Ask the Author: Melissa Albert
Answered Questions (13)
Melissa Albert
I have trouble planning too far ahead--I've tried making outlines and it hasn't worked out for me (yet). Instead I just draft a LOT in order to figure out what works and is interesting to me, and most of it ends up getting thrown out. (But I save all the stuff I cut in a deleted text doc, which makes me braver about cutting it in the first place!)
Melissa Albert
The triplets were in my original version of "The Mother and the Dagger"! But somehow that story never quite worked for me. I wrestled and wrestled with it until right before deadline, then chucked the whole thing and wrote something entirely new. I love the tale that came out of that process, but I really miss those creepy triplets.
As for the Briar King: <spoiler>the Hinterland stories are built and broken and new ones are told, and I had the idea that when Althea wrote the Tales he wasn't a Story yet. Like maybe the Spinner created him partly in response to what Althea had done, as a murderous errand boy...</spoiler>
As for the Briar King: <spoiler>the Hinterland stories are built and broken and new ones are told, and I had the idea that when Althea wrote the Tales he wasn't a Story yet. Like maybe the Spinner created him partly in response to what Althea had done, as a murderous errand boy...</spoiler>
Melissa Albert
I think I'm answering too late for the purposes of your book club, BUT: I wrote the table of contents for the Tales very early in the writing of The Hazel Wood, and had some small sense of what the tales felt and sounded like. But I didn't write (most of) them until after the duology had been written!
Melissa Albert
Thanks so much, I'm delighted you're enjoying!
Melissa Albert
It's included in the back of The Night Country paperback! It's also an audio extra on both the Hazel Wood and Night Country audiobooks. Thanks for wanting to read it!
Melissa Albert
Yes! I don't think The Night Country works as a standalone. But it works fabulously as a sequel! ;)
Melissa Albert
I adore Rosamund Hodge's Cruel Beauty, a dark and strange and incredibly inventive take on Beauty and the Beast. Helen Oyeyemi's Boy, Snow, Bird takes a scalpel to the Snow White tale and does things with it that will get your mind drunk. Also Naomi Novik's tale retellings are second to none: Uprooted is incredible and Spinning Silver is among the best books I've read.
Melissa Albert
We did try to make this happen, but sadly no plans came to fruition! I completely understand wanting matching editions.
Melissa Albert
A duology plus a fairy tale collection releasing in 2021!
Melissa Albert
Yes, I love that series! They're all fantastic, but my favorite is Down Among the Sticks and Bones.
Melissa Albert
Thanks for asking! It was released in print as a preorder gift in advance of the release of The Night Country--but you can also find it as an audio extra with both the Hazel Wood and Night Country audiobooks! I'll share any info I get if we release it in print or ebook form down the line...
Melissa Albert
Thanks for asking! It was released in print as a preorder gift in advance of the release of The Night Country--but you can also find it as an audio extra with both the Hazel Wood and Night Country audiobooks! I'll share any info I get if we release it in print or ebook form down the line...
Melissa Albert
Oh, I love this question. I'm going to narrow it down to three: for contemporary, Alice Pung's bsolutely brilliant tale of class and cliques, LUCY AND LINH! For fantasy, the weird, wonderful, portal-tastic Bronte-inspired book WORLDS OF INK AND SHADOW, by Lena Coakley. And for a book that walks the line between fantasy and contemp, Krystal Sutherland's dark and singular A SEMI-DEFINITIVE LIST OF WORST NIGHTMARES.
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