Twisted Science Fiction in Fairy Tales

Hope your Fourth of July was all that you wanted. I was just happy to stay home and enjoy our great weather on the deck.

I signed up Caught in Time for an add on Robin Reads for June 30 but was a bit disappointed at the follow on sales. However, the price was right at $25 for science fiction. The site appears to show a lot of romance books and maybe sells that better.

Coming up July 23, I’m offering Cosmic Entanglement free through Freebooksy. This does have romance also, but a young romance. One of the astronaut trainee bets another that he can get a beautiful Ching T’Karre girl to talk to him. Her culture forbids her to talk to males not recognized by her clan. So, the arrogant young man does all sorts of crazy things to get her to acknowledge him…and eventually falls in love. His path of young love gets rocky. A cross between ender’s Game and Tinker, Tailor Soldier, Spy. Check it out

Meanwhile my first book in the Terran Trilogy, A World too Far, will be coming out in August. I’m waiting on the cover at the moment.

As you know, I’m in the Powell’s science fiction book group. Our current two books to read are Uprooted by Naomi Novak and Cinder by Marissa Meyer.

Yeah, I know. I hear you asking where’s the science fiction? That was the question I was asking, too. And what’s with this trend of adapting fairy tales? YA, are you kidding?

Turns out Cinder is a cyborg. Okay, then. That got my attention. As a mechanic by day, she meets the prince who is searching for the missing princess of Luna, thought to be burned in in a suspicious fire. (We can see this train coming a mile away.) But instead of a silly glass slipper dropped on the steps as she runs out of the Prince’s ball, she drops a whole metal foot. Quirky. The story takes place in New Beijing after WWIV during a plague that is devastating Earth. The Queen of Luna is trying to maneuver the Prince into marrying her so she can take over Earth. Meyer is creative with her Cinderella adaptation as she adds futuristic components to a well known fairy tale.

There’s lots more that I don’t want to reveal, and I found it to be a fun read. Meyer has a whole series that follows various familiar fairy tales. The next one is Scarlet that deals with the wicked queen of Luna again, but this time involves a handsome character named Wolf…so guess what that twist might be.

Uprooted by Naomi Novik also got a lot of buzz. It won the 2015 Nebula award and made at least ten best book lists for 2015. Ellen DeGeneres has bought rights for a movie adaption, so you may be hearing more about it in the future.

In this story, we have fantasy with earth magic that loosely follows the Beauty and the Beast motif. Once every ten years a maiden from the peaceful valley of our narrator is selected to serve the cold, powerful sorcerer who keeps in check the malevolent woods that border her village.

Everyone in the village figures the sorcerer,  known as Dragon, will pick the beautiful, intelligent Kasia when time for the choosing comes. In a surprise move, however, he picks our narrator, Agnieszka (that’s the name, all right) who is shy and awkward. With that name, who wouldn’t be?

From this shy damsel to a powerful magician in her own right, the apprentice and magician interact, evolve, and together try to save the valley from the spreading evil of the woods.

Okay, so I liked that one better than I thought I would, and that’s why I have included it in this week’s blog. It’s all about diversity and choice. Something for everyone.

ps. Did you catch the news on the Juno arrival at Jupiter? Awesome pictures of this momentous event and details are online.

http://www.space.com/33375-juno-jupiter-probe-turns-on-science-instruments.html