Heidi Anne Heiner's Blog, page 48

Crafty Friday: Crochet Ever After: 18 Crochet Projects Inspired by Classic Fairy Tales by Brenda K.B. Anderson

Crochet Ever After: 18 Crochet Projects Inspired by Classic Fairy Tales by Brenda K.B. Anderson was released earlier this year. Who's going to make that dragon scarf for me? Hmmm?

And true confessions--I posted about this book back in January but had already composed this post and gotten some new images when I discovered that. But I like these so much, I don't think I care enough to delete this instead of schedule it!


As always, pictures speak louder than words when it comes to crafts. You can click on the images below to see them larger.

Book description:

18 projects to crochet happily ever after.

From the whimsical mind of Beastly Crochet author Brenda K. B. Anderson comes a funtastic collection of 18 fairy-tale inspired crochet projects. Shows and movies based on fairy tales are incredibly popular, and crafty crocheters now have a book of fabulous projects that pay homage to their favorite stories. Little Red's hood with integrated infinity scarf will stay put when she's being chased by the Big Bad Wolf. Sleeping Beauty now has just the right nightie to wear while waiting for Prince Charming to wake her up. Gretel can take her snacks to go with her cupcake purse. Plus the Evil Queen will know exactly who the hottest in the land is when she gazes into her Mirror, Mirror on the Go makeup case.

Heroines, fairy princesses, witches, and big bad wolves are all accounted for in this fanciful collection of crochet accessories, toys, bags, kids' clothes, and more.

New Book: A Whole New World: A Twisted Tale by Liz Braswell

A Whole New World: A Twisted Tale by Liz Braswell is a new release this month. This is part of the newish subgenre of reimagined Disney versions of fairy tales. I am rather interested in the papers that are going to come out this recent subgenre. Nothing like Disney to be self aware enough to go this direction in book publishing. And then there's the whole dichotomy of Disney fairy tales being the most familiar versions of fairy tales for modern generations when the beauty of fairy tales is their diversity and nuances across cultures and tellers.

This one has not been well-reviewed by readers actually. Interesting to observe...

Book description:

What if Aladdin had never found the lamp? This first book in the A Twisted Tale line will explore a dark and daring version of Disney's Aladdin.

When Jafar steals the Genie's lamp, he uses his first two wishes to become sultan and the most powerful sorcerer in the world. Agrabah lives in fear, waiting for his third and final wish. To stop the power-mad ruler, Aladdin and the deposed princess Jasmine must unite the people of Agrabah in rebellion. But soon their fight for freedom threatens to tear the kingdom apart in a costly civil war.

What happens next? A Street Rat becomes a leader. A princess becomes a revolutionary. And readers will never look at the story of Aladdin in the same way again.

Praise for A Whole New World:

"A magic carpet ride of a book! A fun and unpredictable retelling of the classic Aladdin story, a must-read for all of us Disney fans!" -Melissa de la Cruz

New Book: Hold Me Like a Breath: Once Upon a Crime Family by Tiffany Schmidt

Hold Me Like a Breath: Once Upon a Crime Family by Tiffany Schmidt is the first book in a new series (probably a trilogy) that was released earlier this year. The next book will be released in June 2016, Break Me Like a Promise: Once Upon a Crime Family.

I wasn't sure when I first saw this last winter if it really had anything fairy tale related to it beyond the title. The description, provided below, is more Romeo and Juliet with a definite horror twist to it. Then I saw the reviews, and this one stood out:

Schmidt offers a modern-day retelling of the 'The Princess and the Pea' that attempts to cast the princess in a more proactive, less victimized role than is traditional. Penelope does manage to break free of her delicate-flower mode. . . . The romance at the heart of the book is a sweet one. . . . A decent girl-power twist on an old fairy tale for thriller lovers. (Kirkus Reviews)

So I am sharing here and perhaps someone will let me know if it has more fairy tale tropes than I expected. And I am always intrigued by any novel that can use Princess and the Pea tropes, a true rarity.

Book description:

In Penelope Landlow's world, almost anything can be bought or sold. She's the daughter of one of the three crime families controlling the black market for organ transplants. Because of an autoimmune disorder that causes her to bruise easily, Penny is considered too "delicate" to handle the family business, or even to step foot outside their estate.

All Penelope has ever wanted is independence-until she's suddenly thrust into the dangerous world all alone, forced to stay one step ahead of her family's enemies. As she struggles to survive the power plays of rival crime families, she learns dreams come with casualties, betrayal hurts worse than bruises, and there's nothing she won't risk for the people she loves.

Perfect for fans of Holly Black and Kimberly Derting, this first book in the stunning new Once Upon a Crime Family series from acclaimed author Tiffany Schmidt will leave readers breathless.

New Book: Spinning Starlight by R.C. Lewis

Spinning Starlight by R.C. Lewis is released this month. And wow! It's science fiction. Using Wild Swans as inspiration. That's new! I am excited about this one.

Book description:

Sixteen-year-old heiress and paparazzi darling Liddi Jantzen hates the spotlight. But as the only daughter in the most powerful tech family in the galaxy, it's hard to escape it. So when a group of men shows up at her house uninvited, she assumes it's just the usual media-grubs. That is, until shots are fired.

Liddi escapes, only to be pulled into an interplanetary conspiracy more complex than she ever could have imagined. Her older brothers have been caught as well, trapped in the conduits between the planets. And when their captor implants a device in Liddi's vocal cords to monitor her speech, their lives are in her hands: One word, and her brothers are dead.

Desperate to save her family from a desolate future, Liddi travels to another world, where she meets the one person who might have the skills to help her bring her eight brothers home-a handsome dignitary named Tiav. But without her voice, Liddi must use every bit of her strength and wit to convince Tiav that her mission is true. With the tenuous balance of the planets deeply intertwined with her brothers' survival, just how much is Liddi willing to sacrifice to bring them back?
Haunting and mesmerizing, this retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's The Wild Swans fuses all the heart of the classic tale with a stunning, imaginative world in which a star-crossed family fights for its very survival.

CFP for the 37th annual International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts: Wonder Tales

Hello all, it appears I will be attending the International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts in March 2016 after receiving an invitation from Christy A. Williams to join a panel she is developing. There is still time to submit your own oaper or panel ideas or at least plan to attend. I am pasting info about how to do so below. I hope to see you there!



CFP for the 37th annual International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts: Wonder TalesMarch 16-20, 2016Marriott Orlando Airport Hotel
Please join us for ICFA 37, March 16-20, 2016, when our theme will be “Wonder Tales.” Folklorists often use this term to refer to the stories commonly known as “fairy tales” due to the genre’s emphasis on the marvelous and its invocation of wonder, but what is wonder and where can it be found? Many events, characters, or objects generate a response of wonder transformations and resurrections — but wonder also may be generated in technological advances and from the “sense of wonder” in science fiction. Papers might explore wonder tales and their modern incarnations, readers’ responses of wonder to fantastic texts, uses of wonder within fantastic texts, how wonder is invoked across media and genres, and the relationship between wondering (marveling) and wondering (questioning). We welcome papers on the work of our guests: Guest of Honor Terri Windling (author and editor, winner of nine World Fantasy Awards, the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award, the Bram Stoker Award, and the Solstice Award), Guest of Honor Holly Black (author of The Spiderwick Chronicles, and winner of the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award in Children’s Literature and a Newberry Honor book for Doll Bones), and Guest Scholar Cristina Bacchilega (author of Postmodern Fairy Tales: Gender and Narrative Strategies and Fairy Tales Transformed: 21st-Century Adaptations and the Politics of Wonder). We also welcome proposals for individual papers and for academic sessions and panels on any aspect of the fantastic in any media. The deadline for proposals is October 31, 2015. We encourage work from institutionally affiliated scholars, independent scholars, international scholars who work in languages other than English, and graduate students.

Guest of Honor, Terri Windling
Terri Windling is a writer, editor, and artist specializing in fantasy literature and mythic arts. She has published over forty books, winning nine World Fantasy Awards, the Mythopoeic Award, the Bram Stoker Award, and placing on the short lists for the Tiptree and Shirley Jackson Awards. She received the S.F.W.A. Solstice Award in 2010. Her work has been translated into French, German, Spanish, Italian, Czech, Russian, Turkish, Korean, and Japanese. She has served on the boards of the Interstitial Arts Foundation and the Mythic Imagination Institute (U.S.), and is currently a member of the advisory board for the Sussex Centre for Folklore, Fairy Tales, and Fantasy at the University of Chichester (U.K.).

Guest of Honor, Holly Black
Holly Black is the author of bestselling contemporary fantasy books for kids and teens. Some of her series titles include The Spiderwick Chronicles (with Tony DiTerlizzi), The Modern Faerie Tale series, the Curse Workers series, Doll Bones, andThe Coldest Girl in Coldtown. She has been a finalist for the Mythopoeic Award and for an Eisner Award, and the recipient of both an Andre Norton Award and a Newbery Honor. Her new books are The Darkest Part of the Forest, a return to faerie fiction, and The Iron Trial, the first book in a middle grade fantasy series, Magisterium, co-authored by Cassandra Clare.

Guest Scholar, Cristina Bacchilega
Christina Bacchilega is a Professor and Director of the Graduate Program at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa. The author of Postmodern Fairy Tales: Gender and Narrative Strategies (1997) and the co-editor of Angela Carter and the Fairy Tale, Bacchilega has published essays on Margaret Atwood, Angela Carter, Italo Calvino, Robert Coover, Nalo Hopkinson, Maxine Hong Kingston, Dacia Maraini, Arundhati Roy, Salman Rushdie, and fairy tales in Hawai’i. Her most recent book, Fairy Tales Transformed: 21st-Century Adaptations and the Politics of Wonder, came out in the Fall of 2013. Bacchilega serves as the co-editor of Marvels & Tales: Journal of Fairy-Tale Studies.

To Attend the International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts

Some important steps:

1. Send in a paper proposal by going to http://fantastic-arts.org/icfa-submis... (see the Call for Papers, above).
2. Register or renew as a member of IAFA: http://fantastic-arts.org/membership/.
(Note: If you received an email about the new membership system in the last few months, use your receiving email address and click on “forgot password” to set up a password for yourself. )
3. Register to attend the ICFA.
(Note: Conference registration will open soon. However the new membership system is up and running.)
4. Book accommodation with the conference hotel. Read the ICFA-37 Hotel Information and look at some pictures from the hotel and vicinity. Note that the hotel operates a complimentary airport shuttle service from Orlando Airport. Should you prefer taxi, the estimated fee (one way) is USD 10.
If you are new to the conference, you might want to check out affiliated organizations.
Membership or registration questions can be directed to IAFA Membership & Registration Coordinator, Valorie Ebert through the Contact Page.

New Book: A Thousand Nights by E.K. Johnston

A Thousand Nights by E.K. Johnston was released last week. It's nice to see Arabian Nights trending again in publishing. Who doesn't love the chance to read another Scheherazade reinterpretation?

Entertainment Weekly previewed it back in May, so it is getting a fair amount of publicity, too.

Book description:

Lo-Melkhiin killed three hundred girls before he came to her village, looking for a wife. When she sees the dust cloud on the horizon she knows he has arrived. She knows he will want the loveliest girl: her sister. She vows she will not let her be next.

And so she is taken in her sister's place, and she believes death will soon follow. But back in their village her sister is mourning. Through her pain, she calls upon the desert winds, conjuring a subtle unseen magic, and something besides death stirs the air in it's place.

Lo-Melkhiin's court is a dangerous palace filled with pretty things: intricate statues with wretched eyes, exquisite threads to weave the most beautiful garments. She sees everything as if for the last time. But the first sun sets and rises, and she is not dead. Night after night Lo-Melkhiin comes to her, and listens to the stories she tells and day after day she is awoken by the sunrise. Exploring the palace, she begins to unlock years of fear that have tormented and silenced a kingdom. Lo-Melkhiin was not always a cruel ruler. Something went wrong.

The words she speaks to him every night are given strange life of their own. She makes things appear. Little things, at first: a dress from home, a vision of her sister. With each tale she spins, her power grows. Soon she dreams of bigger, more terrible magic: power enough to save a king, if she can put an end to rule of a monster.

TODAY ONLY: Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast by Robin McKinley for $1.99

Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast by Robin McKinley is on sale TODAY ONLY for $1.99 in ebook format, down from its usual $5.99 price.

This is one of the books that changed my life and one of the reasons SurLaLune even exists. So yes, I recommend it. Page down further to read about the other McKinley titles on sale during October--they too will go up in price at the end of the month.

Book description:

Robin McKinley’s acclaimed first novel is a brilliant reimagining of the classic French fairy tale

I was the youngest of three daughters. Our literal-minded mother named us Grace, Hope, and Honour. . . . My father still likes to tell the story of how I acquired my odd nickname: I had come to him for further information when I first discovered that our names meant something besides you-come-here. He succeeded in explaining grace and hope, but he had some difficulty trying to make the concept of honour understandable to a five-year-old. . . . I said: ‘Huh! I’d rather be Beauty.’ . . .

By the time it was evident that I was going to let the family down by being plain, I’d been called Beauty for over six years. . . . I wasn’t really very fond of my given name, Honour, either . . . as if ‘honourable’ were the best that could be said of me.

The sisters’ wealthy father loses all his money when his merchant fleet is drowned in a storm, and the family moves to a village far away. Then the old merchant hears what proves to be a false report that one of his ships had made it safe to harbor at last, and on his sad, disappointed way home again he becomes lost deep in the forest and has a terrifying encounter with a fierce Beast, who walks like a man and lives in a castle. The merchant’s life is forfeit, says the Beast, for trespass and the theft of a rose—but he will spare the old man’s life if he sends one of his daughters: “Your daughter would take no harm from me, nor from anything that lives in my lands.” When Beauty hears this story—for her father had picked the rose to bring to her—her sense of honor demands that she take up the Beast’s offer, for “cannot a Beast be tamed?”

Fro  my previous post about these titles on sale:

It's a new month which means there is a new list for October Monthly Deals: Kindle Books for $3.99 or Less. I found a few books for me, but the squeeing came with two finds I didn't have in ebook yet--although the hardcovers have graced my shelves for years.

Robin McKinley has explored her favorite fairy tale (and mine)--Beauty and the Beast--in three different novels. The first, Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast, isn't on sale, but the other two are available this month for $1.99 in ebook format instead of the usual $5.99 to $8.99 price range. There are a few bonuses, too, listed below.

So you can get all four books listed below for about the price one is usually priced. Happiness abounds!


Book description for Sunshine:

Winner of the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature: In a world where darkness threatens, there is Sunshine . . .

Although it had been mostly deserted since the Voodoo Wars, there hadn’t been any trouble out at the lake for years. Rae Seddon, nicknamed Sunshine, head baker at her family’s busy and popular café in downtown New Arcadia, needed a place to get away from all the noise and confusion—of the clientele and her family. Just for a few hours. Just to be able to hear herself think.

She knew about the Others, of course. Everyone did. And several of her family’s best regular customers were from SOF—Special Other Forces—which had been created to deal with the threat and the danger of the Others.

She drove out to her family’s old lakeside cabin and sat on the porch, swinging her feet and enjoying the silence and the silver moonlight on the water.

She never heard them coming. Of course, you don’t when they’re vampires.

Book description for Rose Daughter:

Award-winning author Robin McKinley returns to one of our most enduring fairy tales to tell an enthralling story of love and redemption

Once upon a time, a wealthy merchant had three daughters . . . and when the merchant’s business failed, he and his three daughters left their grand house in the city and moved to a tiny cottage buried deep in the countryside. The youngest daughter, Beauty, is fascinated by the long, thorny stems of an unknown plant that overwhelms the neglected cottage, and she tends it until, the following summer, its rich, fragrant flowers are the most glorious things the sisters have ever seen: roses.

An old woman tells Beauty: “Roses are for love. Not . . . silly sweethearts’ love but the love that makes you and keeps you whole. . . . There’s an old folk-tale . . . there aren’t many roses around any more because they need more love than people have to give ’em . . . and the only thing that’ll stand in for love is magic, though it ain’t as good.”

There’s no magic in the town of Longchance, but, the old woman adds, Beauty may not know that this is the result of a sorcerers’ battle that happened many years ago, a battle that left a monster, or perhaps a beast, in an enchanted palace somewhere in the deep forest . . . and a curse concerning a family of three sisters.

Bonus! The Hero and the Crown is also $1.99! I didn't have this in ebook yet either. I adored this book as a teen--I remember reading it for the first time when sick one day, pausing to run to the bathroom and then rushing back to resume reading, back and forth all day. This book was better than any other medicine to get me through a horrible day thirty years ago.

The sale price has also made this an instant #1 best seller on Amazon for Children's Girls & Women Books. Cool!

Book description for The Hero and the Crown:

In Robin McKinley’s Newbery Medal–winning novel, an outcast princess must earn her birthright as a hero of the realm

Aerin is an outcast in her own father’s court, daughter of the foreign woman who, it was rumored, was a witch, and enchanted the king to marry her.

She makes friends with her father’s lame, retired warhorse, Talat, and discovers an old, overlooked, and dangerously imprecise recipe for dragon-fire-proof ointment in a dusty corner of her father’s library. Two years, many canter circles to the left to strengthen Talat’s weak leg, and many burnt twigs (and a few fingers) secretly experimenting with the ointment recipe later, Aerin is present when someone comes from an outlying village to report a marauding dragon to the king. Aerin slips off alone to fetch her horse, her sword, and her fireproof ointment . . .

But modern dragons, while formidable opponents fully capable of killing a human being, are small and accounted vermin. There is no honor in killing dragons. The great dragons are a tale out of ancient history.

That is, until the day that the king is riding out at the head of an army. A weary man on an exhausted horse staggers into the courtyard where the king’s troop is assembled: “The Black Dragon has come . . . Maur, who has not been seen for generations, the last of the great dragons, great as a mountain. Maur has awakened.”

The Outlaws of Sherwood is also on sale again for $1.99. A Robin Hood retelling, this was on sale last year around this time, too, so I did have this one already in ebook (as well as hardcover, of course, a first edition).

Book description for The Outlaws of Sherwood:

The Robin Hood legend comes thrillingly alive in Robin McKinley’s reimagining of the classic adventure

Young Robin Longbow, subapprentice forester in the King’s Forest of Nottingham, must contend with the dislike of the Chief Forester, who bullies Robin in memory of his popular father. But Robin does not want to leave Nottingham or lose the title to his father’s small tenancy, because he is in love with a young lady named Marian—and keeps remembering that his mother too was gentry and married a common forester.

Robin has been granted a rare holiday to go to the Nottingham Fair, where he will spend the day with his friends Much and Marian. But he is ambushed by a group of the Chief Forester’s cronies, who challenge him to an archery contest . . . and he accidentally kills one of them in self-defense.

He knows his own life is forfeit. But Much and Marian convince him that perhaps his personal catastrophe is also an opportunity: an opportunity for a few stubborn Saxons to gather together in the secret heart of Sherwood Forest and strike back against the arrogance and injustice of the Norman overlords.

Crafty Friday: Knitted Fairy Tales: Retell the Famous Fables with Kntted Toys by Sarah Keen

Knitted Fairy Tales: Retell the Famous Fables with Kntted Toys by Sarah Keen is a 2015 release. I will let the pictures speak for the book. You can click on the images below to see them larger. I picked some favorites--there are many more to see when you Look Inside the book on Amazon.


Book description:

Magical fairy tales brought to life. Knitted Fairy Tales invites you to knit the fabled characters from the land of make-believe, creating your own endearing versions of princes and princesses, giants and witches, including:

Cinderella
Hansel and Gretel
Puss in Boots
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Little Red Riding Hood and more

Easy-to-follow knitting patterns. All of the information on techniques, tools, and materials is included to get you started off right. In fact, it is suggested that washable, readily available yarns are used to ensure that these knitted characters stand the test of time. Plus, a nicely illustrated techniques section ensures that even newer knitters can easily work their way through these 15 adorable projects.

These adorable characters will make story time extra special. Get your copy of Knitted Fairy Tales and start recreating your favorites from these 15 well-loved fairy tales. Knitted by hand, but made with love, these soft and cuddly characters encourage imaginative play and enhance story hour for young children and for grown-ups, too.

New Book: Poetry and Fairy Tales: Language Arts Units for Gifted Students in Grade 3

Poetry and Fairy Tales: Language Arts Units for Gifted Students in Grade 3 by Amy Price Azano (Author), Tracy Missett (Author), Carolyn Callahan (Author) was released in September.

Book description:

The CLEAR curriculum, developed by the University of Virginia's National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented, is an evidence-based teaching model that emphasizes Challenge Leading to Engagement, Achievement, and Results. In Poetry and Fairy Tales: Language Arts Units for Gifted Students in Grade 3 students will read and analyze various forms of poetry and write their own poetry anthology. They will learn how to identify and use figurative language to create concrete images from abstract ideas. In the fairy tales unit, students will study fairy tales and folklore to understand how and why societal norms and mores are culturally transmitted. These units focus on critical literacy that includes reading diverse sources, understanding bias and cultural contexts, and creating informed consumers of information.

Cozy Fairy Tale Mystery: Once Upon a Grind (A Coffeehouse Mystery) by Cleo Coyle

Once Upon a Grind (A Coffeehouse Mystery) by Cleo Coyle was released in paperback in September. I missed it when it was released in hardcover last December. It is the 14th book in this popular cozy mystery series and draws on fairy tale themes for the mystery this time. I haven't seen much fun made with coffee beans and Jack and the Beanstalk before. Rather surprising considering the popularity of coffee these days.

Book description:

Fresh Pick - Fresh Fiction
Top Pick - RT Book Reviews
A Best Books of the Year Pick - Kings River Life Magazine

From the New York Times bestselling author of Billionaire Blend comes an enchanting new entry in the "satisfyingly rich" Coffeehouse Mystery series.

Includes wicked good recipes. When coffeehouse manager turned amateur sleuth Clare Cosi serves "magic" beans for a Fairy Tale Fall event, she brews up a vision that leads to a sleeping beauty in Central Park; a big, bad wolf of Wall Street; and an East Side enclave with storybook secrets...

Fairy tale fever has descended on New York City. Broadway fans are flocking to Red Riding Hood: The Musical; museums are exhibiting art inspired by the Brothers Grimm; and Clare Cosi and her merry band of baristas give their coffee truck a "Jack and the Beanstalk" makeover for a Central Park festival. Clare's coffee hunter ex-husband contributes a bag of African beans with alleged magical properties. His octogenarian mother entertains customers with readings of the grinds, but Clare remains skeptical--until she receives a vision that helps her find a young model's body in the park's woods.

The police dismiss "sleeping beauty" as the victim of a drug overdose. Then Clare uncovers evidence that points to a list of suspects--from a New York Giant to quite a few wicked witches--and a cold case murder that reaches back to the Cold War. Now Clare is really in the woods with a dangerous predator on her heels and an investigation that leads from a secret Prince Charming Club right back to her own NYPD detective boyfriend. If she doesn't solve this mystery, those magic beans predict an unhappy ending.