{Guest Post/Giveaway} The Real Peter Woodcutter by Alethea Kontis

Join us on tour all week!
1/26 – Launch 
1/27 – Shadowskin by Bethany Cassel – Cremona @ Mythical Books 
1/28 – Beyond the Fortuneteller’s Tent by Kristy Tate – Amber @ Wonderings of One Person 
1/29 – Enchanted Fairy Tales by Cindy C. Bennett - Kathy @ I Am A Reader 
1/30 – Enchanted/Hero by Alethea Kontis - Bonnie @ A Backwards Story 
1/31 – The Fairytale Keeper by Andrea Cefalo – Lisa @ Bookworm Lisa 
2/1 – Grand Finale

I've previously reviewed Alethea Kontis' novella BLOOD AND WATER, her debut novel ENCHANTED, and her newest novel, HERO.

I've also interviewed author Alethea Kontis, and interviewed ENCHANTED cover designer Christine Kettner! Alethea has also written a guest post on "Families in Fiction" for the HERO Blog Tour and written a short story for last year's Splash into Summer event entitled "Well Behaved Mermaids Rarely Make Fairy Tales!"

Today, I'm DELIGHTED to have been chosen to take part in The Fantastical Tour and once again have Alethea here!

(And, super-duper secret?? Alethea is swinging back next week to take part in A Week of Rapunzel with a brand-new and awesome Fairy Tale Rant!)

~*~

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.

Visit Alethea's website, YouTube Channel, Facebook, and Twitter!

The Real Peter Woodcutter
by
Alethea Kontis

My maternal grandmother passed away last February. It was the first time in seven years that my siblings and I were together in the same place.

I see my little sister Soteria the most often and talk to her almost every day. I speak to my older sister Cherie less frequently, but I'm trying to remedy that. Our brother West, however, seems to enjoy falling off the planet. So traveling to Vermont in the driving snow was made extra special for all of us because we got to see him.

I made sure he didn't leave without a signed copy of ENCHANTED. Instead of defacing the title page, like I normally do, I took up almost all of the blank space on the page before that, thanking West profusely for being both my real-life brother and the inspiration for Peter Woodcutter.

The Kontis siblings!

West responded to my inscription with complete shock. He'd read ENCHANTED, but he had no idea that Peter was him. He made the mistake of saying so out loud. I was stunned speechless, but the rest of the family immediately jumped in. 

"Are you kidding me?" said Cherie. "Peter spends all his time in the woods."

"He doesn't talk much," said Soteria.

"His gift from his Fairy Godmother was a knife," said Mom, "and he uses it to carve things. Like his own bow."

"You didn't see any of that?" asked Dad. West just shook his head.

Sometimes, as authors, we can be too subtle for our own good. Sometimes, as readers, we don't see something that's right in front of our faces...especially when it's about ourselves.

My brother West was already 12 when I was born, and we lived in a little house in Vermont that backed up to the woods. We had one neighbor, the maple sugar testing factory across the street (that always seemed deserted), and a highway overpass. That's it. So for the first six years of my life I grew up in the woods (my best friend was the oak tree by the side of the road), and my brother was a large part of that.

West could climb trees and capture raccoons with an agility that would have impressed even his Abenaki ancestors. He helped my little sister and I catch toads and pick blackberries. He also invented one of the best games ever: Soteria and I would sit at the picnic table in the back yard and West would dump a bucket full of garter snakes right in between us. Then Soteria and I would try to name them all before they slithered off the table.

Whenever West gets upset about anything, he just goes back to the woods for a while.

West is also possibly the most artistically talented of us all. He kept his ability mostly to himself--he would show me his pictures of bloody vampires only because they grossed me out. He drew me a unicorn that Mom framed and hung in my bedroom for years. He designed his own dragon tattoos. After his sketching phase he moved on to found art...he'd find a turtle shell and turn it into the most imaginative dream catcher you've ever seen. Then came the carving. He made Dad a Greek Fisherman and gave me a wizard...but my most prized possession is a chunk of cedar he turned into the Beast from Beauty and the Beast for me. This level of creativity always came naturally to West. Like magic.

His current profession? Knife salesman, for a company in East Tennessee.

And yet, my brother never saw himself in my fictional brother. He saw me in Sunday, and a bit of Soteria in Saturday, and there was no doubt in his mind that Cherie was Princess Monday in the flesh. Mama and Papa were so much like Mom and Dad, it was uncanny to him. But he never saw himself in that mirror with us.

I suppose I could have taken this as an insult, or a criticism of my writing ability, but I didn't. In a way, his surprise was the biggest compliment of all. West had thought about every one of us before even considering himself.

That's so Peter. 

Thank you so much for such a great post, Alethea! 
I adored meeting your family in this small way. 
You made them come alive, and I think we all wish to be a part of your family now! The Woodcutters, too! ❤

   ~*~

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

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.

~*~
****Tour-Wide Giveaway*****

January 26 ~ February 10

There are FIVE chances to WIN!!

Winners will be drawn randomly, entries will be validated and the IP Addresses checked for shipping qualifications to award winnings in order of preference, if indicated.
See Rafflecopter entry.
Additional restrictions on Rafflecopter apply.

1 - Signed print copy of Shadowskin by Bethany Cassel plus a signed sketch of the Main Character by the author! (US Only)
2 - eCopies of both books in the Beyond series by Kristy Tate: Beyond the Fortune Teller's Tent & Beyond the Hollow! (International)
3 - eCopy of Enchanted Fairytales by Cindy C Bennett! (International)
4 - FIVE Signed paperbacks of Enchanted by Alethea Kontis plus swag! (US Only) (That's five winners. Woop!)
5 - eCopy of The Fairytale Keeper: Avenging the Queen by Andrea Cefalo! (International)


a Rafflecopter giveaway

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