Retellings that I Would Like To Write Someday.

Final day of the tour - how did it go by this quickly???? Anywho, I'm going to talk about the various fairy tale retellings that I have running around in my head but haven't written yet (at least not in their entirety). And I couldn't put a cap at seven, so you're getting thirteen, since some versions of Sleeping Beauty give her thirteen fairy godmothers.

1. All the Bookania.
Let's just get that one out of the way - my neverending series where I try to pack in all the fairy tales. I've made it through three books. Twenty bajillion left to go.

2. Red as Snow.
This is a retelling of Snow White that I've written about 3,500 words on, and I thiiiiink I'm about a third of the way through it. The book was inspired by the title, because my brain was tired and was messing with the fairy tale. It is, basically, a role reversal between SW and the stepmother. Snow is nearly ten years her stepmother's senior. But the "Prince," Snow's cousin, Charmel, is the true villain of the story. Yup, dreadfully twisted and I'm loving every moment of it.

3. Fair Rosamund.
This would be a historical fantasy. See, I was reading a book about Henry II, and it mentioned a mistress of his named Rosamund ... which happens to be a name belonging to Sleeping Beauty. So, yes, I made connections, and I now want to write a retelling. Someday. I'm not ready to write this story yet - that's how you guys ended up with Poison Kiss.

4. Snowella White
This is a blended retelling of Snow White and Cinderella, leaning closer to Snow White. I haven't quite worked out all of the logistics, but I'm substituting the seven dwarves for seven godmothers.

5. Untitled Rumpelstiltskin Sequel
This story actually dates back to Sew, It's a Quest's original conception, as it was going to be the second book in the "Beyond the Ever After" series that is now the Bookania Quests. Unfortunately, this story no longer fits into the Bookania framework that I have established. But it's well-plotted, about the child that Rumple lost, and is a bit of an allegory. So, fun.

6. Mermaid Footprints.
I have a .... page and a half of this book in my docs files. This is Mynna's story, and if any of you have read The Ankulen, you know that she's the youngest of seven mermaid sisters. As such, you probably already realize that it's a retelling of the Little Mermaid. Except that she leaves the water so she can save her people, not to be with a man, and she just happens to fall in love along the way.

7. The Dancing Princess
This is a retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses, where it's just one princess, not twelve of them. I haven't worked out all of the details, but she might be rescuing twelve princes. We'll see how it goes.

8. Cayra
This book is kiiiiiinda a sequel to the Little Mermaid. I can't say anything more about that, though.

9. Sing, Aling.
My sci-fi retelling of Peter Pan. Aling is the tinkerbell character, and she's half-fairy and half-elf, and not quite accepted by either society. And then a spaceship crashes on their planet. It's gonna be awesome, and I WILL write it for NaNo, one of these years. Probably next year. Worth of a King is on the agenda for this year.

10. Fairer than Beauty
A self-aware retelling of Beauty and the Beast where the girl assigned to the tale had been hoping for the obscure "Fairer than a Fairy" and then proceeds to try to completely derail the fairy tale in an attempt to get the story that she wanted.

11. Untitled Rapunzel Retelling
This is the idea I was messing with when I thought that the next Rooglewood contest would be Rapunzel. It's twist - instead of living in a tower, Rapunzel is trapped underground. No, I haven't worked out all of the details yet. Why are you asking?

12. Colinda and the Swan's Secret
Probably the loosest sense of a "retelling" on the list, Colinda was inspired by Swan Lake, so I'm going to count it.

13. To Perfect a Fairy Tale.
And, finally, I have the book where all of the fairy tales are messed up, and it's up to a young girl named Anthea to fix all of them. Fun stuff.

On The Blogs Today:
Morgan Elizabeth Huneke - Something About the SSS
Interviews:
Rachel Rossano's Words - Kendra
Dreams and Dragons - Rachel
Reviews:
Girls Living for God’s Glory - Twisted Dreams
Sutori no Hana - Twisted Dreams

Giveaway Time!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

There will also be a prize for the person who leaves the most comments across all of the blog posts for this tour - whoever leaves the most comments gets to read The Seven Drawers, the retelling of Snow White that I just finished for the Rooglewood contest, and Cindy Ellen, the sequel to Rosette Thornbriar. Both stories are finished, so you don't have to worry about cliff hangers. Get commenting.

And, as a reminder, any comments that you leave on my blog this month and next will count towards a drawing for a full set of my books, with the all-new covers.

Oh, and free books!
Sew, It's a Quest (Permafree): https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/731321
Woodcutter Quince (Free August 8-12): https://www.amazon.com/Woodcutter-Quince-Bookania-Short-Stories-ebook/dp/B00OYGVHP8/

Thank you to everyone who came by and took part in the blog tour - contest and giveaway winners will be announced Monday.

Purple, to Match Your Shirt!

It's been forever since I last did a dedicated snippets post. On the same side of the coin, it's also been forever since I was doing substantial writing. But since my computer is having internet issues, I've had plenty of writing time. So, here we go: a snippets post. Hope you enjoy!

I was debating back and forth whether or not I wanted to share the snippets from Rizkaland book two, but I decided they were so go, I had to. They're under the working title of The Dragon's Return, which stood as the book's title for at least two years. It's been changed to fit better with Water Princess, Fire Prince, but I won't be sharing the current title yet.

Via Pinterest

Arthur inched towards the pile and nudged a sword with his toe. There were so many … and any one of them …

“Must I remind you that we don't have all day?”

Goaded, he grabbed the hilt of the nearest sword – a two-handed broadsword – and spun around to face her.

She rolled her eyes. “Put that thing down. You clearly haven't been trained in anything requiring two hands.”

“Is it that obvious?” he asked, lowering the sword back onto the pile.

“Yes, it is.” With an impatient sigh, she kicked a sword with her boot, sending it spinning until the hilt collided with Arthur's foot. “Just use this one.”

- My Kingdom for a Quest

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And what a subject for it to be changed to! Sure, Casperl had always dreamed of a prince someday coming to him for advice about the Mountain Princess, but now that someone had … well, all of Casperl’s planned speeches disappeared with the wind.

“Um … she’s a princess …”

“Really? I hadn’t guessed.”

“But …”

“Come now,” said Eric. “That’s an established fact. Everyone who’s at least heard of her knows that the Mountain Princess is a princess.” 

- "Woodcutter Quince"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Who are you?” Petra suddenly thought to ask.

“I’m complicated,” the girl admitted, her voice echoing eerily all around them. “Most people know me as Laura the Doorkeeper. Alyce – and Mrs. Withawie – were just names I wore.”

“The Doorkeeper?” Petra tried not to think about the fact that the girl had just implied that she had been her own mother.

“I control the doors between the worlds,” Alyce – no, she had called herself Laura – explained. “It was a talent I was born with, though there are many days when I wish I hadn’t. But we won’t get into that now. Jump!”

Petra didn’t even think about it. She jumped.

- The Dragon's Return

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“This is the road we were supposed to be on,” she declared one morning, jabbing a finger at the map that she had stolen from Eric's pack. “Isn't it?”

Eric glanced at the map. “Yep, I guess it is.”

“And this,” she added, moving her finger, “is the road we are on?”

“Yep, I guess it is.”

She shot him a brief glare, then jabbed her finger at a spot between the two roads. “If there was a path here, we could be on the main road in no time, and it'd save us so much time!”

- My Kingdom for a Quest

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Bad news, I fear,” Mynna admitted, pulling at an especially difficult tangle. “Several of our merfolk have gone missing.”

“Missing?” cried Queen Letitia, setting herself down onto the sand next to Mynna. “How?”

“We aren’t sure, for there has been neither rhyme nor reason, or even a pattern. First it was a soldier on a scouting mission, then a servant at her chores, a singer, another soldier, and this morning … Shelly! From her own bedroom.”

“Your sister!”

“Yes, Mother and Father are quite at a loss for what to do.”

- Mermaid Footprints

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Is she your sister?”

Roxanne’s mouth slammed shut as she realized that her brother wasn’t even paying attention to her, and was instead talking to a dark-haired guy who was, admittedly, quite good looking.

“Yeah, and she likes to complain. Especially when she’s in a ‘they’re going to make me a villain, aren’t they?’ mood,” Riley explained.

“Well, she’d make a good one.”

“My hobby is building torture chambers for our dad,” Roxanne explained.

- ROCKS

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I can't believe Mordreth hasn't found us yet.”

Leo rolled his eyes as he dumped an armload of sticks on the fire. “I can, Gavin. We're still here, aren't we?”

“But he – he always struck me as a more efficient person than this.”

“Viziers and Kings are always less efficient than they appear,” Leo pointed out. “Especially when you're hiding right under his nose.”

- My Kingdom for a Quest

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Welcome to Rizkaland, Petra!”

Petra sounded started at the greeting. It sounded like Alyce – Laura – but the voice was deeper. She scrambled to her feet and turned to find herself face-to-face with what certainly looked like an older Laura.

The girl’s nose wrinkled. “Am I older?” she asked. “It happens a lot. I’ve been through so many doors in my life, I honestly no longer have any idea how old I am. Oh, don’t worry about yourself. It’s your first door. First doors never mess with a person’s age.”

Petra swallowed. “So … purple grass.”

“To match your shirt,” Laura pointed out. “Rizkaland is a world of color. You’ll get used to it quickly enough. Only drink blue water, though. Other colors can have nasty side effects.”

Petra blinked. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

- The Dragon's Return

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kath didn’t respond, as they had reached the pool. Instead, she stripped off her coverup and ran over to the diving board. “Youngest first, right?”

“How about most obnoxious last?” asked Clara.

“You know, we could always go shortest to tallest,” Kath mentioned. “That way you go fist, Clara. Although we can achieve the same effect going oldest to youngest, though that would mean I go last.”

Rhoda sighed. “I can’t believe we go through this every single day. Kath, just get up there and dive, since you’re already there, and then Clara can go, and then I’ll go last. Why must this always be so complicated?”

- Water Princess, Fire Prince

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Arthur glanced back, but Grandfather seemed serious, so he looked back up at the guards, and shouted up to them. “Hey, would you mind lowering the drawbridge? I – I mean my friends and I – would like in?” Even as he said it, he knew he sounded pathetic. The guards rarely listened to him, and never from this side of the gates.

“You'd like in, lad?” jeered one of the men. “Do you hear that? He expects us to lower the drawbridge because he'd 'like in.' Who do you think you are, lad?”

Arthur faltered. Usually they knew who he was – even if they didn't heed what he said. He glanced back at Grandfather, who stared at the guard impassively.

“That's your prince!” Robin shouted up at them. “You really shouldn't talk to him like that!”

“Our prince, eh?” said the guard. “An old man spirited him away in the middle of the night. The vizier believes him dead.”

A chill went down Arthur's spine. That would be just like Mordreth, wouldn't it?

“He looks plenty alive to me!” Robin declared. “Ooh! Nice sword!” Of course she would notice the sword. “Not sure why you'd keep it out here, but to each their own.”

- My Kingdom for a Quest

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Uh, excuse me sirs,” she spoke up. “I think I’m lost.”

They both turned around and eyed her for several seconds. “I should say you are, miss,” said the man on the left. “Tell me, what malady has befallen you that has forced you to take on the garb of a man?”

Petra glanced down at her T-shirt and jeans. “Um, this is actually how girls dress where I come from. I’m not from around here.”

“That’s obvious,” said the man on the right.

- The Dragon's Return