Heidi Anne Heiner's Blog, page 146

Bargain Book in UK: The Goddess Test by Aimée Carter

The Goddess Test (A Goddess Test Novel - Book 1) (The Goddess Chronicles) by Aimée Carter is the Amazon UK Daily Deal--see, I do love you UK readers!--which draws inspiration from mythology. The ebook is £1.19 in the UK. It is not bargain priced today in the US where it remains $7.01.

Book description:

It's always been just Kate and her mom—and her mother is dying. Her last wish? To move back to her childhood home. So Kate's going to start at a new school with no friends, no other family and the fear her mother won't live past the fall. Then she meets Henry. Dark. Tortured. And mesmerizing. He claims to be Hades, god of the Underworld—and if she accepts his bargain, he'll keep her mother alive while Kate tries to pass seven tests. Kate is sure he's crazy—until she sees him bring a girl back from the dead. Now saving her mother seems crazily possible. If she succeeds, she'll become Henry's future bride, and a goddess.

Bargain Ebook: The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson

The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson is a TODAY only ebook bargain for US readers. This is not a fairy tale retelling but a very well reviewed fantasy novel that should appeal to most SurLaLune readers.

Book description:

Once a century, one person is chosen for greatness. Elisa has always felt powerless, useless. Now, on her sixteenth birthday, she has become the secret wife of a handsome and worldly king—a king who needs her to be the chosen one, not a failure of a princess. And he's not the only one who seeks her. Savage enemies, seething with dark magic, are hunting her. A daring, determined revolutionary thinks she could save his people. And he looks at her in a way no man has ever looked at her before. Elisa could be everything to those who need her most. If the prophecy is fulfilled. If she finds the power deep within herself. If she doesn't die young. Most of the chosen do.

Bargain Ebook: The Raven Ring (The Lyra Novels) by Patricia C. Wrede

The Raven Ring (The Lyra Novels) by Patricia C. Wrede is $1.99 in ebook format TODAY only on Amazon as their Daily Deal. No, this is not a fairy tale retelling like some of her books, but Wrede is a fave around here at SurLaLune so this was a must share.

Book description:

In this book from Wrede’s acclaimed Lyra fantasy series, a young woman must fight for her life while on a quest to claim a magical family heirloom.

Three weeks after Eleret’s mother is killed, the messenger arrives with the tragic news. She died far from home, succumbing to wounds sustained in battle, and Eleret must travel to reclaim her belongings. The overland journey to the city of Ciaron is treacherous, but Eleret has no fear. She straps a dagger to her leg and sets off to recover one of her mother’s prized possessions: a ring etched with a raven. Though she makes it to Ciaron safely, getting home is another story.

Eleret doesn’t know what’s special about her mother’s ring, but someone wanted it badly enough to kill for it. To make it home in one piece, she must unlock the mysteries of the ring her mother died to protect.

New Release: In a Glass Grimmly by Adam Gidwitz

In a Glass Grimmly by Adam Gidwitz is released tomorrow.

It is the companion book to last year's successful A Tale Dark and Grimm. I bought that one as a Christmas present for my niece and we read it together during her holiday visit. I remember being surprised at the tales it included--the world is a'changing--and having Leighton ask repeatedly if what I was reading out loud were my words or the book's words. They were usually the book's. But I guess the constant tongue in cheek warnings of grimm things to come sounded like me. It was fun discussing the referenced tales with her such as The Robber Bridegroom since it plays a part in that book and is a Bluebeard I know rather much about. Bluebeard and his cronies are so very fascinating--why are those tales being ignored so much by the horror leaning writers?

Needless to say I am fascinated to know which tales are going to appear in this new book.

Book description:

More Grimm tales await in the harrowing, hilarious companion to a beloved new classic

Take caution ahead--
Oversize plant life, eerie amphibious royalty, and fear-inducing creatures abound.

Lest you enter with dread.
Follow Jack and Jill as they enter startling new landscapes that may (or may not) be scary, bloody, terrifying, and altogether true.

Step lively, dear reader . . .
Happily ever after isn't cutting it anymore.

In this companion novel to Adam Gidwitz's widely acclaimed, award-winning debut, A Tale Dark &Grimm, Jack and Jill explore a new set of tales from the Brothers Grimm and others, including Jack and the Beanstalk and The Frog Prince.

Monster High Scary Tale Dolls

Monster High Scary Tale Doll Frankie Stein as Threaderella
I know next to nothing about the Monster High toys put out by Mattel. They have a website and a huge online following. I stumbled across these exclusive Target edition dolls this past weekend when shopping for something else. First thought, "Barbie mated with Todd McFarlane's fairy tale figures!" These lean more Barbie than McFarlane--a visit to the website proves that point where the characters have favorite foods, colors, pet, crushes and GFFs instead of BFFs--but these are still toys that would have never been around when I was a kid.

Anyway, enterprising sellers have these available on Amazon where you can see better box images--complete with rhyming fairy tales on the back--are viewable. There are also many, many YouTube videos of these dolls alone. How I missed these since they were released a few months ago, I don't know. Call it the "moving house syndrome."

And, yes, the best prices on these are at Target (no SurLaLune affiliation) since that is where they are especially licensed for distribution. They are limited edition, too. Fascinating toy line, especially the zombie parts and assemble your own doll sets. Hopefully these children will become doctors when they grow up....or genre fiction writers.

Monster High Scary Tale Doll Clawdeen Wolf as Little Dead Riding Wolf

Monster High Scary Tale Doll Draculaura as Snow Bite

Bargain Ebook and Hardcover: Little Sister and the Month Brothers

Little Sister and the Month Brothers by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers (Author) and Margot Tomes (Illustrator) is bargain priced in hardcover for $1.81 right now at Amazon. Buy it QUICK if you want it for it will not last long at that price. Although billed as Cinderella variant, it is more of a Diamonds and Toads variant. In publishing, just about every Diamonds and Toads variant is billed as a Cinderella tale to sell it better. Cinderella has that super celebrity power.


In addition, Little Sister And The Month Brothers is $1.72 in ebook format as a preorder, to be released November 13th. This price will probably go up when the bargain priced hardcover is sold out or changed.
Book description:

Little Sister is very busy doing all the work around the house and the yard. But she doesn’t mind: she sings and hums, and she grows prettier and prettier as she does her chores. Her wicked stepmother and stepsister can’t stand the fact that Little Sister is so happy. One day, they tell Little Sister to bring home violets in the middle of winter—or not to come home at all!

How Little Sister gets help from the Month Brothers in the forest offers a delightful twist on this Slavic version of Cinderella.

New Book: Flock by Wendy Delsol

   
Yes, those are pictured in reverse order of release since today is the official release date for Wendy Delsol's Flock (Stork Trilogy), the final book in the trilogy. The books draw heavily from Andersen's The Snow Queen as well as other folklore, especially Norse mythology and Icelandic folklore. The third book was originally titled "Tide," but was renamed to flock after some cover changes.

Book description:

After surviving her (shall we say) intense adventure in Iceland, Katla is psyched to be back for a blissfully uneventful senior year of homecoming and fashion explorations. But her hopes of dodging unfinished business are dashed by the arrival of two Icelandic exchange students: Marik, an oddly alluring merman-in-disguise, and Jinky, a tough gypsy girl. It seems Katla not only enraged the Snow Queen by rescuing her boyfriend, Jack, she also was tricked into promising her frail baby sister to the water queen — and Marik has come to collect. What’s worse, Katla doesn’t dare confide in anyone lest she endanger them, so even her soul mate, Jack, is growing suspicious. And now Katla’s stork dreams, her guide for matching babies with mothers, have become strange and menacing as well. Hold on for a thrilling finale as the heroine of Stork and Frost calls on her wits (and her wit) to protect those she loves and face a final mythic disaster.

New Book: The Brides of Rollrock Island by Margo Lanagan

The Brides of Rollrock Island by Margo Lanagan was just released this month in the states although it was released this past February in both the UK and in Australia, where it is titled Sea Hearts. I prefer the Sea Hearts title and the UK cover. How about you?

Lanagan previously wrote Tender Morsels, a Snow White and Rose Red retelling, that got lots of buzz in YA publishing at the time.

Since I love comparing covers and descriptions across countries, here you go:

US book description:

On remote Rollrock Island, men go to sea to make their livings—and to catch their wives.

The witch Misskaella knows the way of drawing a girl from the heart of a seal, of luring the beauty out of the beast. And for a price a man may buy himself a lovely sea-wife. He may have and hold and keep her. And he will tell himself that he is her master. But from his first look into those wide, questioning, liquid eyes, he will be just as transformed as she. He will be equally ensnared. And the witch will have her true payment.

Margo Lanagan weaves an extraordinary tale of desire, despair, and transformation. With devastatingly beautiful prose, she reveals characters capable of unspeakable cruelty, but also unspoken love.

UK book description:

Rollrock island is a lonely rock of gulls and waves, blunt fishermen and their homely wives. Life is hard for the families who must wring a poor living from the stormy seas. But Rollrock is also a place of magic - the scary, salty-real sort of magic that changes lives forever. Down on the windswept beach, where the seals lie in herds, the outcast sea witch Misskaella casts her spells - and brings forth girls from the sea - girls with long, pale limbs and faces of haunting innocence and loveliness - the most enchantingly lovely girls the fishermen of Rollrock have ever seen.

But magic always has its price. A fisherman may have and hold a sea bride, and tell himself that he is her master. But from his first look into those wide, questioning, liquid eyes, he will be just as transformed as she is. He will be equally ensnared. And in the end the witch will always have her payment.

Margo Lanagan has written an extraordinary tale of desire, despair and transformation. In devastatingly beautiful prose, she reveals unforgettable characters capable of unspeakable cruelty - and deep unspoken love. After reading about the Rollrock fishermen and their sea brides, the world will not seem the same.

Australia book description:

On remote Rollrock Island, the sea-witch Misskaella discovers she can draw a girl from the heart of a seal. So, for a price, any man might buy himself a bride; an irresistibly enchanting sea-wife. But what cost will be borne by the people of Rollrock - the men, the women, the children - once Misskaella sets her heart on doing such a thing? Margo Lanagan weaves an extraordinary tale of desire and revenge, of loyalty, heartache and human weakness, and of the unforeseen consequences of all-consuming love.

Free Ebook: Sweet Venom by Tera Lynn Childs

Sweet Venom by Tera Lynn Childs is FREE in Kindle edition on Amazon for a short time. This retells a Greek myth, as the book description says:

Grace just moved to San Francisco and is excited to start over at a new school. The change is full of fresh possibilities, but it’s also a tiny bit scary. It gets scarier when a minotaur walks in the door. And even more shocking when a girl who looks just like her shows up to fight the monster.

Gretchen is tired of monsters pulling her out into the wee hours, especially on a school night, but what can she do? Sending the minotaur back to his bleak home is just another notch on her combat belt. She never expected to run into this girl who could be her double, though.

Greer has her life pretty well put together, thank you very much. But that all tilts sideways when two girls who look eerily like her appear on her doorstep and claim they’re triplets, supernatural descendants of some hideous creature from Greek myth, destined to spend their lives hunting monsters.

These three teenage descendants of Medusa, the once-beautiful Gorgon maligned in myth, must reunite and embrace their fates in this unique paranormal world where monsters lurk in plain sight.

The challenge of retelling Grimms' fairy tales by Philip Pullman

 
From The challenge of retelling Grimms' fairy tales by Philip Pullman. Obviously in promotion of his new book,  Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm: A New English Version. If I had time, I would agree and disagree with elements in the article, but I don't, so I won't. And I find Pullman personally pushes and pulls me at various times whenever he writes op/ed type stuff so it's hard not to let that color my opinions, either. But don't miss the comments to the article because there is some lively discussion and it's all food for thought.

Fed
Up so long and variously by
Our age's fancy narrative concoctions,
I yearned for the kind of unseasoned telling found
In legends, fairy tales, a tone licked clean
Over the centuries by mild old tongues,
Grandam to cub, serene, anonymous.

So my narrative
Wanted to be limpid, unfragmented;
My characters, conventional stock figures
Afflicted to a minimal degree
With personality and past experience –
A witch, a hermit, innocent young lovers,
The kinds of being we recall from Grimm,
Jung, Verdi, and the commedia dell'arte.

So writes the American poet James Merrill at the opening of "The Book of Ephraim", the first part of his extraordinary long poem The Changing Light at Sandover (1982). Discussing the way in which he hopes to tell a story of his own, he singles out two of the most important characteristics of the fairy tale, as he sees it: the "serene, anonymous" voice in which it's told, and the "conventional, stock figures" who inhabit it.

When Merrill mentions "Grimm", he needs to say no more: we all know what he means. For most western readers and writers in the past two hundred years, the Kinder- und Hausmärchen (Children's and Household Tales) of the Brothers Grimm has been the fountain and origin of the western fairy tale, the greatest collection, the most widely distributed in the largest number of languages, the home of all we feel to be unique in that kind of story.

As always, a much longer article. Click through to read the entire thing.