Heidi Anne Heiner's Blog, page 152

New Book: Under My Hat: Tales from the Cauldron edited by Jonathan Strahan

Under My Hat: Tales from the Cauldron edited by Jonathan Strahan is a new release.

I know at least a few stories are fairy tale inspired or influenced thanks to this review from Kirkus:

Eighteen short tales about witches by some of the wickedest names in fantasy make for a rich anthology. . . . The writers are simply stellar: Ellen Kushner, Frances Hardinge, Charles de Lint, Tanith Lee, Ellen Klages and Holly Black, among others. Neil Gaiman’s contribution is a witchy, weird poem. Garth Nix’s “A Handful of Ashes” features a library and librarian. Delia Sherman’s “The Witch in the Woods” is beautiful and romantic, with deer and bear shape-shifters and no small darkness. Jim Butcher has a Harry Dresden story (“B is for Bigfoot”), and it’s terrific. Jane Yolen makes Hans Christian Andersen’s life a tale itself, and Patricia McKillip’s “Which Witch” makes loud music and crow magic elegantly. The best, however, may be Peter S. Beagle’s “Great-Grandmother in the Cellar” (yes, she is, and she goes back there, too, but not the way she came, in this "Sleeping Beauty" variant). Readers will find much to enjoy. . . .

And with the list of contributing authors, I'm sure many of you will have multiple reasons to hunt down a copy of this book. That's a really strong cast of authors if I say so myself, rather like The Avengers film in book format.
Table of Contents:

1.Introduction: Looking Under the Hat”, Jonathan Strahan
2.“Stray Magic”, Diana Peterfreund
3.“Payment Due”, Frances Hardinge
4.“A Handful of Ashes”, Garth Nix
5.“Little Gods”, Holly Black
6.“Barrio Girls”, Charles de Lint
7.“Felidis”, Tanith Lee
8.“Witch Work”, Neil Gaiman (poem)
9.“The Education of a Witch”, Ellen Klages
10.“The Threefold World”, Ellen Kushner
11.“The Witch in the Wood”, Delia Sherman
12.“Which Witch”, Patricia A. McKillip
13.“The Carved Forest”, Tim Pratt
14.“Burning Castles”, M. Rickert
15.“The Stone Witch”, Isobelle Carmody
16.“Andersen’s Witch”, Jane Yolen
17.“B Is for Bigfoot”, Jim Butcher
18.“Great-Grandmother in the Cellar”, Peter S. Beagle
19.“Crow and Caper, Caper and Crow”, Margo Lanagan

New Book: Jack and the Baked Beanstalk by Colin Stimpson

 
Jack and the Baked Beanstalk by Colin Stimpson was released in the US this past July and in the UK in February. The reviews have been stellar overall and the illustrations show why.



US book description:

"Fee-fi-fo-fummy, I'm always counting money!"

Jack and his mom run a little café, but business has dried up and they're nearly broke. So when Jack comes home with only an old can of baked beans in return for their last few pennies, his mother throws it out the window. Overnight it grows into a gigantic baked beanstalk, which takes Jack to the castle of a giant who spends all his time counting his huge fortune. Jack helps the giant to find something more fun to do, and saves the café in the process!

UK book description:

In a 1950s-style future, Jack and his mum run a little burger van cafe. The cafe is close to broke because of the new flyover, so when Jack comes home with only an old can of baked beans in return for their last few pennies, his mother throws it out of the window. Overnight it grows into a gigantic baked beanstalk, which takes Jack to the castle of a giant who spends his life counting his huge fortune. Jack helps the giant to find something more fun to do - namely becoming the celebrity chef at Jack's new world-famous cafe.

The images were borrowed from Stimpson's blog where more imagery is also available as well as some development work.

Fairytale by Jessica Sanchez

Time for a new pop song to loosely use fairy tales as inspiration. This year's American Idol second place winner, Jessica Sanchez, is promoting her new song, Fairytale. A concert video is above and part of the lyrics--the most pertinent to fairy tales--are below:

I'm kinda jealous that your boyfriend
Seems like a fairytale, like a fairytale
He's hella perfect, hella cute, hella fun
Like a fairytale, like a fairytale

Did he come to your rescue?
Did he win the fight?
Did he slay the dragon?
Did you romp in the night?

So, I can't stop starin'
I'm still in shock
How did you find him?
He's smokin' hot
Must still pay cupid
More than a lot
To go searching
All around the clock for him

And that's all I have to share about this one!

New Book: Fathomless by Jackson Pearce

Fathomless by Jackson Pearce was officially released yesterday. This is Pearce's third fairy tale inspired novel, this time referencing The Little Mermaid. Her previous books, Sisters Red and Sweetly, drew from Little Red Riding Hood and Hansel and Gretel respectively.

Book description:

Celia Reynolds is the youngest in a set of triplets and the one with the least valuable power. Anne can see the future, and Jane can see the present, but all Celia can see is the past. And the past seems so insignificant -- until Celia meets Lo.

Lo doesn't know who she is. Or who she was. Once a human, she is now almost entirely a creature of the sea -- a nymph, an ocean girl, a mermaid -- all terms too pretty for the soulless monster she knows she's becoming. Lo clings to shreds of her former self, fighting to remember her past, even as she's tempted to embrace her dark immortality.

When a handsome boy named Jude falls off a pier and into the ocean, Celia and Lo work together to rescue him from the waves. The two form a friendship, but soon they find themselves competing for Jude's affection. Lo wants more than that, though. According to the ocean girls, there's only one way for Lo to earn back her humanity. She must persuade a mortal to love her . . . and steal his soul.

I have to admit I am sad the publisher chose a different artist for the cover. I adored the covers to Pearce's previous two books pictured below. That takes nothing away from Pearce's book, of course, but I had been daydreaming about a mermaid cover before the one pictured above was released.

And while we are here, there are some hardcovers of Sisters Red currently bargain priced for $6.80 if you want to try her out or give a gift of her first book and that stunning cover. The ebook and paperback are priced at $8.99 regularly.

 

Nashville's Southern Festival of Books 2012

I know where I'll be on Oct. 12-14! I'll be at the Southern Festival of Books here in Nashville. I'm not presenting this year--perhaps again next year!--but that means I can simply relax and enjoy the other sessions.
And this is just a short list of the children's authors--admittedly where I hang out the most. The fairy tale savvy will be happy with this short list which includes E. D. Baker, Catherynne Valente (recent Hugo winner!) and JUDITH VIORST. Yes, I adore her Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, to be sure, but I also love her fairy tale poetry and other works. And don't miss Katherine Paterson on the list, too, a Newbery winner and for SurLaLune readers, I can highlight her The King's Equal (Trophy Chapter Books) and folklore related picture books.
You can see the full list of all attending authors and artists here.
As someone who has been attending for decades and presented last year, I can highly recommend the festival as well organized and very much worth the price--free!

'Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters' Trailer

There you go. A trailer for 'Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters' Trailer.

From 'Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters' Trailer: Jeremy Renner Bloodies a Fairytale:

Featuring Jeremy Renner, who has this year donned tights to fire arrows (in The Avengers) and a leather jacket to seek out chems (in The Bourne Legacy), now going 1700s-German chic -- and just as tough as ever -- as Hansel, and Gemma Arterton as his sister Gretel, the film acts as a continuation to the classic fairy tale. Instead of bread crumbs, the now-grown pair are leaving trails of blood in the woods, as they hunt down witches (spoiler alert) following their youthful run-in with the candy architect with a mean streak.

Originally scheduled for March release, the film will now come out in January, during a relatively barren season for Hollywood. Lincoln: Vampire Hunter was a box office bust; will Renner's star power help save this film from the same fate?

Bargain Ebook: The Child Thief by Brom

I don't do much Peter Pan coverage here, but this bargain book caught my eye and I thought I would share. The Child Thief by Brom is temporarily marked down to $1.99 in ebook format by publisher Harper Collins. I don't know if the discount is a day, a few days or a week, but here it is!

Overall, it is very well reviewed and this review--"blends elements of the Peter Pan story with characters from Celtic and Norse mythologies"--convinced me to share the book here.

Book description:

Peter is quick, daring, and full of mischief—and like all boys, he loves to play, though his games often end in blood. His eyes are sparkling gold, and when he graces you with his smile you are his friend for life, but his promised land is not Neverland.

Fourteen-year-old Nick would have been murdered by the drug dealers preying on his family had Peter not saved him. Now the irresistibly charismatic wild boy wants Nick to follow him to a secret place of great adventure, where magic is alive and you never grow old. Even though he is wary of Peter's crazy talk of faeries and monsters, Nick agrees. After all, New York City is no longer safe for him, and what more could he possibly lose?

There is always more to lose.

Accompanying Peter to a gray and ravished island that was once a lush, enchanted paradise, Nick finds himself unwittingly recruited for a war that has raged for centuries—one where he must learn to fight or die among the "Devils," Peter's savage tribe of lost and stolen children.

There, Peter's dark past is revealed: left to wolves as an infant, despised and hunted, Peter moves restlessly between the worlds of faerie and man. The Child Thief is a leader of bloodthirsty children, a brave friend, and a creature driven to do whatever he must to stop the "Flesh-eaters" and save the last, wild magic in this dying land.

BOLO: SurLaLune and Snow White and the Huntsman

So, back in June, I was having a really rough week. There's been quite a few of those around here since February, but that was one of the worst. And, yes, most of this stress has been blessed stress--new house, big work projects, big home reno projects, family visits--but it has been stress all the same. That week's stress also contained bad stress, such as the end of a house contract that had really turned into a swindle made worse with bad advice.

But enough about that. Let me tell you more about one of that week's highlights more pertinent to the SurLaLune blog. Out of the blue, I received an email asking if I would be the "expert" for a short on the DVD release of Snow White and the Huntsman.

After I picked myself up off the figurative floor from laughing--me? an expert?--it took me more than a few minutes to match myself with anything resembling that role. I also fact checked the production company to make sure no one was trying to pull a fast one over on me. Again. It had been a theme that week, after all. And I get a lot of strange email.  Great, wondrous email, too, but mostly strange.

My fears allayed, I then had to remind myself that I have edited a book, translated some tales and read A LOT of Snow White tales and history over the years, many more than the 40 that appear in Sleeping Beauties: Sleeping Beauty and Snow White Tales From Around the World. I know more than the average bear about this tale although expert is a label I still shun.


I accepted but for once had to turn down a trip to LA for filming. I had just returned from a difficult journey to San Francisco at the beginning of June and local obligations further made me reluctant to jump on a plane to see my former home for I did live in LA once upon a time. My producer agreed to travel to me instead and find a place to film since my new home was still in shambles, too.

Numerous recommendations and arrangements were made. Questions were vetted. A call sheet was issued. I arrived for makeup and hair an hour before filming. Then I spent a little over an hour discussing Snow White tales and a little bit of the film--which I had to rush out and see first, having been kept from the theatre by travels and other obligations. I relaxed after a few minutes--stumbled over a few pronunciations--paused for a few traffic noises and air conditioning breaks since we were experiencing the hottest days on record in Nashville. Then it was a wrap.

And, according to producer Karina, my film turned out well and ended up in an exclusive extra titled "History of the Fairy Tale" or something similar. It consists of mostly the director's talking head, images of old fairy tales, clips from the film, and my talking head.

The only catch is that the extra will only appear on an exclusive retail disc for a major retailer--and neither the producer nor myself know which retailer that is. The most likely candidate is Wal-Mart but perhaps Target and maybe even somewhere else, but Amazon is unlikely as convenient as that would be for me linkwise and purchase-wise. To reiterate, it will be an exclusive extra, on an extra disc for a major retailer, still unknown.

Am I nervous? Yep! I only hope my brain got it right. Yes, I edited the book. I do know Snow White but it wasn't fresh knowledge since I've been working with Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast the last few years since Sleeping Beauties was published. I spent the day before the shoot rereading my own texts, I admit, refreshing my brain. After all, that project is the one which helped me overcome listing Snow White as my least favorite of the popular fairy tales. I'm sure I made mistakes but I hope they ended up on the cutting room floor! There's probably five minutes of me, tops, cut out of that hour of talking so it will be fascinating to see how I was edited.

And your BOLO* assignment, if you choose to accept it, is to discover which retailer has the exclusive disc. I will announce it here, of course, when the mystery is solved, but you dear readers are more likely to see it before I do. Be on the lookout for me. For me literally and on my behalf for discovering where the disc can be bought. I have a few people who want copies, those wondrous types like parental units and family and friends and other extraordinary people who fill my life.

And that is how I spent a small fraction of my summer "vacation."

*BOLO: Be On the Look Out. I read too many mysteries in my spare time.

New Book: Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs: As Retold by Mo Willems

 
Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs: As Retold by Mo Willems is officially released today. Mo Willems is a superstar in children's picture books and easy readers these days. If you know Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! or Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale or Elephant and Piggie (my favorite: We Are in a Book! (An Elephant and Piggie Book))), then you know Mo. And kids and grown-ups love him. As for his rendition of Goldilocks, well, it's hard to say new but it is certainly fresh and unexpected. And that he is being simultaneously published in the UK and US shows his popularity--no months of waiting in between releases. Even the covers are the same!

Book description:

Once upon a time, there were three hungry Dinosaurs: Papa Dinosaur, Mama Dinosaur . . . and a Dinosaur who happened to be visiting from Norway.

One day—for no particular reason—they decided to tidy up their house, make the beds, and prepare pudding of varying temperatures. And then—for no particular reason—they decided to go . . . someplace else. They were definitely not setting a trap for some succulent, unsupervised little girl.

Definitely not!

This new take on a fairy-tale classic is so funny and so original—it could only come from the brilliant mind of Mo Willems.

Don't you love that copyright page? It's a full wish list/brainstorm of future Goldilocks fractures.

It's not surprise Willems started out on Sesame Street...

And there is an Activity Kit and Event Kit, the latter for stores, on the publisher's site, too.

Bargain Ebook: Princess Academy by Shannon Hale

 
The Newbery Honor book, Princess Academy by Shannon Hale, has dropped temporarily to $1.99 in ebook format. It may be a today only deal--I don't know, it was $4.61 when I saw it yesterday--so don't wait. The book is also the sequel to Hale's latest release, Princess Academy: Palace of Stone which is currently $9.99.

Book description for Princess Academy:

Miri lives on a mountain where, for generations, her ancestors have quarried stone and lived a simple life. Then word comes that the king's priests have divined her small village the home of the future princess. Sent to an academy to learn how to become a princess, Miri soon finds herself confronted with a harsh mistress, bitter competition among the girls, and even bandits intent on kidnapping the future princess.