"Moooooom! Make her stoooooop!"

That's really funny, because when I wrote it, I had the same fighting kids image, and I started to say something and thought "She's going to think I'm crazy..."

But you did start it, so nana nana boo boo...

Misty wrote: "Though this is totally up to you, you started it."

I just flashed back on my sister sneering that at me as she jabbed her finger at me. I feel like I should respond with, "Did not!"

You know I'm teasing, right? :-)

I don't think it needs to be renamed. The very first post says the topics purpose. If people don't read it, we'll just have to remind them occasionally, which is fine.
Though this is totally up to you, you started it.

Misty wrote: "Basically, Ashley is right. The way we were looking at it when we started this thread is that a modern fairy tale is anything written recently that has a fairy tale feel, but is not necessarily a r..."

That's exactly what I meant. Should I rename this thread?

:)

Sorry about that Misty, I looked at the wrong name... I just checked out Ink Exchange and Fragile Eternity at the library the other day!

Basically, Ashley is right. The way we were looking at it when we started this thread is that a modern fairy tale is anything written recently that has a fairy tale feel, but is not necessarily a retelling of a fairy tale. So things like Wicked Lovely, or a lot of Charles de Lint, etc.
We already have a thread that is just for fairy tale retellings, so this was that "other" section...

I took it as a book that isn't really a retelling of any particular fairy tale that still reads or feels like a fairy tale. The person who started the thread listed books like The Tale of Desperaux, and The Princess Bride. They aren't retellings, but they still feel like a fairy tale.

Yep that would be the question. Clearly a reprint of Grimms wouldn't qualify as a modern fairy tale. But more than half of the books already listed in this thread take place in real or imagined kingdoms with castles and fairs and marketplaces and all of those elements so modern as in takes place in the present day doesn't seem to be the sense in operation either. I took it to mean written in the last - whatever, ten, twenty years.

BunWat wrote: "Sure it is, it was published in 2007 wasn't it?"

I think the question is what is a "modern fairy tale?" Modern as in published recently or modern as in takes place in the near present day?

Misty has already recommended Wicked Lovely and Fragile Eternity by Melissa Marr, I would add her other book Ink Exchange to the list and also Alex Flinn's Beastly which is a modern, urban fantasy version of Beauty and the Beast.

DragonEyes wants everyone to read her blog! wrote: "I loved the princess and the hound Misty! It isn't really modern though."

Um, I have never heard of it, so I definitely didn't post it...That was Tanja! ;D

Sure it is, it was published in 2007 wasn't it?

I loved the princess and the hound Misty! It isn't really modern though.
I'm not sure how fairy tales these are, but the Gregor the Overlander set is really good.
They're by Suzanne Collins author of hunger games and catching fire.

The Princess and the Hound
The Princess and the Bear
Fairy Tale
Princess of the Midnight Ball
The Storyteller's Daughter

http://www.ucalgary.ca/~dKBrown/fft.html...

http://library.campbellhall.org/secondar...

Why, thank you. :)

Misty wrote: "It is online, but it's only for followers. Here's the link."

I love your blog's photo/graphic!! cute! = )

It is online, but it's only for followers. Here's the link.

Misty, Is this contest an online givaway, and if so: how would I get to this contest so I could enter it?

BunWat wrote: "That Norton critical edition sounds really interesting Eirin, I'll have to keep an eye open for a copy. "

Here's a link, so you can read more about it! I really loved the book: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62831...

I have the Merlin Conspiracy (have had for years) and I still haven't read it. I'm not sure why exactly, but I think it's because I don't like the cover (yes, I know the old adage). I added it to the prize bucket on a contest I'm having. Figured someone else might be excited about it and want to read it more than me, and if no one picks it, then I will get around to it someday...

Malcolm wrote: "I've just recalled that Diana Wynne Jones wrote an interesting re-telling of the Tam Lin story called Fire and Hemlock. "

Diana Wynne Jones is my favorite author! I want to read Fire and Hemlock, but I want too. Another good book for this list is, the most recent thing I've read by her: The Merlin Conspiracy

That Norton critical edition sounds really interesting Eirin, I'll have to keep an eye open for a copy.

I like all the original Disney classics actually. I can appreciate the original Grimm's stories, but I liked Disney too. Is it just me or has Disney turned into nothing but ****. I don't usually cuss so I'm sorry, but This really made me mad. I do have high hopes for their new movie coming out soon though.

Carolyn wrote: "Eirin wrote: "I especially loved how Little Red Riding Hood started as a story told by workers in the field to pass the time, containing sex and violence to keep them interested, then being reworke..."

Yeah, a lot of them, especially in the first edition they compiled. But they met with a lot of critique, and thus revised it into a second edition, which is much more moralising and thus ended up having some plotholes. I'm not saying all their fairytales are like that, but some of them. Red Riding Hood included.

Oh, and don't get me started on Disney...

Yes I love the re-written Adult versions of fairy tales. It seems to add so much to the telling. I have several collections of these.

Eirin wrote: "I especially loved how Little Red Riding Hood started as a story told by workers in the field to pass the time, containing sex and violence to keep them interested, then being reworked by the Brothers Grimm into this moralizing thing full of plotholes, and then being rewritten again by people like Paulo Coelho, bringing back the clever girl and the violence. Hah, it's so funny!"

Actually, a lot of the Brothers Grimm versions are pretty grim - I think it's the Disney-ification of the fairy tales that dumbs them down.

I have this Norton Critical Edition of the most popular fairy tales during the ages, and that includes editions from the earliest known to the latest (modern) editions.

I especially loved how Little Red Riding Hood started as a story told by workers in the field to pass the time, containing sex and violence to keep them interested, then being reworked by the Brothers Grimm into this moralizing thing full of plotholes, and then being rewritten again by people like Paulo Coelho, bringing back the clever girl and the violence. Hah, it's so funny!

I've just recalled that Diana Wynne Jones wrote an interesting re-telling of the Tam Lin story called Fire and Hemlock.

Misty wrote: "There are a few more books in the Tithe set, along with other things by Holly Black. Here's what I can come up with:

Valiant A Modern Tale of Faerie
Ironside A Modern Faerie Tale..."

You missed the first one of those, Misty. Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale 1 Valient takes place after Tithe, and is more of a stand alone than the other two, which are actually a set.

Bill wrote: "
Ha! The older I get, the younger my reading so that's ok ;-)
I got Donkey awhile ago. It's a lovely little book and I couldn't resist (that's the ex bookbinder in me) Only just got Birds. Had a ma..."

Yes, she's a prolific author. I think she was writing at 14 and her first book was published at 16. She said something I found very interesting when I heard her speak. She said that she thought every second book she writes is a dud. Thursday's Child is absolutely brilliant but the next book of hers that I picked up, Black Foxes, wasn't much good. I wondered if this was one that she'd written in an off year.

Ha! The older I get, the younger my reading so that's ok ;-)
I got Donkey awhile ago. It's a lovely little book and I couldn't resist (that's the ex bookbinder in me) Only just got Birds. Had a massive shop at bookcloseouts looking for a few things mentioned on GR that I didn't know and it was there.
Just realised I've got Stripes of the Sidestep Wolf somewhere too. MUST read!

Malcolm wrote: "If you want a piece of genuinely brilliant writing that has a dreamlike, fairy-tale-ish quality to it then try Sonya Hartnett's The Ghost's Child. She didn't win the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award ..."

Hi Bill, I haven't read What the Birds See but The Silver Donkey is very good, although aimed possibly at slightly younger readers - it's a kind of parable about war.

I have a couple on my tbr list by Sonya Hartnett What the Birds See and The Silver Donkey perhaps I should add another.

If you want a piece of genuinely brilliant writing that has a dreamlike, fairy-tale-ish quality to it then try Sonya Hartnett's The Ghost's Child. She didn't win the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award - the world's biggest prize for children's and youth literature - for nothing. I saw her talk at Writers' Week here in Adelaide a couple of years ago. She was good; and very modest about her phenomenal productivity.

I have it on my tbr, but no.

Has anyone read Fairest of All A Tale of the Wicked Queen

Love Charles de Lint, anything of his is amazing.

I read Snow by Tracy Lynn and I really liked the new spin on the old story.

Good call on these. Windling does a lot anthology work with Ellen Datlow, and fairy tales are definitely on the menu. And de Lint is very much a modern fairy talist (?) =D
Haven't read The Dark is Rising yet, but someone was recommending it the other day, though I can't remember where...

This hasn't been commented on in a while, but I thought of a few additions.

Anything by Charles de Lint fits the bill too, though I suppose it's more properly urban fantasy than faerie tale.

Clive Barker's Abarat series is sort of a twisted fairie tale.

And if you're willing to add mythic to the broad definition, you could put Mike Chabon's Summerland in there as well.

Susan Cooper's the Dark is Rising sequence also hits mythic/faerie tale. Was never real fond of Over Sea Under Stone, but the series caught me with The Dark is Rising.

While it's not quite YA, John Connelly's The Book of Lost Things has a nice fairie tale atmosphere.

Almost anything Terri Windling has a hand in will probably fall under modern faerie tale, or at least mythically inspired, but it's mostly adult fiction.

Cynthia Voigt's Novel of a Kingdom books read like fairy tales to me. There are 4 books in the 'series' and some have more of a fairy tale feel than others, but I love all 4, and strongly recommend them. In order, they are
Jackaroo A Novel of the Kingdom
On Fortune's Wheel
The Wings of a Falcon
Elske A Novel of the Kingdom

Hmm, good suggestions, guys. I've never read anything by (the incredible) Jonathan Carroll. And one of the things I always dwell on are the problems in fairytales (like just how is Jack of beanstalk fame a hero?). I agree with you Luann, that would be a great writing prompt.

The Rumpelstiltskin Problem has six different Rumpelstiltskin stories. Each story "fixes" a problem in the original story such as why Rumpelstiltskin would accept a gold ring or necklace as payment when he could spin all the gold he wanted out of straw. Here is my review, if you are interested.

There's The Rumpelstiltskin Problem by Vivian Vande Velde which is (I think) 8 variations and Sleeping in Flame by the incredible Jonathan Carroll plus The Witches' Boy by Michael Gruber which also included Cinderella, Rapunzel and just about every other character going if I remember rightly. Modern, probably only the Carroll counts.

Yeah, we talked about Curse... in the original fairytale retellings folder. It's not really modern, though. I wonder if there is a thoroughly modern retelling of Rumplestiltskin? I bet it would be much creepier. It'd be a weird tale to rework and make modern. Hmmm

I thought that A Curse Dark as Gold was great. It is an adaptation of Rumplestiltskin. I thought it was a fantastic book for a first novel. As far as I read, this is the only adaptation of a fairy tale that I have read. The author is Elizabeth C. Bunce.

There are a few more books in the Tithe set, along with other things by Holly Black. Here's what I can come up with:

Valiant A Modern Tale of Faerie
Ironside A Modern Faery's Tale
The Spiderwick Chronicles:
The Field Guide
The Seeing Stone
Lucinda's Secret
The Ironwood Tree
The Wrath of Mulgarath
among others
Wicked Lovely
Fragile Eternity
Garth Nix's Keys to the Kingdom series (starts withMister Monday) has a fairytale feel at times, and will appeal more to boys than most things in this genre
Coraline felt like a fairy tale to me
the Artemis Fowl books
Princess Academy
Gossamer

I'm sure there are more...

I actually have a shelf of these. It's a little subjective, but these are the ones I would pick out as YA or crossovers:

The Tale of Despereaux Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup and a Spool of Thread
Howl's Moving Castle
Tithe A Modern Faerie Tale
Stardust
One For The Morning Glory
The Princess Bride
The Enchanted Forest Chronicles Dealing with Dragons / Searching for Dragons / Calling on Dragons / Talking to Dragons

I loved some of these more than others, but I enjoyed all of them.