Once Upon a Retelling: The Raven's Tale by Cat Winters

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Welcome to Once Upon a Retelling! I'm a huge fan of retellings, and I'm really interested in hearing about authors' own love of the original stories, and what inspired them to retell those stories. And so Once Upon a Retelling was born, a feature in which I interview authors about their versions of well-loved tales.

Today, I'm stoked to have Cat Winters stopping by the blog to discuss her fantasy retelling of the life Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven's Tale.

Can you tell us a little about The Raven’s Tale? What kind of a retelling of Edgar Allan Poe’s life is it?

THE RAVEN’S TALE focuses on the events of Edgar Allan Poe’s life between February 1826 and April 1827, when he was 17 and 18 years old. The novel opens when young “Eddy” is preparing to escape his difficult home life and head to the prestigious University of Virginia. I’ve stuck closely to the historical details of Poe’s real life and populated the book with his family members, friends, and classmates. However, half of the chapters are narrated by young Poe’s burgeoning Gothic muse, so you’ll find fantasy intertwined with reality in my interpretation of the legendary author’s teen years.

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Once Upon a Retelling: White Rose by Kip Wilson

Welcome to Once Upon a Retelling! I'm a huge fan of retellings, and I'm really interested in hearing about authors' own love of the original stories, and what inspired them to retell those stories. And so Once Upon a Retelling was born, a feature in which I interview authors about their versions of well-loved tales.

Today, I'm really excited to have Kip Wilson stopping by the blog to talk about her retelling of the life of Sophie Scholl, White Rose.

Can you tell us a little about White Rose? What kind of a retelling of Sophie Scholl’s life is it?

Most of the books available about Sophie Scholl are either biographies that cover her entire life or non-fiction about the White Rose resistance group in general, and furthermore, most of them are in German. I personally love non-fiction and biographies, but I find both verse and first-person retellings more engaging, so that’s why I decided to focus White Rose on Sophie’s young adulthood in very close first-person verse (and in English, which is my native language).

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Once Upon a Retelling: Monsters by Sharon Dogar (+ Giveaway)

This post contains affiliate links.

Welcome to Once Upon a Retelling! I'm a huge fan of retellings, and I'm really interested in hearing about authors' own love of the original stories, and what inspired them to retell those stories. And so Once Upon a Retelling was born, a feature in which I interview authors about their versions of well-loved tales.

Today, I'm really excited to have Sharon Dogar stopping by the blog to discuss Monsters, her retelling of Mary Shelley's life. Read to the end for a giveaway of an proof of Monsters (which was sent to me for free by Andersen Press for the purposes of providing an honest review).

Can you tell us a little about Monsters? What kind of a retelling of Mary Shelley’s life is it?

Monsters is a retelling of Mary’s life from just before she met the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (aged 16 in 1814) to the publication of her own novel Frankenstein in 1820. In these few short years Mary and her step-sister Claire, eloped with an aristocratic atheist poet, became unmarried mother’s and flirted with the idea of poly-amory. Monsters follows Mary and Claire as they try to understand what it might mean to be intelligent, radical young women who refuse to conform to the early nineteenth century idea of what a woman should be. There were other women at the time, such as Jane Austen, who challenged the status quo, but she did it secretly, where Mary and Claire made public their beliefs, and in consequence were both ostracised and ridiculed.

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Review: Monsters by Sharon Dogar (#Ad)

I received this eProof for free from Andersen Press via NetGalley for the puposes of providing an honest review.

Monsters by Sharon Dogar

Published: 7th February 2019 | Publisher: Andersen Press  | Source: Publisher via NetGalley
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1814: Mary Godwin, the sixteen-year-old daughter of radical socialist and feminist writers, runs away with a dangerously charming young poet - Percy Bysshe Shelley. From there, the two young lovers travel a Europe in the throes of revolutionary change, through high and low society, tragedy and passion, where they will be drawn into the orbit of the mad and bad Lord Byron.
But Mary and Percy are not alone: they bring Jane, Mary's young step-sister. And she knows the biggest secrets of them all . . .

Told from Mary and Jane's perspectives, Monsters is a novel about radical ideas, rule-breaking love, dangerous Romantics, and the creation of the greatest Gothic novel of them all: Frankenstein From Goodreads.

Trigger Warning: This book features infant death and suicide.

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Once Upon a Retelling: The Dead Queens Club by Hannah Capin

Welcome to Once Upon a Retelling! I'm a huge fan of retellings, and I'm really interested in hearing about authors' own love of the original stories, and what inspired them to retell those stories. And so Once Upon a Retelling was born, a feature in which I interview authors about their versions of well-loved tales.

Today, I'm excited to have Hannah Capin stopping by the blog to discuss her retelling of Henry VIII's wives, The Dead Queens Club.

Can you tell us a little about The Dead Queens Club? What kind of a retelling of Henry VIII and his six wives is it?

THE DEAD QUEENS CLUB reimagines Henry and his wives in the 21 st century...in high school. It’s a dark comedy with lots of drama—it’s basically MEAN GIRLS meets THE TUDORS!

Why the story of Henry VIII and his wives? What drew you to these historical people? And what inspired you to retell their story?

Henry VIII is such a larger-than-life figure, and his reign reads like a script—it’s a story that still holds our attention 500 years later! For me, though, it’s always been the six wives who deserved a retelling. They were all smart, fascinating women, and the narrative so often pits them against each other when that doesn't need to be the case.

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Once Upon a Retelling: The Unbinding of Mary Reade by Miriam McNamara

Welcome to Once Upon a Retelling! I'm a huge fan of retellings, and I'm really interested in hearing about authors' own love of the original stories, and what inspired them to retell those stories. And so Once Upon a Retelling was born, a feature in which I interview authors about their versions of well-loved tales.

I'm really excited to have Miriam McNamara stopping by the blog today to talk to us about her retelling of the life of historical female pirate, Mary Read, The Unbinding of Mary Reade.

Can you tell us a little about The Unbinding of Mary Reade? What kind of a retelling of Mary Reade’s life is it?

The Unbinding of Mary Reade is based on the life of Mary Read, a pirate who was part of Jack Rackham’s crew near the end of the Golden Age of Piracy. When I originally set out to write her story and began researching, I discovered that what many people take as fact about Mary’s life comes from a book called A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates, which was published under the pseudonym Captain Charles Johnson in 1724. But this book is full of information that conflicts with confirmed historical record, and there is still no consensus on who actually wrote the book (Daniel Defoe is often listed as the author, but many experts believe that it was almost certainly not him). Most of what we know about Mary’s life is little more than a story, so I decided to retell that story by putting what drew me to Mary’s character front and center.

Continue reading Once Upon a Retelling: The Unbinding of Mary Reade by Miriam McNamara