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| Love fairy tales and mythology? Fans of mermaids, dragons, unicorns, and other mythical creatures? Enjoy when a beloved classic tale is retold? A Twist in the Tail Thursdays features all this and more! |
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I previously reviewed both ENCHANTED and HERO,
along with my review of her novella BLOOD & WATER!
(And an interview with ENCHANTED cover designer Christine Kettner!)
In Case You Missed It:
~*~
I previously reviewed both ENCHANTED and HERO,
along with my review of her novella BLOOD & WATER!
(And an interview with ENCHANTED cover designer Christine Kettner!)
Alethea
Kontis has also stopped by A Backwards Story several times to talk
about her books, fairy tales, mermaids, and more because she's awesome
like that! *loves her*
Here's her interview about ENCHANTED!.
a flash fiction piece entitled "Well Behaved Mermaids Rarely Make Fairy Tales,"
a guest post on "Families in Fiction,"
a guest post on "The Real Peter Woodcutter,"
and two of her famous fairy tale rant videos, one about Rapunzel and one about Cinderella and how it inspired her novel ENCHANTED!
~*~
Here's her interview about ENCHANTED!.
a flash fiction piece entitled "Well Behaved Mermaids Rarely Make Fairy Tales,"
a guest post on "Families in Fiction,"
a guest post on "The Real Peter Woodcutter,"
and two of her famous fairy tale rant videos, one about Rapunzel and one about Cinderella and how it inspired her novel ENCHANTED!
~*~
“I Dedicate This Post To You”
by Alethea Kontis
One of my favorite parts of
a book is the dedication. Before the interwebs, a dedication—because there
wasn't always an acknowledgements section or author's note, especially in
fiction—was the closest a reader came to knowing the author as a person. For
some personal reason, the text I was about to read spoke to the author in such
a way that it reminded them of this person. The dedicate in question might be
an inspiration, or the dedication might be a way to honor someone. As a kid,
those tweet-sized notes to from one stranger to another were like a glimpse
into yet another world beyond my own, and even beyond that of the book.
I have known authors to
use dedications to manipulate people, dedicating books and stories to significant
others in troubled relationships hoping to mend fences that typically, by the
time the book sees publication, are far beyond fixing. I have seen authors use
it to put others down. Some authors don't use it at all, and simply jump right
into the text without preamble.
The dedications in all of
my books are always carefully chosen. My mixed-up alphabet book, Alphaoops: The Day Z Went First, is
dedicated to mixed-up families everywhere, those we are born into and those we
make along the way. The sequel to that book was dedicated to my Calculus
teacher in high school...a brilliant, beloved man with the soul of a comedian
who passed away right before the book's manuscript went to the printer.
The first book in the
Woodcutter series, Enchanted, is
dedicated to both of my parents and ends with the line, "And for my little
sister who was, and always will be, ungrateful." Those who notice the
dedication laugh out loud...but they're missing part of the story. The first
line of the original manuscript of Enchanted
was, "My name is Sunday Woodcutter, and I'm ungrateful." The word
"ungrateful" was specifically chosen because it was a hot-button word
for my little sister growing up...so much so that she even wrote a song about
it.
However, in Enchanted, the things that Sunday writes
come true, and the editor did not feel that Sunday—however much she might have
felt it inside—was not truly an ungrateful person, so they made me change it.
(The new and ultimately final first line owes its inspiration to the fortune cookie
that used to haunt my Aunt Theda...but that's another story.)
I am especially proud of
my dedication for Dearest, which
begins with all the Hollywood crushes I had as a young girl (including Noah
Hathaway, Jonathan Brandis, River Phoenix, Scott Grimes, Michael J. Fox, Val
Kilmer, and Harrison Ford) and ends with a dedication to one man...whose name I
was allowed to change at the last minute after a horrible break up. (Sometimes
delayed pub dates is a good thing.) The second half of the dedication in Dearest is now made out to Murphy.
Dedicated readers of mine who have read my personal essay book Beauty & Dynamite will recognize
Murphy as my ersatz guardian angel who comes by his name honestly.
Regardless of the
name-swap, I'm still exceptionally proud of the dedication in Dearest, and hope it is worthy of the
rest of the favorites on my bookshelf.
Some examples of author
dedications I have loved:
For the lost ones
—from Lost Lake,
by Sarah Addison Allen
For the children who
listened,
The grown-ups who were
patient,
And especially for Ann
Durell.
—from The Book of
Three, by Lloyd Alexander
For Olivia
20th April 1955—
17th November
1962
—from The BFG,
by Roald Dahl
To Joy, Carnell, and Dr.
Green,
This dream of the Moon
—from The Darkangel,
by Meredith Ann Pierce
This last dedication is
especially poignant because I guess I didn't actually read it until I was in my
20s, and until then it NEVER OCCURRED TO ME that this book was set on a
far-future Earth moon. See...sometimes there is vital information in that
dedication!
I'm curious—do any of you
have a favorite dedication?
~*~
O F F I C I A L I N F O:
Title: DEAREST
Author: Alethea Kontis
Author: Alethea Kontis
Release Date: February 3, 2015
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Received: For Review
Received: For Review
SUMMARY:
In her third book about the delightful Woodcutter sisters, Alethea Kontis masterfully weaves The Wild Swans, The Goose Girl, and a few other fine-feathered fairy tales into a magical, romantic companion novel to ENCHANTED and HERO.
Readers met the Woodcutter sisters (named after the days of the week) in Enchanted and Hero. In this delightful third book, Alethea Kontis weaves together some fine-feathered fairy tales to focus on Friday Woodcutter, the kind and loving seamstress. When Friday stumbles upon seven sleeping brothers in her sister Sunday's palace, she takes one look at Tristan and knows he's her future. But the brothers are cursed to be swans by day. Can Friday's unique magic somehow break the spell?
****Giveaway*****
Enter to win...
Win (1) of (3) Woodcutter Series Prize Packs, which include signed copies of ENCHANTED, HERO, and DEAREST!
US Only.
Enter now!
You always have the best giveaways! I have been wanting to read these books for a while and now that there are three, I WILL start. :)
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