Heidi Anne Heiner's Blog, page 6
July 1, 2024
Recent Release: The Midnight Washerwoman and Other Tales of Lower Brittany by Francois-Marie Luzel
The Midnight Washerwoman and Other Tales of Lower Brittany by Francois-Marie Luzel (Author), Michael Wilson (Translator) is part of the Oddly Modern Fairy Tales series--volume 28!
Edited by Jack Zipes, the series is an important contribution to folklore studies by Princeton University Press:
Oddly Modern Fairy Tales is a series dedicated to publishing unusual literary fairy tales produced mainly during the first half of the twentieth century. International in scope, the series includes new translations, surprising and unexpected tales by well-known writers and artists, and uncanny stories by gifted yet neglected authors. Postmodern before their time, the tales in Oddly Modern Fairy Tales transformed the genre and still strike a chord.
Book description from the publisher:
Twenty-nine Breton tales, as told over a series of long winter nights, featuring an ingenious miller, a Jerusalem-bound ant, a mad dash at midnight, and more
In the late nineteenth century, the folklorist François-Marie Luzel spent countless winter evenings listening to stories told by his neighbors, local Breton farmers and villagers. At these social gatherings, known as veillées, Luzel recorded the tales in unusual detail, capturing a storytelling tradition that is now almost forgotten. The Midnight Washerwoman and Other Tales of Lower Brittany collects twenty-nine stories gathered by Luzel, many translated into English for the first time. The tales are presented in a series of five imaginary veillées, giving readers a unique opportunity to listen in on a long-ago winter’s night of storytelling.
Some of the stories mix the apparently supernatural with the everyday—as in the title tale, when a mysteriously nocturnal washerwoman causes three handsome lads to flee so quickly they lose their clogs in the process. Others invite listeners to root for the underdog, as when a simple miller outwits a powerful seigneur. Another tale must have been greeted with raucous laughter as it recounts an ascending ladder of obstacles—from a mouse to a cat to a man to God (or the Devil) himself—confronted by a traveling ant. Michael Wilson, the volume’s editor and translator, provides a substantive introduction that discusses Luzel’s work and the significance of Breton storytelling.
In other words, this addition to the Oddly Modern library offers up some tales that were gathered by Luzel and are not original fiction creations like some of the other collections in the series. While my own tastes are pretty democratic in folklore studies, I lean towards the collected tales--and we won't get into discussions of oral vs recorded and edited here today. Luzel has long been on my own list for further study so I am thrilled that this title has been translated and with many tales offered in English for the first time.
The book is academically sound with great endnotes and a bibilography. The end notes include ATU classifications for the tales when applicable. No Cinderellas here, but there are a couple of ATU 425: The Search for the Lost Husband (Cupid and Psyche) which is related to Beauty and the Beast. (Beauty and the Beast is ATU-425C, after all.) There's some other secondary favorites like ATU 403: The Black and White Bride and ATU 1640: The Brave Little Tailor and several others.
Full disclosure: I received a free copy of this book for evaluation purposes.
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June 27, 2024
Around the Web: How to Fight a Fairy Tale by Jenny Hamilton
How to Fight a Fairy Tale: Retellings in the Age of Romantasy by Jenny Hamilton (PUBLISHED ON MAY 15, 2024) on Reactor.
The trouble with structuring a book around a fairy tale is that fairy tales make no sense—but books have to.
Excerpts to whet your interest--lots of authors and titles are included in the article, too:
Fairy tales haunt us. If I had a dollar for every time I’ve seen an author speak about the fairy tale that kept them up at night, I’d have enough dollars to buy enough fairy tale collections that I would never sleep again. Fantasy with its magics and monarchies, and romance with its mandatory happily-ever-afters are particularly unable to let sleeping fairy tales lie, so it’s perhaps not surprising that smushing the two genres together has produced a truly awe-inspiring level of fairy tale poisoning.
... What if books can also just depend on the imagery, rules, and structures of fairy tales to avoid the challenge of worldbuilding? What if a fairy tale world, but completely different characters and situations? (I say this without judgment. Worldbuilding is famously hard, and fairy tale worlds are rad. Slash terrifying.)
... Then you have the books that are asking what for? What’s everyone acting like this for? How should we be understanding it? I grew up on these.
June 26, 2024
Bargain Ebook: Bitter Greens by Kate Forsyth for $2.99
Bitter Greens by Kate Forsyth is on sale in ebook format for $2.99. It may be a today only deal, but I am not sure. This is a novel inspired by Rapunzel.
Book description from the publisher:
A Library Journal Best Book of 2014: Historical Fiction
The amazing power and truth of the Rapunzel fairy tale comes alive for the first time in this breathtaking tale of desire, black magic and the redemptive power of love
French novelist Charlotte-Rose de la Force has been banished from the court of Versailles by the Sun King, Louis XIV, after a series of scandalous love affairs. At the convent, she is comforted by an old nun, Sœur Seraphina, who tells her the tale of a young girl who, a hundred years earlier, is sold by her parents for a handful of bitter greens...
After Margherita's father steals parsley from the walled garden of the courtesan Selena Leonelli, he is threatened with having both hands cut off, unless he and his wife relinquish their precious little girl. Selena is the famous red-haired muse of the artist Tiziano, first painted by him in 1512 and still inspiring him at the time of his death. She is at the center of Renaissance life in Venice, a world of beauty and danger, seduction and betrayal, love and superstition.
Locked away in a tower, Margherita sings in the hope that someone will hear her. One day, a young man does.
Award-winning author Kate Forsyth braids together the stories of Margherita, Selena, and Charlotte-Rose, the woman who penned Rapunzel as we now know it, to create what is a sumptuous historical novel, an enchanting fairy tale retelling, and a loving tribute to the imagination of one remarkable woman.
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June 25, 2024
Bargain Ebook: Don't Call the Wolf by Aleksandra Ross
Don't Call the Wolf by Aleksandra Ross is on sale in ebook format for $2.99 in the United States--check the link to see about other countries. This one is a retelling of The Glass Mountain, also known as Aarne–Thompson-Uther or ATU 530: The Princess on the Glass Mountain.
Book description from the publisher:
A fierce young queen, neither human nor lynx, who fights to protect a forest humans have long abandoned.
An exhausted young soldier, last of his name, who searches for the brother who disappeared beneath those trees without a trace.
A Golden Dragon, fearsome and vengeful, whose wingbeats haunt their nightmares and their steps.
When these three paths cross at the fringes of a war between monsters and men, the shapeshifter queen and the reluctant hero strike a deal that may finally turn the tide against the rising hordes of darkness. Ren will help Lukasz find his brother . . . if Lukasz promises to slay the Dragon.
But promises are all too easily broken.
This Eastern European fantasy debut, inspired by the Polish fairy tale “The Glass Mountain,” will take you on a twisting journey full of creeping tension, simmering romance, and haunting folklore.
“Rich and meticulously developed. An immersive world rooted in Polish culture.” —Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
“Ross delivers a fierce, fully fleshed heroine and a richly textured fantasy with a kind heart.” —Publishers Weekly
“Immediately hooks the reader with its dark and twisted scenery. In a genre full of retellings, this book sets itself apart.” —School Library Journal
“Teeming with mystical creatures and lurking dangers. . . . A page-turner.” —Kirkus Reviews
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New Book: One Cursed Rose (Grimm Bargains Book 1) by Rebecca Zanetti
One Cursed Rose (Grimm Bargains Book 1) by Rebecca Zanetti is released today. This one is the start of a new dark fantasy romance inspired by Beauty and the Beast.
Book description from the publisher:
They christened me Alana—and while the name means beauty, beneath that surface is a depth I allow very few to see. I’m sole heir to Aquarius Social, a media giant about to succumb to an unseen enemy. My father’s solution is to marry me off to the son of a competing family. My reaction? Not a chance. Now I have just a week before the wedding to change my fate.
Who knew the unforeseen twist would be an assassination attempt on me and an unwanted rescue by Thorn Beathach, the head of the rival social media empire driving Aquarius under? The richest, most ruthless of them all, the Beast protects his realm with an iron rule: no one sees his face. When he shows himself to me, I know he’ll never let me go.
Thorn may think he can lock me in his enchanted castle forever, but I’m not the docile Beauty he expects. If the Beast wants to tie me up, I’m going to take pleasure from every minute of it . . .and we’ll just see who ends up shackled.
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New Book: Tangled Up In You (Meant to Be Series 4) by Christina Lauren
Tangled Up In You (Meant To Be Book 4) by Christina Lauren is released today. The book is fourth in a series of romance novels inspired by Disney versions of fairy tales by different authors. As one does. And I hope that sentence made sense, too. This one is inspired by Tangled and thus Rapunzel, of course.
Book description from the publisher:
A witty and deeply romantic modern reimagining of Disney’s Tangled, by the New York Times bestselling author duo Christina Lauren, part of the acclaimed and bestselling Meant to Be collection.
She has a dream. He has a plan. Together they’ll take a leap of faith.
Ren has never held an iPhone, googled the answer to a question, or followed a crush on social media. What she has done: Read a book or two, or three (okay, hundreds). Taught herself to paint. Built a working wind power system from scratch. But for all the books she’s read, Ren has never found one that’s taught a woman raised on a homestead and off the grid for most of her twenty-two years how to live in the real world. So when she finally achieves her lifelong dream of attending Corona College, it feels like her life is finally beginning.
Fitz has the rest of his life mapped out: Graduate from Corona at the top of his class, get his criminal record wiped clean, and pass himself off as the rich, handsome player everyone thinks he is. He’s a few short months from checking off step one of his plans when Ren Gylden, with her cascading blonde hair and encyclopedic brain, crashes into his life, and for the first time Fitz’s plan is in jeopardy.
But a simple assignment in their immunology seminar changes the course of both their lives, and suddenly they’re thrown out of the frying pan and into the fireon a road trip that will lead them in the most unexpected directions. Out on the open road, the world somehow shifts, and the unlikely pair realize that, maybe, the key to the dreams they've both been chasing have been sitting next to them the whole time.
Previous books in the series include:
1: If the Shoe Fits: A Meant to Be Novel by Julie Murphy (Cinderella inspired)
2: By the Book: A Meant to Be Novel by Jasmine Guillory (Beauty and the Beast inspired)
3: Kiss the Girl A Meant to Be Novel by Zoraida Córdova (Little Mermaid inspired)
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March 18, 2024
New Book: A Feather So Black (Fair Folk Book 1) by Lyra Selene
A Feather So Black (Fair Folk Book 1) by Lyra Selene is new this month. That cover is beautiful, isn't it? This is a Swan Maidens inspired retelling.
Book description from the publisher:
Set in a world of perilous magic and moonlit forests, this seductive romantic fantasy tells the story of a defiant changeling, her cursed sister, and the dangerous fae lord she must defeat to save her family.
In a kingdom where magic has been lost, Fia is a rare changeling, left behind by the wicked Fair Folk when they stole the High Queen's daughter and retreated behind the locked gates of Tír na nÓg.
Most despise Fia's fae blood. But the queen raises her as a daughter and trains her to be a spy. Meanwhile, the real princess Eala is bound to Tír na nÓg, cursed to become a swan by day and only returning to her true form at night.
When a hidden gate to the realm is discovered, Fia is tasked by the queen to retrieve the princess and break her curse. But she doesn’t go alone: with her is prince Rogan, Fia's dearest childhood friend—and Eala’s betrothed.
As they journey through the forests of the Folk, where magic winds through the roots of the trees and beauty can be a deadly illusion, Fia’s mission is complicated by her feelings for the prince…and her unexpected attraction to the dark-hearted fae lord holding Eala captive. Irian might be more monster than man, but he seems to understand Fia in a way no one ever has.
Soon, Fia begins to question the truth of her mission. But time is running out to break her sister's curse. And unraveling the secrets of the past might destroy everything she has come to love.
SurLaLune Small Print
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November 22, 2023
Bargain Ebook: Kill the Farm Boy: The Tales of Pell
Kill the Farm Boy: The Tales of Pell (The Tales of Pell Series Book 1) by Kevin Hearne and Delilah S. Dawson is on sale for $1.99, but I don't know for how long.
Book description from the publisher:
Once upon a time, in a faraway kingdom, a hero, the Chosen One, was born . . . and so begins every fairy tale ever told.
This is not that fairy tale.
There is a Chosen One, but he is unlike any One who has ever been Chosened.
And there is a faraway kingdom, but you have never been to a magical world quite like the land of Pell.
There, a plucky farm boy will find more than he’s bargained for on his quest to awaken the sleeping princess in her cursed tower. First there’s the Dark Lord, who wishes for the boy’s untimely death . . . and also very fine cheese. Then there’s a bard without a song in her heart but with a very adorable and fuzzy tail, an assassin who fears not the night but is terrified of chickens, and a mighty fighter more frightened of her sword than of her chain-mail bikini. This journey will lead to sinister umlauts, a trash-talking goat, the Dread Necromancer Steve, and a strange and wondrous journey to the most peculiar “happily ever after” that ever once-upon-a-timed.
SurLaLune Small Print
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November 17, 2023
Bargain Ebook: Tales of India: Folktales from Bengal, Punjab, and Tamil Nadu
Tales of India: Folktales from Bengal, Punjab, and Tamil Nadu by Svabhu Kohli (Illustrator), Viplov Singh (Illustrator) is a Kindle Daily Deal for $2.99 today.
Book description from the publisher:
Traditional Indian lore through the eyes of two artists. “Their collaboration is nothing short of phenomenal. The illustrations take you into another world.” —Medium
A shape-shifting tiger and a pretentious rat.
A generous goddess and a powerful demon.
A clever princess and a prince who returns from the dead.
This collection of sixteen traditional tales transports readers to the beguiling world of Indian folklore. Transcribed by Indian and English folklorists in the nineteenth century, these stories brim with wit and magic. Fans of fairy tales will encounter familiar favorites—epic quests and talking animals—alongside delightful surprises—an irreverent sense of humor and an array of bold, inspiring heroines. Each tale in this ebook comes alive alongside exquisite artwork by a pair of contemporary Indian artists.
SurLaLune Small Print
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May 3, 2023
Bargain Ebook: Tales of Japan: Traditional Stories of Monsters and Magic
Tales of Japan: Traditional Stories of Monsters and Magic by Kotaro Chiba (Illustrator) is a Kindle Daily Deal for $2.99 today.
Book description from the publisher:
A goblin with no body and a monster with no face. A resourceful samurai and a faithful daughter. A spirit of the moon and a dragon king.
This collection of 15 traditional Japanese folktales transports readers to a time of adventure and enchantment. Drawn from the works of folklorists Lafcadio Hearn and Yei Theodora Ozaki, these tales are by turns terrifying, exhilarating, and poetic.
• Striking illustrations by contemporary Japanese artist Kotaro Chiba
• Special gift edition features an embossed, textured case with metallic gold ink, and a satin ribbon page marker
• Part of the popular Tales series, featuring Nordic Tales, Celtic Tales, Tales of India, and Tales of East Africa
Fans of Ghostly Tales, and Japanese Notebooks will love this book.
This book is ideal for:
• Fans of fairytales, folklore, ghost stories, Greek mythology, roman mythology, Chinese mythology, and Celtic mythology
• Anyone interested in Japan's history books and culture studies
• People of Japanese heritage
• Collectors of illustrated classics
SurLaLune Small Print
As an Amazon Associate, the SurLaLune Fairy Tale site earns a percentage from qualifying purchases as a referral incentive which helps support the site. Your cost does not increase by using the links on this site. Read SurLaLune's Privacy Policy here.
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