As for me, I claimed The Nightingale. It's been one of my favorites since I was a kid, though it's lesser known (and lesser done) than some. The story is about a plain brown nightingale whose songs enchant a Chinese emperor (the story was written by Hans Christian Andersen). One day, the emperor is gifted a beautiful, jeweled mechanical nightingale and forgets about the plain bird. But when the emperor falls ill and seeks the comfort of the mechanical nightingale's music, the machine breaks. The live nightingale returns to comfort him.
This story has so many elements I love... the tension between the "real" and the mechanical, and, of course, music. For my retelling, I automatically thought, "well, what if the nightingale were an opera singer instead of a bird?" And then I did a little background research and found out that Andersen wrote the story as an ode to opera singer Jenny Lind (yes, that Jenny Lind who was so poorly portrayed in The Greatest Showman), who was known as the Swedish Nightingale. Which made things extra cool.
My version will take place on an alien planet... with a teen empress as the main character, a charming young tenor as the nightingale, and an AI singer as the mechanical bird. Except this isn't going to go the way you think... One of the most fun parts about retellings is getting to flip the established story on its head (like how Once Upon A Time made Peter Pan into a villain and had Red Riding Hood as a shapeshifter who transforms into the Wolf). I've been wanting to write this story for ages, so when Lyssa proposed the Snowy Wings anthology, I was like, "I have just the thing!"
Anyway, this was supposed to be a cover reveal post! Thanks for bearing with me... and now, here's the cover, which was designed by KimG Design (www.kimg-design.com, @kimgdesign on Instagram, @who_is_kimy on Twitter). Isn't it gorgeous???
Once upon a time is eternal…
Turn the pages and fall into the enchanting worlds of beloved, age-old fairy tales made new again in this fifteen-story collection from Snowy Wings Publishing.
A girl with long, long hair is trapped in an attic, ensnared by promises of immortality, the radio her only companion. An android wants to believe in her life, that the feelings she has are real—and that she might be just as beautiful as her famous stepsister. A gamer must save her true love from the mysterious, dark entity that has ensnared him in their MMORPG. A modern teen is lured to the fantastical Land of the Dolls, and only her own cunning can help her escape. These are just a few of the bewitching tales found within Magic at Midnight.
From sci-fi to fantasy, contemporary to historical, paranormal and more, there’s a fairy tale retelling in this collection for every reader. Featuring stories from bestselling and award-winning YA authors as well as emerging voices, this anthology will take you to distant worlds and back again—all just familiar enough to make you feel at home.
Turn the pages and fall into the enchanting worlds of beloved, age-old fairy tales made new again in this fifteen-story collection from Snowy Wings Publishing.
A girl with long, long hair is trapped in an attic, ensnared by promises of immortality, the radio her only companion. An android wants to believe in her life, that the feelings she has are real—and that she might be just as beautiful as her famous stepsister. A gamer must save her true love from the mysterious, dark entity that has ensnared him in their MMORPG. A modern teen is lured to the fantastical Land of the Dolls, and only her own cunning can help her escape. These are just a few of the bewitching tales found within Magic at Midnight.
From sci-fi to fantasy, contemporary to historical, paranormal and more, there’s a fairy tale retelling in this collection for every reader. Featuring stories from bestselling and award-winning YA authors as well as emerging voices, this anthology will take you to distant worlds and back again—all just familiar enough to make you feel at home.
COMING MAY 29!
Add it on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37799951-magic-at-midnight
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