Wednesday, April 7, 2021

#AtoZChallenge F is for Fiction Can Be Fun, Forgotten Fairy Tales, Five F Books, and the #IWSG

#AtoZChallenge 2021 April Blogging from A to Z Challenge letter F
The sign-up CLOSES today!!!

An alphabet of J's favorite blogs


F is for https://fictioncanbefun.wordpress.com/
I love the Fiction Can Be Fun blog because:
  • Lots of good articles for writers
  • Writing Resources
  • Flash fiction       


#atozchallenge Usborne books for Children


“Forgotten Fairy Tales of Brave and Brilliant Girls” is an empowering book, great for fairy-tale lovers and for those looking for strong, intelligent women to be the central characters in their books! The eight stories in this collection are based off of classic folk and fairy tales, but the girls in these stories go off on adventures rather than settling for a prince. A great read for ages 7 and up!

Forgotten Fairy Tales of Brave and Brilliant Girls





"Shipping only available to USA and  military bases from the provided Usborne link." - Kathryn Mowers (Consultant for the Dorner family)

J's TBR pile #atozchallenge

F could be for Fragile Remedy, except I just read and am reviewing it on the 21st for R. (Surf to Operation Awesome to check out the review.)
So, here are five of my other TBR books and some reasons I'm planning to read them:
  • Freyja's Daughter (Wild Women Book 1) - Rachel Sullivan
    • Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Romance. 
    • "All that changes the night she heads out for a date, hoping to get lucky—and gets screwed instead." 😄😆
  • Forged by Fate (Fate of the Gods Book 1) - Amalia Dillin
    • Free on KU
    • Mixes different religions/ myths, and adds more fiction on top.
  • Fire's Song (Shaudrey Universe Book 1) - J.E. Mueller
    • I won a copy of this book.
    • "With her very touch able to kill,"
    • NA Fantasy
  • Festive Mayhem: Nine Stories of Holiday Mystery, Crime, and Suspense
    • Thank goodness I bought a copy while it was still for sale! 😅
    • A surprise Christmas bonus becomes too tempting for Philadelphia nursing assistant Brianna Byers to resist—even if accepting requires some skillful skirting of the law.
    • "Holiday Holdup" by Paige Sleuth. In this Cozy Cat Caper
  • Fangs & Fins: A YA Urban Fantasy Novel - Amy McNulty
    • Free on KU and free with Prime
    • YA urban fantasy series
    • "Will the two young women forge peace between warring magical worlds… or die for the ones they love?"
    • Bookworm Ember Goodwin (calling a MC a bookworm instantly gets my attention 📚📚)
Interesting fact...
FRACTIONS OF EXISTENCE also starts with an F. 😉
 

QUESTIONS
  • Have you been to this favorite blog of mine?
  • What's your favorite F book?
  • Did you make an IWSG post today?
        

#AtoZChallenge 2021 badge
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Thanks to:
https://unsplash.com/photos/lUaaKCUANVI , https://unsplash.com/photos/npxXWgQ33ZQ , https://unsplash.com/photos/eMP4sYPJ9x0



ISWG

Shout-out to Alex and the awesome co-hosts for today: PK Hrezo, Pat Garcia, SE White, Lisa Buie Collard, and Diane Burton!




April 7 question - Are you a risk-taker when writing? Do you try something radically different in style/POV/etc. or add controversial topics to your work?





I came across this video while listening to an Elton John song on YouTube. It's a university class discussing Lord of the Rings.
Can you imagine writing something so epic that almost half a century after you're dead, your writing is still so talked about that there are actual university classes devoted to it?
Some of us can't even get a dozen readers to leave book reviews.

I want to say yes, that I'm a bit of a risk-taker. 
An editor suggested I should dumb-down some of my urban fantasy. Here's one example:
Orotund voice Fractions of Existence

Orotund dictionary

Orotund is the exact word I wanted to use. If you know the character, you know why.

There's a character coming later in the Existence series that will certainly be controversial. I rather expect to be quite hated by some very hateful people. 
Rule-breaking... the "rules" say not to do a dream sequence or a flashback... I have a *flashback dream sequence. (*Minor Spoiler alert.)

Do I think there will a university class dedicated to discussing my Existence series fifty years after I'm dead?
Well... only if most of the fictional bits become non-fiction. 
Though, if that's the case, there won't be a class to discuss the books. 🤔😲

Is Fractions of Existence controversial? Is it radically different? 
I'll leave you with two excerpts and a review from a fellow speculative fiction writer so you can decide.

Glitz and Glamour #FractionsofExistence @JLenniDorner

Speed of Death #FractionsofExistence @JLenniDorner

#FractionsofExistence https://amzn.to/3sm5dUQ @JLenniDorner Review by Christine Rains





20 comments:

  1. I know that most people think that classic feiry stories always have female characters waiting to be saved by the prince. But I wonder whether this is really so, because they are surprisingly apt to be retold on the girl's perspective.
    I've just finished reading a classic 1700s retelling of Beauty and the Beast, and I was surprised of how much women-centre it was. There are a few male characters, but they seem to mostly sit around, whereas the female characters (and there are quite a few) are the ones who move the story forward.

    @JazzFeathers
    The Old Shelter - The Great War

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  2. Here's a great book for your "F" list. The False Prince by Jennifer Nielsen. It's a great fantasy story with fantastic world building and character development. It's one of my favorites. And no, I hadn't heard of the blog you suggested.

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  3. Never read something like it before - now that's quite the compliment!
    There are classes dedicated to literary fiction so it's nice to know a speculative fiction author has classes.

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    Replies
    1. Indeed it is.
      It's also the reason I couldn't find an agent. I was trying to sell an urban fantasy that has no detective, vampire, actual shifter or werewolf, wasn't in a magical high school, etc. But was still an urban fantasy by definition (and somewhat a paranormal romance).

      Delete
  4. Fractions is fabulous! :) One of my favorite modern fairy tale series is the Fever series by Karen Marie Moning (Faefever being one of the titles). I'm a risk taker in that I like to twist old tropes. Hopefully this year I'll be putting out the first book of a LitRPG series, and that's a risk because there are very few female authors in the genre, and I'm writing from a very female POV.

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  5. Those "F" books look great. Adding them to my endless list...

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  6. I can't believe you're managing not one A-Z theme but three each day! I'm enjoying your suggestions. How about Fellowship of the Ring? Or Feet of Clay by Pratchett?
    Black and White: F for Faerie

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    Replies
    1. I read LotR books a long time ago (pre blog days). I don't think I read Feet of Clay- thanks for the suggestion!
      If you think this post is impressive, stop over at Operation Awesome today, where I have a book review for A to Z.
      Or the main A to Z blog, where I created a post for a guest today, or stop tomorrow for my regular Thursday post. Today was the day of the most effort in April.

      Delete
  7. I've written guest posts for Fiction Can Be Fun, and they did a lovely review of my trilogy of books, so I'm a fan of that one! :-)
    https://iainkellywriting.com/2021/04/07/the-state-trilogy-a-z-guide-f/

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  8. And to think Lord of the Rings arrived at the publishers in an orange crate. It was a happy day for all of us.
    :-)

    Anna from elements of emaginette

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    Replies
    1. 🍊 Is that like giving an apple to the teacher? An orange to the publishers? ha ha

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  9. Hey, I opted not to answer this month's #IWSG question, but my "F" was "Fantasy vs Sci-Fi"
    Where does Fractions of Existence fit on my scale, I wonder. It's on my TBR... I need to move that one up after reading those excerpts. Fantasy vs Sci-Fi

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    Replies
    1. Fractions of Existence is an urban fantasy. It's set in the modern world (minus a few years). But the driving force of the story relies on fantasy, not science. So it's more to the left side of your spectrum.

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  10. I added Freyja's Daughter and the fairytales book to my Goodreads TBR -- such great recommendations! You should get an editor with a better vocabulary, #justsaying. Once Fractions of Existence is on Kobo, I'll read it and let you know if it's controversial!

    Ronel visiting for the A-Z Challenge with an A-Z of Faerie: Fickle High Fae

    Ronel visiting for IWSG day Doing What You Love

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  11. Favorite F book lots of choices, Hunter S Thompson Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

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