Looking for a Fairy-Tale Ending?

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Today I'm pleased to welcome Crystal Connor to my blog. She's the author of a fascinating collection of "not-fairy" tales, where "happily ever after" just might be a myth, and she's hear to answer a question I sent to her. She's also offering a wonderful giveaway, so make sure you read the whole post :)


Fairy Tales - Love them or Loath them.

Thanks so much for having me today Shelia and wow, what an awesome question:  Fairy tales - love them or loath them?  I have a love-hate relationship with fairy tales, but I have to admit I cried my eyes out while watching the Princess and The Frog and I loved how the writers of Maleficent reimagines Sleeping Beauty but I prefer the older darker telling of the tales because I think today’s stories tell the wrong tale. 

For instance in Disney’s Little Mermaid, Ariel disobeys her father but still gets her ‘happily ever after’ at the end but in the original tale she dies. The moral to the story is to be happy with what you have but where is moral if your bad behavior is rewarded?

Disney’s retelling of Little Red Riding Hood is infuriating because Red is really kind of stupid. How in the world does she not recognize the furry, fanged, clawed, raspy voiced wolf just because he is wearing a nightgown? 

In an Italian version of Little Red Riding Hood pre-dating the Brothers Grimm the wolf beats Red to the cabin, kills and cooks the grandmother but this is the only part of the story that remains today as in that telling the wolf shares the meal with Red before he tricks (seduces) her to take off  all of her clothes and then he kills her while they’re in bed and eats her too … no huntsmen to come and safe the day.  

Today’s fairy tales tells kids that everything will work out in the end, but that’s not how the world works. I blame modern days fairy tales for women suffering from Cinderella syndrome, waiting for some guy to come along, fall in love with you and safe/rescue you from all your troubles. Or women who stay in unsafe relationships because thanks to Beauty and The Beast they think if they can just love him enough that they can change him. 

I think that’s the reason I have such a love hate relationship with these types of stories.  Because I am a connoisseur of all things horror the older tales appeal to me but I think the modern retelling of them do more harm than good.



I have my own love-hate relationship with fairy-tales too, or perhaps it's hate-love instead. As a child, I found myself loathing the stories that everyone else loved. It was all the Snow Queen's fault. My brother insisted I had to read her before he'd let me borrow his "real" books. But I cheated. Unable to cope with the Snow Queen's prose, I volunteered to clean upstairs and read my brother's books while cleaning his room.

 Today I really like fairy-tales, especially when I can find something about the history and mythology behind them. But Disney tales--well, that's a different thing, just as you say.

Anyway, thank you for visiting my blog Crystal. And now, here's some information about the book for readers:


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Title:  And They All Lived Happily Ever After!
Author:   Crystal Connor
Published:  August 28th, 2012
Word Count:  approx. 65,000
Genre:  Horror, Sci-Fi, Dark Fantasy
Recommended Age:  13+
Synopsis:
Once upon a time, in a dark & scary place, in a frightening land way too close to home…
Crystal Connor’s …And They All Lived Happily Ever After! is a collection of short fables not meant for children; but for those who enjoy the madness of nightmares.
In the ‘Queen’s Pawn’ you’ll visit a magical kingdom full of wonder and splendor only to come to the sickening realization that when the Queen had a message…she sends her pawns.
The perils of eating forbidden fruit have been cautioned against since the Book of Genesis, but will our urban princess in ‘The Apple’ heed those warnings?
Embark on a mystical and treacherous quest to reach ‘The Ruins’, located in place so sacred that is should never be visited by mortal man.
These are just a few of the adventures you’ll have as you explore the dark imagination of Crystal Connor. Fourteen short stories of horror, science fiction, and fantasy; 65,306 words of terror by a single author who clearly intends to one day be known as a Master in the genre.
Monsters, Women, and Villains (oh my)!

Find it here...
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads  
Book Trailer Link:   http://youtu.be/GHvrlWTDFOo

And her's an Excerpt to whet your appetite:  
There's a whole host of benefits allotted to those, who like myself, possess these very specialized set of skills. One of the benefits is, that afterward, you sleep really good at night and I mean really good. 

What? 
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Well, it's true, it's hard to believe I know, but trust me it's true. Sam, my uncle, sent me to this exotic land that used to smell of frankincense and myrrh. He sent us there, my brothers-in-arms and me, so that we could become proficient in the art of death. We were good at what we did too, because now it only smells of gunpowder, burnt oil, and death. That's a hellofa predicament you've found yourself in, isn't it? 

Well, at least now you know I'm good with a gun and thanks to my Uncle Sam I am also very comfortable with a blade. This ten inch beauty here is a staple, it’s sharp enough to be use as machete. But this one, with the gut hook, is my all time favorite and I'll show you why here in a minute. Now, I can understand why you broke into my home, these are tough times, and a guys gotta eat I get that. I do. 

Maybe I would have let you live if you had simply demanded my money and jewels, but, then again, I was never known for being charitable.


Meet the Author:
photo Crystal-Connor.jpgWashington State native Crystal Connor has been terrorizing readers since before Jr. high School and loves anything to do with monsters, bad guys, rogue scientific experiments, jewelry, sky-high high heel shoes & unreasonably priced hang bags. She is also considering changing her professional title to dramatization specialist because it’s so much more theatrical than being just a mere drama queen. Along with inducing insomnia within her readership Crystal also reviews indie horror and sci-fi movies for HorrorAddicts.net
Amazon Author Page | Facebook | Twitter | GoodReads | Blog
 


 
Find our more, follow the tour:





And Enter the Giveaway:
There is a tour wide giveaway. Prizes include the following:
1 Lucky winner will get a print copy of And They All Lived Happily Ever After!
    Giveaway is International
    a Rafflecopter giveaway




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    Comments

    Ruth Cox aka abitosunshine said…
    I rather enjoy fairy tales, old and new. As with all fiction, I take them as a magic carpet ride into fantasy land, reading for enjoyment of fiction, not fact.
    October 17, 2014 at 3:40 PM
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