95 minutes to go on the Castle Charming Kickstarter, and we’re at $8085 — 202% of the original goal! Stretch goal UNLOCKED, there will be a sequel story.
And because I have more backers, that means more #fairytalerecs!
Thanks, Backer #163!
Margo Lanagan’s Tender Morsels is devastating (all the content warnings!) but ultimately a beautiful story of family healing and trauma recovery, centred around the tale of Rose Red and Snow White. Yes, that means bear transformations… #fairytalerecs
Thanks, Backer #164!
Another triggery, devastating entry in the ‘assault and recovery’ subgenre of fairy tale fiction is Robin McKinley’s Deerskin. A visceral book full of intense description of feelings, magic and frocks — and the BEST fictional dogs. #fairytalerecs
Thanks, Backer #165! Speaking of Robin McKinley, she didn’t just write 1 epic novel about Beauty & the Beast, she wrote TWO.
Rose Daughter came 20 years later, building on McKinley’s new love & understanding of gardening & tending roses. #fairytalerecs
Thanks, Backer #166! And speaking of Beauty & the Beast…
I also adore Naomi Novik’s magical retelling, Uprooted, reshaping the Beast character as a solitary magician, and questioning the fairy tale trope of the ‘chosen’ girl. #fairytalerecs
Thanks, Backer #167!
I adore Gail Carson Levine’s Ella Enchanted, one of my favourite examples of developing complex worldbuilding around a fairy tale so the original story makes more sense. The casual cruelty of her fairy godmother adds a sting to the romantic adventure.
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So hello, I’m an author who’s run two solo Kickstarters, two small press Kickstarters for Twelfth Planet Press, & been involved in a bunch of other book crowdfunding projects.
Yes, I have thoughts about the Brandon Sanderson Kickstarter! (thread)
My first thought is mostly ‘wooooooooo’. I can’t keep my eyes off that number scrolling upwards. As one of a niche community who has regularly watched a Kickstarter like it’s my sport, this is our Grand Final. It’s our Olympics.
(It’s over $16 million US right now, which is an even more impressive $22 mill in Australian dollars. It’s literally made half a million dollars while I finished a cup of tea)
More importantly (yes, really) the number of backers is over 65,000. That’s a fascinating number.
Art and Craft preferences of the Siege of Troy! Helen and Achilles, both hardcore knitters. Sadly they never meet but if they did they’d talk mostly about their respective yarn collections.
Hector: thoughtful charcoal sketches, mostly of pets and stray animals spotted around the city.
Paris: says art is a waste of time and yet documents his daily outfits on Insta and has been known to spend hours working on his hashtags.
OK I saw a book described as ‘a gritty retelling of the siege of Troy’ and… does Troy need a gritty retelling? It’s already pretty gritty what with all the rape and war and death and grief.
I want the cozy retelling of the siege of Troy. All the knitting and sourdough recipes from the first 9 years they were all walled up together.
I want the fluffy sitcom of the siege of Troy! Give me deadpan shield-mates and cranky spear-holders!
I know it feels deeply unreal and bizarre that people are wandering around blithely denying we’re in a pandemic, but… humans do this. I just, for example, started casually researching green dye for a murder mystery I’m writing...
The Victorians were so obsessed with emerald dye (made from arsenic) that they happily kept wearing it, even though doctors all told them it was poisonous, even with newspapers publishing pictures of skeletons in ballgowns...
...even with reports of hands blistering from wearing green gloves!
What was the alternative, wearing DULL COLOURS?
Some people believed it was fine as long as you did not lick the fabric. IT WAS NOT FINE.
Coming tomorrow to my Patreon (subscribers only): Holiday Brew, the second Belladonna U collection of stories & novellas about Australian student witches.
What’s an Aussie witch to do for Halloween when the weather is all spring sunshine and happiness? What’s the appropriate ritual for breaking up with your boyfriend on the Summer Solstice? And who did Ferd Chauvelin kiss on New Year’s Eve?
Follow our Belladonna U student witches through three holiday festivals with their usual romantic disasters, friendship dramas, and magical explosions.
That conversation with @penguinpastiche got me thinking — what art are you making in the year of pandemic? What new art have others been making this year that makes you happy? (ALL ART IS ART)
@penguinpastiche I hope when people write about this year they remember all the cool shit people did to keep each other sane. Like ballerinas dancing in the street, and Fraggle Rock coming back, and all those fanfics where they are in love but they can’t visit each other yet.
kids drawing chalk rainbows on the pavement, Aussies dressing up in ballgowns to take the bins out, teddy bears left in windows to cheer up solitary walkers, SOURDOUGH STARTERS PINNED TO TELEGRAPH POLES.