Heidi Anne Heiner's Blog, page 107

Beauty and the Beast: Recommended Reading Part II

I introduced this thread yesterday with Beauty and the Beast: Recommended Reading Part I, so go there and read my intro if you haven't yet. Essentially, I am recommending the books that helped make Beauty and the Beast Tales From Around the World possible. Well, it was always possible, but it would have taken me years longer. I built upon these building blocks these books provided.

Both of today's books are from an unabashed Beauty and the Beast fan and academic, Betsy Hearne. One is out of print and the other is not.


Beauty and the Beast: Visions and Revisions of an Old Tale is THE BOOK for Beauty and the Beast fans wanting to read about the tale and its history. As I was writing my introduction to my book, I kept thinking, oh, just write in large print: READ Beauty and the Beast: Visions and Revisions of an Old Tale. That would have been much easier and efficient, but I did do more than that.

I have great affection for this book since it also inspired my study and love of fairy tales when I first discovered it on a library shelf shortly after it was published. I was a senior in high school and serendipity led me to it on the shelf. I think I did a little dance hidden in the stacks with it clutched in my arms actually. Or at least considered it. I wasn't as lackadaisical about my public outbursts back then.

Hearne discusses the tale in depth in her book from the originals of Villeneuve and Beaumont to modern interpretations. Unfortunately, the book is now over 20 years old and out of print. I keep hoping for a reprint with a new introduction and extra chapters for what has followed since its publication. After all, Disney's Beauty and the Beast came out a few years later and increased the visibility of the tale quite a bit. Although one of the books I will recommend tomorrow has helped to fill in the gap somewhat.


The second book, edited by Betsy Hearne, is Beauties and Beasts: (The Oryx Multicultural Folktale Series). Yes, this is also an anthology of Beauty and the Beast tales. A few of the tales in this book also appear in my Beauty and the Beast Tales From Around the World, but there are several that are unique--and harder to find elsewhere thanks to original publications being out of print--to Hearne's collection of 27 tales. (Mine has 188 tales.)

Another difference is that Hearne's book is intended primarily for an elementary and middle school classroom in both content and scope. It is an excellent book and of great interest to any Beauty and the Beast fan, but it is also safer for younger readers, chosen and edited to be so. I didn't try to be safe with mine although Beauty and the Beast is one of the "safer" tales out there. I have to monitor my audiences when I am discussing Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and even Bluebeard in public, not so much with Beauty and the Beast.

Hearne's book is also the only other collection of Beauty and the Beast tales around. There are several collections of Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood studies that include actual tales, but not as many for Beauty and the Beast.

I will recommend another two tomorrow, too, so stay tuned.

New Book: The Little Mermaid (Pop-Up Classics) by Robert Sabuda

The Little Mermaid (Pop-Up Classics) by Robert Sabuda was released this week and my copy arrived a few days ago. Pop-up fairy tales are an auto buy for me and I preordered the book last December. That's what I do. And really, when is Matthew Reinhart's Sleeping Beauty going to appear? I'm waiting. :)

But back to Little Mermaid which is here:

First of all, for Little Mermaid purists, this is Hans Christian Andersen's version with the seafoam and "children of the air" ending. So purists will love it. Disney fans maybe not so much.

As always, the pop-ups are amazing. My personal favorites are when her tail is transformed into legs and when she emerges from the water as you open the page. There are many little surprises like that with elaborate paper constructs that few pop-up engineers achieve. This time Sabuda's stained glass style illustrations with heavy black lines and jewel tone colors capture the sea and land colors beautifully. There are faint allusions to early illustrators, such as Edmund Dulac, and the mermaid's hair is red, which hearkens to Disney, but that is about all for the Disney influences. And really, who can blame that since the red hair has become iconic since Disney released the film almost 25 years ago. (Which makes me wonder why they didn't wait until next year to rerelease it for the anniversary. Cause if you didn't know, the new Disney Blu-Ray edition is also released this month.)

Book description:

A beloved under-the-sea tale is now a pop-up masterpiece, from expert craftsman Robert Sabuda.

Come along on a magical journey under the sea in this stunning pop-up adaptation of the beloved fairy tale “The Little Mermaid,” expertly crafted by renowned paper engineer Robert Sabuda. Amazing three-dimensional paper structures pop off each page, bringing this classic underwater adventure to life. This visually stunning tale of adventure, true love, and sacrifice is sure to become a favorite in any story-lover’s library.

And since pop-ups have to be experienced, there is thankfully a video that will give you a small taste:

Beauty and the Beast: Recommended Reading Part I

One of the challenges of discussing Beauty and the Beast is figuring out where to begin. Beauty and the Beast Tales From Around the World is an anthology that helps you explore the history of the tale with a relatively short introduction considering the massive size of the book. It was tempting to write a much longer introduction but it was important to stay with the main objective--to share the tales--especially since there are some wonderful books already published that discuss the tale in much greater depth.

So today, I'm going to recommend other books, not my own. The ones that were important tools for me during my hunt for tale after tale. And the ones that allowed me to say, "Don't write that, refer your readers to the greater analysis available in _________."

In other words, if you are an avid Beauty and the Beast fan, these books need to be in your library.


The Tale of Cupid and Psyche: An Illustrated History by Sonia Cavicchioli is quite simply a gorgeous book. You can own it for the artwork alone, never reading a word. But it also includes wonderful discussion of the story that essentially started it all, Cupid and Psyche, which I will be discussing in greater depth in future days. The book includes a version of the tale and an overview of it's appearance throughout history with some solid analytical discussion, too.

Book description:

Once upon a time there lived a king and queen who had three very beautiful daughters....It was only just possible to find words of praise for the elder two and to express the breath-taking loveliness of the youngest...was beyond all power of human speech. Every day thousands of her father's subjects came to gaze at her, foreigners too, and were so dumbfounded by the sight that they paid her the homage due to the Goddess Venus alone.

The passionate love story of a god and an exquisitely beautiful mortal woman, the myth of Cupid and Psyche has fascinated Western culture since the Middle Ages. First appearing as a long aside in Apuleius's The Golden Ass in the second century AD, this romance has inspired countless works of art in an astonishingly wide range of media. Gathered here is a selection of these numerous works, from monumental fresco cycles, to easel paintings and wedding chests, from miniatures, tapestries, and stained-glass windows, to marble and porcelain sculptures. Many are considered masterpieces of European art.

The sheer number and beauty of the works this myth has inspired is a testament to the power and richness of the story. The lovers are often portrayed as children to suggest their eternal youth and immortality. In some scenes they are shown kissing, in others, tormenting each other, expressing the extremes of joy and suffering that beset all lovers. The changing tastes and sensibilities of different periods are reflected in Psyche's appearance, evolving from courtly and Baroque to neoclassical and Pre-Raphaelite. For the modern age, it is the dual nature of Cupid and Psyche's love, on the one hand deeply spiritual, and on the other intensely sensual, that has resonated most powerfully.

"It seems," noted Walter Pater, the nineteenth-century British critic, of Apuleius's story, "that one can see and touch the blond hair, the fresh flowers, the precious works of art of which he speaks." Thanks to the extraordinary artworks included in this book, we can indeed see, if not touch, the splendors of Apuleius's story. 96 color illustrations, 128 in b/w.

The next book is The Tale of Cupid and Psyche by Jan-Ojvind Swahn. Published in 1955, it is long out of print and somewhat rare but not impossible to find by any means. I have owned a copy for several years and mine was uncut--that was an evening of fun, cutting fragile pages and creating paper dust and bits everywhere! But this is the full study of ATU 425 tales, those most closely related to Beauty and the Beast (which is ATU 425C). Similar in nature to Marian Roalfe Cox's Cinderella, Swahn analyzes in great detail over 1,000 variants of the tale with a survey table that consists of 30% of the book. Many have never been translated into English and a large percentage have never been published in any language but exist in manuscript collections.

Many of the tales in Beauty and the Beast Tales From Around the World are listed by Swahn, although my book includes others he either dismissed or missed. The scope of my book also goes beyond ATU 425 to other Animal Bridegroom stories. But the work is impressive, especially with it done before the age of computer tools. And it is a way to compare and understand the expanse of this tale type.

I also translated a few into English that I have never seen translated previously, but again, that's for future days on the blog.

And, wow, I still want to build a database of tales. That project is coming someday. Whenever I get the personal bandwidth and funding to support it. I've been dreaming about it for years....

These aren't all of the books--I'll be sharing more tomorrow, so stay tuned.

New Book: Little Red Writing by Joan Holub and Melissa Sweet

Little Red Writing by Joan Holub (Author), Melissa Sweet (Illustrator) was released last week. I received a review copy several weeks ago, but didn't want to discuss it too soon here on the blog.


Book description:

Acclaimed writer Joan Holub and Caldecott Honoree Melissa Sweet team up in this hilarious and exuberant retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, in which a brave, little red pencil finds her way through the many perils of writing a story, faces a ravenous pencil sharpener (the Wolf 3000)... and saves the day. Plus, this is a fixed-format version of the book, which looks nearly identical to the print version.

The book is an original retelling of Little Red Riding Hood--I haven't seen it done like this before!--but with the intent of teaching some elemental creative writing principles. In this version, Little Red is a red pencil. Granny is the school principle. And the wolf, well, that would be telling, wouldn't it? Just consider what objects are the biggest threats to pencils and you may guess the wolf. The janitor, by the way, also appears in the woodcutter's role although Little Red saves the day in this version.


Overall, it's a clever book and useful tool for creative writing teachers. The illustrations are intricate and the writing principles are sound and not overly simple so it's a book that can be used and referenced several times by teacher and students, too.

The story that Little Red writes also sounds like it could be written by a talented child--dynamite makes an appearance--and the wolf even looks like a kid's drawing so kudos to Holub and Sweet for capturing that childhood essence, too.


I'm of the Schoolhouse Rock Generation, so the book is also reminiscent of the Grammar Rock series. And, yes, Unpack Your Adjectives started playing in my head after reading this book. Recommended for classrooms and young writers, although experienced writers will have fun with it, too.
And just to share the earworm and show some Schoolhouse Rock love:



But, of course, Lolly, Lolly, Lolly is more pernicious, and more beloved by me:

Table of Contents for Beauty and the Beast Tales From Around the World

Beauty and the Beast Tales From Around the World (the link isn't active yet but it will be in the near future) will be released soon, so today begins some Beauty and the Beast posts which will continue until I run out of steam or bandwidth (being realistic here). I make grand plans and then life happens and well, you still love the blog anyway, right?

Ideally, I will post every week day for the next two months because I have that much to share. Just a daily discussion of different types of Animal Bridegroom tales will take about two weeks. Then sharing favorite and unusual tales from the collection as well as some history can go on for several weeks. And so many of you are fans of the tale, too, so I want to share a lot since most of my thoughts are absent from the book out of necessity.

For today, however, being a Monday and all, I'm just going to share the table of contents (at least the tales part) for the new book. The book begins with Cupid and Psyche and then offers strict ATU 425C Beauty and the Beast tales and then widens the scope to a range of Animal Bridegroom tales. Each of these tales fought for their place in the book and some others languish in my unused folders. And, yes, at times I chose to offer two translations of the same tale instead of a different tale entirely, but the translations offer interesting comparisons in style and content choice which at least I always find fascinating for a collection like this.

Table of Contents:

1. Cupid and Psyche
by Apuleius 2
2. Cupid and Psyche
by Thomas Bulfinch 20
3. The Story of the Beauty and the Beast (Dowson Translation)
by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve France 28
4. The Story of the Beauty and the Beast (Planché Translation)
by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve France 91
5. Beauty and the Beast
by Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont France 149
6. Beauty and the Beast
by Andrew Lang France 156
7. Beauty and the Beast
by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch France 166
8. The Great Beast France 182
9. The White Wolf France 183
10. Bellindia Italy 185
11. Zelinda and the Monster Italy 187
12. The Enchanted Rose Tree Italy 190
13. Beauty and the Beast Italy 192
14. The Prince Who Was Changed into a Snake Cyprus 193
15. Beauty and the Beast Basque 196
16. The Lily and the Bear Spain 199
17. The Maiden and the Beast Portugal 201
18. The Small-Tooth Dog England 204
19. Beauty and the Horse Denmark 205
20. The Summer and Winter Garden Germany 208
21. The Speaking Grapes, the Smiling Apple, and the Tinkling Apricot Hungary 209
22. The Enchanted Tsarévich Russia 211
23. Beauty and the Beast Europe 213
24. The Fairy Serpent China 216
25. Rose North America 217
26. The Pig Prince Italy 222
27. Verde Prato Italy 226
28. The Three Sisters Italy 229
29. The Serpent (Burton Translation) Italy 232
30. The Enchanted Snake Italy 237
31. The Padlock Italy 242
32. Pinto-Smauto (Burton Translation) Italy 244
33. Pintosmalto (Taylor Translation) Italy 248
34. The Golden Root (Burton Translation) Italy 251
35. The Golden Root (Taylor Translation) Italy 256
36. The King of Love Italy 261
37. Sir Fiorante, Magician Italy 266
38. King Bean Italy 267
39. The Dark King Italy 271
40. Monsu Mostro Italy 277
41. Monte Rochettino Italy 280
42. The Bronze Boar of the Mercato Nuovo Italy 283
43. The Golden Wand Greece 285
44. The Pumpkin Greece 288
45. The Eagle Greece 290
46. Melidoni Greece 291
47. Donkey-Skin Greece 295
48. The Lord of Underearth Greece 297
49. The King of the Birds Greece 300
50. The Sleeping Prince Greece 301
51. The Sugar Man Greece 302
52. The Enchanted Head Greece 306
53. The Lay of Yonec France 310
54. The Blue Bird France 316
55. The Green Serpent France 335
56. The Ram France 350
57. The History of the Princess Zeineb and King Leopard France 359
58. The White Goat France 364
59. The Land of Margriettes France 367
60. Peau d’Ane (Donkeyskin) France 372
61. The Serpent in the Wood Basque 375
62. The Sprig of Rosemary Spain 377
63. The Carnation Youth Spain 380
64. The King Who Slept Spain 382
65. The Frog and His Clothes Spain 386
66. The Cabbage Stalk Portugal 388
67. The Prince a Toad Portugal 390
68. The Prince Who Had the Head of a Horse Portugal 392
69. The Three Feathers England 395
70. The Earl of Mar’s Daughter England 397
71. Earl Mar’s Daughter England 401
72. May Ellen’s Wedding England 403
73. The Glass Mountain England 406
74. The Glass Mountains Ireland 409
75. The Three Daughters of King O’Hara Ireland 411
76. The Hill of Needles Ireland 416
77. The Jackdaw Ireland 419
78. The Woman Who Went to Hell Ireland 421
79. The Brown Bull of Ringlewood Scotland 423
80. Black Bull of Norroway (Chambers) Scotland 425
81. Black Bull of Norroway (Jacobs) Scotland 428
82. Red Bull of Norroway Scotland 431
83. Brown Bear of Norway Scotland 433
84. The Tale of the Hoodie Scotland 437
85. The Hoodie-Crow Scotland 440
86. The Daughter of the Skies Scotland 442
87. The Knight of the Glens and Bens and Passes Scotland 446
88. Sigurdr the King’s Son Iceland 449
89. Prince Wolf Denmark 456
90. The Green Knight (Grundtvig) Denmark 463
91. The Green Knight (Kristensen) Denmark 469
92. King Dragon Denmark 475
93. The Deer Prince Denmark 479
94. The Little Girl and the Serpent Denmark 481
95. The Snake Denmark 482
96. The Little Mare Denmark 487
97. East o’ the Sun and West o’ the Moon Norway 489
98. King Valemon, the White Bear Norway 495
99. Prince Hatt Under the Earth; or, the Three Singing Leaves: Version I Sweden 499
100. Prince Hatt Under the Earth; or, the Three Singing Leaves: Version II Sweden 512
101. King Lindorm Sweden 521
102. The Girl and the Snake Sweden 527
103. The Werewolf Sweden 528
104. The Lame Dog Sweden 533
105. The Singing, Springing Lark Germany 538
106. The Raven Prince Germany 542
107. The Iron Stove Germany 543
108. King Swan Germany 547
109. Hurleburlebutz Germany 548
110. Snow White and Rose Red Germany 549
111. The Donkey Germany 553
112. The Hut in the Forest Germany 555
113. Hans the Hedgehog Germany 559
114. The Old Woman in the Wood Germany 563
115. The Nut-Bough Germany 565
116. The White Wolf Germany 567
117. The Enchanted Crow Poland 570
118. O Karlinie (History of Caroline) Poland 571
119. The Bear in the Forest Hut Poland 572
120. Snake-Skin Hungary 578
121. The Wonderful Frog Hungary 581
122. The Hedgehog, the Merchant, the King, and the Poor Man Hungary 582
123. Little Brother Bit Romania 593
124. The Enchanted Hog Romania 598
125. The Enchanted Pig Romania 606
126. The Snake Who Became the King’s Son-in-Law Romania 612
127. The Dog and the Maiden Romania 614
128. The History of Batim Bulgaria 615
129. The Snotty Goat Russia 619
130. The Little Feather of Fenist the Bright Falcon Russia 621
131. The Feather of Finist the Falcon Russia 626
132. The Water Snake Russia 633
133. The Bird-Man Russia (Republic of Kalmykia) 635
134. The Serpent-Tsarevich and His Two Wives Cossack 637
135. The Snake and the Princess Ukraine 640
136. Transformation into a Nightingale and a Cuckoo Ukraine 642
137. The White Wolf Europe 642
138. The Unseen Bridegroom Europe 646
139. The Horse-Dew and the Witch Turkey 650
140. The Padishah of the Thirty Peris Turkey 653
141. Shah Jussuf Turkey 656
142. The Story of the Snake-Prince Sleepy-Head Iran 660
143. The Goat and the Princess Egypt 664
144. The Sultan’s Snake-Child East Africa 668
145. The Story of Five Heads South Africa 671
146. A More Complete Story of Five Heads South Africa 672
147. The Story of Long Snake South Africa 674
148. The Snake with Five Heads South Africa 676
149. Untombinde South Africa 680
150. The Marriage of Untombinde South Africa 686
151. The Enchanted Buck South Africa 688
152. A Frog for a Husband Korea 692
153. The Enchanted Ring Philippines 696
154. The Story of Juan del Mundo de Austria and the Princess Maria Philippines 697
155. Juan Wearing a Monkey’s Skin Philippines 699
156. The Enchanted Prince Philippines 702
157. The Enchanted Shell Philippines 704
158. The Living Head Philippines 705
159. The Gandharva India 705
160. Muchie-Lal India 707
161. The Fish Prince India 712
162. Tulisa, the Woodman’s Daughter India 714
163. The Monkey Boy India 721
164. The Monkey and the Girl India 723
165. The Monkey Husband India 724
166. The Monkey Prince India 725
167. The Fan Prince India 731
168. The Story of Prince Sobur India 735
169. The Snake’s Bride India 740
170. The Snake Prince India 741
171. The River Snake India 745
172. Jambhu Raja India 747
173. The Horse of Gold India 749
174. The Prince Who Was Changed into a Ram India 751
175. Marriage of a Brahman Girl to a Dog India 756
176. Kusa Jataka Tibet 757
177. The Story of the Rakshasa and the Princess Sri Lanka 762
178. Metamorphosis of a Goat Vietnam 764
179. The Lizard Husband Indonesia 765
180. The Great Kinof Indonesia 767
181. Story of a Snake and a Young Woman Papua New Guinea 768
182. Prince Jalma Chile 771
183. The Bird of the Sweet Song Mexico 775
184. The Bear Prince Mexico 777
185. Beauty and the Beast United States 781
186. Wolf of the Greenwood United States 782
187. Prince by Night, Beast by Day Canada 785
188. Castle Bliss Canada 791

Bargain Comic Ebooks: Fables Series for 99 Cents Each

Pretty much all of the single issue comics in the Fables Universe are currently 99 cents each on Amazon. Here's the link: Fables Single Issue Comics Sale. Well, the most recent, #133 is $2.99 which I believe is the usual price for all of these.

There's 212 titles, so no, you won't be buying them all. Although that would be cool if you did. I admire that. But it's a way to read some of the series without a big commitment, or to read one of the side series in the universe. Anyway, I'm going to be quiet about it and just let you go explore if you are interested.

By the way, these are best on color ereaders like tablets, but they can also be read in B&W on regular Kindles and other readers because I imagine they are on sale elsewhere, too, but I'm not taking the time to investigate.

I think this is a promotion since many were just released in this format digitally with release dates for this week although the series is long lived now. Although I remember when it launched and that makes me feel old....

(And I just love that cover for Fables 73 above. Awesome.)

Bargain Book: Mirror, Mirror by J. D. Robb is $3.99 This Weekend

Mirror, Mirror by J. D. Robb and others was released this week and is usually $7.99 for the ebook on Amazon, but it is on sale this weekend only for $3.99. Even if you have already bought it--which I did--you can return it and repurchase at the lower price. It is also this price on Barnes and Noble.

Book description:

Once upon a time…

…in a world far removed from the days when fairy tales were new, five bestselling authors spin versions that take the classic stories into a new dimension. You’ll recognize Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and other enduring characters, but they’ll exist in realms beyond your imagination, where the familiar is transformed into the extraordinary and otherworldly.

New Movie Trailer for Disney's Frozen

The Snow Queen? No.

This new trailer for Frozen is more entertaining and gives hope for some general entertainment. But it has no resemblance whatsoever to HCA's The Snow Queen. I'm grateful they changed the title on this one. So unless more news shows a greater relationship to the fairy tale, I won't be covering the movie here on the blog.

Tangled, at least, resembled the fairy tale and had recognizable elements. I'm not seeing that here.

Forbes has a great article about the movie by Scott Mendelson:

As you may recall, Disney infamously changed the title of 2010′s Rapunzel to Tangled and also altered the marketing campaign to highlight not its lead female would-be princess character but the wise-cracking male lead who would be her love interest and would-be rescuer. And, having successfully marketed Tangled as the merry adventure of rogue Flynn with Rapunzel seemingly playing a supporting role in her own story, Disney then went and announced that Tangled would be the last such fairy tale adaptation they would be producing. Because obviously The Princess and the Frog “only” made $267 million worldwide in 2009 primarily because it had the word “princess” in the title.

$600 million in worldwide box office later (more than any other non-Pixar cartoon outside of The Lion King), they secretly changed their tune, which brings us this loose adaptation of Hans Christian Anderson‘s The Snow Queen. So yes, however small the victory, let us celebrate that Disney is boasting, rather than hiding, the fact that they have made another female-centric animated fable. It is a telling sign of how far gender parity has fallen in the last decade when something like this or Brave is considered noteworthy, especially as the female-driven animated features like Mulan or Anastasia used to come and go without comment in the mid-to-late 1990′s.

But for the moment, kudos to Disney for not only bringing us another animated film co-directed and co-written by a female (Jennifer Lee, who co-wrote Disney’s Wreck It Ralph), but producing one starring a female hero and villain (Idina Menzel). And most importantly, kudos for not being afraid to hide the film’s female-centric bent in the marketing campaign, thus bucking the “girls will see boy movies but boys won’t see girl movies” conventional wisdom. One can only hope that the successes of The Twilight Saga, Tangled, Brave, and The Hunger Games is helping to dispel that myth.

And I still contend that Princess and the Frog just wasn't very entertaining. The Princess title may not have helped but the film itself wasn't making people go back to see it. And it released later than usual that year, too, after Thanksgiving. Voodoo and characters that are animals longer than they are humans isn't appealing to as large an audience. Fine if we have animal characters, but when we know they are enchanted humans, well, frogs aren't that interesting. I'm usually entertained by Disney movies on some levels but I remember sitting with my sister to watch it and we were both thoroughly bored. It was boring. And I didn't want to be bored and I was rooting for a non-white princess, too.

New Book: Mirror, Mirror by J. D. Robb and More

Released today: Mirror, Mirror by J. D. Robb (Author), Mary Blayney (Author), Elaine Fox (Author), R.C. Ryan (Author), Mary Kay McComas (Author) is released today. Those in the know know that Robb is Nora Roberts writing her Eve Dallas series. Herein we have an interesting mix of fairy tale retellings from an unexpected set of authors.

Book description:

Once upon a time…

…in a world far removed from the days when fairy tales were new, five bestselling authors spin versions that take the classic stories into a new dimension. You’ll recognize Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and other enduring characters, but they’ll exist in realms beyond your imagination, where the familiar is transformed into the extraordinary and otherworldly.

From Publishers Weekly, because this way you know which fairy tales are interpreted:

Returning novella contributors Robb, Blayney, McComas, and Ryan (The Unquiet) are joined by newcomer Fox in this interesting collection of fairy-tale–inspired stories of romance and intrigue. Robb's Eve Dallas must track down a pair of missing twins in a Hansel and Gretel police procedural, Taken in Death. Blayney's wish-granting coin entwines a pair of lonely adventure seekers in romance beyond their lives as a servant and a sergeant in her charming 1816 fantasy, If Wishes Were Horses, which gives a nod to Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Fox introduces a charming ghostly television reporter to the woman who buys his haunted house in Beauty, Sleeping, a clever, turned-on-its-head version of Sleeping Beauty. McComas's phenomenal modern retelling of The Little Match Girl gives a too-generous activist and the cop who thinks he's too old for her a chance at love in The Christmas Comet. In Ryan's Cinderella tale, Stroke of Midnight, a teacher travels to her father's hometown in Ireland, falls in love, and nearly lets her wicked stepmother ruin everything before an improbable conclusion. Though varying dramatically in approaches to the theme, each novella successfully captures the spirit of magic and happy endings. (Oct.)

New Book: Scarlet in the Snow by Sophie Masson

Scarlet in the Snow by Sophie Masson will be released next week.

Book description:

Masson delves into the depths of two ancient Russian fairy tales and brings to life the beguiling adventure of Natasha, the rose-stealer, and the Beast, its protector

When Natasha is forced to take shelter from a sudden blizzard, she is lucky to see a mansion looming out of the snow. Inside, it is beautiful: the fire lit, the table set, but mysteriously enough there is no one there. On the walls, instead of paintings, sit empty frames. In the garden, she finds one perfect red rose about to bloom, a vivid splash of scarlet against the snow. Dreamily she reaches out a hand, only to have the master of the house appear—a terrifying, gigantic creature who looks like a cross between a bear and a man—and demand vengeance on her for taking his rose. So begins an extraordinary adventure that will see Natasha plunged deep into the heart of a mystery. She begins to realize she has stumbled onto a great tragedy—a spell of revenge laid on the young man the Beast once was, devised by a powerful sorcerer. But even if she can break the spell, the Beast she has now come to love will be snatched from her. Natasha will have a long journey, and many ordeals, ahead of her before there can be a happy ending.