Wednesday, September 25, 2024

Bargain Ebook: Two Peas in a Pod by Sarah Mlynowski for $1.99

 


Two Peas in a Pod (Whatever After Book 11) by Sarah Mlynowski is on sale for $1.99 in ebook format. A Princess and the Pea retelling, of course.

Book description from the publisher:

This hilarious novel in the New York Times–bestselling series fractures the beloved fairy-tale of The Princess and the Pea . . .

I’ve landed—along with my brother, Jonah, and our dog, Prince—on the other side of the portal . . . and in the fairy tale of The Princess and the Pea! When I can’t fall asleep on top of a hundred mattresses, the kingdom decides I must be the princess they’re looking for. Talk about royal treatment—I’m suddenly being waited on hand and foot. Plus, I get unlimited ball gowns, sparkly jewelry, and ice cream. But can we find a REAL princess to run the kingdom? Now we have to:

Hold a princess contest

Defeat an obnoxious prince

Escape hungry alligators

Make it back home

There’s no time to snooze—may the best princess win!

Praise for the series

“Uproariously funny . . . non-stop action . . . will enchant readers from the first page.” —Kirkus Reviews

“A wonderful reading adventure.” —Meg Cabot, #1 New York Times–bestselling author of The Princess Diaries

“Hilarious . . . unexpected plot twists and plenty of girl power.” —Booklist

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Bargain Ebook: Frogkisser! by Garth Nix for $2.99


Frogkisser! by Garth Nix is on sale for $2.99 in ebook format.

Book description from the publisher:

The last thing she needs is a prince. The first thing she needs is some magic. . . . “An uproarious adventure” from the New York Times–bestselling author! (Publishers Weekly)

Poor Princess Anya. Stuck living with her evil stepmother’s new husband, her evil step-stepfather. Plagued with an unfortunate ability to break curses with a magic-assisted kiss. And forced to go on the run when her step-stepfather decides to make the kingdom entirely his own.

Aided by a loyal talking dog, a boy thief trapped in the body of a newt, and some extraordinarily mischievous wizards, Anya sets off on a Quest that, if she plays it right, will ultimately free her land—and teach her a thing or two about the use of power, the effectiveness of a well-placed pucker, and the finding of friends in places both high and low.

With Frogkisser!, acclaimed author Garth Nix has conjured a fantastical tale for all ages, full of laughs and danger, surprises and delights, and an immense population of frogs. It’s 50% fairy tale, 50% fantasy, and 100% pure enjoyment from start to finish.

“Delightful . . . wonderfully inventive creatures . . . a captivating story.” —School Library Journal (starred review)

“The characters are so enjoyable readers are sure to miss them when the quest (and book) ends . . . Great fun with heart.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“A delightful adventure stuffed with absurdity, magic, and a spirited young heroine. Beneath these entertaining trappings lies a heartfelt message of justice.” —Booklist

“A rollicking comic fantasy . . . Well-developed characters, an unfailing sense of humor, and polished prose . . . a pleasure to read.” —Publishers Weekly

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Friday, August 30, 2024

Bargain Ebook: The Book of Gothel by Mary McMyne for $2.99


The Book of Gothel by Mary McMyne is on sale for $2.99 in ebook format. This one is Rapunzel inspired, of course. It is also well-reviewed by both critics and readers.

Book description from the publisher:

Everyone knows the story of Rapunzel in her tower, but do you know the story of the witch who put her there? Mary McMyne's spellbinding debut, rich with historical detail and forbidden magic, reveals the truth behind the fairy tales—the truth only a witch could tell.

"Smart, swift, sure-footed and fleet-winged, The Book of Gothel launches its magic from a most reliable source: the troubled heart. Mary McMyne is a magician."—Gregory Maguire, NYT bestselling author of Wicked

Germany, 1156. With her strange black eyes and even stranger fainting spells, young Haelewise has never quite fit in. Shunned by her village, her only solace lies in the stories her mother tells of child-stealing witches, of princes in wolf-skins, and of an ancient tower cloaked in mist, where women will find shelter if they are brave enough to seek it.

When her mother dies, Haelewise is left unmoored. With nothing left for her in her village, she sets out to find the legendary tower her mother spoke of—a place called Gothel, where she meets a wise woman willing to take Haelewise under her wing. There, she discovers that magic is found not only in the realm of fairy tales.

But Haelewise is not the only woman to seek refuge at Gothel. It's also a haven for a girl named Rika, who carries with her a secret the church strives to keep hidden. A secret that reveals a dark world of ancient spells and murderous nobles, behind the world Haelewise has always known.

Praise for The Book of Gothel:

"A sprawling epic, full of magic, love, and heartbreak." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"A luscious origin story." —Booklist (starred review)

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Thursday, August 29, 2024

Bargain Ebook: A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce


A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce is on sale for $1.99 in ebook format. Yes, it's inspired by Rumpelstiltskin.

Book description from the publisher:

The gold thread promises Charlotte Miller a chance to save her family’s beloved woolen mill. It promises a future for her sister, jobs for her townsfolk, security against her grasping uncle—maybe even true love. To get the thread, Charlotte must strike a bargain with its maker, the mysterious Jack Spinner. But the gleam of gold conjures a shadowy past—secrets ensnaring generations of Millers. And Charlotte’s mill, her family, her love—what do those matter to a stranger who can spin straw into gold? This is an award-winning and wholly original retelling of “Rumplestiltskin.”

“Set in a rural valley in the late 1700s, this reworking of the ‘Rumplestiltskin’ story includes ghosts, witchcraft, elements of Georgian society, and much earlier folk magic in the guise of a novel of manners.” —School Library Journal

“A Curse Dark as Gold beats the hell out of any fantasy novel I’ve read this year. Her heroine/narrator is immensely appealing; the atmosphere of a world on the cusp of the Industrial Revolution is completely believable; and the suspense of the story builds so craftily that I started taking notes on just how she does it.” —Peter S. Beagle, World Fantasy Award-winning author

“An intelligent, original, and interesting new take on an old fairy tale, and a marvelous debut novel.” —Teen Book Review

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Wednesday, July 24, 2024

Bargain Ebook: The Wild Girl by Kate Forsyth

 


The Wild Girl: A Novel by Kate Forsyth is on sale for $2.99. This is a novel inspired by one of the women, Dortchen Wild, who was the source for several of the Grimms' fairy tales. 

Book description from the publisher:

One of six sisters, Dortchen Wild lives in the small German kingdom of Hesse-Cassel in the early 19th century. She finds herself irresistibly drawn to the boy next door, the handsome but very poor fairy tale scholar Wilhelm Grimm. It is a time of tyranny and terror. Napoleon Bonaparte wants to conquer all of Europe, and Hesse-Cassel is one of the first kingdoms to fall. Forced to live under oppressive French rule, Wilhelm and his brothers quietly rebel by preserving old half-forgotten tales that had once been told by the firesides of houses grand and small over the land.

As Dortchen tells Wilhelm some of the most powerful and compelling stories in what will one day become his and Jacob's famous fairy tale collection, their love blossoms. But Dortchen's father will not give his consent for them to marry and war, death, and poverty also conspire to keep the lovers apart. Yet Dortchen is determined to find a way.

Evocative and richly-detailed, Kate Forsyth's The Wild Girl masterfully captures one young woman's enduring faith in love and the power of storytelling.

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Bargain Ebook: Thorn (Dauntless Path Book 1) by Intisar Khanani for $1.99

 


Thorn (Dauntless Path Book 1) by Intisar Khanani in ebook format is on sale for $1.99. It's a Goose Girl retelling.

Book description from the publisher:

Princess Alyrra has always longed to escape the confines of her royal life, but when her mother betroths her to a powerful prince in a distant kingdom, she has little hope for a better future.

Until Alyrra arrives at her new kingdom, where a mysterious sorceress robs her of both her identity and her role as princess—and Alyrra seizes on the opportunity to start a new life for herself as a goose girl.

But as Alyrra uncovers dangerous secrets about her new world, including a threat to the prince himself, she knows she can’t remain silent forever. With the fate of the kingdom at stake, Alyrra is caught between two worlds, and ultimately must decide who she is and what she stands for.

This edition features an additional short story set in-world, The Bone Knife.

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Bargain Ebook: Sister Emily's Lightship: And Other Stories by Jane Yolen for $1.99

 


Sister Emily's Lightship: And Other Stories by Jane Yolen is on sale for $1.99 in ebook format and includes some fairy tale inspired short stories.

Book description from the publisher:

In these twenty-eight magnificent tales, which include two Nebula Award winners, Jane Yolen puts a provocative spin on familiar storybook worlds and beloved fairy tale characters

One of the most acclaimed and honored authors in science fiction and fantasy, Jane Yolen has been called “the Hans Christian Andersen of America” for her brilliant reimagining of classic fairy tales. In her first collection of short stories written for an adult audience (after Tales of Wonder and Dragonfield), Yolen explores themes of freedom and justice, truth and consequence, and brings new life to our most cherished fables and myths. Here are storybook realms rendered more contemporary, and cautionary tales made grimmer than Grimm: Snow White is transported to Appalachia to match wits with a snake-handling evil stepmother and Beauty’s meeting with the Beast takes a twisty, O. Henry–esque turn; in Yolen’s Nebula Award–winning “Lost Girls,” a feminist revolt rocks Peter Pan’s Neverland and in the collection’s glorious title story—also a Nebula winner—the poet Emily Dickinson receives some unexpected and otherworldly inspiration. Sometimes dark, sometimes funny, and always enthralling, Sister Emily’s Lightship is proof positive that Yolen is truly a folklorist of our times.  This ebook features a personal history by Jane Yolen including rare images from the author’s personal collection, as well as a note from the author about the making of the book.

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Thursday, July 11, 2024

In Memoriam: Shelley Duvall--Thanks for the Faerie Tale Theatre and More!

  

Shelley Duvall died yesterday. I wanted to honor her with a call out to her contribution to keeping fairy tales relevant with her Faerie Tale Theatre series she produced in the 1980s. She later followed it up with two other series, Tall Tales & Legends and Bedtime Stories. She had a love for folk and fairy tales and consequently brought about interesting adaptations made with famous actors of the time working for scale--Robin Williams, Christopher Reeve, Susan Sarandon, Billy Crystal, just to name a few. Thanks, Shelley, for that contribution to retelling the tales for another few generations in fresh and often unexpected ways.

The 26 tales produced included:

Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp

Beauty and the Beast

The Boy Who Left Home to Find Out About the Shivers

Cinderella

The Dancing Princesses

The Emperor's New Clothes

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Hansel and Gretel

Jack and the Beanstalk

The Little Mermaid

Little Red Riding Hood

The Nightingale

The Pied Piper of Hamelin

Pinocchio

The Princess and the Pea

The Princess Who Had Never Laughed

Puss in Boots

Rapunzel

Rip Van Winkle

Rumpelstiltskin

Sleeping Beauty

The Snow Queen

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

The Tale of the Frog Prince

The Three Little Pigs

Thumbelina


Bargain Ebook: The Folk Tales of Scotland

 


The Folk Tales of Scotland: The Well at the World's End and Other Stories by Norah Montgomerie (Author, Illustrator), William Montgomerie (Author) is on sale today for $3.99 in ebook format.

Book description from the publisher:

The classic folk tales of Scotland were passed down from storyteller to storyteller, and from the first sentence, they held the attention of listeners and readers as though a spell had been cast over them, transporting them to a magical realm where mermaids and men, selkies and sailors, ogres and princesses all mingle and are miraculously transformed. First published in 1956, the Montgomeries, distinguished folklorists, gathered these captivating stories from all parts of Scotland. This collection became a classic of the storytelling tradition, retold in a simple, dramatic style and appealing to adult and child alike. Now illustrated with Norah Montgomerie’s own original drawings, it is a book to be treasured for years as the key to an enchanted, timeless world.

 “Buy it for all the children in your life—and the adults too! Well done Birlinn for making it available again.” —Facts & Fiction Storytelling Magazine

 “With charming illustrations by Norah Montgomerie, this book makes a welcome change from the Brothers Grimm.” —Dumfries & Galloway Standard

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Wednesday, July 3, 2024

Around the Web: The Brothers Grimm Did Much More Than Tell Fairy Tales

One of the lost works discovered in AMU's University Library with annotations from the Brothers Grimm
Adam Mickiewicz University

The Brothers Grimm Did Much More Than Tell Fairy Tales by Aaron Boorstein at Smithsonian Magazine (May 31, 2024)

"A recent discovery in a Polish library of 27 books that were thought to have been lost sheds light on the breadth of the German scholars’ work."

It's not a lengthy article, but here's a bit to whet your interest:

To aid their research on folklore and linguistics, the brothers looked to their private library of 8,000 books. Today, most of these books reside in a library in Berlin after Wilhelm’s son, Hermann, transferred them there, according to Adam Mickiewicz University's (AMU) Ewa Konarzewska-Michalak. Others were scattered and lost over the decades.

Last year, however 27 works from the Brothers Grimm's private collection were found in AMU’s library in PoznaÅ„, Poland. The works, dating from the 1400s through the second half of the 1800s, fit into three categories: incunables, prints and books, Artnet's Vittoria Benzine reports. According to AMU curator Renata Wilgosiewicz-Skutecka, the librarians were able to identify them thanks to handwritten notes by the Grimms. These inscriptions also gave insight into the Grimms’ working method and choices of themes and motifs in their work.

The best news, after the actual discovery, is that the books are being digitized. Yay for librarians and researchers! And, yes, I do have a degree in Information (Library) Science so I greatly appreciate their work.


Monday, July 1, 2024

Recent Release: The Midnight Washerwoman and Other Tales of Lower Brittany by Francois-Marie Luzel

 


The Midnight Washerwoman and Other Tales of Lower Brittany by Francois-Marie Luzel (Author), Michael Wilson (Translator) is part of the Oddly Modern Fairy Tales series--volume 28! 

Edited by Jack Zipes, the series is an important contribution to folklore studies by Princeton University Press:

Oddly Modern Fairy Tales is a series dedicated to publishing unusual literary fairy tales produced mainly during the first half of the twentieth century. International in scope, the series includes new translations, surprising and unexpected tales by well-known writers and artists, and uncanny stories by gifted yet neglected authors. Postmodern before their time, the tales in Oddly Modern Fairy Tales transformed the genre and still strike a chord.

Book description from the publisher:

Twenty-nine Breton tales, as told over a series of long winter nights, featuring an ingenious miller, a Jerusalem-bound ant, a mad dash at midnight, and more

In the late nineteenth century, the folklorist François-Marie Luzel spent countless winter evenings listening to stories told by his neighbors, local Breton farmers and villagers. At these social gatherings, known as veillées, Luzel recorded the tales in unusual detail, capturing a storytelling tradition that is now almost forgotten. The Midnight Washerwoman and Other Tales of Lower Brittany collects twenty-nine stories gathered by Luzel, many translated into English for the first time. The tales are presented in a series of five imaginary veillées, giving readers a unique opportunity to listen in on a long-ago winter’s night of storytelling.

Some of the stories mix the apparently supernatural with the everyday—as in the title tale, when a mysteriously nocturnal washerwoman causes three handsome lads to flee so quickly they lose their clogs in the process. Others invite listeners to root for the underdog, as when a simple miller outwits a powerful seigneur. Another tale must have been greeted with raucous laughter as it recounts an ascending ladder of obstacles—from a mouse to a cat to a man to God (or the Devil) himself—confronted by a traveling ant. Michael Wilson, the volume’s editor and translator, provides a substantive introduction that discusses Luzel’s work and the significance of Breton storytelling. 

In other words, this addition to the Oddly Modern library offers up some tales that were gathered by Luzel and are not original fiction creations like some of the other collections in the series. While my own tastes are pretty democratic in folklore studies, I lean towards the collected tales--and we won't get into discussions of oral vs recorded and edited here today. Luzel has long been on my own list for further study so I am thrilled that this title has been translated and with many tales offered in English for the first time.

The book is academically sound with great endnotes and a bibilography. The end notes include ATU classifications for the tales when applicable. No Cinderellas here, but there are a couple of ATU 425: The Search for the Lost Husband (Cupid and Psyche) which is related to Beauty and the Beast. (Beauty and the Beast is ATU-425C, after all.) There's some other secondary favorites like ATU 403: The Black and White Bride and ATU 1640: The Brave Little Tailor and several others.

Full disclosure: I received a free copy of this book for evaluation purposes.

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Thursday, June 27, 2024

Around the Web: How to Fight a Fairy Tale by Jenny Hamilton



How to Fight a Fairy Tale: Retellings in the Age of Romantasy by Jenny Hamilton (PUBLISHED ON MAY 15, 2024) on Reactor.

The trouble with structuring a book around a fairy tale is that fairy tales make no sense—but books have to.

Excerpts to whet your interest--lots of authors and titles are included in the article, too:

Fairy tales haunt us. If I had a dollar for every time I’ve seen an author speak about the fairy tale that kept them up at night, I’d have enough dollars to buy enough fairy tale collections that I would never sleep again. Fantasy with its magics and monarchies, and romance with its mandatory happily-ever-afters are particularly unable to let sleeping fairy tales lie, so it’s perhaps not surprising that smushing the two genres together has produced a truly awe-inspiring level of fairy tale poisoning.

... What if books can also just depend on the imagery, rules, and structures of fairy tales to avoid the challenge of worldbuilding? What if a fairy tale world, but completely different characters and situations? (I say this without judgment. Worldbuilding is famously hard, and fairy tale worlds are rad. Slash terrifying.)

... Then you have the books that are asking what for? What’s everyone acting like this for? How should we be understanding it? I grew up on these.