New Book: Wanted (The Storymakers) by Betsy Schow

Wanted (The Storymakers) by Betsy Schow was released earlier this year. This is a sequel to Spelled, which drew inspiration from Wizard of Oz while this one draws more from Robin Hood and Camelot. Not technically fairy tales, but they are so often lumped with them that they are considered so by the general public. Not going to quibble here since they are probably still of interest to readers here whether they are not fairy tales!

The third book in the series, Banished, will be released in early 2018.

Book description:

In the sequel to Spelled, can Robin Hood's daughter, Rexi, stop the Wicked Witch from finding Excalibur?

Fairy-Tale Survival Rule No. 52:
No matter how difficult the obstacles or all-powerful the evil villain, one can rest assured that the hero of the story never dies. The sidekicks though...they should be worried.

Rexi Hood is proud to be an outlaw. After all, she's the daughter of the infamous Robin Hood. But sidekick? Accomplice? Sorry, that wasn't in her story description. Yeah, she and Princess Dorthea of Emerald have been inseparable since they teamed up to fight the wickedest witch. But if Rexi doesn't figure out how to break the curse that binds them, forget being overshadowed by the spirited princess, Rexi's going to become a Forgotten, wiped from the pages of Story and reduced to a puddle of ink.

Not happening. No way in Spell.

Rexi's plan? Steal the sword Excalibur and use its magic to write her own tale. But Gwenevere has opened a new Academy of Villains in Camelot and danger lurks behind every plot twist. And you know how it goes in Story: keep your friends close and your enemies closer...

Bargain Ebook: Midnight Robber by Nalo Hopkinson

Midnight Robber by Nalo Hopkinson is on sale this month in ebook format for $2.99, down from the usual $9.99 range. Hopkinson uses folklore in her novels and this one uses some Robin Hood and other tale types.

Book description:

It's Carnival time and the Caribbean-colonized planet of Toussaint is celebrating with music, dance, and pageantry. Masked "Midnight Robbers" waylay revelers with brandished weapons and spellbinding words. To young Tan-Tan, the Robber Queen is simply a favorite costume to wear at the festival-until her power-corrupted father commits an unforgiveable crime.

Suddenly, both father and daughter are thrust into the brutal world of New Half-Way Tree. Here monstrous creatures from folklore are real, and the humans are violent outcasts in the wilds. Tan-Tan must reach into the heart of myth and become the Robber Queen herself. For only the Robber Queen's legendary powers can save her life . . . and set her free.

New Release: Lion Heart: A Scarlet Novel by A. C. Gaughen

Lion Heart: A Scarlet Novel by A. C. Gaughen is released this week in the US and UK. See Lion Heart: A Scarlet Novel (UK Link). This is the third book in the Scarlet series, following Scarlet and Lady Thief: A Scarlet Novel.

Book description:

Scarlet has captured the hearts of readers as well as the heart of Robin Hood, and after ceaseless obstacles and countless threats, readers will finally find out the fate of the Lady Thief.

Imprisoned by Prince John for months, Scarlet finds herself a long way from Nottinghamshire. After a daring escape from the Prince's clutches, she learns that King Richard's life is in jeopardy, and Eleanor of Aquitaine demands a service Scarlet can't refuse: spy for her and help bring Richard home safe. But fate-and her heart-won't allow her to stay away from Nottinghamshire for long, and together, Scarlet and Rob must stop Prince John from going through with his dark plans for England. They can not rest until he's stopped, but will their love be enough to save them once and for all?

New Release: The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest (A Medieval Fairy Tale) by Melanie Dickerson

(US/UK Links)

The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest (A Medieval Fairy Tale) by Melanie Dickerson is released this week in the US and UK, see The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest (Medieval Fairy Tale Romance) (UK Link). This is the first book in a new series by Dickerson. She previously wrote  another series of fairy tale inspired romances, the last one was The Princess Spy, a Frog Prince inspired novel.

Book description:

Swan Lake meets Robin Hood when the beautiful daughter of a wealthy merchant by day becomes the region’s most notorious poacher by night, and falls in love with the forester.

Jorgen is the forester for the wealthy margrave, and must find and capture the poacher who has been killing and stealing the margrave’s game. When he meets the lovely and refined Odette at the festival and shares a connection during a dance, he has no idea she is the one who has been poaching the margrave’s game.

Odette justifies her crime of poaching because she thinks the game is going to feed the poor, who are all but starving, both in the city and just outside its walls. But will the discovery of a local poaching ring reveal a terrible secret? Has the meat she thought she was providing for the poor actually been sold on the black market, profiting no one except the ring of black market sellers?

The one person Odette knows can help her could also find out her own secret and turn her over to the margrave, but she has no choice. Jorgen and Odette will band together to stop the dangerous poaching ring . . . and fall in love. But what will the margrave do when he discovers his forester is protecting a notorious poacher?

Two Bargain Ebooks for the Day

Scarlet by A. C. Gaughen is on sale for $1.99 today only in ebook format. It's Robin Hood, so a folklore retelling, of course.

And while we're here, another book of interest to some readers here, Agatha H. and the Clockwork Princess (Girl Genius Book 2) by Phil and Kaja Foglio, is also on sale for a short while for $1.99. It usually ranges in the $9.99 range and is full of steampunk fun. Very well reviewed, too.

Book description for Scarlet:

Posing as one of Robin Hood's thieves to avoid the evil Lord Gisbourne, Scarlet has kept her identity secret from all of Nottinghamshire. Only Big John and Robin Hood know the truth-that the agile thief posing as a whip of a boy is actually a fearless young woman with a secret past. It's getting harder to hide as Gisbourne's camp seeks to find Scarlet and drive Robin Hood out of Nottinghamshire.

But Scarlet's instinct for self-preservation is at war with a strong sense of responsibility to the people who took her in when she was on the run, and she finds it's not so easy to turn her back on her band and townspeople. As Gisbourne draws closer to Scarlet and puts innocent lives at risk, she must decide how much the people of Nottinghamshire mean to her, especially John Little, a flirtatious fellow outlaw, and Robin, whose quick smiles and temper have the rare power to unsettle Scarlet. Full of exciting action, secrets, and romance, this imaginative retelling of the classic tale will have readers following every move of Robin Hood and band of thieves.

Book description for Agatha H. and the Clockwork Princess (Girl Genius Book 2):

Intrigue! Subterfuge! Circus Folk!

In a time when the Industrial Revolution has escalated into all-out warfare, mad science rules the world… with mixed success.

With the help of Krosp, Emperor of All Cats, Agatha has escaped from the massive airship known as Castle Wulfenbach. After crashing their escape dirigible, Agatha and Krosp fall in with Master Payne's Circus of Adventure, a traveling troupe of performers dedicated to staging Heterodyne shows—dramatizations of the exploits of Bill and Barry Heterodyne and their allies—who are unaware of Agatha’s connection to the Heterodyne line.

Pursued by the ruthless Baron Klaus Wulfenbach, his handsome son Gil, and their minions (not to mention Othar Tryggvassen, Gentleman Adventurer), Agatha hides in plain sight among the circus folk, servicing their clanks and proving herself adept in performing the role of Lucrezia Mongfish, nemesis to—and later wife of—Barry Heterodyne. She also begins training under Zeetha, swordmistress and princess of the lost city of Skifander. Together, Agatha, Krosp, and the performers travel across the treacherous wasteland of war-torn Europa, towards Mechanicsburg, and the ancestral home of the Heterodynes—Castle Heterodyne.

But with many perils standing in her way—including Wulfenbach’s crack troops, mysterious Geisterdamen, savage Jägermonsters, and the fabled Storm King—it’s going to take more than a spark of Mad Science for Agatha to get through…

From Phil and Kaja Foglio, creators of the multiple WCCA and Hugo Award-winning webcomic Girl Genius, comes Agatha H and the Clockwork Princess, a gaslamp fantasy filled to bursting with Adventure! Romance! And Mad Science!

Bargain Ebook: The Outlaws of Sherwood by Robin McKinley for $1.99

The Outlaws of Sherwood by Robin McKinley has dropped to $1.99 in ebook format from $6.39. I imagine this is a temporary drop so get it while you can. I am on a quest to get the entire Robin McKinley ebook library at reasonable prices since I already own them all in hardcover copies and can't justify a sweeping purchase of them at full price. I enjoyed this one when it was first released and I was a very eager teenager. Crazy to think how many years ago that was now...

Book description:

The Robin Hood legend comes thrillingly alive in Robin McKinley’s reimagining of the classic adventure

Young Robin Longbow, subapprentice forester in the King’s Forest of Nottingham, must contend with the dislike of the Chief Forester, who bullies Robin in memory of his popular father. But Robin does not want to leave Nottingham or lose the title to his father’s small tenancy, because he is in love with a young lady named Marian—and keeps remembering that his mother too was gentry and married a common forester.

Robin has been granted a rare holiday to go to the Nottingham Fair, where he will spend the day with his friends Much and Marian. But he is ambushed by a group of the Chief Forester’s cronies, who challenge him to an archery contest . . . and he accidentally kills one of them in self-defense.

He knows his own life is forfeit. But Much and Marian convince him that perhaps his personal catastrophe is also an opportunity: an opportunity for a few stubborn Saxons to gather together in the secret heart of Sherwood Forest and strike back against the arrogance and injustice of the Norman overlords.

Finally! Robin McKinley Backlist Available in Ebook Format

Hello, I'm Heidi and I'm a bookaholic. Which means I have a very long wishlist of books for my ebook devices. Much of that list has been honored by publishers releasing backlists but there are some major authors missing on my list. One of them is Robin McKinley. Yes, I own her oeuvre in paper but I want it in the much more portable ebook edition. These days I don't feel relaxed unless I have a 1,000+ books at my fingertips at any given moment.

So imagine my glee when I saw that much of McKinley's backlist will finally be available in ebook for my rereading convenience near or far and to share with the nieces who get to read books on my account. One niece is at the perfect McKinley reading age and I really wanted those books for her this past year but now is just fine, too.

So the following titles will be released to ebook format on 11/18/14 in the US. And there was much rejoicing! For some odd reason, The Blue Sword is missing from the releases list. I don't know why. Hari needs to be digitized, too. But I won't beg too much since I am getting these now. Well, I won't beg too much.

Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast

The Hero and the Crown (no fairy tales but an important book of my youth)

Sunshine (Beauty and the Beast)

Deerskin (Donkeyskin)

The Outlaws of Sherwood (Robin Hood)

A Knot in the Grain: and Other Stories

Rose Daughter (Beauty and the Beast)

The Door in the Hedge: and Other Stories (My first exposure to Twelve Dancing Princesses)

Description:

So begins “The Stolen Princess,” the first story of this collection, about the meeting between the human princess Linadel and the faerie prince Donathor. “The Princess and the Frog” concerns Rana and her unexpected alliance with a small, green, flipper-footed denizen of a pond in the palace gardens. “The Hunting of the Hind” tells of a princess who has bewitched her beloved brother, hoping to beg some magic of cure, for her brother is dying, and the last tale is a retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses in which an old soldier discovers, with a little help from a lavender-eyed witch, the surprising truth about where the princesses dance their shoes to tatters every night.