Talking animals are terrifying

I started this blog nearly two years ago, way back around the time that I had my fourth story published, and the post immediately after my obligatory inaugural Welcome post was connected to that story. It didn’t provide any info on the story itself or the anthology in which it was published, but rather was a relatively brief set-up for and link to an interview between the publisher and myself. In addition to some background profile info about me as a writer, the interview touched on what my story was about and where readers could pick up a copy, and I didn’t want the blog post to be too redundant. I was still kind of figuring out how exactly this writer blog thing was going to work.

Fortunately, I now find myself with a second chance, because the tale in question, “My Name is Melise”, has been reprinted in a brand new anthology released this week! Distressing Damsels is published by Fantasia Divinity, and you can get a paperback or Kindle version here.

To be honest, another reason why my initial blog post connected to this story didn’t get too detailed on hyping the story was because I didn’t want to give away the big twist. Even in the interview I was linking to, I admitted as much. When answering the question “From where did the inspiration for your submission arise?”, I danced around a proper response, saying that I liked the idea of retelling a fairy tale in a science-fiction setting as well as dropping the clue that the particular fairy tale heroine was not one of the big Disney Princesses^TM.

So, since that narrows down the contenders listed on the back cover, can you guess which story is mine? Stop reading now if you’re spoiler-averse, but if you’re still curious …

 

 

 

… the adaptation I penned was Thumbelina. It’s a creepy, pulpy take on the tale, with a significantly different ending, and while it was fun to warp one of my own childhood memories the process actually drove home just how dark the original fairy tale was. I strayed from the antecedent, but not as much as you might think. If you’re intrigued, get yourself a copy of the new collection!