The Worlds of Ashley Stangl

  If I’d had any choice, I never would have taken the underground train. I had accompanied Roger to a political summit in the city of Roshen, but spouses leave after the opening speeches, and since I couldn’t leave Roger without the hovercar, I had to use public transportation. The train--built by the natives decades before humanity absorbed Arateph into the Interplanetary Coalition--was a horrible excuse for technology. It rattled me to my destination, jolted me into an underground station, and left me so shaken that I could feel my bones clattering as I climbed up the stairs to the street.  The crowd surged around me as I emerged onto the sidewalk. There were far too many tephans. You know what Arateph’s natives look like—almost like humans, but it’s an unsettling almost. Their eyes just slightly too high on their heads, their ears just slightly too far back, and hands (ugh) split into only three fingers and a thumb. Like a person shaped by a sculptor with a hazy memory of h...

Rooglewood Press has just announced their theme for this year's fairy tale retelling contest! THE FINAL FAIRY TALE CONTEST Rooglewood Press invites you to join the adventure of the Five Poisoned Apples creative writing contest! CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS . This is the final contest that Rooglewood Press plans to host, and it looks like it will be a lovely one. (Just look at that cover!) Contestants must write a retelling of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves" that is between 5,000 and 20,000 words in length. Submission forms are due December 16th, 2017, and the finished stories must be emailed to Rooglewood Press by December 31st, 2017. Further details, obviously, are available at the above link.  As a lover of fairy tale retellings, I adore the concept behind these anthologies. By focusing on one fairy tale at a time, these books provide a greater range for creativity and a more complete look at their chosen fairy tales. As a contestant and winner of th...

So....a month ago, I reviewed the other two books of this series, and indicated that this review was coming soon. Unfortunately, a complication known as Real Life interfered with my plans, and took away my blogging time. Today, I've decided to ignore Real Life long enough to get this review written. It'll be short and sweet, just like this book. Goldheart is a retelling of "Rumpelstiltskin" starring Elaine, an off-screen character mentioned in Traitor's Masque. Elaine is a quiet, timid girl who would like to ignore the rest of the world and paint in solitude. Unfortunately, her father's death leaves her in financial difficulties and forces her to work as a portrait painter. A wealthy, demanding businessman commissions Elaine to paint a portrait of his wife, and locks her in his mansion until she creates the perfect masterpiece. Soon, Will, a friend of the businessman's son, learns about Elaine's plight, and helps her to overcome the difficulties of...

After finishing Pirouette , the third book in Kenley Davidson's Andari Chronicles series, I immediately rushed to pick up the first book, Traitor's Masque . This is a retelling of "Cinderella" set in the kingdom of Andar, and since magic isn't introduced to the series until Book 3, this story has atmosphere more similar to a gentle historical romance than to a fantasy novel. But there's still a hefty dose of political intrigue to ensure us that it's set in the same world and to keep it from being a run-of-the-mill "Cinderella" retelling. Our main character is Trystan, the spoiled daughter of a deceased lord, who escapes from her stepfamily by going out on horseback rides. One day, she starts a friendship with a kind young man, but they both keep their personal lives secret, and doubt that the relationship can lead to any romantic hopes. Then the crown prince, Ramsey, announces that he's holding a masquerade ball that will help him to ...

 To the lover of fairy tale retellings, Amazon is both a gold mine and a minefield. Self-publishing has made hundreds of new novels about the classic stories available, and nearly every major Western fairy tale has several novels available. Sadly, many of them offer little more than a half-hearted expansion of the fairy tale. I've learned to hope for little more than a generic, vaguely pleasant reading experience.  The Andari Chronicles by Kenley Davidson might be self-published fairy tale retellings, but they're  far from generic. Indeed, these books aren't only rich and immersive fairy tale retellings, they're some of the best books I've read this year, and I inhaled the series in less than a week.  To keep this from turning into a monster post, I'm going to post about each book in the series individually, in the order that I experienced them. Though it's the third in the series, I started with Pirouette , which is a version of "The Twelve...

Rachel, one of my fellow Five Magic Spindles authors, is conducting a series of interviews with all of us authors on her blog, Hamlette's Soliloquy.  My interview was posted today. Check it out here if you want to see me fangirl about G.K. Chesterton and Agent Carter and other book and entertainment-related topics. You can check out last week's interview with Michelle Pennington, the author of "Spindle Cursed" here , and interviews with the other authors in upcoming weeks.

Each of the five stories in the Five Magic Spindles collection starts with its own title page, and mine arrived today! When I wrote this story, I entertained no hope that my story about alien tomb robbers would make it into the collection of "Sleeping Beauty" retellings, but I still allowed myself to daydream about a title page. When I unexpectedly won, the title page was the prize I was most excited for. What sort of image would a publisher choose to represent my story?  Now I know, and it's surprisingly perfect. They've made Tanza, my main character, come to life. The alert, tough, no-nonsense stance, the practical clothes, the pockets bulging with supplies--that little silhouette is entirely recognizable to her author. And the plants around the border!  No spoilers, but a few key scenes involve areas with lots of plants, and I'm so delighted they made it to the cover. My biggest fear was that publishers would look at a sci-fi story and make a cover with...

I love when books cater specifically to my tastes.  Lately, I've been wishing for more mysteries set in fantasy worlds.  Then, suddenly, I see this beautiful cover on Amazon, and find Masque by W.R. Gingell , an ebook (currently free) that's a fantasy, a murder mystery, and a fairy tale retelling .  Specifically, "Beauty and the Beast".  Watching Beauty and her Beast solve a mystery together?  I could not buy this book fast enough. Even so, I kept my expectations tempered.  Fairy tale retellings, though they're one of my favorite genres, are often not great literature.  Independently published fairy tale retellings are often especially amateurish, with thinly drawn settings and characters, as though simply throwing in the right symbols and plot points should be enough to satisfy the reader.  I expected, at best, for Masque to be a faintly drawn fantasy, with vaguely pleasant characters and just enough plot to keep me motivated to reach the la...