If you have always wondered what would have happened if Cinderella didn't leave on time, well, here's your answer. She wasn't sufficiently obedient and thus here is her punishment--lifelong servitude!

Finally, this tale was recorded circa 1825 before the full fury of folklore collection grew during the 1800s. The Perrault influence is there, but it's still a tale all its own.

New Book: Scarlet (Lunar Chronicles) by Marissa Meyer

Scarlet (Lunar Chronicles) by Marissa Meyer was released yesterday. (Yes, I am behind, many Cinderella entries coming soon!)

The book probably needs to introduction to most readers here who fell in love with Cinder (Lunar Chronicles) last year. That doesn't mean I should mention it on the blog!

Book description:

Cinder, the cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She's trying to break out of prison--even though if she succeeds, she'll be the Commonwealth's most wanted fugitive.

Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit's grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn't know about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother's whereabouts, she is loath to trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her. As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner.