Fanart and Audio Book!

Happy Friday, Champions! I’m going to bust right into this because I’ve been waiting forever to share this news, but Red Rope of Fate‘s audio book is now available for purchase!

Ta da! Isn’t it pretty? If you want to hear an audio sample click here to go to Tantor media (the publisher of the audio book) and right below the picture is a sample of the first few paragraphs of the book. Listening to it simultaniously fills me with awe and makes me want to scream into a pillow. When I decided to forgo traditional publishing I pretty much gave up on the idea of having audio books, so watching Red Rope turn into an audio file has been incredible! (The narrator, Lucy Rayner, did an amazing job!) It’s available on Audible and Amazon, but I think the cheapest spot is if you buy the MP3-CD directly from Tantor, though I have no idea what their shipping is like.

We’ll have to celebrate its release, but my brain is playing dead right now as I spent the morning playing with Create Space. (Good news: Heart of Ice’s paperback should be available next week. More News: Myrrhlynn is hoping to tackle Sacrifice’s paperback cover this weekend, so it shouldn’t be too far behind Heart of Ice. Slow news: B&B’s paperback revision is in progress.)

But the fun isn’t over yet! I received some fantastic fanart just when Swan Lake was released, but this is the first time I’ve had a chance to show some of it off! Today’s incredibly talented artist is our very own Hobbitlady97! She made a pretty awesome sketch of Elle of Beauty and the Beast. She said the portrait of Elle is specifically after Severin’s curse is broken, but before he comes after her in Verglas.

I think her hair is my favorite part. That might sound odd, but my drawings/stick people usually end up with three hairs on their head because I lose patience or their haircut looks like a bunch of noodles, so I can really appreciate how difficult it is to pull that off!

Okay, that’s it for now, but next week I should have something fun in store for everyone! Until then, thanks for reading, Champions! Have a splendid weekend, and thank you for being you!

Freebies and Re-writes!

Greetings, Champions! First order of business as I know many of you are chomping at the bit: the next freebie is out! Click here for part two of “The Best Friends!” I want to take this moment to add in a big thank you to everyone who has left a review–it is a huge help to me in more ways than I can list!

Next order of business: Like Red Rope of Fate, Beauty and the Beast has gotten a rewrite! The new version is not yet uploaded to Amazon! Currently I’m working to get the paperback updated first, and then I’ll be uploading the ebook to Amazon. Even after I upload it to Amazon, though, there will be a bit of a wait before you’ll be able to see the new version. (I have to convince Amazon that the changes are “major,” before they’ll be willing to push an update on to your account.)

It’s a little cruel to tell you such a long time before you’ll be able to read it, but I wanted to forewarn anyone who is considering purchasing the paperback version of B&B, so they know a new version (with a new cover!) is coming out soon. The changes will be very similar to what happened with Red Rope–a lot of stylistic fixes, and a few new scenes to help round things out and create a more cohesive plot.

I will make a big announcement when the newest version is uploaded and after I’ve chatted with Amazon, so stay tuned for more info! In the meantime, I hope you have a wonderful week, and thanks for reading!

Swan Lake: Rothbart

Before you read this blog post make sure you also read my introduction to the source material (the Swan Lake ballet). This particular post is probably the heaviest and the most philosophical of all my posts about my retelling of swan lake, but it also is filled with spoilers.

So, be forewarned if you still haven’t had a chance to read my book (click here to see it), this blog entry has some major spoilers about the ending of Swan Lake.

Let’s jump straight into discussing the villain of the story: Rothbart.

Rothbart was one of the trickiest and most difficult villains I’ve written thus far, because he ends up being  sympathetic. At the very end of the book you learned that Rothbart was either told to take over the country, or his daughter would be in great danger. As he was unwilling to endanger his daughter, but also wasn’t twisted enough to follow through with whatever darkness is pulling the strings in the background, Rothbart uses Odette to accomplish redemption for everyone… Except for himself.

As he dies he breaks the “quick release” strand of his spells that Angelique identified when studying Odette’s curse, freeing everyone and breaking any of his leftover spells.

(Unknown fun fact: He had some nasty spells placed on his castle in case Suzu came sniffing around while he was out. He broke those as well so the castle wouldn’t harm anyone.)

I badly wanted Rothbart to be the reason why the curse was broken, because in the six previous volumes of the Timeless Fairy Tales, the hero and heroine are always responsible for breaking the curse. (As they should be, these are fairy tales after all.) Looking ahead, I know I will be writing several more stories that include breaking curses, and everything was starting to look really repetitive. So for the sake of interest, and to keep me from going as crazy as Angelique is over all these curses, I decided to mix things up a little bit.

But although this change made the story much more compelling and interesting, Rothbart’s character was extremely difficult for me to figure out how to write when I first started the book. How could I present him so everyone knew he was a villain, but still give him the freedom and ability to end strongly?

You see, I’m a big believer in darkness and light. I love Chronicles of Narnia and Lord of the Rings because they, like fairy tales, show how important it is that you don’t compromise with what is evil. However, one thing I’ve learned as an adult, is that individual humans don’t follow that kind of division. Some of the kindest, most compassionate people I know screw up– just as we all do. And some of the meanest people I’ve met have hidden soft spots. Humans can be gray. I’m not saying it’s right, it’s just the reality we live in.

More often than not, fairy tales follow the pattern of darkness and light, and the villain is always unsympathetic and horrible. Rothbart was a real challenge for me to craft when I place him in the shadow of every other villain I’ve written thus far. However, I also feel that as the villain he is the one that stands out most. He seems more realistic than the other villains.

He was also the most secretive. Now that you know the ending of Swan Lake, if you take another gander at his scenes you’ll see tiny hints of his inner struggle. (In example, he commiserates with the wyvern in feeling imprisoned, the smugglers mention Odette is the only one he’ll tolerate–which you learn why in the In Search of a Hero extra short story–he openly talks about how fond he is of Odette and how much he values her ruthless protective streak, etc.)

In a totally unemotional/unrelated note, I’m sure some of you are wondering that if the original Swan Lake ballet said the evil sorcerer’s name was Von Rothbart, why did I drop the von? Kozlovka’s culture is very loosely based off historic Russia–I saw a few of you clever readers picked up on the Russian names, excellent observation! Russia does not use vons in their titles, that’s a German thing, so I dropped the von and kept the Rothbart!

And here are the links again to my book if you are interested in reading a fantasy retelling of the Swan Lake ballet:

Link to Amazon.com   Or Link to all other Amazon stores