Hi, I'm Brielle, a fantasy writer with too many hobbies and a love of costuming.
#nanowrimo2021 begins
Sort of. I'm not exactly attempting Nanowrimo, but I do have goals that involve writing a new book this month. Beginning it that is. I don't know when I'll get to the end.
What are your November plans? Or do you not really make plans and just freewheel madly through life? That can work too sometimes.
More on the plans and what adversely I'm writing is over on my blog.
Random fact: I don't really drink tea, but Taiwan milk tea is a different story. Probably because it's cold and has sugar.
3 months ago
I promise the random lace is relevant. Sort of. There's some mention of sewing in this book?
Yes, I'm making excuses, but the lace had just come in the mail and after I washed it, it was so delightfully messy. It's all ironed now.
As Long As We Live by @cortneymanningauthor is a lovely retelling of Snow White and Rose Red that sadly fell victim to my reading slump. However, it was also the book that helped me get out.
You should read it (probably, I don't want to tell people what to do, especially when it comes to their reading taste.) Of you want to know why you should read it, click the link in my profile to go to my review and find the excuses I have for not having reviewed it already.
#fairytalerelling #snowwhiteandrosered #snowwhiteroseredretelling #frostedroses #booksofinstagram #booksbooksbooks #beautifulbooks #bookswithfae #faerie #bookswithroyals #badbookstagramgoodbooks
3 months ago
Nadine Brandes has a new book coming next year. It's called Wishtress. Not Wishtrees, which is what I first read it about. Tress, like long hair and females, not trees with leaves.
It's been quite a while since I read any of Nadine's books, do I'm excited to see what this one is about.
The lovely graphic was designed by @meganmcculloughbooks
Nadine is @nadinebrandes
3 months ago
#frostedroses
Happy Book Birthday to Runaway Lyrics by C. O. Bonham.
I have an interview of one of the characters over on my blog (link in profile) asking with directions to the rest of the blog tour. It's probably the character on the corner, but hard to be certain as this book features identical twins.
4 months ago
I can draw and I will now unleash my power across the world!
The power to visualise my costumes before I make them that is. My drawing skills aren't all that awesome, but I've gotten them to a useful level.
Moving on from discuss the troubles with clothing in writing fantasy, I'm now discussing making cosplay. In particular, I'm working on a design for Kyrin Altair from the Ilyon Chronicles.
Link is in my bio, the fact that it's now spring in Australia is not.
5 months ago
I just finished reading Prophet's Apprentice by Cassandra Boyson. I've read a lot of good books and I'm not sure I could call this one spectacular or groundbreaking in anyway, but I just really, really liked it.
It's a solid example of a book that uses fantasy to explore supernatural themes. Sort of a chosen one story, but not about being chosen as a hero to save the kingdom, but as a prophet to do, well, the weird stuff prophets get up to. Wyn doesn't really know what she's doing it why she's been chosen.
The characters are fun. Wynn is super capable, except when it comes to most prophet matters, Phillip keeps tripping over his own feet and the prophet is a nutter who adores Wynn, is both wise and child-like, and does everything the great one asks of him without being perfect.
It was a good book and I'm definitely planning to read more by Cassandra Boyson.
5 months ago
#silencethesirenchallenge
Today I've got another reimagined fairytale (there might be a theme of me not liking my retellings to be straightforward)
K. M. Shea's Snow Queen books (Heart of Ice, Sacrifice, and the short story collection Snowflakes) have a lot of elements of the original Hans Christian Andersen tale, but they're all spun into an epic fantasy romance. Lots of themes of courage, love and redemption and wonderful characters. The books have a lot of feeling, but a good dose of humour too and plenty of depth to the plots.
I don't really want to make comparisons to Frozen, but there's an element or three that I strongly suspect were inspired by that. The snow Queen is a princess with ice powers who got exiled to an ice castle in the mountains and she's not evil: That's in there. Some sort of moose/elk creature: Actually has nothing to do with Frozen. That's really about the extent of the overlap. Heart of Ice certainly doesn't feel like a Disney movie.
These books are linked to K. M. Shea's Timeless Fairy Tales and Fairy Tale Enchantress series, but they stand alone very well.
(All images are versions of the book covers and belong to K. M. Shea)
5 months ago
#silencethesirenchallenge
Today it's two books for the price of… well, the price is none of my business. I won The Ryn and The Remedy by @serena_chase in a Talk Like a Pirate Day giveaway many years ago and they are gorgeous books.
The books, well mostly the first one, contain so many elements from the tale of Snow White and Rose Red without taking much from the plot at all. This is a quest story with adventure, disguises, ancient evils and plenty of royals and nobles. The world building is magnificent, the allegorical elements aren't bad and the prophecies are of the long, detailed kind instead of the vague kind if that matters to you.
Unlike the emphasis of the original tale, this isn't really a story about sisters and their mother, but it does have family and romance. Pirates too.
There's magic, but only a small amount, telepathy which is something I love, and heroic and interesting characters. (sometimes they're both)
For anyone who might be confused, Snow White and Rose Red is a completely different tale from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, though it does have a dwarf of its own.
For other retellings of the tale, keep an eye out for the Frosted Roses Challenge books coming out next month. There's going to be a lot of good books.
5 months ago
#silencethesirenchallenge
Today it's a fun one!
The Entwined Tales series is extremely humourous, making fun of a bunch of fairytale tropes. This poor family has the most unhelpful fairy-godfather who has no interest in listening to what they actually want and generally makes things worse with my magical gifts.
Melanie Cellier's book in the series is what introduces me to her as an author and is at least as good as her later books. An Inconvenient Princess is funny, features twins, and doesn't approach the story of Rapunzel in at all a conventional way. It's been a while, but I can recall enough to know neither of the twins is a princess.
Honourable mention to Misfortune by Kendra E. Ardnek. It manages to merge Rapunzel with the apocryphal story of Daniel and the Dragon and sticking Rapunzel in a Ziggurat is a great idea. (also, any books released in the Golden Braids challenge that Kendra hosted are also wonderful. Mechanical Heart by Sarah Pennington and The Dragon's Flower by Wyn Estelle Owens. So good!)
5 months ago
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