Never Ever After: Three Short Stories

by Ruth Nestvold

Three previously published fantasy short stories by Ruth Nestvold.


"A Serca Tale" is a retelling of the old Irish legend "The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Gráinne."


"King Orfeigh": A young Irish king has lost his wife to the king of Faerie. Is there any way he can win her back?


"Happily Ever Awhile": Everyone knows the story of the filthy girl who married the prince by not bleeding into a glass slipper. But what happened to Ellie after the happy ending?


Never Ever After is a short story collection of approximately 9000 words.


"Ruth Nestvold's source tale for 'Happily Ever Awhile' is 'Cinderella,' yet her story could serve just as well as the 'what happened next' version of any fairy tale where the original ending was 'And they lived happily ever after.' Because the first thing we learn from the re-told tales is how this business of living happily ever after isn't all it was cracked up to be. From the title, the reader might think that the question at the heart of this story is how long true happiness can last, but in fact, it proves to be the nature of how to know when you've found it, how to keep hold of it, how not to piss it away."


-- Lois Tilton, Tangent Online

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Short Stories

ebook

First published January 27, 2012

About the author

Ruth Nestvold has published widely in science fiction and fantasy, her fiction appearing in such markets as Asimov’s, F&SF, Baen’s Universe, Strange Horizons, Realms of Fantasy, and Gardner Dozois’s Year’s Best Science Fiction. Her work has been nominated for the Nebula, Tiptree, and Sturgeon Awards. In 2007, the Italian translation of her novella “Looking Through Lace” won the “Premio Italia” award for best international work. Since 2012, she’s been concentrating her efforts on self-publishing rather than traditional publishing, although she does still occasionally sell a story the old-fashioned way. She maintains a web site at http://www.ruthnestvold.com and blogs at https://ruthnestvold.wordpress.com.

Reviews

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three stories, two of which are retellings of celtic legends. The Cinderella story is more original. All the stories are charmingly told. The first and last ones being the best.

[Mirrani · Rating 4 out of 5]

As this is a book of short stories, I will try to say something about each story... The first story, A Serca Tale, I found myself thinking that everything that needed to happen to move the plot along happened because of some kind of spell. I was upset that this would be the thing to push the plot along. There could have been more to the story of a woman trying to get out of an arranged marriage, but I felt more like this was just the quick throwing together of two people. There was some good story in it, I just wasn't captivated.

The second story, King Orfeigh was very interesting to me. I found it touching that a man would do all he could to find the woman he loved, that he would give up everything in order to be with her again. The journey of how he does this, and why, is the interesting part, so I won't reveal it.

Happily Ever Awhile is literally a Cinderella story, but it is honest and real. What happens after the wedding? How does family and the court and happiness blend together into something that is manageable and all within reach? It's both heartwarming and a heart breaker, which isn't as unbalanced as it sounds.

[JD · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't really know what to say about this small collection of short stories. Were they astounding short stories that filled my mind with wonder at what happened later, like Asimov and McCaffrey short stories have done for me before. No, not really. But they were well told stories that didn't leave me griping at the open endedness of them. They formed clear pictures in my mind and were a very quick read (took me less than an hour). And I enjoyed the use of Irish folklore (something I've always found beautiful). But they didn't inspire me with a desire to know more. Also, there is the lack of morality of the characters. Really, is it so hard to write a story where people aren't sleeping around outside of marriage or betraying their lawfully wed spouses?

[Merissa (Archaeolibrarian) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book only took approximately half an hour to read but was enjoyable nonetheless. All three stories were exceptionally well written with a lovely blend of fantasy and realism. The imagery in all the stories was very vivid and it was easy to visualize the different settings. All the stories had an element of poignancy and they all seemed to describe the bittersweetness of love and that in life, there is no gain without loss. These stories were not what I think of when I think about fairy tales, but I enjoyed reading them and I appreciated their originality. If asked if I would recommend this book, I would say "yes."

[Eirian Houpe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wouldn't say I didn't like this collection of short stories, I did, just for me it didn't hit all the right buttons. The stories were well told, the traditional tale well envisioned, and there was great emotion in all of the stories. The originality in the Cinderella retelling was commendable, so I don't understand why I didn't like it a whole lot better than I did.

[Terry Calafato · Rating 3 out of 5]

Delizioso!
Davvero una piacevole lettura in lingua.
Si tratta di tre racconti: i primi due riprendono delle leggende irlandesi, il terzo è la storia di Ellie (alias Cenerentola), dopo il matrimonio con il suo bel principe.

Anche qui, l'inglese di Ruth Nestvold è piacevole e fluido, come in "Shadow of Stone". Una lettura di un pomeriggio che consiglio!

[Penny · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

[Maurean · Rating 3 out of 5]

three short stories told in the Celtic tradition; the third tale being a sort of sequel to Cinderella. Interesting enough, I would probably read more by the author.

[Kristin "DeadlyKittenKay" Mummert · Rating 1 out of 5]

so much potential wasted on rushed short stories