I've previously reviewed Alethea Kontis' novella BLOOD AND WATER, her debut novel ENCHANTED, interviewed author Alethea Kontis, and interviewed ENCHANTED cover designer Christine Kettner!
Check out Alethea's Flash Fiction piece "Well Behaved Mermaids Rarely Make Fairy Tales!"
Win a SIGNED COPY of both ENCHANTED and HERO at the bottom of this post!
Check out today's review of HERO by Alethea Kontis!
New York Times bestselling author Alethea Kontis is a princess, a goddess, a force of nature, and a mess. She’s known for screwing up the alphabet, scolding vampire hunters, turning garden gnomes into mad scientists, and making sense out of fairy tales. Alethea is the co-author of Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark-Hunter Companion, and penned the AlphaOops series of picture books. Her short fiction, essays, and poetry have appeared in a myriad of anthologies and magazines. She has done multiple collaborations with Eisner winning artist J.K. Lee, including The Wonderland Alphabet and Diary of a Mad Scientist Garden Gnome. Her debut YA fairy tale novel, Enchanted, won the Gelett Burgess Children’s Book Award in 2012 and was nominated for both the Andre Norton Award and the Audie Award in 2013.
Win a SIGNED COPY of both ENCHANTED and HERO at the bottom of this post!
Check out today's review of HERO by Alethea Kontis!
~*~
Families in Fiction
by
Alethea Kontis
by
Alethea Kontis
Orphans and loners run amok
in fiction: Harry Potter, Taran Wanderer, Frodo Baggins, Odysseus--throw a rock
and you'll hit one. (Okay, don't really
throw a rock in the library...you know what I mean.)
In real life, we have
families. Some of us have REALLY LARGE AND OBNOXIOUS families. And though we
feel alone sometimes in those awkward middle school years, we're never really
alone-alone.
Even when we want to be.
Fairy tales have their
share of evil stepmothers and children going off to seek their fortune, but
they also have girls under spells with six brothers...or eleven. Sometimes
there is a nice sister and an evil sister. Sometimes they're both nice (Snow
White & Rose Red). Sometimes they're both evil (Cinderella).
I come from a big family.
We're very close. If I walked through the wardrobe and into Narnia one day,
someone would notice I was missing pretty quickly. Part of me feels like authors who kill off
the main character's parents are cheating a little bit. Christopher Guest
certainly did: Buttercup's parents are the best part of The Princess Bride.
I watched Pride & Prejudice (the A&E
version, duh) a lot while I was writing Enchanted.
At the time, I just thought it was comfort food for my soul...but I realize now
what P&P has that I needed to
connect with: a large, complicated, fully-functioning family. Mr. Bennett is a
cut-up. Mrs. Bennett is hysterical (literally). Not all of the five sisters
take center stage, but they're all there, they're all different, and their
existence matters to the plot.
P&P also contains aunts and uncles and cousins and people who
live in the village. A whole world is created through these characters and
their society, just like in a fantasy world. And it is real to me, because my life is full of people like this, every
day...and I have adventures all the time both with and without them.
I don't think that's
impossible for readers today to relate to--in fact, I wish there were more
functioning families in fiction--especially ones where the parents or guardians
are concerned in their children and have a vested interest in the outcome of
the story (Charlie & the Chocolate
Factory).
I'd be interested to hear
suggestions of readers' favorite fictional families!
Thank you so much for such a great post, Alethea! I always love having you by!
My favorite fictional family du jour is the close-knit Hale family from Caitlen Rubino-Bradway's debut middle-grade novel, ORDINARY MAGIC. I love the family to pieces, especially the way they truly love and support one another!
My favorite fictional family du jour is the close-knit Hale family from Caitlen Rubino-Bradway's debut middle-grade novel, ORDINARY MAGIC. I love the family to pieces, especially the way they truly love and support one another!
~*~
O F F I C I A L I N F O:
Title: HERO
Author: Alethea Kontis
Release Date: Oct. 1, 2013
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Received: For Review (BEA Copy)
Received: For Review (BEA Copy)
SUMMARY:
Rough and tumble Saturday Woodcutter thinks she's the only one of her sisters without any magic—until the day she accidentally conjures an ocean in the backyard. With her sword in tow, Saturday sets sail on a pirate ship, only to find herself kidnapped and whisked off to the top of the world. Is Saturday powerful enough to kill the mountain witch who holds her captive and save the world from sure destruction? And, as she wonders grumpily, "Did romance have to be part of the adventure?" As in Enchanted, readers will revel in the fragments of fairy tales that embellish this action-packed story of adventure and, yes, romance.
My favorite fairy tale writer, Alethea Kontis, pulls off another slam dunk with HERO, the second of her stories about the Woodcutter sisters. HERO is a gender-bending, swash-buckling tale... Saturday is a strong and willful girl with plenty of heart (plus some added snark). Alethea has a knack for reminding readers why many of us love fairy tales to begin with. In this entry we are once again given a delightful story with some obvious (and some not-so-obvious) nods to classic tales... but her overlying story and characters... are wholly unique and distinguishable – not to mention they have so much more personality. - Jenna {does} Books Giveaway of ARC 'til Sept 30!
There is hardly a fairy-tale or gender trope that Kontis doesn’t turn on
its head, and readers don’t need to know about Hercules cleaning out the Augean
Stables to find Saturday’s impossible task of cleaning the witch’s bird’s nest
both hilarious and revolting... readers will await her next with
joyful anticipation. -
Published May 8, 2012
It isn't easy being the rather overlooked and unhappy youngest sibling to sisters named for the other six days of the week. Sunday’s only comfort is writing stories, although what she writes has a terrible tendency to come true.
When Sunday meets an enchanted frog who asks about her stories, the two become friends. Soon that friendship deepens into something magical. One night Sunday kisses her frog goodbye and leaves, not realizing that her love has transformed him back into Rumbold, the crown prince of Arilland—and a man Sunday’s family despises.
The prince returns to his castle, intent on making Sunday fall in love with him as the man he is, not the frog he was. But Sunday is not so easy to woo. How can she feel such a strange, strong attraction for this prince she barely knows? And what twisted secrets lie hidden in his past - and hers?
Alethea Kontis
New York Times bestselling author Alethea Kontis is a princess, a goddess, a force of nature, and a mess. She’s known for screwing up the alphabet, scolding vampire hunters, turning garden gnomes into mad scientists, and making sense out of fairy tales.Alethea is the co-author of Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark-Hunter Companion, and penned the AlphaOops series of picture books. Her short fiction, essays, and poetry have appeared in a myriad of anthologies and magazines. She has done multiple collaborations with Eisner winning artist J.K. Lee, including The Wonderland Alphabet and Diary of a Mad Scientist Garden Gnome. Her debut YA fairy tale novel, Enchanted, won the Gelett Burgess Children’s Book Award in 2012 and was nominated for both the Andre Norton Award and the Audie Award in 2013.
Born in Burlington, Vermont, Alethea now lives in Northern Virginia with her Fairy Godfamily. She makes the best baklava you’ve ever tasted and sleeps with a teddy bear named Charlie.
Sail Away on the
Fairy Tale Adventure Tour*
*Family Welcome
Sept 22 - LAUNCH
- Celebration on Deal Sharing Aunt
Sept 24 - Interview with Miss Print
Sept 25 - Interview with Carina Olsen
- The Grandfather Pirate on Living a Goddess Life
- Meet the Inspiration Part I on The Wonderings of One Person
- The Grandfather Pirate on Living a Goddess Life
- Meet the Inspiration Part I on The Wonderings of One Person
Sept 27 – Families in Lit on Leeana Me
- "My Favorite Bit" guest essay (with Cat Valente) - Mary Robinette Kowal
- "The Big Idea" John Scalzi's blog
- My Bookshelf on Mel's Shelves
- Did You See? on Cu's eBook Giveaways
- My Bookshelf on Mel's Shelves
- Did You See? on Cu's eBook Giveaways
Oct 5 - Hero LAUNCH PARTY at One More Page Books in Arlington, VA
Oct 7 - Character interview with Saturday Woodcutter at I Smell Sheep
Oct 7 - Character interview with Saturday Woodcutter at I Smell Sheep
- Craft "Stealing from the Best" on
Oct 10-15 - GRAND FINALE
Tour-Wide Giveaway
Sept 22 - Oct 17
Fairy Tale Gift Basket (US only): Signed copies of both Enchantment and Hero by Alethea Kontis plus swag!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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