Bestsellers Around the World: South Africa and Australia

I am excited to welcome South African book blogger Mareli from Elza Reads this month as I look at bestsellers around the world. This month, I am comparing the bestsellers lists from Australia and South Africa to see what is similar and what is different. My husband is originally from South Africa and my parents in law, my sister in law and her family still live there, so this is a particularly interesting month for me.

My thoughts are in purple and Mareli's are in black

Here are the two lists

 Australian Top 10  (https://www.dymocks.com.au/promotions/top-10

1. Ottolenghi Flavour - Yotam Ottolenghi
2. Midnight Sun by Stephanie Meyer
3. The Happiest Man on Earth by Eddie Jaku
4. Dog Man #9 Grime and Punishment - Dav Pilkey (children’s book)
5. The Space Between by Zara McDonald and Michelle Andrews
6. The Golden Maze:A Biography of Prague by Richard Fidler
7. Think Like a Monk by Jay Shetty
8. The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante
9. Bluey : Grannies (children’s book)
10. Sam Bloom: Heartache and Birdsong

South African Top Ten

1. Think like a monk - Jay Shetty
2. All Rise - Dikgang Mosaneke (Former Deputy Chief Justice)
3. What’s your move - Nicolette Mashile (Personal Finance Manager)
4. The 5 AM Club - Robin Sharma
5. The Gift: 12 Lessons to save your life - Edith Eger
6. Midnight Sun - Stephanie Meyer
7. Hans gee Herklaas Horings - Rudie van Rensburg (Afrikaans titlle)
8. 7 Ways - Jamie Olivier
9. Man’s search for meaning - Victor Frankl
10. 12 Rules for Life - Jordan Peterson

So lets start by looking at the similarities. The books that are on both lists include Think Like a Monk by Jay Shetty and Midnight Sun by Stephanie Meyer. I guess it is no surprise to see a book about lessening anxiety and living a more meaningful life rising high in the book charts. Jay Shetty is British, Stephanie Meyer is American and there are also a couple of Canadian books as well, my question is how are the South African best sellers list influenced by other countries. Is there a robust publishing industry in South Africa?

Books are very expensive in South Africa, especially if it’s from a South African publishing house. We do have a few indie publishers. Afrikaans books are the most expensive. It’s a small market for a small percentage of the country’s inhabitants. But they always make the top ten list. Afrikaans people love to read!

When you sent the list through you mentioned that the author of All Rise was a former Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Mosaneke. Given South Africa’s turbulent political history, do political books still dominate the book market there?

I won’t say it dominates, but it does always draw attention. Politics are a bit of a circus in our country and you need to be very, very careful what you say. The wrong statement on a social platform, can get you in some serious trouble.

We have had our own political dramas over the years, although not really comparable to the South African experience and yes, the inevitable books by the main players do tend to hit the heights on the bestsellers list. Recently our former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull had a book out and he was definitely out publicising it a lot. My reading habits have me stuck in fiction world so they are not something that I would normally read!

You mentioned that there was one Afrikaans book in this list. I am also curious as to what impact does the fact that there are 11 official languages in South Africa have on the publishing landscape, especially seeing as it is highly unlikely that we would ever see a non English book on our bestsellers list?

English dominates the publishing landscape. International authors too. It’s not very often that a South African book and author will be number 1 on the top ten. The review that I posted last week for Grensgeval (on the border war), was on the number 1 list for a few weeks. Afrikaans books are randomly available, but like I say, to buy a new one is expensive! E-books as well! I normally wait for the book sales. You can buy 6 English books for the price of 1 Afrikaans book in some shops. I kid you not. I love reading Afrikaans and South African authors, but I mostly read international books as I can get them so much cheaper on Amazon Kindle or at second Bookshops. I read way too much for my budget!

You will get a few books here and there published in one of the other official languages, but most of those will be indie publishers. How many of your books are proudly Australian?

Having a look at the list for this week, we are at about 50/50 for Australian versus international authors. There are some big name Australian author who have books coming out very soon so I think that next time I look at the fiction list I expect to see different books but possibly around the same ratio

Was there any book on the South African top ten list that it surprised you was there, or perhaps that there is one that is not there that surprises you?

The fact that there are so many self-help books are surprising to me! Like I’ve said, I think it reflects where we are in South Africa at the moment….I’m not one for self-help books at all. My favorite was The art of not giving a f#ck. But I have read a few posts from Jay Shetty.

Was there any book on the Australian list that caught your interest?

You’ve got children’s books on your Top Ten!!! How awesome!! If I remember, Diary of a Wimpy Kid wrecking ball was on our list for a while, can’t remember if any other ones made it recently. Do children’s books regularly make it onto your top 10 lists.

To be honest I am not sure. If I look at the topsellers list it is generally just for this feature, and I generally only look at the fiction lists. Given that there are two in this week’’s list, I guess they must! If any of our readers have the answer then please let us know in the comments!

Thanks again Mareli for joining me this month! It's been fun! 

Be sure to visit Elza Reads to see her post.

Do any of the books on either list catch your attention? Do you know the answer to the question about children's books? Let us know in the comments.

Guest Post: Fiona Lowe on Independent Heroines

Today I am pleased to welcome Aussie romance author Fiona Lowe with a guest post on independent heroines! I just read her new book, Saved by the Bride, and I am hoping to have a review up later this week (although that would mean sitting down and doing it which I don't seem to be all that good at currently).

Welcome Fiona!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Appeal Of The Independent Romance Heroine By Fiona Lowe

I was raised to be an independent woman. Education was considered very important as was financial security. There was never any talk of me finding a husband or marrying for money, which is why I nearly fell off my chair at dinner the other night when a guy my age said of his highly intelligent, 21 year-old daughter who has dropped out of college and isn’t certain what she wants to do with her life, just yet, “Let’s hope she finds a rich husband.” He was NOT jesting. Not in the least. Given the social circles they associate in, chances are, she will find a very rich husband, but I digress.

Paying my own way and earning money to contribute to our family has always been important to me, and it still is. I find it hard to accept someone offering to pay for my coffee or a meal although I feel quite comfortable, “shouting” (paying) for them.

I think that some of my beliefs about what it is to be a woman in the 2010’s has trickled into my writing. I like to think I write independent, free-thinking women who, although they love having a man in their life, they are still their own person. On reflection, this also impacts on favorite heroines I enjoy most in novels.

Here are my top five:

Scarlett O’Hara from Gone With The Wind. As much as she thinks she needs to be looked after, Scarlett is far too independent for this.

Rachel from Dream a Little Dream by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. Homeless, penniless and on a mission, Rachel fights for her child and for herself.

Maddie Timms from Flowers in the Storm by Laura Kinsale. Maddie’s Quaker beliefs, education, independence and humanity help bring the Duke of Jervaulx back into the world.

Beth Hansen from Undeniably Yours by Shannon Stacey. Pregnant by a man she barely knows, it takes a lot of convincing that life with Kevin is going to be a shared life of equals.

Elizabeth Bennett from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. In a time when a woman had no way of earning a living and her future was dependent on her husband’s income and predisposition, Elizabeth held out until she met a man who was not only her intellectual equal but also a man she loved. And the fact he had more than £10,000 income per year is a bonus!

My current heroine, Anni from Saved By the Bride is fiercely independent to the point of poverty but handouts are not her style. She wants to work and be paid a fair wage for a fair day’s pay. I think that represent’s most of us, don’t you?

Who are some of your favorite heroines?

***

Fiona Lowe is a RITA® and R*BY award-winning, multi-published author with Harlequin and Carina Press. Whether her books are set in outback Australia or in the mid-west of the USA, they feature small towns with big hearts, and warm, likeable characters that make you fall in love. When she's not writing stories, she's a weekend wife, mother of two 'ginger' teenage boys, guardian of 80 rose bushes and often found collapsed on the couch with wine. You can find her at her website, Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads.

Strangers on a Train blog tour

Today I am really excited to welcome author Donna Cummings here as part of the Strangers on a Train blog tour! Haven't heard of Strangers on a Train? Five romance authors have put together a series  which feature different couples and different trains, but with one big element that is the same in each - love!

And, don't forget to enter the contest to win a copy of Donna's book, Back on Track. Read to the end of the post to find out how to win.

Welcome Donna!

Donna Cummings

I'm a big fan of serendipity.

The Strangers on a Train series started with a random conversation on Twitter, when Ruthie and Samantha were chatting about a pic of a hot guy riding a train. Serena and Meg and I joined in -- and it was probably one of those times when I was thinking, "I really should be writing, not chatting on Twitter". But that's how serendipity works, if you're open to it. I added my thoughts, and next thing I knew, there was a "we should write some books!" comment thrown out there, and well, here we are. The series is going to be released in just a few days!

My story, Back on Track, had a few more instances of serendipity. I had originally started with a slightly different story, on a completely different train, but I was struggling a bit. For some reason the Napa Wine Train popped into my brain one morning. I still don't know how or why, since I hadn't seen anything about it. In fact, I thought for a moment I'd made it up! So I looked online and found that it really did exist. Then I thought, "One of the other authors must be using it", so I checked the email conversation where we'd all said which train we were going to write about -- and there was nothing. So it became mine, all mine.

The title was another bit of Twitter inspiration. I was chatting with Samantha about how our writing was going, and she tweeted something about getting back on track, and I said, "That's my new title!"

My heroine, Allie, is trying to get the hero, baseball superstar Matt, to pose for her beefcake celebrity calendar. It's to benefit greyhounds that have been rescued once they are no longer able to race. I stumbled across an article about the dogs, and it struck a chord with me, and in that out-of-the-blue way that things were happening, I knew it would be a perfect fit for Allie's project. It was also something Matt would find a worthy cause, since he can sympathize with what life might be like after he's unable to compete.

So, after the way this story--and series--came together, if I wasn't a fan of serendipity before, I certainly am now!

Has serendipity worked for you? I'd love to hear your stories! 

One random commenter will win an e-book of Back on Track. Contest closes on 7 April. Don't forget to leave your email address in the comments so that we can let you know if you are the lucky winner!

Preorder/order links – releasing April 2

Strangers on a Train at Amazon
Strangers on a Train at Barnes & Noble
Strangers on a Train at Samhain

Goodreads: http://goodreads.com/series/92319-strangers-on-a-train


About Strangers on a Train

Romancing the rails…

Tight Quarters by Samantha Hunter

Reid isn’t happy about the mix-up that saddles him with a claustrophobic roommate on his New York train tour. Then his weekend with Brenna progresses to a weekend fling, and so much more.

Ticket Home by Serena Bell

Encountering her workaholic ex on her commuter train is the surprise of Amy’s life. Especially since Jeff seems hell-bent on winning her back.

Thank You for Riding by Meg Maguire

At the end of Caitlin’s commute, her extended flirtation with a handsome stranger finds them facing a frigid winter night locked in an unheated subway station.

Back on Track by Donna Cummings

A wine tour isn’t enough to take Matt’s mind off his baseball slump—until sexy, funny Allie plops into the adjacent seat and tells him three things about herself. One of them, she says, is a lie. Then Allie lets slip one truth too many…

Big Boy by Ruthie Knox

Mandy doesn’t want romance, but monthly role-playing dates with her stranger on a train—each to a different time period—become the erotic escape she desperately needs. And a soul connection she never expected.

About the Authors

Serena Bell - Website  Twitter  Facebook   Goodreads
Ruthie Knox -Website  Twitter  Facebook   Goodreads
Samantha Hunter - Website  Twitter  Facebook  Goodreads
Donna Cummings - Website Twitter  Facebook  Goodreads
Meg Maguire - Website Twitter Goodreads

Guest Post: Elise K Ackers

Today I am pleased to welcome Elis K Ackers to my blog. When we talked about what theme the guest post should be on, the fact that we both started out living in other parts of Australia and ended up living here in Melbourne seemed a good place to start! I will be back later with my review of Elise's book, Forgotten.

Welcome Elise!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Elise K. Ackers was born in Sydney. She has lived north of Brisbane, near Perth, on the New South Wales Central Coast and in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, but it's Melbourne that has stolen her heart. Elise's first book, Small Town Storm, is set in the picturesque Olinda, in the Dandenong Ranges east of Melbourne; her second book, The Man Plan, is set near Port Phillip Bay, and her latest title, Unforgettable, is set on the construction site of Melbourne's cultural icon, Hamer Hall. Today she writes about where she finds her inspiration.

Anyone who's read my books or blurbs knows that my first three titles are set in Melbourne, Australia; and I don't think anyone who's visited or lived here could blame me for that. Voted as one of the world's most livable cities and known for its culture, lifestyle and eccentricities, I'm a big fan of the place I've called home for the last four years.

View of the new Hamer Hall across the river

I have a day job in the city, and whilst I may grumble about the commute some days, it's worth it. Because I get to stroll down intimate laneways featuring public artwork, discover hidden bars and restaurants, and sit in any of the hundreds of public places, and just be.

It's a city which constantly delights, and often takes me by surprise.

Last year there was a 13-metre high Gladioli bouquet installed near Arts Centre Melbourne to welcome back the fabulously renovated Hamer Hall. A few weeks ago I had the joy of walking through an incredible 'building' on my way to the train station: a structure made of more than ten tonnes of willow tree saplings and sticks. I look out my window and I see an evolving skyline, brave architecture and stunning heritage facades. It feels like there's something new every week, and it's a city where change and daring are embraced.

All of this combines to make for a stirring, creative environment. Being an author who is inspired by place, I love this city. And not just for setting. There are some fantastic places to write.

The Reading Room

The State Library La Trobe Reading Room is certainly in my top five places, with its 35-metre high, spectacular dome ceiling. However, for the writer who's easily distracted, I'd probably advise against it. It's become quite the tourist destination. The Moat under the Wheeler Centre building on Little Londsdale Street is a bit of a winner, and the laneway cafes are great for corner booths and tiny laptops.

I'm discovering new places to write every day, and I'm having a great time doing it. Which makes me wonder: where are your favourite places to write or read when away from home?


**Photos of Hamer Hall and State Library were taken by me.

Flirting with Disaster Cover Reveal

Today I am very excited to be part of the big Flirting with Disaster cover reveal! As I mentioned yesterday when I posted my review of Ride With Me, Ruthie Knox was one of my favourite contemporary romance discoveries of 2012 and I am very excited to see what comes next from her.


Welcome Ruthie!

Hello, everyone!

I’m thrilled to be able to reveal the cover for the final title in my upcoming Camelot series with Loveswept: Flirting with Disaster. I hope you love it as much as I do! I’ve been really gratified to see each of the covers the Random House design team comes up with for this series — all of them sexy and intimate, but with that spirit of fun that infuses all three of these stories.

The Camelot series consists of a hundred-page novella and two full-length novels set in the Midwestern college town of Camelot, Ohio. It revolves around the three Clark siblings — Amber, Caleb, and Katie — and contains a number of hot security guys, extended-family shenanigans, banter, angst, and of course the occasional steamy scene, just to keep things interesting.

Here’s a handy cheat sheet so you can keep the stories straight:

I’m looking forward to sharing these books with romance lovers everywhere. Happy reading!

XOXO,
Ruthie


Additional links

How To Misbehave – Description and Excerpt on Ruthie’s Website | Preorder from Amazon | Preorder from Barnes & Noble | Preorder from iTunes | Add to Goodreads

Along Came Trouble – Description and Excerpt on Ruthie’s Website | Preorder from Amazon | Preorder from Barnes & Noble | Preorder from iTunes | Add to Goodreads

Flirting with Disaster – On Ruthie’s Website | Preorder from Amazon | Preorder from Barnes & Noble | Add to Goodreads

Spotlight on Escape Publishing

Today, I am excited to welcome Kate Cuthbert here to visit with us all in her capacity as Editor of Escape Publishing, a newly launched digital imprint of Harlequin.  I am excited about the prospect of seeing what is published on this imprint, especially seeing there is a strong focus on Australian authors!

Welcome Kate!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kate Cuthbert

Hi Everyone! I'm so happy to be here. Thanks for your interest in Escape Publishing. We've been working behind the scenes for ages now, so we're super excited to get to put it out into the world and set it free!

Marg knows that I've been talking up our launch books for the last week, so she decided to go in a slightly different direction and asked me to talk about our launch authors, which is a fabulous idea because they're all such fabulous people. I'll let you know a little bit about each of their books, but probably the most important thing for you is that they are all on sale right now for a very limited time to celebrate the launch. You can get Chaos Born, Christmas Wishes, Grease Monkey Jive, and In Safe Hands for $0.99 each, and Chains of Revenge, our erotic fantasy novella for free! So if you're interested in seeing what we've got, then now's the time to take advantage! Hop on our website www.escapepublishing.com.au for all the details.

On to introductions!

Ainslie Paton is not at all used to being on this side of the camera – she works in a corporate setting in marketing, public relations and advertising. If you're wondering if she knows the dance scene first hand, the answer is yes, though she only dances for herself now. Ainslie lives in Sydney, and her launch title Grease Monkey Jive is her debut novel. I loved it because I love big stories with ensemble casts and relationships outside the main love interest and lovely, long, building relationships. Plus ballroom dancing. And a hot surfer hero. Really – what's not to love? You can learn more about Ainslie on her website: http://ainsliepaton.com.au/

Keziah Hill used to work in the criminal justice system (though I imagine she never had 'justice' quite like it pans out in her launch novella Chains of Revenge!). Needing a tree change, she decamped to the Blue Mountains north of Sydney to focus on writing. As well as steamy erotic romance, Keziah also writes romantic suspense and takes care of her garden. Chains of Revenge is an erotic fantasy novella, and I loved it because even though the hero and heroine were always at odds power-wise, their relationship and their feelings for each other also meant they were always on even footing. Also, it was hot. You can find out more about Keziah here: www.keziahhill.com

Lee Christine revealed to us during the launch celebrations that her first stories were actually songs – when she was a teenager, she dreamed of being a singer/songwriter. Which naturally prompted us all to plan a karaoke outing quick smart. Lee lives in Newcastle with her husband, and has two grown children. She's worked in a number of settings including law and software training. In Safe Hands is her first novel and did very well on the contest circuit before I snapped it up for Escape because it's smart, it's savvy, it's suspenseful, it's sophisticated, and it scared the pants off me. You can find out more about Lee on her website here: http://leechristine.com.au/

Rebekah Turner works as a graphic designer and admits to an addiction to stationary (which, honestly, is a vice I share). She lives in Brisbane with her husband, two kids, and a dog that you can see pictures of if you follow her on Twitter, which you should. She also loves 80s action movies. She calls them trashy. I substitute 'awesome'. Chaos Born is Rebekah's debut novel and I couldn't accept this manuscript fast enough. The world-building is incredible, complex, deep, dark, sinister, yet familiar. Her heroine, Lora, limps but in a total bad-ass way. And, while there's technically a love triangle, I'm currently recruiting everyone I know to Team Roman. Rebekah's website is here: http://rebekahturner.net/

Rhian Cahill will already be familiar to readers who like things a little hotter – she's multi-published in erotic romance, and chose Escape Publishing when she wanted to take her writing in a different direction. Rhian lives in Sydney with her husband and those of her four children who have decided not to leave home yet. When she approached me with her idea for a holiday-themed novella that would still carry her trademark heat level but move away from explicit erotic romance, I made her send it to me the next day. Christmas Wishes is still steamy, but it's incredibly sweet, with a light-hearted touch and a sigh-worthy ending. Best of all? The sequel, New Year's Kisses is available from Escape in December. You can learn more about Rhian on her website: http://rhiancahill.com/ Cool Rhian fact: she also has her own app, which can be downloaded via iTunes or Google Play for info, new releases, and contests.

So now you know a little bit more about each of our launch authors – and Escape Publishing! Thanks for having me to visit.

Kate

The Escape Publishing team with the authors at the launch in Sydney last week.

Thanks for visiting Kate! I am read Rhian's story yesterday and I am especially happy to hear the news that there will be a follow up coming next month!

Difference, Dystopia and Defiance (guest post by Ambelin Kwaymullina)

Today I am thrilled to welcome Ambelin Kwaymullina to my blog. Earlier this week I reviewed her novel, The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf as part of the More Diverse Universe blog tour. When Ambelin offered a guest post about the importance of diversity, I was thrilled to accept!

Difference, Dystopia and Defiance

I am an Aboriginal woman. My people are the Palyku. And I write speculative fiction because it is the genre that taught me to hope. Through the pages of a hundred books, I have travelled the stars in silver ships; shared laughter with alien beings, and walked beneath the twin suns of far-off planets. I have seen futures where difference is a cause for celebration, not division – and where the diverse cultures of this or any other world live together in harmony.

My novel, The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf, is set on an imperfect future earth, one where the government locks away those who are different. But the story is not about the masterminds or the bureaucrats or the soldiers of injustice. It is about those who defy oppression.

Defiance comes in many forms. I am descended from generations of women who lived through the hardest of times for Aboriginal people in Australia, and who came through these times with dignity and strength. Although they were treated inhumanely, they never lost their humanity, their generosity of spirit – or their ability to laugh. Ashala has this kind of defiance, as do her friends and allies. Some of these friends and allies are ‘Illegals’ as she is, born with an ability and oppressed by the government. Others are Citizens, part of the privileged of society. But all share a common goal of creating a better and more just world.

I think often of a story that my mother once told me, a tale about a colonial pioneer who painted one white circle around his homestead, and then another around the camp where the local Aboriginal people were living. The idea was, that the Aboriginal people would stay within their circle and the non-Aboriginal people within theirs. She told that tale to one of my Aboriginal grandfathers, and when he heard it, he said that the pioneer should have made the circles cross each other – because then there would have been a piece of ground where everyone could come together. He was a farseeing man, my grandfather. The beauty of the circles is that neither subsumes or dominates the other. There is simply this space in the centre, where people from different cultures can come together to gain a greater understanding of each other, and talk about things that matter to them both.

Through the pages of a thousand books, I have glimpsed what is to come. Many of the possibilities that stretch out before the human species are terrifying, while others fill me with hope. I reach for a future where the boundless potential of human beings is matched only by our boundless compassion. I believe that to achieve it we need all the different cultures of the earth, the ideas and thoughts and hopes of the diverse peoples of the planet.

I dream of worlds filled with interlocking circles.

Linda Lael Miller stops by.....

As part of the blog tour to celebrate Big Sky Country, Linda Lael Miller is stopping by today with a guest post asking a very unfair question really? Isn't asking a writer which is her favourite character just like asking which of the kids is her favourite?

Do you prefer Slade or Hutch?

Well, heck, that’s a hard one, because I’m crazy about both of them. Slade is the strong, silent type, physically patterned after a young Rob Lowe (I had his shirtless Vanity Fair cover framed and kept it on my desk throughout.) He’s big on honor and integrity, and he’s really gun-shy because of a love gone wrong. Hutch is strong, too, but he’s outspoken and reckless. Where Slade will examine an issue from all angles, Hutch tends to jump right in and worry about the details later. Because they’re both LLM heroes, they have certain qualities in common: they want a woman who is an equal, and a partner, they love kids, they love animals, and they will always try to do the right thing. Like “real” people, they sometimes get it wrong, despite all their good intentions. They both have a sense of humor, Slade’s being dry and understated, while Hutch’s is more wisecrack dependent. They never look for a fight, but they never run away from one, either. I’m often asked if I wish real men were like my heroes—truth be told, I think there are a lot of very fine men out there, doing their jobs, loving their women, raising their children to be good citizens.

To find more stops on the tour, which includes excerpts, Q and A's as well as the chance to win a copy of the book and a fun cowboy inspired charm necklace!

Find out all the details here or click on the image above.


Later today, I will be posting my review of the first book in this trilogy, Big Sky Country and then next month I will be reading and reviewing the second book in the trilogy, Big Sky Mountain.

Kate Forsyth guest post

I am very excited to welcome Aussie author Kate Forsyth to my blog today! I am currently reading Bitter Greens and really, really loving it! As soon as I was contacted about her book, I knew that the mix of historical fiction and fairytale retellings was something I wanted to read!

Kate Forsyth’s Twelve Most Spell-Binding Fairytale Retellings ever (and One Dark and Strange and Powerful)

I have always loved fairytale retellings, and will buy one as soon as I see one, particularly if it has a gorgeous cover. Today, for your reading pleasure, I have chosen twelve beautiful, romantic and spellbinding books for you, plus one which – like the thirteenth fairy who fails to be invited to the christening party – is dark and strange and full of power.

 The Glass Slipper by Eleanor Farjeon

I read this retelling of the Cinderella fairytale while walking home from primary school one day and was so entranced I walked straight past the turnoff to my street. I might have kept walking for hours if a neighbour hadn’t driven past and honked me back to reality.

I love this book so much that I named my daughter Eleanor after the writer, with her pet name being Ella after the heroine. The Glass Slipper is full of wit and charm and whimsy and word play, the prose dancing like poetry. After I left my primary school, my one regret was that I hadn’t smuggled the book out of the library in my school bag and kept it.

Years later, I found it in a second-hand shop and fell upon it with squeals of excitement. This is very much a classic children’s book, published in 1955 – the Prince does no more than kiss Ella’s hand – but it is so full of joy and innocence, it will always be one of the most magical books of my life.

For 8+



The Stone Cage by Nicholas Stuart Gray


A beautiful retelling of the Rapunzel fairytale, told from the point of view of the witch’s cat, this is an absolute classic fairytale retelling. Reading this as a child is what first made me think of writing my own Rapunzel tale – I wanted to make my heroine a little feistier than Nicholas Stuart Gray’s sweet and loving Rapunzel.

What I love most about this book is the personalities of the witch’s cat and the witch’s raven – one is arrogant, selfish and smart-mouthed, the other serious-minded and scholarly.

For 8+

Cold Iron by Sophie Masson

Published as Malkin in the US, this is a retelling of the English fairytale ‘Tattercoats’, interwoven with elements of Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream’. ‘Tattercoats’ is a Cinderella type story, about a persecuted heroine, but in this book it is not the sweet and maltreated Tattercoats who is the heroine, but the brave and feisty serving-girl Malkin, and her friend, the goose-boy Pug. Cold Iron is a small book, but packed to the brim with personality. Sophie Masson writes with a light, deft touch, lavishing attention on her minor characters and on the scenery, so that the book gleams like a little jewel.

For 8+

Wild Magic by Cat Weatherill

This is a wonderful fresh take on the Pied Piper legend, which explores why the Piper may have lured away all the children of the town of Hameln and what may have happened to them afterwards. The primary protagonists are Mari and her little brother Jakob, and the land they have been taken to is a place of wild magic, fearsome beasts, and an ancient curse than must be broken if they are ever to escape. The writing is beautiful, and the story itself gripping and suspenseful. I’m surprised this wonderful book is not better known.

For 8+

Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George

I thought, from the title, that this must be a Cinderella- retelling, but it is in fact ‘The Twelve Dancing Princesses’ which Jessica Day George has re-told in this sweet and atmospheric novel. Even though Jessica Day George has done a classic retelling here, in a fantasy otherworld very much like Europe, and with the plot line adhering closely to the original tale, she has done it with a light touch, a sense of humour, and just enough twists and turns to keep the reader turning the pages. A captivating fairytale retelling.

For 8+

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

Since being made into a movie with the beautiful young Anne Hathaway, Ella Enchanted is possibly the best known retelling of Cinderella. As always, though, the book is much better than the movie, being filled with humour and surprise and intelligence.

At birth, Ella is given the gift of obedience by a well-meaning but air-brained fairy called Lucinda. The gift is more of a curse for poor Ella, and so she sets out to find Lucinda and undo the spell. She has all sorts of adventures along the way, some of which include a prince, a pumpkin coach and a glass slipper, but Gail Carson Levine takes great delight in twisting the known elements of this most popular of tales to give it new life.

12+

The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale

The Goose Girl was Shannon Hale’s first book, and launched her career. It is a retelling of the Grimm Brothers story ‘The Goose Girl’, which is one of the lesser known tales but still filled with a few gruesome touches, like a dead horse’s head that talks.

Ani, a crown princess, can talk with birds and animals, but her talents are not appreciated in the royal family. When Ani is sent off to marry the prince of a neighbouring kingdom, her treacherous maid-in-waiting schemes to take her place. Barely escaping with her life, Ani disguises herself as a goose girl while she tries to find a way to reclaim her rightful palace. With some surprising twists and a satisfying ending, this is a lovely romantic retelling, suitable for children or adults.

For 12+

North Child by Edith Pattou

Known as East in the US, this beguiling book is a retelling of a traditional Norwegian fairytale ‘East of the Sun, West of the Moon’, which is an Animal Bridegroom type story.

Rose was born into the world facing north, and as a north child, superstition says that she will be a wanderer, travelling far from home. This prophecy is fulfilled when she rides away on the back of a white bear to a mysterious castle, where a silent stranger appears to her night after night. When her curiosity overcomes her, she loses her one true love, and must journey to a land east of the sun and west of the moon to save him.

For 12+

A Curse As Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce

I love fairytale retellings that are set in the real world, at a real time in history – somehow they make the fairytale seem so much more possible. A Curse As Dark as Gold was one of my favourite reads last year – a beautiful, romantic retelling of the well-known Rumpelstiltskin fairytale, set in a British wool town during the Industrial Revolution. This story is really brought to life by the atmosphere of the mill, the heroine’s family home which is being threatened with closure. It also has a really charismatic and surprising villain, which helped add suspense and surprise to this well-known tale.

For 12+

Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold by C.S. Lewis

I had adored C.S. Lewis’s Narnia series as a child and so one day, while staying with my great-aunts, I found this book on a bookshelf and sat down on the floor to look at it. The first line reads: ‘I am old now and have not much to fear from the anger of gods.’

Entranced, I read on to the end, devouring the book in a single sitting. Till We Have Faces is a retelling of the Cupid and Psyche myth, which is not properly a fairytale, except in its obvious similarity to Animal Bridegroom tales such as ‘Beauty & the Beast’ and ‘East of the Sun, West of the Moon’. It is, however, still one of my all-time favourite retellings.

For 16+

Deerskin by Robin McKinley

This is a heart-rending retelling of ‘All-Kinds’-of-Fur’, the Grimm tale about a king who falls in love with her daughter and seeks to marry her. Known under different names in different cultures, it’s probably best known as Tattercoats, Catskin, or Donkeyskin. In some versions of the tale, the princess manages to outwit and escape her lustful father, before hiding herself in the skin of a wild beast and working in the kitchen of the king of a neighbouring country. In time, the second king comes to recognise the princess hidden beneath the filthy furs, and marries her.

In Robin McKinley’s novel, the daughter does not escape until she has been raped by her father, making this one of the most powerful, and ultimately redemptive, novels ever written about incest.

Robin McKinley has written many other beloved fairytale retellings, including Beauty and Rose Daughter (both retellings of ‘Beauty & the Beast’) and Spindle’s End (a retelling of Sleeping Beauty), but I think Deerskin is her most powerful and compelling.

For 16+

Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier

A retelling of the Six Swans fairytale, this was Australian author Juliet Marillier’s first published book. Although she has written a number of gorgeous, spell-binding fairytale retellings since – including Heart’s Blood (‘Beauty & the Beast’) and Wildwood Dancing (Twelve Dancing Princesses),

Daughter of the Forest is still my favourite. It is set long, long ago, in Ireland, and begins when Sorcha, the seventh child of the family and the only girl, is only a child. The whole atmosphere of the book is filled with romance, enchantment, beauty and danger, making it one of the best retellings ever written (in my humble opinion).

For 16+

And the thirteenth fairy tale is:

White As Snow by Tanith Lee

Tanith Lee has been called "the Angela Carter of the fantasy field" for her dark and sensuous prose. This is one of the strangest and yet most compelling fairytale retellings I’ve ever read. It is so filled with violence and despair, it is almost unreadable in parts. Yet somehow it haunts the imagination afterwards, giving new depths to the well-known story of Snow-White, and taking it very far away from Disney territory.

Arpazia is the queen cold as snow who gives birth to a daughter with hair black as night and lips as red as blood ... but she hates her daughter, who was conceived when she was raped by her father’s murderer, the night his castle was taken and sacked. The daughter Coira grows up alone and unloved, longing for her mother’s attention. But Arpazia is drawn to the dark and bloody old ways, and has no time for her daughter – indeed, she hires someone to kill her. He is the manager of a travelling sideshow which features seven midgets who dress up as the Seven Deadly Sins ... and so the story goes on, with each scene blacker and more grotesque than the scene that came before. This is not a fairytale for the light-hearted, let alone for children – but it does show the amazing ability of fairy tales to contain many different levels of meaning.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kate Forsyth is the bestselling and award-winning author of 25 books for children and adults, translated into 10 languages.

Her latest book for adults, Bitter Greens, interweaves a retelling of the Rapunzel fairytale with the scandalous life story of one of its first tellers, the 17th century French writer Charlotte-Rose de la Force. Australian Bookseller & Publisher described Bitter Greens as “magnificent” and said that Kate “has an extraordinary imagination”.

You can read more about her at www.kateforsyth.com.au .






This post may be of interest to anyone participating in the following challenges:

I'm here....and there!

Whilst I am here blogging today (the Library Loot post is scheduled to go up later today), I am also at Booklover Book Reviews as the guest for April as part of the Aussie Author Challenge.

I vent a little bit about something that bugs me about book titles and I spotlight Margo Lanagan!

Thanks again to Jo for the opportunity to guest post!

Aussie Author Month: Sara Foster - Writer on Tour

Before being published, I didn’t think much about the reality of touring and promoting books. Back then, writing felt like some kind of sublime struggle, a solo quest to set my imaginings on paper and shape them into the best stories they could possibly be. A lot of the time my search for the right words and phrases seemed like sifting sand, but now and again I would turn up something new – a stone? a gem? – and add it to my pile, until words became chapters and chapters became a book. I spent a lot of my free time in this solitary combat, turning my brain in on itself, driven by a determination that came from a place very deep inside me, one that seems to understand me better than I know myself. 

And then, publication! After a year of editing – which is a whole new level of brain sumo. And, of course, publication means publicity, which involves putting your pen down, sometimes for long stretches of time, and talking instead. My first public engagement – ever – was talking to 150 people in Winthrop Hall at UWA as part of Perth Writers Festival. I was so nervous that I mostly read from a script, something I repeated for much of the weekend. However, in my last event of the festival I was paired with two inspirational Australian women writers. Next to me was Anita Heiss, whose gregariousness and humour quickly charms any crowd. And beside her sat Liz Byrski, who might have been sitting in her lounge room, so assuredly did she lean forward and engage the audience, with no visible prompts, just an air of calm clarity that made you feel instantly at ease. 

 

After that, I wanted to be like both of them! I tend to believe that pretty much anything is possible when you set your mind to it – but I soon realised the folly of this ambition. Because the real reason I was inspired by them was because they seemed so unafraid to be themselves. What I actually needed to do was to encourage myself to be less guarded – to be unafraid of being me, not just in my writing, but in public speaking too. It was more about unravelling the knots I had tied around myself. That’s what I decided to aim for. 

This year I’ve done fourteen events so far for my new book. I’ve talked to groups numbering from five to eighty. I’ve had a wonderful amount of positive feedback. I’ve also watched one lady nod off repeatedly while I was talking, had one or two people leave mid-speech (hopefully because they had somewhere else to be!), and experienced a couple of people ripping into my book to my face. It was all a learning experience. Sometimes I’ve been as nervous as hell, but on other occasions I have thoroughly enjoyed myself. I didn’t write scripts, I just had prompt notes to hand, but I barely used them. I’m a work in progress, but I think I’m heading in the right direction. The irony is that just as you get used to life in public, you’re back to the solitary confinement of writing again. But for all its ups and downs I still don’t want it any other way.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you Sara for your post today!

Last month, I was lucky enough to attend one of those fourteen events, and no, I wasn't the person who was falling asleep! Sara was warm and gracious, spoke well and read from Beneath the Shadows, and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves! 

To find out more about Sara and her books, please visit her website.

Here are local bloggers with Sara at the event.

The Long and Short of It (guest post by Tansy Rayner Roberts)

For the launch post of Aussie Author Month, I am pleased to present a guest post from Tansy Rayner Roberts. In my last post, I mentioned that I am focusing on short stories, and Tansy is the author of one of the stories that I read and thoroughly enjoyed (Relentless Adaptations from the Sprawl anthology). When I heard that she was looking for hosts for her Mighty Slapdash Blog Tour, I volunteered straight away, and my suggested topic - shorts stories v novels!

The Long and Short of It

Have you ever noticed that it’s easier to run late sometime if you’re just going around the corner, than if you’re travelling somewhere at a greater distance? The further away you are when you start, the more opportunity you have to hurry up... but if it’s five minutes away, you’re already late.

That’s pretty much how I feel about short stories.

A novel is a long, glorious stretch of road, and I don’t have to worry about what’s behind the curve of that bend not yet. I have time to pay attention to the scenery and my travelling companions, and my brain doesn’t have to fling me all the awesome ideas and snappy bits of dialogue straight away. It can burble away in the background, hurling me tools and stray bits of string (to hold the cart together, have I overworked this metaphor yet?) as and when needed.

A short story, on the other hand, hardly has time to get started before I’m panicking about word count, and do I have enough story yet, or is there too much story, and there’s a brick wall hurtling right at my face and OMG IT’S A NOVELLA, PULL UP, PULL UP...

With a short story, there is nowhere to hide.

In case it’s not immediately obvious, I am a touch more intimidated by the short story form than I am by novels. I don’t claim to have mastered either, but I came to an understanding with novels far earlier than shorts, probably because I read more of them! I feel like I have only started hitting my stride with shorts in the last few years, which coincides with my participation in the Not If You Were The Last Short Story on Earth project, which involved me reading and critically evaluating huge quantities of world class short stories.

I like the opportunity to experiment and be brave that short stories affords me, even if my initial reaction is often to hide behind the sofa instead. I also love being forced to pare every indulgence out of my writing, and that does make me look at novel writing with a touch more discipline. Also there’s the deliciousness of getting something finished in a limited time frame, even if short stories always take me longer than I think they will.

Ultimately, though, my heart belongs to novels: fun though it is to capture a character voice or moment in a small and elegant box, I much prefer having the space and leisure to get to know that character, and their world. Luckily, I don’t actually have to choose between the two writing forms, though of course I do: I spend a fraction of my writing time on short stories and tend only to write one when I am actively being begged for a contribution (and sometimes not even then) because my latest novel is calling loudly to me.

It’s calling to me right now... and you know what? It used to be a short story.

=====

Tansy Rayner Roberts is the author of Power and Majesty (Creature Court Book One) and The Shattered City (Creature Court Book Two, April 2011) with Reign of Beasts (Creature Court Book Three, coming in November 2011) hot on its tail. Her short story collection Love and Romanpunk will be published as part of the Twelfth Planet Press “Twelve Planets” series in May.

This post is brought to you as part of Tansy’s Mighty Slapdash Blog Tour, and comes with a cookie fragment of new release The Shattered City:

She became slowly aware that everything hurt, her spine and ribs and skull, as if someone had been pounding her bones with a mallet. Somewhere along the way, she had lost her dress. They were all looking at her, the Lords and Court, hovering in an uneven circle around her, in their naked ‘people’ bodies. They were - not awed, exactly, but impressed with her. Some of them were wounded, their skin scratched and punctured in places by those spikes of ice. Livilla licked a smear of blood from a scrape on the back of her hand, gazing thoughtfully at Velody.

Too late, Velody remembered her duties, to honour the Creature Court for their efforts. “You fought well,” she said, finding her voice. Her throat ached as if she had been coughing up her lungs for hours.

“I’m not entirely sure we needed to,” said Poet.

Are you sitting down?

  

I would hate for anyone to fall over and hurt themself, because I tell you this is a shock to me, let alone to any one else! This week I managed to write not one, but two reviews! The first was for Mistress of the Sun by Sandra Gulland, and the second is a guest post that I wrote for Royal Reviews reviewing Roses by Leila Meacham.

Head on over to see what I had to say!