How I Write Fairy Tale Retellings

I posted at Forbidden Fiction describing how I come up with ways to retell myths and fairy tales:

I think that most retellings of fairy tales and myths are about answering questions raised by the stories but not resolved — or about adjusting the traditional answers given. This is why I can read literally dozens of versions of Bluebeard or Cinderella without ever getting tired of it. Each author has a different take on the questions that bother them or how they answer them.

You can read the rest here.

Announcing The Six Swans

My novella, The Six Swans, came out this weekend from Coming Together. Here's a description of the book:

The young King Evan struggles to become a man and ruler amid the choking influence of his mother’s spies and machinations. When he meets a silent, beautiful woman in the woods, he can’t resist the pure, honest sensuality of her touch. Bringing her to the castle as his wife and queen is Evan’s declaration of independence. The king’s hard-won happiness falls apart, however, when his mother accuses his new wife of murdering their first-born child. Evan believes that the private, physical language he shares with his queen tells him everything he needs to know, but as tragedy strikes again and again, his love and faith are tested to the breaking point.

"The Six Swans" retells an old fairy tale of a princess who must take a vow of silence to save her brothers from a curse, the king who falls in love with her despite the seeming insanity of the curse conditions, and the sexual connection that’s strong enough to overcome the isolating power of the princess’ vow.

I've written a lot about this publisher. The tagline is "Doing Good While Being Bad." All proceeds from sales of The Six Swans go to Kiva, an organization that gives microloans. The book is on sale for $1.99 from online retailers including 1PlaceForRomance, Smashwords, and Amazon.

The Three Wives of Bluebeard

The Bluebeard myth has always been one of my favorites. It's so vivid in my imagination: the gloom and emptiness of a rich, abandoned house; a secret that burns to be uncovered; the rage of the man who buried the secret.

I've done a retelling that will be coming out from Forbidden Fiction--my longest piece for them yet. It's a lesbian threesome ghost story (so exciting to write that description). It's called "The Three Wives of Bluebeard," and I'll post an excerpt and more details when they're available.