Heidi Anne Heiner's Blog, page 164

Preview of CW's Beauty and the Beast

So, Beauty and the Beast, the original series has been on my mind all week.* Then the CW released this short trailer of their reboot airing this fall, in the prime slot after their hit, The Vampire Diaries. So far, nothing unexpected with the trailer but I admit that after years of Smallville, I would prefer not to see Kristin Kreuk in the lead. I'm rather apathetic about her persona on film but I'll give her the benefit of the doubt come this fall, of course.

And I'm still debating a rewatch of the original series. I enjoyed the first two seasons back in the day, I'm just old enough to have watched it, but the third season pretty much wrecked it all for me and I've never wanted to return. But I am tempted to at least watch the first season on DVD again. I own one and two and refuse to put my money toward the third.

*Thanks to Mad Men actually--not because the fairy tale was at all mentioned in this past week's episode, "Dark Shadows". No, it's all because of the poem, "Ozymandias" by Shelley, which was quoted in the episode. John and I had a conversation about the poem and he thought my knowledge came from that English degree of mine. Nope, I learned about Ozymandias after an episode using it in the original Beauty and the Beast series. It was much harder to learn about poetry before the internet but I have never forgotten that episode or its use of Shelley.

Giveaway at Tales of Faerie

I just stopped by Tales of Faerie--you should follow it already if you don't--and noticed there are only two entries for Kristin's First ever Tales of Faerie giveaway! There are only two entries in the comments so far--not counting my post since I excluded myself from entering, I already own the book! She's giving away a copy of The Great Fairy Tale Tradition: From Straparola and Basile to the Brothers Grimm (Norton Critical Editions) and if you don't own it, you should.

Kristin has spent much of this year reading and writing about many of the important books in fairy tale academia, most recently The Meanings of "Beauty & The Beast" A Handbook by Jerry Griswold. Go on over and enter her giveaway and then browse through her blog entries to see what Kristin is learning and sharing.

Ebook Price Drop: The Frog Prince and Other Frog Tales From Around the World

FYI: The Frog Prince and Other Frog Tales From Around the World has dropped 50% in price from $9.99 to $4.99 in ebook format. This was the first SurLaLune book collection.

Also, although it is only available digitally for the Kindle, remember that you can download free Kindle software to read the book on any computer. The text search function for using the digital version is wonderful, too. I use it during so much of my own reading these days...

Trailer for Disney Princess: My Fairytale Adventure.

Here is a new trailer for the upcoming video game: Disney Princess: My Fairytale Adventure. I posted about the game earlier with the press release but thought I would share this since I've been very slow with posts the past few weeks!

New Book: Enchanted by Alethea Kontis

Enchanted by Alethea Kontis was released last week, on my birthday actually. This one has been getting a lot of internet buzz and excellent reviews. The book draws inspiration from many fairy tales, retelling them, starting with the Frog Prince. I haven't read it yet--I will sometime soon when life is more normal--it still isn't yet for me. While this is her first book for YA from a major publisher, I actually own one of her picture books, AlphaOops!: The Day Z Went First in my personal children's library.

Book description:

It isn’t easy being the rather overlooked and unhappy youngest sibling to sisters named for the other six days of the week. Sunday’s only comfort is writing stories, although what she writes has a terrible tendency to come true.

When Sunday meets an enchanted frog who asks about her stories, the two become friends. Soon that friendship deepens into something magical. One night Sunday kisses her frog goodbye and leaves, not realizing that her love has transformed him back into Rumbold, the crown prince of Arilland—and a man Sunday’s family despises.

The prince returns to his castle, intent on making Sunday fall in love with him as the man he is, not the frog he was. But Sunday is not so easy to woo. How can she feel such a strange, strong attraction for this prince she barely knows? And what twisted secrets lie hidden in his past—and hers?

New Book: Twice Upon a Time (Half Upon a Time) by James Riley

Twice Upon a Time (Half Upon a Time) by James Riley was released a few weeks ago while I was in the midst of my move, not that I am settled yet! This book is a sequel to Half Upon a Time and both are for middle readers, starting ages 8 and up. These should work well for fans of P. W. Catanese's books and should work well with both boys and girls. So many of these fairy tale releases are aimed at girls primarily.

Book description:

Little mermaids and normal-sized pirates always create the biggest of problems, don't they?

After the surprise revelations of HALF UPON A TIME, Jack, May and Phillip could use the help of a fairy godmother or two on their search for May's true identity. Only, there might be a snag: The entire Fairy Homelands have been put to sleep by an evil curse, and waking them could be hard. That's only if by hard, you mean escaping from the Land of Never, braving a merman-infested ocean to find a Sea Witch, then fighting alongside the pirate Bluebeard against an army of land-invading sharks with legs, all while trying to outwit one of the Wicked Queen's Eyes who seems to know your every move. So, yeah, a bit hard.

But what fun would an easy fairy tale be?

Twice Upon a Time is the second book in the Half Upon a Time series.

New Book: Whatever After #1: Fairest of All by Sarah Mlynowski

Whatever After #1: Fairest of All by Sarah Mlynowski was released earlier this month and is the first book in a new series by the author. Mlynowski has used fairy tale themes loosely for YA books previously such as her Frogs & French Kisses (Magic In Manhattan) and Spells & Sleeping Bags (Magic In Manhattan) which dealt more with a teen and her adventures with magic.

Book description:

A fresh, modern spin on a classic fairy tale--from bestselling author Sarah Mlynowski!

Mirror, mirror, on the basement wall . . .

Once upon a time my brother and I were normal kids. The next minute? The mirror in our basement slurped us up and magically transported us inside Snow White's fairy tale.

I know it sounds crazy, but it's true.

But hey -- we're heroes! We stopped Snow White from eating the poisoned apple. Hooray! Or not. If Snow White doesn't die, she won't get to meet her prince. And then she won't get her happy ending. Oops.

Now it's up to us to:
- Avoid getting poisoned
- Sneak into a castle
- Fix Snow White's story

And then, fingers crossed, find our way home.

The book is ages 8 and up, so primarily middle readers. I imagine this one will appeal to the fans of the Princess School series by Jane Mason and Sarah Hines-Stephens that was canceled prematurely in my humble opinion judging from its popularity in SurLaLune links.

Upcoming Cinderella Film: "Rags"

From Nick Cannon Teases 'Fantasy/Fairytale' Project With Mariah Carey By Jocelyn Vena:

Before Cannon explores fairytales with Carey, he serves as the executive producer on the forthcoming Nickelodeon flick, "Rags," a hip take on Cinderella, complete with gender role reversals. It features Nick stars Keke Palmer, Max Schneider and Drake Bell. The network chairman explains that you should expect more and more family-friendly programming influenced by his own real-life role as dad.

According to Wikipedia, the film will premiere on May 28th of this year on Nickelodeon.

Also, the main impetus of the article stated:

Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon might soon be working together on a top-secret project. The proud parents of Dem Babies are hooking up for a spankin'-new endeavor that will focus on family.

While the details of the venture are slim, Cannon shared that it will certainly pay homage to their year-old twins, Moroccan and Monroe.

"Yeah we actually got some stuff in development that we're working on, some animated stuff that her and I are putting together," he told MTV News. "So you'll definitely see her in that space too. Oh yeah, it's just something that we both enjoy, and even more so than that, we're both kids at heart. So we love those types of stories and fantasy/fairytale type of stuff."

Fairy Tale Poetry Pairing

The Learning Network featured fairy tales for its offering this week:

This Poetry Pairing matches A. E. Stallings’s poem “Fairy-tale Logic” with an Arts & Leisure article about films and shows that are based around fairy tales.

After reading the poem and article tell us what you think of the pairing — or select another piece that you think fits better.

And here is the poem:

Fairy-tale Logic
By A. E. Stallings

Fairy tales are full of impossible tasks:
Gather the chin hairs of a man-eating goat,
Or cross a sulphuric lake in a leaky boat,
Select the prince from a row of identical masks,
Tiptoe up to a dragon where it basks
And snatch its bone; count dust specks, mote by mote,
Or learn the phone directory by rote.
Always it’s impossible what someone asks—

You have to fight magic with magic. You have to believe
That you have something impossible up your sleeve,
The language of snakes, perhaps, an invisible cloak,
An army of ants at your beck, or a lethal joke,
The will to do whatever must be done:
Marry a monster. Hand over your firstborn son.

A. E. Stallings, who won a MacArthur Fellowship in 2011, lives in Greece. She has contributed a number of intricately constructed poems and translations to Poetry magazine.

ABC's 'Once Upon A Time' Renewed

Highlights from ABC Keeps Fairy Tale Alive: 'Once Upon A Time' Renewed by MICHAEL HINMAN:

It shouldn't be too much of a surprise, but just in case you're one of those fans that don't believe something until it's official -- then well, it's official: "Once Upon a Time" will be back for a second season.

ABC officially renewed the show Thursday along with a dozen other non-genre shows. making it clear that we'll get to see fantasy at least for a little while longer on the Disney channel.

"Once" is actually ABC's highest-rated new show, and is No. 6 on the network's schedule with a 5.8 rating/9 share, according to Fast National average overnight ratings from The Nielsen Co. It's the top-rated genre program, and is ranked No. 6 among new shows overall behind four CBS shows -- "Person of Interest," "Unforgettable," "2 Broke Girls" and "Rob," and Fox's "The X-Factor."

I know many readers here are relieved that this is official along with a renewal of Grimm. The fairy tale shows survived their freshman year!