K.M. Shea's Blog, page 60

Available for Pre-Order: MBRC Anthology

Announcing a new story: The Lost Files of the MBRC: An MBRC Short Story Anthology! Available for pre-order today, with a release date of October 15, this anthology contains edited and updated versions of the two short stories I have available on this blog, as well as three brand new stories: A Magical Birthday, Release the Kraken, and The Marriage Trustee. In these stories, Morgan will revisit friends like Aysel, Asahi, Hunter, Madeline, Frey, Frank, The Beer Brothers, Krad, and Esmerelda. The anthology is almost the length of a King Arthurs book, so it’s priced at 99 cents.

I’ve been waiting for MONTHS to discuss this project, and it just about killed me when I decided not to announce it until it was available for pre-order, so today comes as a big relief to me.

It was so much fun getting back together with Morgan and the MBRC crew, but it did hit home the reminder than I can’t write another MBRC novel from Morgan’s point-of-view. Her cast of characters is too huge, and it would only grow if I continued her story. However, that doesn’t mean I’m finished with the MBRC world and characters, as you might notice when you read the new short stories. But enough about that!

To celebrate the anthology, I’m holding another rafflecopter give away! Enter to get a chance to win one of five free ebook copies of The Lost Files of the MBRC! The raffle opens today, and it will close on October 13. The usual rules apply–you can only enter once, no purchase necessary, I’m not responsible if unfortunate circumstances like loss of internet keep you from entering, etc–and if you choose to pre-order a copy of the anthology and end up winning a free copy as well, I will gladly send your copy to a person of your choice.

Now sadly the Rafflecopter widget doesn’t work on wordpress. I can only provide a link, so here you go: a Rafflecopter giveaway

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So MBRC fans, give me a holler! Are you excited, or do you wish I would just leave the world alone? This is a bit of an experiment for me, so I would love to hear from you. Thanks for reading, Champions, and good luck to all who enter the raffle!

A Chat with the Editor

Earlier this past weekend/week, I gave you guys the chance to submit questions for my editor, Jeri. She’s generously answered many of the inquiries I received. To make it easier on Jeri, I condensed and combined some of the questions, and anything in italics is from me–I couldn’t help putting in a few side-notes in addition to asking the questions. Now, before we get started, I want to give a little bit of background info.

Jeri–or Editor #1 as I usually refer to her–has worked with me since I released The Wild Swans in 2014. She’s edited almost all of my books–although some she didn’t get a chance to take a crack at until recently–and she’s the only editor I use for everything. (Editor #2 just works with me on Timeless Fairy Tales. Jeri has gone through all of my stories.) I consider her to be an excellent colleague, but she is also an awesome friend and has the best taste in books. Okay, we’re ready to get going!

KM Shea: For our first question, could you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Jeri: Oh, wow. An interview and a personal question? I feel like I have a spotlight pointed at me… I’m a working mom with three kiddos, a fantastic husband, and two dogs. I was born and bred in the West and have lived in multiple states and cities around the Rockies. I have an MA in English, and with that I taught technical writing and composition for years, leading me into the editing world. However, editing hasn’t been my day job for a long time. I just do it for fun on the side while I work in corporate training for my 9-5.

K: How did editing become your career?

J: I actually stumbled into editing from an academic pathway. I planned on being an English instructor (after I realized doctors don’t get to go home very often) and worked as an adjunct at four different universities/colleges while we settled and started our family. The class I loved teaching the most was technical writing because commas and grammar make me happy. That technical writing background was absolutely mandatory for what I do to help KM Shea. An editor must know when to use a comma and when to use a semi-colon, to know the difference between a phrase and a clause, a compound and a compound-complex sentence.

From there, I worked as the senior editor for an academic research program for several years. In that role, I got very good at figuring out what authors meant through their context and at being able to articulate it for them without changing their voice. That skill/talent is critical. KM’s voice is so awesome that you want to hear her, not me. So it’s important for any editor to have the gift of…translation, so to speak—to be able to pull out of an author’s context what she’s really trying to say and to keep the “fix” clean enough to sound like her, not like the editor.

Editing is kind of a marriage between those two skills—the technical, math-like nature of grammar and usage and the gut-feel of knowing what an author really meant to say, but didn’t. (KM Shea: She’s right. While I mostly wax poetry about Jeri’s ability to fix my various cases of comma abuse, her ability to tweak a sentence so it is structurally complete but sounds the same is just as important.)

K: What is your editing process? Do you edit while you read, or read the book first then edit, do you watch for specific things, or just fix whatever errors you find?

J: I read and edit simultaneously. But, this comes down to the difference between copyediting and editing. And I kind of do both. Because KM’s nice and patient with me, she doesn’t care that I make organizational and character recommendations as I go—acting as more of an editor. And for that, I have to read. (KM Shea: *snorts* What she’s not telling you is those “recommendations” point out critical flaws. Addressing them help flesh out and fix the characters/scene/story.)

But, I make copyediting changes as I go, too, wiping out commas and spelling errors. And then I do a second pass after KM has made revisions because, like everyone, I’m human and miss things the first time around. (KM Shea: She’s being generous. She also has to take a second pass because I’ll make changes and add paragraphs/scenes and muck the whole thing up again.) As KM has mentioned in her posts, I think I have two talents: though I can’t make up a story for the life of me, I am good at finding the holes in the stories others weave. And I know how to fill those holes and what that character would say or do (especially if the characters are as awesome as they are in KM Shea’s books). Then, I know where the punctuation should be changed to make that meaning come across and to be true (as much as is possible, with some artistic license) to the English language and all its crazy intricacies.

K: How long does it take you to edit a Timeless Fairy Tale? In comparison, how long does it take you to edit a King Arthurs story?

J: KM sends her novels to me in amazingly good condition. They don’t take me very long at all. Because her voice is so clean and her characters already so well fleshed out, I can edit a Timeless Fairy Tale in about a weekend (around feeding my kids and going to the grocery store). The King Arthurs took me less time because they were short. I think I cranked through four of them in a long weekend.

That said, though, I have edited some books that have eaten my life for months. KM’s just come to me immensely clean. For instance, I just finished a project for another friend that went through 8 drafts. Yep, 8. So, if you’re feeling like editing’s always going to be smooth and easy, it’s not. And sometimes the content is atrocious. Tax books are really boring to edit.

K: Which of K. M. Shea’s books have the hardest content to edit?

J: Hmmm…this one’s hard. She’s such a clean writer, that content isn’t really the problem. The faster the writing flows for her, though, the more I have to edit—when she’s on a roll, she’s really going fast. Then there may be a few more goofs than normal, or a character may need a tweak or two, but that’s about it. She’s a dream to edit.

The content is really the characters and this new world she is creating. She is very adept at introducing it a piece at a time so readers aren’t overwhelmed, but receive what they want when they should be getting it. So, as an editor, the only thing I have to watch is if a first-time reader would get it or not. If not, then she’ll have to fix it. If so, then we’re good.

K: What’s the hardest part about editing?

J: The hardest part is that usually, a 9-5 editing job is filled with boring content. Tax books and history texts can sometimes really make me yawn. The several years I worked as an editor for my full-time gig, I was editing Department of Defense stuff. Snooze-fest. I totally lucked out in finding novels as freelance. And even if you are editing novels, editing GOOD novels is a completely different experience. I have a dream gig here, folks. (KM Shea: I feel honored you would say that, but a part of me wants to protest because I see all the corrections you make to polish my manuscripts!)

K: What is your favorite book?

J: Too many to count. I actually have over 1500 books at my house. I kind of have a slight obsession…

My favorites of KM’s are these (I think in this order, but that changes daily):

Rumpelstiltskin
MBRC
Red Rope of Fate
Arthur stories
Cinderella
Snow Queen (but none of you have read it yet…) (KM Shea: Hahah, that’s so sneaky of you to mention it!)

Some of my favorites as these (in no particular order):

Persuasion
Count of Monte Cristo
Night Circus (KM Shea: Ohmygoodness, she introduced me to this book, and I LOVE IT! It has such beautiful language!)
Love Walked In
Desert Solitaire
Much Ado about Nothing (though Hamlet and Twelfth Night are right up there, too)
Edenbrooke (KM Shea: Another one she introduced me to, you MUST read this one if you like historical romances!)
Walden
Seeking Persephone
The Wednesday Wars
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Flowers for Algernon
The Mother Tongue (but really, anything by Bill Bryson is amazing)
Sherlock Holmes (I love the short stories more than the novellas…The Speckled Band is really fabulous)
Walden
Silas Marner
O Pioneers!
The Scarlet Pimpernel (I love that it was written by a woman aristocrat)
The Cask of Amontillado (if you haven’t read Poe in October, you’re missing out)
The Lord of the Rings series
Harry Potter series
Nearly anything by Robin McKinley, Shannon Hale, ED Baker, or Gayle Carson Levine
The Mitford series by Jan Karon
The Virginian (and pretty much any western ever…Louis L’Amour can spin a great yarn)
The Good Earth
The Tempest
And, I should probably stop there, or we’ll be here for a while…

K: Like I said before, she has excellent taste. That’s all for today, although I’m hoping to have Jeri here on the blog again in the future. Please give her a shout-out, if you like, in the comments! A good editor, like Jeri, is worth her weight in gold. Thanks for all your hard work, Jeri! That’s it for this weekend, but I will tease you all and let you know that I have a fun announcement to share next week… until then, Champions, have a great weekend!

Questions for the Editor

The Puss in Boots character poll closed! You champions waged an impressive total of 251 votes. Puss won with an overwhelming 75 votes, and Gabrielle was not far behind with 68–which I have to say is a closer race than I thought. Well done, Gabrielle! The stray, orange colored kitty snagged third place with a surprising 41 votes, and Steffen came in fourth with 26. (I can say the results of this poll would knock Steffen off his high horse. He placed not behind one, but two cats.) Steffen’s siblings came in fifth with 15 votes, and King Henrik was right on their heels with 14. Finishing up the poll was Timo, with 10 votes, and Moritz and the ogre with a vote each.

Thank you to everyone who voted! Not only is it fun to see who was the Champions’ favorite, but it’s also useful for me so I better get to know your likes and dislikes.

Now, for the actual news of this post! Editor #1 has agreed to let me interview her for the blog, so you guys can get a peek of the editing/working as an editor/whatever you want. Editor #1 is the lovely lady who has waged war against my terrible usage of commas, and also checks for overall story/character balance, and consistency. In example, in Puss in Boots she helped adjust the ending scenes with Steffen so Gabrielle (and hopefully readers) would better see his love and sincerity, making their happy ending more believable. In the Snow Queen she pointed out a character I had been a little lazy in characterizing, and she caught physical feature inconsistencies. (One character’s hair color changed halfway through the book!) She’s done so much more than I could ever explain, and she has the patience of a saint to keep forging ahead with me, even though I switch farther/further in just about every book no matter how many times she has explained it.

While she just finished the first read-through of The Snow Queen this past weekend, she’s also been working through my backlist with me for the past year or so. This summer the King Arthur books got a bit of a face-lift as she found typos, and made more comma corrections than I care to remember. This same patient lady, as I mentioned above, agreed to answer some questions! So submit any question you might have for Editor #1 in the form below by Tuesday, September 22! I’ll compile a list, and then send the questions on to her.

I think it’s worth mentioning that some of my favorite books–like Edenbrooke–were recommended to me by Editor #1. She fits right in with our reading tastes, Champions, and her sense of humor is absolutely wicked! So don’t be afraid to ask her questions by using the form or commenting on this post! Until next time, thanks for reading!

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Puss in Boots Wrap up

The time has finally arrived! My wretched cold has (mostly) run its course, leaving me fresh-minded and capable of constructing a full sentence, so I was able to tackle something I’ve needed to address for a while: Wrapping up Puss in Boots. Before I jump into some final Puss in Boots notes, however, it is important to note that PIB has broken the ninety reviews mark, so, my dearest Champions, it is with great pleasure that I announce  the final extra: The Resistance Fighters, has been unlocked! You can get the PDF HERE! I apologize for the wait, and I hope you enjoy it. (It’s longer than I initially planned, netting nine pages instead of seven, so enjoy the extra content!)

Now, for some wrap-up thoughts on writing this story. Puss in Boots was a delight to create because, even though Gabrielle ended up a princess–like Cinderella and Elle–she started out as a commoner and the bulk of the story is about achieving her dreams. (Well…her and Puss’s.) It was fun to get away from country politics , and it was surprisingly awesome to write a cat Best-Friend-Forever character. Gabrielle and Puss were dynamic, and often times Steffen would have to bulldoze his way into a scene in order to get any lines at all. It was also fun to take an earlier look at characters from previous books, and the book itself was a growing opportunity as it forced me to change the setting about every 20-30 pages. Most of my books take place in a fixed radius. PiB spanned a country and had tons of background characters, so it certainly made me grow as a writer!

And for some silly stuff…

Q: If PiB had a theme song, what would it be?

A: Oooh, “Reflections” by Taylor Davis. (Check out the music video here) I listened to this song so many times while I was writing the end of PiB. It reminds me a lot of Gabrielle’s life, and of the role she’ll play in the future.

Q: If you could make one character from PiB come to life for a day, who would you choose?

A: Surprisingly, NOT Puss. He would never stop complaining that Gabrielle wasn’t with him, and he would never stop acting superior. For somewhat similar reasons, I wouldn’t choose Steffen either. He’s great for Gabi, but to hang out with? Alone? Without his siblings to tease or Gabrielle to moon over? Not fun. Gabrielle would be a great option. She would be a ton of fun, however, she is also super adventurous, which could end badly for me. If I’m being absolutely truthful, I would probably beg until I could get King Henrik and Timo to both come to life, and then we could make fun of Steffen together. That sounds like a fun way to spend an afternoon.

Q: What is something you’ve learned while writing this book that you would like to share with aspiring writers?

A: Background characters are much more important than you think. I mentioned it a little bit above, but the biggest challenge I faced was making each village feel different. The easiest way to do that was not just to change the setting, but to make the background characters feel different as well. Usually if you read an Epic Fantasy book, villages are interchangeable. For example, taverns always have a bar-keeper and a busty serving maid, sometimes with varying physical appearances, but nothing else to distinguish them. As it was vital to make each town different, I had to invent different personalities and aspects of the characters that really stood out. Now, obviously you don’t need to give your background characters their own huge story lines, but try to make them more real and not just flat place-holders. Take Michi, for example. She was one of three innkeepers Gabrielle met, but she was easy to distinguish as she had a boatload of grandkids, knitted like crazy, and referred to her son-in-laws not by name, but number. You know very little about her, but she feels like she could be real because of minor details.

For the final wrap-up of this book, I’m holding a Character Popularity Poll, which will be open through 9/16. You can select three different characters as your favorite, however, you can only vote once…so make it count!

Take Our Poll

Personally, I’ll be surprised if Puss doesn’t win. He seemed to be a crowd favorite, although there were a few staunch Gabrielle and Steffen fans out there too, so…may the games begin! In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the extra content, and take care, Champions!

Fairy Tales Timeline

So this next Wednesday I’ll be doing a Puss in Boots wrap up post. I wanted to do it today, but as my thoughts are still fueled by cold meds, I decided to push it off. Instead, I’m releasing a Timeless Fairy Tales Timeline! WARNING: The timeline is filled with spoilers for all the fairy tales that are already released. If you aren’t all caught up, I suggest waiting to view it.

So the awesome–and confusing–part about the Timeless Fairy Tales, is that they’re all taking place over several years in the same continent. This naturally helps you to see the big-continent-wide picture, but it also makes the events a little difficult to figure out. So I’ve created this handy-dandy timeline for reference. I didn’t want to use a specific year timeline (I have a horrible time keeping our world history in line, it would be even worse trying to make up my own year system) so “year zero” is when trouble begins stirring on the continent. Click HERE to see the PDF. (Note: the timeline will also be available on the Timeless Fairy Tales page.)

I’ll update the timeline with each book release, so be sure to check back after new stories. Okay, that’s about all the brain cells I can rustle up for today. Thanks for reading, Champions!

Catch up!

Well, well, well! I have got some news–good and bad–to share. We’ll start with the bad, because it’s not really that bad so much as it is me being dramatic. I have unfortunately come down with a cold. Yes, you guessed it. Sick panda has returned.

The liiiight. It BURNS!

I’m not that bad, yet. Sadly I know it will get worse as I had the “privilege” to watch my sister go through all the symptoms. The worst day will be tomorrow, but I’ll probably be hopped up on meds for the next few days, which will make for some interesting blog posts.

But! The good news! I finished The Snow Queen and it is off to Editor #1 for the next few weeks! For those who are watching my release schedule, yes, The Snow Queen isn’t set to release until mid December. Unfortunately, Editor #2’s schedule is packed in the late fall/early winter, so I needed to write the manuscript and get it into the editing process as quickly as possible. However, worry not! My release schedule is still on time, so Endeavor from the King Arthurs series will release in November. I even have a little wiggle room at this point, something that is rare for me.

More good news: I’ve finally sent Cinderella and the Colonel to the formatters! This means you can expect to see it in paperback in September. As this time I have an inkling of what I’m doing, it should be done more quickly, so I can confidently say it will be out before the end of September, but privately I’m hoping it will be ready to go by mid September.

That’s about it for today. I intend to use my window of active brain cells to do some editing, so I need to hop off to work. Good luck to all you students and those with careers involved in the education world as you return to school. Personally, I cannot WAIT for school to start (it begins tomorrow for my area) as Perfect Dog and I always get swarmed by kids walking to school–something that greatly pleases Perfect Dog as she is highly social and thinks that I am a hermit/social leper. Until next time, Champions!

Meet the Inspiration

Today I wanted to talk a little bit about the cat I chose to be my model for Puss. He belongs to my parents, and his name is Chewie–short for Chewbacca.

I used Chewie for several reasons–first and foremost being that he is such a ham, and he has several distinct mannerisms and habits I could use for Puss. (The most recognizable one, is that he is obsessed with being carried, and as a male cat he is pretty heavy even though he’s lean.) It also helps that he is male, looks distinctive with his half mustache, and is familiar to me so I wouldn’t have a problem describing his body language.

A more emotional reason, however, is because Chewie can identify with Puss. Not because he’s a talking, magical cat–although he tries pretty hard to speak–but because before my parents, Chewie was also a stray. Our neighbor who lived on the corner of the street said she saw a car stop, and a man threw Chewie and his brother out before taking off. Chewie’s brother stayed at the farm where they were initially dropped off, but Chewie roamed the neighborhood. As my family owned horses we have a big horse barn, which he typically slept in at night because it was safe and warm as it was late fall/early winter. He was frightened, beaten up, had a lot of cuts and scabs, but in spite of his mistreatment, he still wanted to be with humans.

In the end my parents decided if he was friendly enough we should catch him and take him to a vet so he could be fixed, de-wormed, and de-fleaed. Thankfully a clinic in area had a special program where they would do all of that for a very low price–particularly if you were doing this for a stray. The day before his appointment I set about capturing him because I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to find him in the morning. He spent the day in a small cat carrier, and I felt really bad about that, so I locked the garage up, put a kitty harness on him, and let him out.

I think that moment was one of the saddest animal moments of my life. Chewie–after being cooped up for hours and putting up with a kitty leash–meandered out of the cat carrier, purring. He didn’t walk around, he didn’t try to escape, he just rubbed against any of my limbs he could reach. This cat had clearly been loved at some point before he was dumped just a few weeks before the winter snow started falling.

My entire family thought that after going through the horrifying experience of getting fixed, Chewie would run away the moment we let him outside. Instead, he took up residence in the garage, and apparently decided if we cared that much we must want him in our family. Now, Chewie is our best cat.

Puss is very similar. While he was loved by Angelique he was forced to leave and lived as a stray, until he found Gabrielle–whom he decided he would serve for the rest of their lives.

The love and loyalty of animals is a precious thing. In spite of the suffering they’ve been put through, most pets will put their trust in humans again and again. Because I have seen this kind of love played out, (SPOILER!!) it was important to me that it was the little, orange-colored stray kitty who killed the mouse-ogre and saved Carabas and Gabrielle!

So…thank you for loving your pets–whether they be canine, feline, equine, or other. In your pet’s eyes, you are the Gabrielle to their Puss. Thanks for reading, Champions. Have a wonderful weekend!

Puss In Boots: Themes

Puss in Boots doesn’t have 50 reviews on Amazon.com yet, but once you add the .uk and .au reviews, and Good Reads, it’s about right. So, congratulations, Champions, on unlocking the next set of extra content: Begrudging Silence! Get the PDF Here!

As I mentioned in the previous post, the themes of Puss In Boots are highly unusual. Perrault–the author of the specific version I based my story on–claims that the main moral is “Hard work and ingenuity are preferable to inherited wealth,” and that the secondary moral is that womankind is vulnerable to external appearances. He essentially states that fine clothes and a pretty face is enough to make them fall in love.

Both of these moral miss the mark–the first one quite spectacularly as the idiot third son is neither ingenious nor does he work hard. As for the observation on womankind, it could be reflected right back because the third son was happy to marry the princess as she was the most beautiful in the land.

What makes the story even stranger is that the main character–the third son–is absolutely not deserving of all the good fortune the cat brings him. That’s not to say he is an evil character–he’s certainly better than the king from Rumpelstiltskin–but he has no positive personality traits, or anything that would make him worthy of owning a magic cat. Wild Swans, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, all of these tales have heroines who sacrifice and have positive character traits. We want them to succeed, and we want to believe that they will be rewarded for their behavior. The the third son blows through all of those hopes with his sniveling temperament and his inability to work.

The thing that has most folklorists and academic up in arms, however, is the cat’s actions. Maria Tatar–an American academic–says that there is very little to admire in the cat as he flatters, deceives, threatens, and steals in order to promote his master. His amazing charisma that bags him the King’s respect is more along the likes of older oral tricksters. (Think Loki of the Avengers.) What I find fascinating is that criticisms of the cat’s actions is a long standing pattern. While Tatar is a more modern scholar, George Cruikshank–he was the friend and illustrator of Charles Dickens, and he died in 1878–said he was shocked parents would allow their children to read the story as it–through the cat’s actions–praised and taught lying.

I don’t know, those so called “boots” look more like shoes. And why didn’t he need two pairs?

However, not all literature lovers see the cat as a less-than moral character. Jack Zipes, another American scholar, claimed that the story was meant to illustrate the desires of the French upper class, and that the cat is “the epitome of the educated bougeois secretary who serves his master with complete devotion and diligence.” He claims that all of the cat’s deeds can be seen in a better light because he is performing them out of loyalty.

Another interesting analysis site–Raven’s Shire–suggests that the cat wasn’t mere a cat, but a fairy creature. In the traditional stories, fairies have tricky moral compasses, so it is likely the cat wasn’t acting out of a vindictive and evil nature, but rather his loyalty to the third son for giving him shoes. Raven’s Shire isn’t really a literature academic, but it takes an interesting, more historical look at fairy tales that I find fascinating–I actually referenced her site when I was trying to understand the theme behind Rumpelstiltskin.

So what did all of this mean for me?  I liked Perrault’s moral about hard work and ingenuity being preferable to inherited wealth, but his remarks about womankind irritated me. So I set out to create a story that would follow the first moral and counter the second.

It’s impossible to miss Gabrielle’s attitude towards outer beauty. As she is incredibly pretty, she knows first hand that not only is there very little worth in it, but it says nothing about a person. If you remember, she disliked Steffen upon sight just because he was handsome. (HAH! Take that Perrault!) Moreover, Steffen wasn’t all that impressed with her, even though she was breathtaking. It isn’t until the pair fight bandits together that they become friends, and even after that they meet up in adventure after adventure, further revealing their character. THAT is what it takes to make a woman fall in love!

I got the moral of hard work and ingenuity being superior across through several layers of the story. First of all, while Puss is smart and clever, Gabrielle works with him as a team and does a lot of the physical footwork. Moreover, she had the cunning to out smart the ogre–something Puss didn’t think of–which grants her the title of Marquise. If Gabrielle had stayed behind and accepted the life her parents presented her with–aka inherited–she would have been a farmer’s wife. While there’s nothing wrong with being a farmer’s wife, I think we can all agree that a character as vivacious as Gabrielle would be happier with an adventurous life. Gabrielle had to work hard for her new title, and in a way she had to work just as hard to snag Steffen’s affection.

Puss is another character that backs up the main moral. It’s obvious he’s ingenious, but before he met Gabrielle he was barely more than a pampered pet, and he was quite unhappy about it. It isn’t until he and Gabrielle work together that he becomes satisfied with life, and chooses to serve her as a result.

So, what do you think? Was the original cat an old-fashioned version of Loki, or does he deserve praise–like my Puss? What do you think about Perrault’s morals? Please comment below–I would love to see a good discussion on this! Until next time, thanks for reading, Champions, and enjoy the extra!

Puss In Boots–the Original

Way to go, Champions! As you so swiftly met the first goal of 20 reviews, the first Puss in Boots extra is unlocked! You can get it here: Unlikely Heroes, or you’ll find it on the top post–which I’ll continue to update.

Puss in Boots has been out for a few days now, so, as is our custom, I want to take a look at the original fairy tale. Like most of the other fairy tales I’ve adapted, Puss in Boots is an older fairy tale that was passed around orally before writers picked it up. Giovanni Straparola, an Italian author, is credited with the oldest version of Puss In Boots. He included it in a book, Facetious Nights of Straparola, which was published in approximately 1550. The version we are most familiar with, however, is the French tale told by Charles Perrault who published it in 1697. Puss in Boots is the English title of the story, but other versions were titled ou le Chat Botte, Cagliuso, and Master Cat. (Fun fact, in my book some Arcainian villagers call Puss “the Master Cat!“)

Perrault’s story starts with the three sons of a miller who divide up their father’s inheritance. The oldest son receives the mill, the second son receives the donkey, and the third receives the family cat. The third son does very little to ingratiate himself to the reader, for upon receiving the cat he sits down and cries, bemoaning how pitiful his inheritance is. He verbally resolves to eat his cat and make a muff of its skin before dying.

The cat heard all of this and said, being that he was apparently much smarter than the yokel who inherited him, that if the third son would give him a bag and have shoes made for him, he would hunt and make sure the third son didn’t starve. Instead of being shocked by a talking cat, the third son gives the cat some shoes, even though he doesn’t believe the cat will catch anything of worth.

The cat sets off with his shoes, catches a rabbit, and delivers it to the king’s palace. He speaks directly to the king and tells him that his master, the Master of Carabas–a name he made up at that very moment–sends the rabbit as a gift for his table. The king is delighted and sends the cat on his way with his thanks.

Being that talking cat has great ambition and far-seeing plans, he continues to give gifts of game to the King for about two or three months. It is then that the cat hears the king and his daughter–the most beautiful princess in the land–are going to take a drive. The cat asks his sniveling master to bathe in a pond that is near the path the king and his daughter will drive past. The third son does as he is instructed–and let me assure you that the story takes great pains to point out that the son didn’t question the cat at all–and the cat hides his clothes.

When the king drives past, the cat shouts “Help! Help! My Lord Marquis of Carabas is going to be drowned.” The king looks outside and recognizes the cat, so he stops the coach. The cat explains that while his master was bathing, rogues stole his clothes even though the cat tried to stop them. The king sends a servant to fetch some of his clothes for the third son, which the son puts on. Lo and behold, when dressed as finely as the king, the third son looks incredibly striking! (I find it refreshing that the only real positive character trait Perrault gave the third son–besides being biddable, I suppose–is that he was handsome. For once the female character isn’t the only pretty but stupid dunce!) The third son looks so handsome that the princess falls in love with him. (Note: I did say she wasn’t the only pretty but stupid dunce.) The king asks the third son/the suddenly titled Marquis of Carabas to join him and his daughter on their drive. The third son agrees.

At this time the cat runs ahead of the coach and instructs various farmers to tell the king the lands belong to the Marquis of Carabas. If they will not say those words, the cat promises to chop them up like mincemeat. (Bonus! Puss threatens to chop up the children of Kinzig into mincemeat in homage to this famous line.) Either the cat is much more frightening than he sounds, or the peasants are shocked by a cat who has an eloquent grasp of French, so they tell the king exactly as the cat instructed. The third son has enough brains to agree with whatever they say, and he boasts about the productivity of the land.

The cat and coach run along, until they reach a stately castle. The cat, still running ahead, reaches it first. An incredibly rich ogre lives at the castle, and he owns all the lands the cat claimed for his master. The story doesn’t tell us if the ogre is good or evil, it only says that the cat had taken pains before all of this started to learn about the land, the ogre, and the ogre’s unusual ability to shape shift. The cat has a conversation much like the one Gabrielle has with her ogre, and asks the ogre to turn into a lion. The ogre does so, and badly scares the cat. When the ogre returns to his normal shape, the cat challenges him to turn into a tiny animal–like a rat or a mouse. The ogre turns into a mouse, and the cat pounces on him and eats him.

No sooner did the cat finish off the ogre than the king and the handsome-but-still-stupid third son arrive. The king decides to play the part of Goldilocks, and waltzes into the castle without knowing who lives there. The cat runs to greet them and welcomes them to the Marquis of Carabas’s castle. They throw a party, and the king gets toasted. As he continues to drink he notes the size of the Marquis of Carabas’s estates, and observes how smitten his daughter is. He tells the third son “It will be your own fault if you don’t become my son-in-law.” The third son happily agrees, and marries the princess that day. The cat becomes a lord and never again chased after mice, except for his own entertainment.

That’s the original story! In the next post we’ll be taking a look at the various themes presented in this story. It will be a fascinating topic as Puss in Boots is unlike any other story I’ve adapted because the main character–the third son–doesn’t deserve everything he is given. Thank you for reading, Champions, I hope you enjoy the extra!

Puss in Boots: Released!

Puss in Boots is now available for purchase! You can get it HERE at Amazon!

You might notice that PiB is priced at $3.99, a $1 dollar increase over my other Timeless Fairy Tales. After a lot of consideration I decided to raise the price of Little Selkie and PiB because of all the extra editing they’ve gone through. Books 1-4 will remain at $2.99 as they lack those extra edits.

On to some fun news! I’m changing up my read and review special as I’ve had some problems emailing Champions when they submit their reviews to me. So, instead of doing the typical read and review exchange, I’m trying something a little different with PiB. Instead of having you leave a review and email it to me, you’re leaving a review to unlock bonus content! I have three sets of bonus material, and when Puss in Boots hits one of the review goals that I’ve set below, I will release the accompanying extra content! As the goodies are unlocked, I’ll be announcing them here on my blog. The goals are…

Goal One: Twenty Reviews: Unlocks–Unlikely Heroes, a two page short story
Goal Two: Fifty Reviews: Unlocks–Begrudging Silence, a three page short story
Goal Three: Ninety Reviews: Unlocks final short story, roughly seven pages long

NOTE: I WOULD STILL LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU! I have quite the rapport with many of you Champions, and I would love to hear what you think of Puss in Boots, so if you have the time/inclination, feel free to email me in addition to leaving a review. It’s not that I don’t wish to hear from you, this is just my first attempt to fix some of the technology difficulties and organization issues.

I can’t wait to hear what you all think of Puss in Boots! As usual, for the next few weeks I’ll be taking a look at the original fairy tale, the themes presented in PiB, and other fun topics. Have a great evening, Champions. I hope you enjoy the story!