Heidi Anne Heiner's Blog, page 76

New Book: Path of Needles by Alison Littlewood

(Amazon US/UK Covers with links)
Path of Needles by Alison Littlewood is officially released in the US this week. I'm not sure what kind of planning resulted in this week being fairy tale mystery week with this and Snow White Red-Handed (A Fairy Tale Fatal Mystery) as new releases, but sometimes its fun to wonder.

The hero of the book is expert on fairy tales which is fun!

Actually, the book is not new, new since it was released in May 2013 in the UK--see Path of Needles--but this week is its official US debut.

Book description for US edition:

When an expert on fairy tales is called in to consult on the investigation of bizarre murders, her premonition and insight causes suspicion; she must solve the case--and fast--to prove her innocence.

Alice Hyland is an expert on fairy tales--lecturing on the well-known stories and their lesser-known variants--and the natural choice for Police Constable Cate Corbin to consult when a dead girl is found in the woods dressed up as Snow White. Especially when the girl's grieving mother receives a parcel containing a glass bottle of blood stoppered with the dead girl's toe. Cate's boss, Detective Superintendent Heath, isn't convinced of the connection to folklore until a second girl is found, this time dressed as Red Riding Hood and with claw marks gouged into her flesh, like a wolf had been at her.

As she dives deeper into the case, Alice beings to sense a supernatural pull connecting her to the murders. A series of uncanny events seem to be pointing her in the right direction, but she's not the only one noticing; By the time a third girl is found in the local castle, Heath begins to wonder if their fairy tale expert knows too much, and Alice finds herself no longer an asset, but a suspect. But she can't stop following the clues, and her determination to solve the mystery herself and prove her innocence may lead her somewhere she can't return from.

Book description for UK edition:

Some fairy tales are born of dreams... and some are born of nightmares.

A murderer is on the loose, but the gruesome way in which the bodies are being posed has the police at a loss. Until, on a hunch, Alice Hyland, an expert in fairy tales is called in. And it is Alice who finds the connection between the body of Chrissie Farrell and an obscure Italian version of Snow White.

Then, when a second body is found, Alice is dragged further into the investigation - until she herself becomes a suspect.

Now Alice must fight, not just to prove her innocence, but to protect herself: because it's looking like she might well be next.

Guest Post: Maia Chance, Author of Snow White Red-Handed

(Amazon US/UK Links)
As I promised yesterday, we have a guest post from author Maia Chance, author of Snow White Red-Handed (A Fairy Tale Fatal Mystery), officially released today. Welcome to SurLaLune, Maia!

I am excited and honored to be guest posting today here at SurLaLune. I’ve been a regular visitor of this beautiful site for years.

I’m also pinching myself about joining the ranks of fairy tale retellers. My new book, Snow White Red-Handed, is a fun historical mystery that intertwines fairy tale lore with a classic whodunit plot. I dreamed up the story while I was teaching a freshman comp course. In order to help my students think past problems of author intentionality when interpreting literature, I used Maria Tatar’s wonderful anthology, The Classic Fairy Tales. At the same time I was teaching that course, I was reading 19th-century American literature (Hawthorne, Alcott, Melville) in preparation for my PhD exams. Thus, my practical Yankee sleuth, Ophelia Flax, was concocted. . . and of course I had to plop her into the seriously impractical Black Forest.

I believe that fairy tales are a special kind of writing. Each variation may be unique, and many can be attributed to particular authors, but in the end they are a kind of jointly owned reservoir of ideas and emotions and characters that belong to everyone. My own favorite retellings are Robin McKinley’s—Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast just blew me away at age twelve, and I’ve reread it at least twice—and Angela Carter’s jaw-droppingly terrifying and gorgeous The Bloody Chamber. I also adore exploring all the children’s picture book versions out there. My most recent favorite is the exquisite, 1920’s-style version of Perrault’s Cinderella illustrated by Roberto Innocenti, and my kids’ favorites are the versions with James Marshall’s illustrations.

In writing Snow White Red-Handed, I enjoyed exploring themes from the fairy tale in depth, through the mystery and through my own characters. I treated the tale’s central mother-daughter theme partly through Prue Bright. Prue is a girl, as lovely as a princess, whose mother Henrietta is an actress and courtesan. Henrietta taught Prue to rely solely upon her looks in life. Then—related to this—there is the tale’s theme of beauty: what women do to get it and keep it (and isn’t a wicked queen eating a young girl’s liver or heart an “extreme beauty” treatment?). The woodland setting was a pleasure to write, since I’m a forest-lover myself; ancient trees, toxic mushrooms, a miniature cottage in the brambles, an abandoned hunting lodge, and rumors of fairies and elves all found their place in Snow White Red-Handed. And because of the presence of the glitzy Baden-Baden casino that was really a Big Deal in the 1860’s, I found a way to do a new take on “dwarf’s gold.” But I won’t give anything else away!

I hope SurLaLune’s readers enjoy Snow White Red-Handed, as well as the second book in my Fairy Tale Fatal series, Cinderella Six Feet Under, which will be released in September 2015. Please visit me on the web:

WEBSITE: maiachance.com
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/MaiaChance
TWITTER: twitter.com/maiachance
GOODREADS: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...


READ AN EXCERPT FROM SNOW WHITE RED-HANDED:

            “I simply must have you at my side this afternoon, Flax,” Mrs. Coop said.  “I’ve come down with a sick headache, but I wouldn’t miss Professor Winkler’s gold test for the world.  Tighter!”            “I’m doing my utmost, ma’am,” Ophelia said, straining to cinch Mrs. Coop’s corset laces.After luncheon, Mrs. Coop had returned to her cream-and-gold jewel box of a boudoir, high in a turret of the castle, to change into her afternoon gown.  She’d been breathless and disheveled, and determined to shrink her waist to a smaller compass.Mrs. Coop’s disarray, and her sudden wish to appear pixie-like, resulted, Ophelia suspected, from the presence in the castle of either Princess Verushka or Mr. Royall Hunt.  Mrs. Coop and Miss Amaryllis had made the acquaintance of these two fashionable personages at some point in the last two weeks’ frenzy of excursions into Baden-Baden.            “You must,” Mrs. Coop said, “stay by my side with my smelling salts, should I need them, and fetch me glasses of water and whatever else I may need.  I am not well, Flax—even Mr. Hunt noted that I’m white as a lily—yet this is perhaps the most thrilling day of my life.”            “Yes, ma’am,” Ophelia said.            “Just think!  Snow White’s cottage on my own estate.  And a dwarf’s bones!”            “Mm.”            “Do I hear doubt in your tone, Flax?”            “Truth be told, ma’am, it is difficult for me to believe that that house belonged to creatures from a storybook.”            “Difficult to believe?”            “Well, ma’am, near impossible.”            Ophelia had performed with P. Q. Putnam’s Traveling Circus for two years, and she’d known a so-called dwarf.  He’d been a shrimp, true, but there hadn’t been a thing magical about him.  Unless you counted swearing like a sailor and smoking like a house on fire as magic.            “Of course.”  Mrs. Coop sniffed.  “I nearly forgot you’re a Yankee.”            Ophelia held her tongue; she was stepping out of character.  It had to be the result of exhaustion.  Mrs. Coop and her stepsister Amaryllis—they had, Ophelia had learned, different mothers—kept her on her feet from dawn to dusk, arranging their hair, pressing their clothing, mixing beauty concoctions, and running up and down the spiraling castle stairs fetching things.
            But how could anyone past the age of pigtails think Snow White and the seven dwarves had really existed?
BIO:


Maia Chance writes historical mystery novels that are rife with absurd predicaments and romantic adventure. She is the author of the Fairy Tale Fatal and The Discreet Retrieval Agency series, and her first mystery, Snow White Red-Handed, will be released in November 2014 by Berkley Prime Crime.

Maia is a candidate for the Ph.D. in English at the University of Washington. This means that the exploits of Fairy Tale Fatal’s heroine, variety hall actress Ophelia Flax, were dreamt up while Maia was purportedly researching 19th-century American literature and fairy tale criticism. The Discreet Retrieval Agency series was born of Maia’s fascination with vintage shoes, automobiles, and cocktails combined with an adoration of P. G. Wodehouse and chocolate.

Upcoming titles include Come Hell or Highball (St. Martin’s Press, 2015) and Cinderella Six Feet Under (Berkley Prime Crime, 2015). Maia lives in Seattle, where she shakes a killer martini, grows a mean radish, and bakes mocha bundts to die for.

Bargain Ebook: Twelve Dancing Princesses Tales From Around the World

Twelve Dancing Princesses Tales From Around the World edited by Heidi Anne Heiner--yes that's me!--is on sale this week as part of Amazon's Ebook Countdown Deals. That means the book is on sale for $.99 for another 36 hours from this posting and then will rise to $1.99 for another 42 hours and then go to $2.99 for 42 hours eventually returning to its usual price of $4.99 for the ebook a week from now.

Book description:

The Twelve Dancing Princesses is a fairy tale known under several names such as "The Dancing Shoes," "The Worn-out Shoes," and "The Shoes that Were Danced to Pieces." The best known version of the tale comes from the Brothers Grimm and yet the tale remains relatively obscure in comparison to tales such as Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Rapunzel. However, it has been a popular favorite with fairy tale readers for decades, appearing in countless collections of tales, but rarely studied. In recent years, many books and even a toy collection, a movie and a musical have used the story as inspiration. This collection offers over twenty variants of The Twelve Dancing Princesses, some that are new English translations. In addition, several Grateful Dead tales and Greek myths are presented as interesting comparisons to the tale. Sometimes the princesses journey to a version of hell, at other times they visit a version of heaven. Many of the stories are obviously related to each other and at times the relationship is tenuous. Some additional stories with similar motifs or elements are also included, illustrating that the elements of this tale are not as obscure as they first appear. In the over fifty tales collected here, strange journeys are made, secrets are revealed, and curses are broken. Most-but not all-of the heroes and heroines live happily ever after. Either way, the journeys and the mysteries they solve provide fascinating visits to other realms. Whether you are a student of folklore or an armchair enthusiast, this anthology offers a diverse array of tales with a unifying theme that both entertains and educates, all gathered for the first time in one helpful collection.

Snow White Red-Handed (A Fairy Tale Fatal Mystery) by Maia Chance

(US / UK Covers with links)
Released this week, Snow White Red-Handed (A Fairy Tale Fatal Mystery) by Maia Chance is the first in a new mystery series from Prime Crime books. It's a historical mystery fiction series with fairy tale inspirations. I'm actually surprised there aren't more of these. Prime Crime is known for its cozy mystery series, several with novelty themes from knitting to coffee houses to antiques to unusual historical settings. I've been a fan of several Prime Crime series--seeing as how mysteries are one of my favorite genres for leisure reading. With the pop culture rise of fairy tales again on TV, I've been waiting to see if fairy tales would get a new cozy mystery series or two or three. Here's the first.

I've received a review copy to read but as of of writing this post--for me it's September, not November nearly yet--I haven't read it. I'll post more about it when I do. And Maia is planning a guest post for the SurLaLune blog, too, so stay tuned.

Book description:

Miss Ophelia Flax is a Victorian actress who knows all about making quick changes and even quicker exits. But to solve a fairy-tale crime in the haunted Black Forest, she’ll need more than a bit of charm…

1867: After being fired from her latest variety hall engagement, Ophelia acts her way into a lady’s maid position for a crass American millionaire. But when her new job whisks her off to a foreboding castle straight out of a Grimm tale, she begins to wonder if her fast-talking ways might have been too hasty. The vast grounds contain the suspected remains of Snow White’s cottage, along with a disturbing dwarf skeleton. And when her millionaire boss turns up dead—poisoned by an apple—the fantastic setting turns into a once upon a crime scene.

To keep from rising to the top of the suspect list, Ophelia fights through a bramble of elegant lies, sinister folklore, and priceless treasure, with only a dashing but mysterious scholar as her ally. And as the clock ticks towards midnight, she’ll have to break a cunning killer’s spell before her own time runs out…

TODAY ONLY: Fairest of All by Serena Valentino for $2.99 in Ebook

 
Fairest of All by Serena Valentino is on sale today only in ebook format for $2.99. It is usually in the $9.99 range.

Book description:

For anyone who's seen Walt Disney's Snow White, you'll know that the Wicked Queen is one evil woman! After all, it's not everyone who wants to cut out their teenage step-daughter's heart and have it delivered back in a locked keepsake box. (And even if this sort of thing is a common urge, we don't know many people who have acted upon it.)


Now, for the first time, we'll examine the life of the Wicked Queen and find out just what it is that makes her so nasty. Here's a hint: the creepy-looking man in the magic mirror is not just some random spooky visage-and he just might have something to do with the Queen's wicked ways!

And while we're here, another bargain ebook of possible interest to SurLaLune readers is Let's Bring Back: An Encyclopedia of Forgotten-Yet-Delightful, Chic, Useful, Curious, and Otherwise Commendable Things from Times Gone By by Leslie M. M. Blume, on sale for $1.99 in ebook format. Don't know the length of the sale on this one but these are the types of titles my niece and I read and discuss together. Always fun.

Book description:

The Huffington Post's "Let's Bring Back..." columnist, Lesley M. M. Blume, invites you to consider whatever happened to cuckoo clocks? Or bed curtains? Why do we have so many "friends" but have done away with the much more useful word "acquaintance"? All of these things, plus hot toddies, riddles, proverbs, corsets, calling cards, and many more, are due for a revival. Throughout this whimsical, beautifully illustrated encyclopedia of nostalgia, Blume breathes new life into the elegant, mysterious, and delightful trappings of bygone eras, honoring the timeless tradition of artful living along the way. Inspired by her much loved column of the same name and featuring entries from famous icons of style and culture, Let's Bring Back leads readers to rediscover the things that entertained, awed, beautified, satiated, and fascinated in eras past.

Fairy Tales in Advertising: Hopi Hari Theme Park: Zombie Cinderella

Hopi Hari Theme Park: Cinderella
Hopi Hari Horror Time.Stories to keep you awake.
Happy Halloween everyone! I am actually writing this in September and putting it in the queue to self-publish because I couldn't wait to share this rather perfect mesh of Cinderella, zombies, and yes, Halloween. I didn't want to forget it either and at the moment of writing this, Halloween is still a ways away but I know it will arrive all too quickly!

Have a safe and fun holiday!

Here's the agency information, courtesy of Ads of the World:

Advertising Agency: Y&R, São Paulo, Brazil
Chief Creative Officer: Rui Branquinho
Executive Creative Officer: Flavio Casarotti
Creative Directors: Rui Branquinho, Flavio Casarotti, Victor Sant'Anna
Art Director: Guilherme Rácz
Copywriter: Lucas Casão
Illustrator: Zombie Studio

Author Guest Post: The Charming Tales by Jack Heckel

I posted recently about Once Upon a Rhyme: Volume I of the Charming Tales and the upcoming Happily Never After: Volume II of the Charming Tales by Jack Heckel. Now I have a guest post about the books to share with you.

The Charming Tales: A Few Thoughts On the Long and Winding Road to Publication by Jack Heckel:

Recently, SurLaLune was nice enough to mention the release of my debut novel Once Upon a Rhyme, the first volume of The Charming Tales, in a blog entry. In that post a mention was made of the fact that a number of recent releases have been told from Prince Charming’s perspective, and it got me thinking about the original inspiration for the novels, and how quixotic is the journey from concept to page.

The Charming Tales originally came from my obsession with Gregory Maguire’s novels, and particularly from a vacation spent reading Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister. Although nothing about Maguire’s prose is simple, I was enthralled with the way simply switching perspective could change the way you experienced a story. That in turn led me to reread, cover to cover, my very ragged copy of The Annotated Brothers Grimm by Maria Tatar. I love this volume, because I learn something new every time I read her commentary.

Anyway, there I was reading these stories I knew so well and imagining how they might be different if told from the perspective of one or other of the characters, when I came to my favorite Grimm story, The Seven Ravens. If you’re unfamiliar with the tale of The Seven Ravens, and I know it isn’t among the pantheon of Cinderella or Snow White or Beauty and the Beast, it is the story of a girl who takes up a quest to rescue her brothers, who have been cursed to live as ravens. It is an unusual story because the girl goes on her quest entirely alone and unaided. It is also unusual in that it lacks the presence in even a peripheral way of a romantic interest for our heroine.

In the annotated volume, the story is preceded almost immediately by Cinderella, with its unnamed, but earnest, shoe-bearing prince hero, and is followed immediately by Little Red Riding Hood with its woodcutter deus ex machina. The absence of a rescuing hero figure in The Seven Ravens struck me, and I thought what would happen to the stories of Cinderella or Snow White or Sleeping Beauty if their “Prince Charmings” never showed up?

From this kernel of a thought the Charming Tales grew, but as they do between conception and execution the vision changed.

As you probably don’t know, I am the combined persona of two co-authors, John Peck and Harry Heckel, or as I call them, Thing 1 and Thing 2. Thing 1’s original thought was how sad and tragic would it be for Prince Charming, a man destined to be a great hero, if he failed. To what depths of despair would he be driven? How tormented would he be as the fairytale spun on without him? However, when Thing 1 told Thing 2 about the idea of the story, Thing 2 didn’t see the story as a tragedy, but as a comedy. And the more Thing 1 and Thing 2 talked the more the comic potential of a book based around Prince Charming became apparent.

New questions replaced the earlier ones. How insufferable would a man be if he knew he was destined to be a great hero? How quick would he be to fulfill his quest when to undertake it would also be to risk his reputation and his celebrity should he fail? To what lengths would such a man go to regain his reputation once the “rescue” of the maiden, his sole raison d’etre, had been taken from him? And what about the princess, wouldn’t she be a little miffed to miss out on her “prince charming” moment?

Another wonderful thing about exploring Charming’s altered character arc from a place of humor rather than tragedy is that it allows us to play fast and loose with the ridiculousness of the literal fairytale world. So, even though the main plot of Once Upon a Rhyme may resemble a twisted version of Sleeping Beauty, with a slumbering maiden being rescued from the clutches of a dragon, it was also possible to engage in a game of fairytale mixology a la Into the Woods and weave in other elements as well, including Cinderella’s famous glass slippers, the dwarfs from Snow White, an aged beast from Beauty and the Beast, a family of gruff billy goats, trolls, talking frogs, and so on. At times, and in the best traditions of fairytale, the story and characters seemed to take on a life of their own, telling themselves rather than being told.

It brings to mind one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite authors, Terry Pratchett, “People think stories are shaped by people. In fact, it is the other way around.” At least for me The Charming Tales certainly prove Pratchett’s point, shaping itself to fit a mold that even I could not have foreseen.

Want to read more about fairy tale from Jack Heckel? Try these posts at Tor:

Fairytale’s Most Wanted: The Five Most Well-Known Character Types

Been There, Done That: Why We Keep Retelling Fairy Tales

Power Corrupts? Absolutely!

Slarom, the Backward Morals of Fairytales

Are All Princesses Really Waiting for Princes to Come?

New Book: The Fourth Pig (Oddly Modern Fairy Tales) by Naomi Mitchison

(Amazon US/UK Links)
The Fourth Pig (Oddly Modern Fairy Tales) by Naomi Mitchison (Author), Marina Warner (Introduction) falls into the category of "everything old is new again." Newly rereleased this week in the US and UK [see The Fourth Pig (Amazon UK)], the book is a fascinating collection of writings originally published in 1936. Sometimes its easy to forget that fairy tales have always been fodder for retellings and pastiches with the media regularly clamoring about the "new" popularity of fairy tales. But in reality, the popularity is always there, it just wanes and ebbs a bit in its visibility in popular culture. I've been running SurLaLune Fairy Tales for 16 years now and I never run out of fairy tale fodder--the opposite is true and I simply don't have the bandwidth to cover it all.

So thank goodness for Princeton University Press's Oddly Modern Fairy Tales series which is reintroducing some of these mostly forgotten examples. Here's the series description:

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. Jack Zipes, Series Editor.

I had actually heard of Mitchison's work but I had never seen a copy or hunted one down--I'm a trained librarian and have those skills--but that bandwidth issue again. So I am thrilled to see it reprinted in this series to make it available for a larger audience once again. It is graced with a fine introduction by the ever knowledgeable Marina Warner, helping readers understand the greater scope and context of the contents almost 80 years after it was first published. I received a review copy and enjoyed exploring the offerings within its pages.

Mitchison was not a romantic, but a social activist and politically motivated, and so the tales found within are far from sweet and may surprise readers with some of their themes. For me it is especially fun to find lesser recognized tales and ballads offered within, from Katie Crackernuts--Mitchison gives us a play of that tale--to Soria Moria Castle to The Snow Maiden. Warner considers it fitting that Mitchison is finding a new audience in the Oddly Modern series for she considers oddly modern an apt description of Mitchison's writing style.

Book description:

The Fourth Pig, originally published in 1936, is a wide-ranging and fascinating collection of fairy tales, poems, and ballads. Droll and sad, spirited and apprehensive, The Fourth Pig reflects the hopes and forebodings of its era but also resonates with those of today. It is a testament to the talents of Naomi Mitchison (1897–1999), who was an irrepressible phenomenon—a significant Scottish political activist as well as a prolific author. Mitchison’s work, exemplified by the tales in this superb new edition, is stamped with her characteristic sharp wit, magical invention, and vivid political and social consciousness.

Mitchison rewrites well-known stories such as “Hansel and Gretel” and “The Little Mermaid,” and she picks up the tune of a ballad with admiring fidelity to form, as in “Mairi MacLean and the Fairy Man.” Her experimental approach is encapsulated in the title story, which is a dark departure from “The Three Little Pigs.” And in the play Kate Crackernuts, the author dramatizes in charms and songs a struggle against the subterranean powers of fairies who abduct humans for their pleasure. Marina Warner, the celebrated scholar of fairy tales and fiction author, provides an insightful introduction that reveals why Mitchison’s writing remains significant.

The Fourth Pig is a literary rediscovery, a pleasure that will reawaken interest in a remarkable writer and personality.

"At her best, Naomi Mitchison is forthright and witty, writes with brio and passion and lucidity, and conveys a huge appetite for life, for people, for new adventures, and for breaking through barriers."--From the introduction by Marina Warner

"These stories are important--both within the literary tradition of the fairy tale, and more broadly, as fantasy stories exemplary in their imagining of real-world matters. Warner's introduction to the collection strikes just the right note. A splendid reissue."--Stephen Benson, University of East Anglia

"The Fourth Pig makes a relevant and interesting addition to the Oddly Modern Fairy Tales series. The collection embraces more than fairy tales in the strictest sense and includes playful references to Greek and Teutonic mythology as well as to Gaelic traditions. The introduction is informative and engaging."--William Gray, director of the Sussex Centre for Folklore, Fairy Tales and Fantasy, University of Chichester

Table of Contents:

Introduction by Marina Warner 1
The Fourth Pig 23
Omen of the Enemy 27
Frogs and Panthers 29
The Furies Dance in New York 49
Grand-daughter 54
The Fancy Pig 61
The Snow Maiden 62
Hansel and Gretel 74
Birmingham and the Allies 90
Soria Moria Castle 93
Kate Crackernuts 115
Adventure in the Debateable Land 180
Mairi MacLean and the Fairy Man 196
The Little Mermaiden 201
Pause in the Corrida 209
Brünnhilde's Journey down the Rhine 213
The Border Loving 221
Mirk, Mirk Night 222
Further Reading 247

Bargain Ebook: Half Upon a Time by James Riley TODAY ONLY

Half Upon a Time by James Riley is an Amazon Kindle Book Deal of the Day today only for $1.99. It is usually in the $6-7 range and this is the first time it has been bargain priced. I didn't own it yet although it has been on my alert list since its release.

The book is the first in a trilogy that includes Half Upon a Time, Twice Upon a Time (Half Upon a Time Book 2), and Once Upon the End (Half Upon a Time Book 3). The reviews for all three books have been strong and the books sound like an entertaining read for all ages although it is marketed for middle readers up to young YA.

Book description:

Life’s no fairy tale for Jack. After all, his father's been missing ever since that incident with the beanstalk and the giant, and his grandfather keeps pushing him to get out and find a princess to rescue. Who'd want to rescue a snobby, entitled princess anyway? Especially one that falls out of the sky wearing a shirt that says "Punk Princess," and still denies she's royalty. In fact, May doesn't even believe in magic. Yeah, what's that about? May does need help though--a huntsman is chasing her, her grandmother has been kidnapped, and Jack thinks it’s all because of the Wicked Queen . . . mostly because May’s grandmother might just be the long-lost Snow White. Jack and May's thrillingly hilarious adventure combines all the classic stories—fractured as a broken magic mirror—into one epic novel for the ages.

Bargain Ebook: Quite Contrary by Richard Roberts TODAY ONLY

Quite Contrary by Richard Roberts is an Amazon Kindle Book Deal of the Day today only for $1.99. It is usually in the $4.99 range.

Book description:

The secret of having an adventure is getting lost. Who ever visited an enchanted kingdom or fell into a fairy tale without wandering into the woods first?

Well, Mary is lost. Mary is lost in the story of Little Red Riding Hood, and that is a cruel and murderous story. She's put on the red hood and met the Wolf. When she gives in to her Wolf's temptations, she will die. That's how the story goes, after all.

Unfortunately for the story and unfortunately for the Wolf, this Little Red Riding Hood is Mary Stuart, and she is the most stubborn and contrary twelve year old the world has ever known.

Forget the Wolf's temptations, forget the advice of the talking rat trying to save her - she will kick her way through every myth and fairy tale ever told until she finds a way to get out of this alive. Her own way, and no one else's.