Tattered Slippers Release Week – Poison’s Dance!

This week is the release week for the Tattered Slippers 12 Dancing Princesses retelling challenge books! (including my release Poison’s Dance!). There is a really cool official blog tour going on for all of these books, complete with a giveaway, so click here for the schedule to find fun interviews, guest posts by the authors, and reviews of these six books!

Today is the day we have all been waiting for! Poison’s Dance releases today! Yay!!!!!!!!! I am really excited to share the next part of Alex’s, Daemyn’s, and Rosanna’s adventures with all of you, and I hope you enjoy it!

To celebrate the release, I currently have Dagger’s Sleep and Midnight’s Curse on sale in the Kindle store. Dagger’s Sleep is FREE while Midnight’s Curse is $1.99. So if you have been waiting to start this series, now would be a good time to pick them up!

Poison’s Dance 

Book Description: 

Beyond the Tales #3 
If he falls to the lure of the curse, the dance might trap him forever. 
 
Alex has survived his first year as high king. The new counsel has improved cooperation between the kingdoms, and peace seems achievable. When the Tuckawassee queen sends him an invitation he can’t refuse, Alex must once again face his greatest threat for the sake of peace. 
 
Princess Tamya of Tuckawassee, along with her eleven sisters, has danced from sunset until sunrise every night of her life. It is her gift and her curse. When Queen Valinda wishes to use the power their cursed dance gives them to rule all of Tallahatchia, Tamya must decide if she will do what is right even if it betrays her own sister. 
 
Daemyn Rand has survived a hundred years’ worth of battles. All he wants to do now is safely marry his princess. Will he be forced to choose between the love of his life and the high king he has loyally served for years? 
 
They have faced certain death before. This time, they might not make it out alive. 
 
Don’t miss this re-envisioning of the Twelve Dancing Princesses fairy tale.  

Purchace Link: https://www.amazon.com/Poisons-Dance-Dancing-Princesses-Retelling-ebook/dp/B0873YZKZS/  

Add Book on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53251983-poison-s-dance

Author Bio: 

Tricia Mingerink is a twenty-something, book-loving, horse-riding country girl. She lives in Michigan with her family and their pack of pets. When she isn’t writing, she can be found pursuing backwoods adventures across the country. 
Find her online at: Website ||  Goodreads || Facebook || Twitter || Instagram || Amazon 

Poison’s Dance Blog Tour and Review Copies Sign Up

Less than a month until Poison’s Dance releases!

There is still time to sign up for the blog tour or to receive a review copy! If you just want to review, not post for the blog tour, scroll past the first sign up sheet to the second sign up sheet in the link below. You’ll have opportunity to review not just Poison’s Dance, but several other 12 Dancing Princess fairy tales if you wish:

Click here to sign up for the blog tour or review copies!

I just set up the Poison’s Dance ARC, so if you sign up for a review copy, you should be getting it next week (hopefully)!

About Poison’s Dance:

If he falls to the lure of the curse, the dance might trap him forever.

Alex has survived his first year as high king. The new counsel has improved cooperation between the kingdoms, and peace seems achievable. When the Tuckawassee queen sends him an invitation he can’t refuse, Alex must once again face his greatest threat for the sake of peace.

Princess Tamya of Tuckawassee, along with her eleven sisters, has danced from sunset until sunrise every night of her life. It is her gift and her curse. When Queen Valinda wishes to use the power their cursed dance gives them to rule all of Tallahatchia, Tamya must decide if she will do what is right even if it betrays her own sister.

Daemyn Rand has survived a hundred years’ worth of battles. All he wants to do now is safely marry his princess. Will he be forced to choose between the love of his life and the high king he has loyally served for years?

They have faced certain death before. This time, they might not make it out alive.

Don’t miss this re-envisioning of the Twelve Dancing Princesses fairy tale.

Dagger’s Sleep Audiobook

This week Dagger’s Sleep released on audiobook! I’m so excited to have this book finally available in audiobook for everyone (like me) who adores listening to books while driving or doing housework. You can find it here on Audible and here on audiobooks.com. You can listen to a sample on Audible or Amazon if you’re curious how it sounds.

Dagger’s Sleep was produced by Tantor, an audiobook company that produces a LOT of fairy tale audiobooks. I should know. I personally own most of them, lol. I’m so excited to have Dagger’s Sleep join their fairy tale library!

Because Dagger’s Sleep was produced by an audiobook company, it isn’t exclusive to Audible. You’ll be able to find it pretty much everywhere audiobooks are sold, and its available to libraries! So if you can’t afford audiobooks, consider asking your library to add it to their elibrary.

Tantor will also be producing the audiobooks for Midnight’s Curse (scheduled to release Sept. 23) and Poison’s Dance (release yet to be determined).

Dagger’s Sleep is narrated by the amazing Emily Lawrence, and she did a great job working with all the various accents and voices. She really brings Tallahatchia alive, and I’m so excited with how the narration turned out!


Do any of you like audiobooks? Do you listen to them a lot or infrequently? Perhaps never?


If you like audiobooks (fairy tale audiobooks specifically), here’s a list of a bunch of other fairy tale books that are available on audiobook.

Since I have listened to all but one series on this list, you can find my reviews of these books on my Goodreads page in my fairytale book list. Feel free to message me if you want more in depth review about a book.

Produced by Tantor:

Four Kingdoms by Melanie Cellier (in the process of releasing)

Beyond the Four Kingdoms by Melanie Cellier

Firethorn Chronicles by Lea Doue

Andari Chronicles by Kenley Davidson

Kingdom Chronicles by Camille Peters (currently only book 1 available, but more are coming)

The Swan King by Nina Clare

Fairy Tale Kingdoms Series by Shari L. Tapscott (this is the only series on this list I haven’t listened to yet)

Other Fairy Tale Books by Indie Authors on Audiobook:

Fairytales of Folkshore by Lucy Tempest (first 3 books in the series available, wraps up one story arc)

Thorn by Intisar Khanani (produced by Harper Audio. This book was originally published indie, then picked up by Harper Collins)

Poison’s Dance Cover Reveal

Today, I am FINALLY revealing the cover for Poison’s Dance, book 3 in the Beyond the Tales series. I am so excited to share this cover. My cover designer, Savannah Jezowski of Dragonpen Designs, knocked it out of the park with this cover!

This cover took us a few tries to get right. It is one of the few times I have ever gotten partway into making a cover (with a model and background picked) and told Savannah, “Nope, I’m not liking this at all. We need to start over.” Amazing, she was nice and patient and didn’t mind that it took 3-4 models, 3 backgrounds, flipping the cover several times, and fiddling with all the sparkles before it was finally just right.

But when this cover finally came together…Eeep! So stunning! The golden leaves swirling around her…the sister lurking in the background…the movement of the dress that perfectly captures the feel of a Twelve Dancing Princesses retelling.

Don’t all three books looks so pretty together?

In case you want to see the full cover…

About the Book:

If he falls to the lure of the curse, the dance might trap him forever.

Alex has survived his first year as high king. The new counsel has improved cooperation between the kingdoms, and peace seems achievable. When the Tuckawassee queen sends him an invitation he can’t refuse, Alex must once again face his greatest threat for the sake of peace.

Princess Tamya of Tuckawassee, along with her eleven sisters, has danced from sunset until sunrise every night of her life. It is her gift and her curse. When Queen Valinda wishes to use the power their cursed dance gives them to rule all of Tallahatchia, Tamya must decide if she will do what is right even if it betrays her own sister.

Daemyn Rand has survived a hundred years’ worth of battles. All he wants to do now is safely marry his princess. Will he be forced to choose between the love of his life and the high king he has loyally served for years?

They have faced certain death before. This time, they might not make it out alive.

Don’t miss this re-envisioning of the Twelve Dancing Princesses fairy tale.


I am really excited to share this book with you! Alex really comes into his own with this book and finally shows a hint of that heroic high king we all knew was inside there somewhere. Daemyn has his loyalty tested in new ways, and the entire Rand clan gets to let their wild side show.

Poison’s Dance releases on August 26 and its available to preorder on Kindle.

For those who are unfamiliar with the Twelve Dancing Princesses fairy tale, here’s a link that gives a brief explanation. (Yes, it’s Wikipedia. But, for once, it’s accurate enough).


Even more exciting, I’m participating in the Tattered Slippers challenge/group release with Poison’s Dance.

As Kendra Ardnek explained at the Facebook Cover Reveal party last night:

“The Tattered Slippers are part of the Arista Challenge, which is a sort of spiritual successor to the Rooglewood collections, which sadly ended with the Five Poison Apples. However, unlike those books, this is NOT a contest, nor is it a single-volume collection.

Each of the stories published in this release is published on its own, with its own cover, and the author retains all rights. We’re merely releasing together – banding together for promotion, if you will. And all of our books happen to be retellings of the same fairy tale.”

Previous years have done Snow White and Rapunzel. As much as I wanted to participate, I never had a project that fit (I was too busy writing a Sleeping Beauty retelling the year they did Snow White and a Cinderella retelling the year they did Rapunzel). I was super excited when they announced Twelve Dancing Princesses would be the fairy tale this year, since that was the one I was planning for book 3!

Here are all the books that will be participating this year! These covers are stunning, and the books sound even more amazing! You can scroll through the Facebook Party to find posts about each book and author, or you can click the links below to find each book on Amazon.

The Dancing Princess – Kendra E. Ardnek

Wrought of Silver & Ravens – E.L. Kitchens

A Time of Mourning and Dancing – Abigail Falanga

The Dark King’s Curse – Wyn Estelle Owens

The Midnight Show – Sarah Pennington

All of these books sound so amazing, from a detective story to a Greek-inspired to Fae kings.

If you want to help spread the word about these books and the covers, here’s a link where you can download all of the lovely images + bios and blurbs and such. Take the stuff and share it to your blogs/social media and email the organizer (Kendra Ardnek) the link to your post – Kendraeardnek (at) Gmail (dot) com.

EVERYONE who shares the covers (and emails Kendra) will be receiving a early peek at the stories – the first chapter of each (including the first chapter of Poison’s Dance!). This is an exclusive offer you don’t want to miss, so get posting.

*the link will be live through Saturday, and you have until then to post. Thanks so much!

Upcoming Black Friday Sale

As everyone probably knows by now, Thanksgiving is next week! A time to gather with family and friends and be thankful for God’s blessings.

One of the things I’m especially grateful for this year is all the ways God has used The Blades of Acktar and Beyond the Tales in so many lives around the world. I’m thankful for all my many, many readers who have taken the chance on my books.

To say thank you, I will be discounting all of my Kindle ebooks from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday. It is a great time to pick up that book in the series you’ve been missing or share them with a friend. I’ll also be running free shipping and a few discounts on the signed paperbacks on my website.

Black Friday 2019 Sale Graphic


A while back, I decided to submit Dagger’s Sleep for a Reader’s Favorite review. Last week, the review came back, and it is a 5 shiny stars review!!!!

5star-shiny-web

The review:

What does it mean to be a prince? Or a princess, for that matter? Is it a right of how one is born? A right to be arrogant, selfish and self-centered? A hundred years ago, a High Prince, Alexander, thought he was born to rule. He had the arrogance to think he was the chosen one and, as such, he could do no wrong. High Prince Alexander was cursed by the Fae. At the age of twenty-one, he would prick his finger with his own dagger and fall into a deep sleep for all eternity. On a journey to challenge this curse, he learns that he’s not as righteous as he thought he was, and though he manages to have the curse altered to only sleep until a cursebreaker is found, he discovers some unpleasant things about himself.

It’s approaching the anniversary of the High Prince’s demise and the cursebreaker has been found: Princess Rosanna. Only, the princess must travel incognito and across treacherous terrain to reach the castle where the High Prince sleeps in order to break the curse. Will she make it in time? And will it be worth the effort? Will her war-torn country be a better place to live after Alexander awakens? And must she love someone she has never met, even if he is a prince, after the curse is broken?

Tricia Mingerink’s fantasy novel, Dagger’s Sleep (Beyond the Tales): A Retelling of Sleeping Beauty, is more than just a fantasy. A well-loved fairytale retold becomes an adventure and a journey of self-discovery as two royal personages must come to terms with who they are and who they really should be. The plot is two-fold: one tracing the events leading up to the High Prince’s deep sleep that lasts a hundred years and the second one following the cursebreaker’s treacherous journey wake the High Prince. Each plot is distinctly identified to avoid confusion and each scenario is well-paced. The characters are well developed and the descriptive narrative is exceptional in setting the scenes. A great story by a significantly powerful writer. This is an author I’ll definitely follow.


I’m so grateful for such kind words about Dagger’s Sleep! That book had a rocky start, but it has really come into its own in the past few months. I’m thankful to everyone who has taken the time to read Rosanna’s, Daemyn’s, and Alex’s stories in both Dagger’s Sleep and Midnight’s Curse, and I can’t wait until next year to continue their story in Poison’s Dance.

Midnight’s Curse Blog Tour

Midnight's Curse Blog Tour Mock-Up

Welcome to the blog tour for Midnight’s Curse, book two in the Beyond the Tales series. Beyond the Tales is a series of fairy tale retellings with hints of allegorical elements set in a world based on the Appalachian Mountains.

I am so excited to finally share this book with all of you! It is such a fun version of Cinderella, and I hope you enjoy reading about Alex’s, Daemyn’s, and Rosanna’s next adventure!

Don’t miss the giveaway at the end of this blog post nor the invite to the Facebook party for more giveaways!

About the Book

Midnight's Curse_Internet UseThe glass slippers might be her dreams come true…or her worst nightmare. 

High King Alexander rules the Seven Kingdoms of Tallahatchia—a divided nation on the brink of yet another war. When an invitation arrives from the king of Pohatomie, Alex knows it must be a trap, but could it also be his opportunity to unite the kingdoms?

Daemyn Rand has lived a hundred years, served an arrogant prince, fallen in love with a princess, and lost himself somewhere along the way. He has already died for his loyalty. Will standing at the high king’s side cost him his last chance to truly live?

Elara Ashen is a lowly, miserable servant. All she wants is to spend even one night in a fancy dress dancing with the high king. When she is offered a pair of glass slippers, it seems that all her dreams have come true.

But dreams have a price, and gifts can be curses in disguise. What will it cost to stop this curse from tearing Tallahatchia apart yet again?

Fairy tales meet the Appalachian Mountains in this adventurous fantasy retelling of the classic Cinderella story.

Add to GoodreadsBuy on Amazon

Dreamy green color forest

The first book in the series Dagger’s Sleep, a Sleeping Beauty retelling where the prince is cursed to sleep and the princess must wake him, is on sale for $.99 on Kindle! Follow this link to snag this deal while it lasts!

DSC09450-2

About the Author

Tricia Mingerink is a twenty-something, book-loving, horse-riding country girl. She lives in Michigan with her family and their pack of pets. When she isn’t writing, she can be found pursuing backwoods adventures across the country.

You can connect with Tricia on her blog, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Facebook Party!

Facebook Party Announcement

The Facebook party should be a blast with giveaways of Midnight’s CurseDagger’s Sleep, and over ten other Cinderella retellings by indie authors! Follow this link to join the Facebook party. 

Giveaway!

Blog Tour Giveaway

Enter to win signed copies of Dagger’s Sleep and Midnight’s Curse (it will be the actual copy, not a proof copy as shown) as well as a Currently Reading 4oz candle from Novelly Yours Candles.

Due to shipping, the giveaway is open to the US only. Void where prohibited.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Blog Tour Schedule

Monday – August 5

Tuesday – August 6 – Release Day!

Wednesday – August 7

Thursday – August 8

Friday – August 9

Saturday – August 10

Dagger’s Sleep Read-Along Week 3: Chapter 22

Dreamy green color forest

Yesterday, we talked a little bit about Alex’s portion of the allegorical chapters of Dagger’s Sleep. Today we have Rosanna’s chapters 20 and 22.

Warning: Major spoilers for Dagger’s Sleep ahead if you haven’t read it yet.


Chapter 20

Okay, this chapter is pretty much me experimenting with killing off a major character. Of course, well, there’s chapter 22, but for this chapter Daemyn ends up (mostly) dead.


Chapter 22

Have you ever spent a lot of time in the woods just listening to the breeze in the trees? When it is still in a forest, you can hear each creak of moving branch, each whisper of a leaf. You can even hear the snow hiss as it hits the ground when it is quiet enough.

From the time I was 14 until last year, my parents owned a hunting cabin deep in the woods of the upper Lower Peninsula of Michigan. It was pretty much Narnia minus the talking animals. I spent hours tromping through that forest, learning how to track and hunt and recognize the different trees.

I actually wrote chapters 19-22 of Dagger’s Sleep out in that forest while deer hunting. The singing trees were inspired by my own love for the deep woods, and it was quite the moment to write that scene surrounded by beeches and maples and oaks.

When I sign copies of Dagger’s Sleep, I usually write Ps. 96:12 below my name. That verse in the KJV is “Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein: then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice.” Some Bible versions translate this as “let all the trees sing.” (the NIV, for example).

The Psalms are filled with examples of poetic language describing the Creation as singing or praising God. I just made it a bit more real in this chapter of Dagger’s Sleep. 

And, yes, this chapter ends where Daemyn doesn’t stay dead. To everyone’s great relief, lol.


Do you have a piece of land or a forest or mountain that is special to you? Do you like to go hiking? What did you think about the singing trees in Dagger’s Sleep?

Dagger’s Sleep Read-Along Week 3: Chapters 19 & 21

Dreamy green color forest

As I mentioned in my last post, chapters 20-22 of Dagger’s Sleep are my favorites (though, I probably should include chapter 19 in that as well). There’s just so much here, so I’m going to do a whole post for chapters 19 and 21, then a post for chapters 20 and 22.

Chapter 19

In Chapter 19, Alex and Jadon are led by the breeze along a turquoise stream to a waterfall unlike anything they have ever seen with turquoise water, orange rocks, and green foliage.

This is actually based on a real stream and waterfall in West Virginia. Douglas Falls is off an old railroad easement near Thomas, WV not that far from Blackwater Falls State Park. Blackwater Falls is far more well known Blackwater Falls is a very majestic waterfall in its own right and well worth the trip.

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Blackwater Falls in 2012. Picture by me. 

In asking around, I heard about Douglas Falls. It is down a two-track that seems to lead to the middle of nowhere. The track follows the stream, which is a bright turquoise color due to coke smelting that even years later discolors the water and rocks. Whatever the cause, the colors are straight out of a fairy tale. I knew the moment I saw them I’d use them in a story someday, even if it took a few years.

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Albert Falls on the hike to Douglas Falls. Picture by me. 

Douglas Falls isn’t immediately visible from the trail. We had to work our way down a steep trail down the canyon. When we came around some boulders, there it was.

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Douglas Falls 2012. Picture by me. 

This picture doesn’t do it justice. The water was such a contrast against the bright orange rocks. Just the sort of place you’d imagine a gateway into another realm.

You can swim in the pool below the waterfall. There is no lifeguard on duty, so it is swim at your own risk.

Here are a few websites that talk more about Douglas Falls and how to get to it.

West Virginia Waterfalls

Waterfalls Hiker

In Dagger’s Sleep, chapter 19 is where the book starts to become very allegorical. Alex and Jadon meet the Highest Prince for the first time here.


Chapter 21

In my church circles, we often talk about how when we pray, we are spiritually coming before the throne of God. This comes from passages like Ephesians 2:18 – “For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.”

It’s an image that stuck with me and, being a writer, it made me wonder what if someone actually came to the throne to present a petition. Would it make that person more reverent? Or, being human, would he still remain arrogant even there?

That’s the question I was working with in this chapter. Of course, that meant allegorically writing about coming before the allegorical God-figure in the book. Not an easy scene to go about writing.

I spent a lot of time reading and re-reading Revelation 1 (where a vision of Jesus is described), Revelation 4 (vision of God’s throne), and especially Ezekiel 1 (where a vision of angels and God on His throne is described). You’ll probably recognize a lot of the pictures and descriptions I used since they mirrored the descriptions of those Bible passages.

But what about the WaterVeil? And the Threshold? How do they fit?

This is where things get a little trickier. The WaterVeil in the book is the separation between Heaven and Earth that we can only cross through death. We use the expression “crossing the Jordan” to talk about death and entering Heaven. The WaterVeil is similar.

But then what is the Threshold? A piece of Heaven on this side of death?

As Christians, we do have a bit of Heaven already. We are a part of the spiritual, heavenly kingdom of Christ since we are His. This is the reason we can pray (have access to the Father, as Ephesians calls it). We are citizens of the kingdom of Heaven even now while we are on earth.

Ephesians 2:6-7 states, “And [God] hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.”

That passage uses the present tense. We are raised to heavenly places even now. I decided to use the word “threshold” to describe this.

I later learned that apparently using the word threshold in connection to the spiritual kingdom of heaven the church has even now on earth is something used before! In his commentary on Ephesians 2:6, R.C.H. Lenski writes (italics mine for emphasis):

In 1:3, 20 the context indicates that the heaven of glory is referred to; here the kingdom of God on earth is evidently the meaning; in 6:12 only the supermundane regions are referred to. The kingdom of the heavens (Matthew’s expression), established here on earth, is heavenly throughout and not of this world (John 18:36). It is the threshold of the kingdom of glory and is located wherever God’s grace has sway.

Citation: Lenski, R. C. H. (1937). The interpretation of St. Paul’s Epistles to the Galatians, to the Ephesians and to the Philippians (p. 419). Columbus, O.: Lutheran Book Concern.

As I wrote about in my first post for this read-along, writing allegorically is tricky. There are details in these chapters that are there just for the story or just because they fit with the picture I was crafting with the words.

Are there any other sections of these chapters that you were puzzled about? What did you think of them?

Dagger’s Sleep Read-Along Week 3: Sleeping Beauty Original Tale

Dreamy green color forest

Here we are in week three of the read-along already! As predicted, I am woefully behind on posting like I wanted to. Prepping for Realm Makers and getting Midnight’s Curse ready to release on time have been taking priority.

It is Realm Makers this week! For those of you who don’t know, it is the Christian conference for all things fantasy, sci-fi, weird, and speculative. It is amazing. This is my third year going, and I’m so excited. If I’m not able to reply to your comments in a timely manner, please know I will get to them as soon as I get back.

I’m super excited for this week in the read-along. Chapters 20-22 of Dagger’s Sleep are my favorite in the whole book and among some of my favorite chapters I have ever written. If I manage to get them scheduled before I leave for Realm Makers, I’m hoping to write a blog post or two on them. If I don’t, then I will probably use week 4 to talk about them instead. 🙂

Today, we’re going to chat a little bit about the original Sleeping Beauty fairy tale. Warning, it’s not exactly pretty or for kids. Prepare to have your childhood ruined.

The Original Fairy Tale

The Sleeping Beauty fairy tale is one of the tales I point to when people say that older writing is more moral or clean. Yeah, no. Sorry to break it to you, but just because a book or story is “old,” doesn’t automatically make it morally superior than books written today.

One of the earliest written versions of Sleeping Beauty was a tale composed in the 1300s called the Perceforest, which was a collection of courtly tales with loose connections to Arthurian legends. The Sleeping Beauty story in the book is about a girl named Zellandine who is in love with a man named Troylus. But her father doesn’t like Troylus, so he sends him off to complete tasks to prove his worth.

While Troylus is kept busy, Zellandine falls into an enchanted sleep caused by a splinter of flax stabbing into her finger. When Troylus returns, he finds her asleep and, well, nine months later she has a child…while she is still asleep. Yeah. Not romantic at all. She only wakes up when the baby slobbers on her finger and draws out the flaw that caused her sleep in the first place.

Understandably confused, Zellandine figures out that the baby is hers and by the ring Troylus left her, figures out he must be the father. And they live happily ever after.

Yeah. Kind of icky.

The next major Sleeping Beauty tale recorded is from the 1600s by Giambattista Basile called Sun, Moon, and Talia. This story starts to take the shape of the traditional Sleeping Beauty tale where the girl’s parents are told by a wicked fairy she will prick her finger on an item (in this version, it is still flax).

In this version, the girl and the main guy don’t know each other. Instead, he is just a king who happens to wander by, climbs the tower, and finds the sleeping girl. Which makes it even more creepy when she gives birth nine months later, in this version to twins. While she is still asleep.

Once again, she wakes when one of the babies draws the flax from her finger. At that moment, the wandering king comes back (because being a creepy dude once wasn’t enough for him apparently). When he finds her awake, he takes her home to his castle.

Where his wife is understandably upset that he has shown up with this girl and her twins. Um, yeah, not only was the king creepy, but he was also already married. Double ick.

Not so understandably, the wife decides it is a good idea to have the girl and her twins killed, cooked, and served as supper (the old fairy tales have a LOT of cannibalism. Seriously). The castle cook hides the girl and the twins because, you know, killing, cooking, and eating people is more than a little wrong.

When the king finds out, he has his wife burned, then marries the girl instead. Not exactly a happily ever after. *throws up a little in my mouth*

Thankfully, by the end of the 1600s, Charles Perrault came along and rewrote the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale into the story we call Sleeping Beauty today.

His version introduces the seven fairy godmothers, the gifts, the wicked fairy who curses the princess with death, and the seventh fairy who modifies it with sleep. This is the first version where she pricks herself on a spindle instead of flax. Flax is a plant fiber that is spun, so it isn’t that far of a jump to go from flax to spindle. It still has to do with spinning.

This version is also the first with a hundred years sleep as well as a barrier of briars protecting the sleeping princess and all the castle folk while they slept (poor castle folk. Hopefully they had their families in the castle when the sleep hit).

At the end of the hundred years, a prince wanders by. He remembers the old legend of the sleeping princess and braves the briars because it sounds like a marvelous adventure. He finds her and wakes her with a kiss.

The prince and princess talk for a while, decide they like each other after conversing for a couple of hours, and get married in the castle chapel.

BUT the story doesn’t end there. The prince keeps his marriage a secret and for a while he and his princess are happy with frequent visits, and she gives birth to twins.

Then the prince’s father dies, and he becomes king. He takes the princess and his children out of hiding and brings them to his castle, where it turns out he had good reason for not bringing them home earlier since his mother is part Ogre.

Like in the earlier version with the wife, the mom-in-law Ogre decides that cooking and eating her son’s wife and children sounds like a grand idea. Once again, the cook saves the day, but the Ogre Queen Mother finds out and prepares a huge cauldron of snakes and other nasty critters and prepares to throw everyone into it. The King returns just in time, and the Ogre Mom-in-Law throws herself into the cauldron of snakes and dies.

By the 1800s, the Brothers Grimm include a Sleeping Beauty story that follows nearly the same story line as Perrault, except that they end the story when the prince and princess marry after she has been awakened by a delicate peck on the lips. They include the second half of the story as a separate fairy tale called the Evil Mother-in-Law, arguing that the two halves of the story were most likely two stories originally that got combined somewhere along the way.

From there, we have the scads and scads of retellings from the cartoon Disney version to the more recent Malificent, which brings in some of the darker themes and ideas from earlier Sleeping Beauty versions.

There is even a middle grade Sleeping Beauty retelling Sleeping Beauty, the One Who Took the Really Long Nap by Wendy Mass, that takes on retelling the second half of the story where the prince’s mother has ogre blood. Since it is middle grade, it takes out the creepiness and turns it into a fun story.

There are many, many directions to go with a Sleeping Beauty retelling. Retelling Sleeping Beauty can be hard, since it can appear like the Sleeping Beauty character has very little agency. Many writers from Gail Carson Levine to K.M. Shea and Melanie Cellier have done great jobs giving the Sleeping Beauty character wit and purpose. J.M. Stengl has a version where the Sleeping Beauty character is evil.

For Dagger’s Sleep, I decided to make the Sleeping Beauty character the prince. It was something I’ve heard of being done, though I haven’t personally read any books along those lines yet. It was interesting to explore how a prince would tackle being cursed this way, and he doesn’t take to it very well, lol.

So there you have it. A look at the original Sleeping Beauty tales and why it is a very good thing Charles Perrault decided to retell it as the fairy tale we know and love today.

 

Dagger’s Sleep Read-Along: Week Two or Battle with Poison Ivy

Dreamy green color forest

I meant to write this week’s post over the weekend. I instead spent it itching.

As you probably guessed from the title of this post, I managed to get poison ivy. Actually, I got it two and a half weeks ago and it was more or less manageable on my lower legs. Then over the weekend, I ended up getting a second dose that flared the first batch of poison ivy to epic proportions.

I have seriously underestimated the torture possibilities of poison ivy. Forget the villain sadistically torturing the main character. All the villain really has to do is dump the main character in a patch of poison ivy, then withhold anti-itch cream until the hero breaks. And the hero would break eventually. There’s something about poison ivy itching that makes a person desperate to do just about anything if it will help.

If one of my characters gets poison ivy sometime in the future, you’ll know where I got the idea from.


On to business and the stuff you are probably more interested in than hearing about poison ivy.

Giveaway!

The winner of the giveaway for a Kindle version of Waking Beauty is Zoe B. who commented on one of the posts last week! If you could please contact me, we can work on sending out your ebook!

The next giveaway is going to run from today through next Monday or Tuesday, depending on when I get another post written. Next week is going to be rather crazy with Realm Makers.

Comment on today’s post here or on Facebook and be entered to win a Kindle version of Melanie Cellier’s The Princess Game. This retelling of Sleeping Beauty is book 5 in her Four Kingdoms series. It can be read out of order since each retelling acts as a standalone so don’t be put off by the fact that I’m giving away book 5 in a series, though I guarantee you’ll want to read the whole series!

The Four Kingdoms series is a series of fairy tale retellings that are all clean, fun, and absolutely hilarious. The Princess Game is one of the more inventive versions of Sleeping Beauty that I’ve read. Instead of the princess being physically asleep, she’s cursed to have her mind “sleeping” as it were so that while she has a brilliant mind, she can’t show it to other people without consequences.

Don’t forget to comment here or on Facebook to be entered to win!


Midnight’s Curse Update!

I got my proof book for Midnight’s Curse this week, and it was surreal to hold the book in my hands. In some ways, holding that first proof book is more exciting to me than the actual release date. It is the moment the book becomes a real book, and usually by the time release day rolls around I’m in such a state of exhaustion I don’t have the energy to squeal and celebrate the way I do over the proof book.

Good news is, the book is on track for its release date. Bad news is, I am not going to have copies available at Realm Makers like I was hoping. There just wasn’t time to do a good job at editing, proofing, and order books with time for them to ship before Realm Makers while still having a product I felt comfortable selling.

BUT if you are going to Realm Makers, make sure you find me. I’ll have a printed sneak peek at the first two chapters of Midnight’s Curse that I’ll be giving away for free for those who find me and ask for it. And I’ll take the proof copy along so you can get an early glimpse of what the book is going to look like.

If you want to help launch Midnight’s Curse, please make sure you sign up by following this link. There are still plenty of spots available, so don’t hesitate, even if you don’t think you’ll have time to read the book before the release. Even a simple spotlight helps.


Dagger’s Sleep Read-Along

This week, I’m going to change things around and give my snippets and thoughts on the chapters today, then hopefully do a post about the origins of the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale on Friday. Spoiler warning if you haven’t read the book yet or aren’t finished with all of these chapters yet.

Chapter Eight

This chapter is, in some ways, Alex’s first glimpse of the “real” world outside of his sheltered life in the palace. It is his first taste of traveling as a regular person. And he is absolutely annoying while he’s at it. Honestly, annoying Alex was a little too much fun to write, even if he was infuriating. He at least wasn’t a boring character, lol.

Chapter Nine

This chapter is something of a turning point. It is the moment Rosanna’s journey switches from a fun paddle up the river to something dangerous. It was a surprisingly hard chapter to write. I rewrote it several times, combined what was two chapters into one, and rearranged the placement of it in the book.

Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten is Alex’s counterpoint to Rosanna’s chapter nine. It is the moment he first faces danger on his quest. It is also the moment we first catch a glimpse of who he could become if he would be nicer.

Fun side note about the rope bridges in the book: When I was little, my dad helped us build a fort complete with a rope bridge, though our rope bridge was reinforced with chains so that it wouldn’t break. We spent hours running back and forth while swinging our wooden swords, barely hanging on. While writing Dagger’s Sleep, I had the idea to add rope bridges into the trail system of Tallahatchia, something that made it different from the real life Appalachian Trail, Natchez Trace, and Warrior Path the Cheyandoah Trace is based on. But bridges seemed to fit the world, and I loved the way bridges in the book served as a simple of either a connected Tallahatchia or a crumbling one.

Chapter Eleven

This chapter was definitely inspired by the old Disney movie Davy Crockett and the River Pirates. Actually, you’ll probably notice a lot of the book was inspired by both that movie and the first movie in its two part arc, Davy Crockett and the Keelboat Race. Both movies were ones I watched a lot as a kid. Interestingly enough, they are both based on old Davy Crockett legends from the 1800s and weren’t something Walt Disney made up out of thin air.

Old legends blown out of proportion was something I wanted to hint at in Dagger’s Sleep. It is a world where legends become tall tales told around campfires, and someone like Daemyn can become a living legend the way Davy Crockett did in his own lifetime.

Chapter Twelve

I LOVE this chapter. Jadon’s family was so much fun to write, and I love the tension at the end between Jadon and his brother. It starts deepening the character development for both Alex and Jadon.

Also, the whole “mystery” meat thing is a bit of an inside joke. In Deliver, my editor commented how I kept having the characters eating mystery meat without ever saying what it was (oops). So in Dagger’s Sleep, I may have giggled as I purposely wrote in a mystery meat, then made Alex eat it.

Chapter Thirteen

More Rosanna and Daemyn moments! Also, I did a ridiculous amount of research about how birch bark canoes are made for this chapter.

Chapter Fourteen

Can’t you tell I have a lot of fun shoving Alex out of his arrogant comfort zone?

Also, more research. Buffalo used to live in the Appalachian Mountains, which is kind of mind-blowing since they are usually associated with out west. I did research on how they were hunted before horses and firearms.

And, once again, I love Jadon’s family so much! Especially Luke.

Writing their mountain accent was difficult. I’m not a native to Appalachia and even with research, I knew I wasn’t going to be 100% accurate. And writing full dialect can be more difficult to read. I went for a hybrid option, using a sprinkling of dialect words and focusing more on capturing some of the cadence.

What did you guys think of Jadon’s family? And is Alex driving you crazy yet with his annoying arrogance? Do you have any other questions for me on these chapters?