What do you love most about fairytales?
Fairy tales are the very foundations of
storytelling. Every culture around the world is rooted in the ideas presented
in these old stories. They are reflections of who we are as human beings, so
they’re fascinating from an academic standpoint.
Now, that’s all well and good, but that’s
not quite so much where my interests lie. For me, the best thing about fairy
tales is the possibilities they present us with. They are very much
foundations, but they’re more like rich soil than cement slabs to build a house
on. So much more than a house can spring from fertile earth, and, to me, that’s
what’s drawn me to them as a writer.
In fairy tales, people are presented with
ideas we don’t normally accept, or write off as fantasy. For the brief moment
of time when a fairy tale is being told, we live in worlds where magic is a
plausible explanation for anything and true love can conquer any foe. We are
willing to believe that everything and anything is possible, and we explore
those possibilities with childlike glee and wonder.
Fairy tales give us breaks in the clouds
when the storm is the worst. Between breaths, we believe that pixie dust can
grant us the power to fly if our hearts are light enough, that our worst
problems can be solved by the kindness of a fairy godmother, and that if we
take a chance on a person we can love for a lifetime.
Those are beautiful things to believe in,
even if they are beliefs we hide from the rest of the world and only allow
ourselves to hope for in those milliseconds before we exhale. Hope is what
keeps us going in the darkness. Hope is what makes us human. Fairy tales are
preserved hopes, wistful dreams, and secret longings kept for everyone to
share. Fairy tales are humanity at its worst, tempered with its best.
And that’s what truly makes them special.
~ * ~
Series: A Flipped Fairy Tale
Genre: Fantasy /YA
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: Feb 2 2015
Edition/Formats: eBook & Print
Blurb/Synopsis:
"Once
upon a time, my life was certain: it was insignificant, and it was cruel. But I
refused to let it define me, no matter how great the cost.
Once
upon a time, I made a wish. The world I knew grew wider than the sky and higher
than the stars, and I listened to the voice within me, reaching out for
freedom.
Once
upon a time, my wish became my fate, and my destiny the hardest lesson to
learn: kindness may be the most difficult path, but it can save entire
kingdoms.”
Book Links:
Amazon
Goodreads
Amazon
Goodreads
~ * ~
Excerpt:
It took my vision a few moments to adjust
to the sudden brightness, but when I did, I couldn’t believe the sight in front
of me. Stunned, I staggered backwards, all but falling down as my gaze drifted
up from the base of the enormous plant that had sprung up overnight.
The bottom was easily twenty feet wide to
either side of me, with massive leaves bursting from curled vines thicker than
a man’s shoulders were broad. It seemed to be not a single plant, but three
twisted around each other, leading up and up into the sky. I followed the trail
of leaves spiraling around it like a giant staircase until I lost sight of them
in the clouds obscuring the top.
What, by the spirits, was that thing, and
how had it come to be there so instantaneously? What enchantment conjured it?
Even more, how long would it remain? Eventually someone would notice it and ask
all sorts of questions, and I wouldn’t have any answers for them.
I paused, hitting on one word swirling in
my mind: enchantment. In running from the wolves, I’d dropped the beans. While
I couldn’t prove it myself, I was fairly certain they were some sort of magic.
Therefore, the only reasonable explanation, even though it was the most
outlandish thing I’d ever entertained, was that the plant before me was the
result of the three beans being exposed to soil and water.
“Either you’ve hit your head very hard,
lost your mind completely, or found something amazing, Jack,” I said out loud,
hoping that talking through the development might bring me some clarity. “As
you’re not in terrible pain, let’s discount the first one for the time being.”
My feet moved without my thinking, and I
carried on my monologue, trying to puzzle it out. “You might be talking to
yourself, but nothing up until this moment has ever given you cause to doubt
the reliability of your brain. That leaves one option.”
I stopped walking, marveling at the turn of
events. As I watched, a single leaf uncurled from the base of the humongous
beanstalk, spreading out on the ground before me like a carpet. Was it a
greeting? That leaf led to another slightly above it, and a third and fourth
after that. Each was perfectly positioned, one leading to the next.
If ever I’d been given an invitation to
anything, that was it.
Not entirely sold on it, I wandered back to
where I’d woken, retrieving my pack and cap from between the layers of leaves.
The hat was a bit soggy when I placed it on my head, but I was sure it would
dry quickly with the heat of day already growing rapidly. Again at the leaf
that unfurled before me, I lifted my gaze up, following it once more into the
clouds.
“I wonder how high it goes?”
The thought of being at such an elevation,
looking out over everyone and everything, cemented my decision. People climbed
mountains only to say they’d done it. They built larger and larger structures
for no better reason than gaining a closer perspective on the stars. Why should
I be any different? How many could say they’d encountered a plant such as this,
and how regretful would they feel for having passed up the opportunity?
Tentatively, I set my foot upon the leaf,
unsure if it would even hold me. It gave some, but easily supported what little
weight I carried. A large man might find it impassable, but for me, a girl of
sixteen with years of hunger under her belt, I’d have no cause to worry.
Well, no cause pending the strength of the
greenery held out all the way to the top.
As many times as I’d looked to the sky,
never before had it seemed so full of promise.
With a firm nod, I started up. After all,
what was the worst that could happen? If nothing else, I’d finally know what it
felt like to fly.
~ * ~
Author Information:
A geek of all trades, Starla Huchton has
been crafting stories in various genres since 2007. Her first novel, The
Dreamer’s Thread, was released as a full cast audiobook podcast, becoming a
double-nominee and finalist for the 2010 Parsec Awards. After releasing short
fiction of steampunk, noir fantasy, and other varieties, she released the first
three books of the Sci-Fi Romance Endure series in 2013. All three books of the
Evolution series, a New Adult Superhero Romance series, were released in 2014,
as well as a Steampunk Fantasy novel, Master of Myth (the Antigone’s Wrath
series, book 1), which was the first place winner of the Crested Butte Writers’
contest, The Sandy, in 2012. Shadows on Snow, a gender-flipped retelling of
Snow White, releases in November 2014.
When not writing, Starla trains three
Minions, a black lab, and a military husband whilst designing book covers for
independent authors and publishers at DesignedByStarla.com
Author Links:
Amazon Author Page
Blog
Facebook Author Page
Goodreads
G+
Twitter
Website
Amazon Author Page
Blog
Facebook Author Page
Goodreads
G+
Website
Other
Works by Starla A.K.A. S.A.
Evolution
Series
The
Endure Series
Maven
#1
Nemesis
#2
Progeny
#3
Paradigm
#4 (WIP)
The
Antigone’s Wrath Series
Master
of Machines #2 (WIP)
Stand
Alones
A
Flipped Fairy Tale
The
Stillness of the Sky (Coming Late Winter)
~ * ~
Competition!
~ * ~
Competition!
Enter to win paperback copies of the first two books in the series: Shadows on Snow and The Stillness of The Sky.
Thanks for hosting me here today!
ReplyDeletePleasure having you over, Starla. The book sounds fabulous. Wishing you many sales! :)
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