Ebook Deals: Michael Hague Titles

There is a new sale at Amazon: The Big Deal: Kindle Books Up to 85% Off. The prices are good until August 4th on this one, although I've learned that some books disappear from these sales once a quota is met. I'm going to share a few posts with links to various titles of interest from the sale.

These two books will only work on tablet ebook readers since the illustrations are imperative to the books.

The Man Who Kept House (Michael Hague Signature Classics) illustrated by Michael Hague is $1.99. Hague has illustrated many fairy tales and fairies in general during his career.

Book description:

Award-winning artist Michael Hague illustrates this funny tale about a farmer who trades places with his wife, convinced his work in the fields is harder than his wife's work at home.

Lionel and the Book of Beasts (Michael Hague Signature Classics) also illustrated by Michael Hague is $1.99.

Book description:

What if the turn of a page released the power of a dragon?

When young Lionel becomes king, he is told not to open the Book of Beasts. But how can he resist when mythical creatures spring to life right out of the pages? One page that should have remained unturned brings to life a terrifying dragon, and Lionel learns what being a king is truly about.
The combined talents of beloved author E. Nesbit and renowned illustrator Michael Hague create a magical adventure for any reader whose imagination brings books alive in this stunning new Signature edition.

Ebook Deals: Ed McBain Titles: Rumpelstiltskin and Cinderella

There is a new sale at Amazon: The Big Deal: Kindle Books Up to 85% Off. The prices are good until August 4th on this one, although I've learned that some books disappear from these sales once a quota is met. I'm going to share a few posts with links to various titles of interest from the sale.

Rumpelstiltskin (Matthew Hope) by Ed McBain is $1.99, usually $4.99.

Book description:

When Victoria Miller and her backing band, Wheat, broke out with a string of gold records in the sixties, the sultry chanteuse seemed shy of crowds, refusing to perform in public. Years after her last success, Victoria makes her stage debut, but the magic is long gone, and shortly after that, so is she—the victim of a brutal murder. Victoria’s six-year-old daughter, Allison, is missing too, but nobody’s come forward for a ransom. The only clue is a mysterious call—I’ll be stopping by to collect—but who’s collecting, and what? Even if Allison could be found, lawyer Matthew Hope can’t seem to locate Victoria’s missing will with Allison’s guardianship. And when Victoria’s old producer comes forward, claiming Victoria wasn’t quite the natural talent she’d seemed to be, Matthew’s left wondering who gave her the golden touch and why they’d take it back right now.

Part of Ed McBain’s masterful Matthew Hope series, Rumpelstiltskin finds the good-hearted lawyer in a plot where everyone’s a suspect, and all debts are paid in full.

Cinderella (Matthew Hope) by Ed McBain is $1.99, usually $4.99.

Book description:

Private detective Otto Samalson sees the tail—a black Toronado he can’t shake. One dark window rolls down, exposing the barrel of a gun, and the detective is dead.

Otto had already known his days were numbered and said as much to his friend, attorney Matthew Hope. Having hired Otto to watch a cheating husband for a client, Matthew is now left with only Otto’s tape recorder, filled with proof of an affair. But could the evidence lead to something larger, something that would drive a man to kill?

Meanwhile, a mysterious woman is on the run, her face and name unknown to all except two stepsisters who couldn’t care less if a violent pair of Cubans got their hands on her. If Matthew can decipher the clues in Otto’s evidence, there’s a chance he could reach the girl first and save her life.

A chilling addition to the Matthew Hope series from Ed McBain, Cinderella is the tale of a woman known by many names and the men who will do anything to find her.

Ebook Deals: E. D. Baker Titles

There is a new sale at Amazon: The Big Deal: Kindle Books Up to 85% Off. The prices are good until August 4th on this one, although I've learned that some books disappear from these sales once a quota is met. I'm going to share a few posts with links to various titles of interest from the sale.

The Salamander Spell (Tales of the Frog Princess) by E. D. Baker is $1.99.

Book description:

Grassina, Emma's wonderful, magical aunt, is herself a teen in this prequel to the Frog Princess books. She and her sister, Chartreuse (Emma's irritating mother from the other books) are vying to see who will get the family's inherited magical skills as they navigate the intricacies of being a princess in a magical kingdom-a bevy of mostly terrible would-be suitors, a father who becomes a ghost, a mother who changes from a stressed, but semi-normal human to a selfish witch, and the arrival of some terrible werewolves. When Grassina finds and falls in love with a wizard-in-training, Haywood, and invokes the wrath of her sister, it is the werewolves, who despite their evil ways, bring about Grassina's change from mortal princess to Green Witch powers. Every bit as funny and satisfying as the other stories!

Wings by E. D. Baker is also $1.99. It is usually in the $4.61 range.

Book description:

Tamisin has always been a little weird. Her freckles actually look more like sparkles and occasionally, she likes to dance under the full moon. Then one day, wings sprout from her back, and Tamisin learns that her parents adopted her from fairyland. Inspired by A Midsummer Night's Dream, this fairy tale will delight fans of The Tales of the Frog Princess and new readers alike.

Brother and Sister and Sally Jean Once Upon a Time Jewelry

In June, I spent an afternoon with my mother and niece at Belle Meade Mansion here in Nashville, one of my favorite antebellum plantation homes in the South. We spent a while in the gift shop and I discovered this pendant above in a display. I debated and then bought--because, yes, fairy tales! (It was only $15 so I wasn't breaking the bank.) 

Thus I am sharing with you today. I think what appealed to me most was the designer's unintentional salute to one of my favorite fairy tales, Brother and Sister, with the inclusion of the deer. Most people don't look at a deer and think of a fairy tale, but the good readers here know their fairy tales! And a deer isn't Bambi. A deer is an enchanted brother!

I came home and searched and the Sally Jean line has some pieces left, but the pendant I purchased appears to be out of production. The new ones found on this page separate Once Upon a Time and Happily Ever After to different pendants and have removed the deer. 

BUT! A few pieces are on Amazon, too, one a watch. And it still has the deer! I am tempted since I have a clock fetish anyway...

Sally Jean "Once Upon a Time" Watch Pendant Necklace is marked down 31% today to $19.95 since I last looked at it for a sale, so I guess it's better than I've been too busy to write about this!

New Book: Of Beast and Beauty by Stacey Jay

Of Beast and Beauty by Stacey Jay is released next week. And it appears to be a science fiction Beauty and the Beast retelling.

Book description:

In the domed city of Yuan, the blind Princess Isra is raised merely to sacrifice herself someday to ensure her people's vitality. In the desert outside, Gem, a mutant boy, fights to keep his people from starvation. Neither dreams that together they could return balance to their world. Isra, a Smooth Skin, bound by magical covenant to the city of Yuan, wants to help the Banished people of her city, second-class citizens despised for possessing Monstrous traits the blind princess believes she also possesses. One night, Gem is captured while trying to steal the city's enchanted roses, and he becomes Isra's beastly prisoner from the desert. But when Isra enlists the aid of Gem to help her grow herbs that will prevent mutation, she discovers just how human he is, and she begins to question everything she's been raised to believe. As dark secrets from the past are revealed and Isra's sight returned, she will have to choose between duty to her people and the beast she has come to love.

New Ebook Release: The Glass Slipper by Eleanor Farjeon

I was looking for something else--not even fairy tale related, but Amazon knows me too well--when I saw this ebook pop up in my recommendations the other day. If I was one who squeeed, I would have squeeed when I saw it. Moments like this make me grateful to live in the digital age. Back in the bad old days, I hunted and hunted for this book. It was out of print. It was hard to find. I ended up getting a copy through interlibrary loan and copying it so I could write notes in it. I would have bought a copy if I could have found one although a used one wouldn't have contributed to Farjeon or her estate either way.

So what I love about our digital age--besides carrying a thousand books with me on a trip or even on my phone!--is that nothing really ever has to go out of print again. Of course, there is the backlog of books from 1923 to roughly 2008 which may or may not ever be digitized, but each time one is, I feel a little bit of triumph on behalf of its creator(s). And more and more are appearing, albeit at a turtle's pace, so I have little bits of jubilation every week.

Obviously, the book is The Glass Slipper by Eleanor Farjeon which was originally published in 1955, a novel based upon Farjeon's 1944 play of the same name. Farjeon was one of the best known fairy tale retellers of the mid 20th century. She was a kindred spirit to readers here--one of her earliest books was a nonfiction title about Arthur Rackham. She also was the first person to receive the Hans Christian Anderson Award for Writing. She shared our loves here at SurLaLune.

Farjeon's publishing career began before 1923 so some of her books are available for free online, one of her fan favorites is Martin Pippin in the Apple Orchard which is a free download on most bookseller sites. I included an excerpt from it in my Rapunzel and Other Maiden in the Tower Tales From Around the World (SurLaLune Fairy Tale Series) where I was charmed by the story. I wrote this brief introduction to "The Imprisoned Princess":

The following story can be found in Martin Pippin in the Apple Orchard by Eleanor Farjeon, considered to be one of Farjeon’s best books in her long and successful career. The book is a collection of six stories told by Martin Pippin as he tries to coax six maidens to give him the keys to a wellhouse where Gillian has been locked away by her father from her lover, Robin Rue. Thus the entire novel is an imprisoned princess tale and this is the final of the six stories framed within it. Farjeon also wrote novel-length versions of Cinderella (The Glass Slipper) and Rumpelstiltskin (The Silver Curlew).

You may have never read her work before but you have heard her words if you've ever heard Morning Has Broken popularized by Cat Stevens. She wrote the lyrics to the popular hymn. You can read more about her life at, yes, Wikipedia.

Anyway, Farjeon is worth a visit and now it's easier to make one. Most of her work shows a strong folklore influence. She herself influenced many authors and others who came after her and she has been mentioned by name by filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki (My Neighbor Totoro and Howl's Moving Castle) as an important early influence. Kate Forsyth, an author featured here on SurLaLune before, wrote a wonderful post about Farjeon earlier this year. Forsyth even named her daughter for Farjeon.

Book description for The Glass Slipper:

More than anything, Ella wants to go to the ball at the Royal Palace.

But Ella is the slave of the household, waiting on every wish and whim of her horrible stepsisters. They call her Cinderella for the ashes that cling to her face, hands and hair. How can Ella go to the Royal palace?

Then, on the evening of the ball, something wonderful happens. Ella's Fairy godmother comes to her rescue.

Now her dreams may come true at last . . .

Now I just hope this one sells well enough for her publisher to warrant releasing The Silver Curlew, Farjeon's retelling of Rumpelstiltskin. We have so few Rumpelstiltskin retellings of note in novel length and this one deserves to be remembered, too.

Bargain Ebook: Howl's Moving Castle (Howl's Castle) by Diana Wynne Jones

Howl's Moving Castle (Howl's Castle) by Diana Wynne Jones is Amazon's Deal of the Day for only $1.99 for ebook version. This was bargain priced in November, too, but if you've acquired a Kindle or Kindle app since then, you may not have it yet.

Book description:

Sophie has the great misfortune of being the eldest of three daughters, destined to fail miserably should she ever leave home to seek her fate. But when she unwittingly attracts the ire of the Witch of the Waste, Sophie finds herself under a horrid spell that transforms her into an old lady. Her only chance at breaking it lies in the ever-moving castle in the hills: the Wizard Howl's castle. To untangle the enchantment, Sophie must handle the heartless Howl, strike a bargain with a fire demon, and meet the Witch of the Waste head-on. Along the way, she discovers that there's far more to Howl—and herself—than first meets the eye.

Bargain Ebooks: Sisters Grimm Series by Michael Buckley

 

The first six books in the Sisters Grimm series by Michael Buckley are bargain priced right now with  temporary price drops. The first book has been bargain priced before but not the others to my knowledge. They are $3.47 each, 56% off their list price. The final three books (there are nine in the series) are still regularly priced, although book seven is cheaper than the others.

The Sisters Grimm (Book One): The Fairy Tale Detectives and The Sisters Grimm (Book Two): The Unusual Suspects: Bk. 2 and The Sisters Grimm (Book Three): The Problem Child and The Sisters Grimm (Book Four): Once Upon a Crime: Bk. 4 and The Sisters Grimm (Book Five): Magic and Other Misdemeanors: Bk.5 and The Sisters Grimm (Book Six): Tales from the Hood are all part of the sale for $3.47.

The Sisters Grimm (Book Seven): The Everafter War is $5.35. The Sisters Grimm (Book Eight): The Inside Story is $6.60. The Sisters Grimm (Book Nine): The Council of Mirrors is $7.95. All of these titles are $6.95 or more each in paperback. The last one was just released in paperback, a year after the series ended.

In book one of this bestselling series, sisters Sabrina and Daphne are sent to live with their mysterious grandmother, Relda Grimm. The sisters learn they are descendants of the Brothers Grimm, whose famous book of fairy tales is actually a collection of case files. The girls are the latest in a long line of fairy-tale detectives, and their new hometown is filled with Everafters (as magical folks like to be called) - some good and some very, very bad. When a mysterious Everafter sets a giant loose on the town, it’s up to the Sisters Grimm to save the day.