Today author Kirsten Fichter is joining me to for a guest post on awesome and obscure fairytales. Kirsten’s latest book, The Bear of Rosethorn Ring, released a few days ago. You can read my review of the book and the interview with Kirsten here.
But first, a bit about Kirsten and The Bear of Rosethorn Ring.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kirsten Fichter is a twenty-something Christian writer who loves being the wife to her favorite person ever, mommy to two precious blessings, a piano enthusiast, a dragon buff, a serious bookworm, and an INFP synesthete. Fairytales have always fascinated her, and she has made it her goal to rewrite as many as possible and become known as the “Grimm Dickens” (i.e. mixing Grimm fairytales with a Dickens style). She is present in many online circles under the name “Kiri Liz” if you care about things like that. As you read this, she’ll be somewhere under a maple tree – trying very hard to finish the seventeen and half other stories she unwisely started all at once.
Author’s Pages
BoRR’s Pages
Series’s Pages
ABOUT THE BOOK
Title:The Bear of Rosethorn Ring: A Snow White and Rose Red Story (Once Upon a Twist Tales, Book #4)
Release date: April 6th, 2021
Tagline: How far would Snow White and Rose Red go to save the man behind the bear?
About the Book:
When their father runs away, Marita and Diamond Kadlec realize how different twins can be. Marita’s ready to forget Lucas entirely, but Diamond wants to give him the second chance she’s never been able to give before. That’s before they discover that Lucas is indebted to the ill-tempered D’vard and his traveling circus, the Rosethorn Ring. The Ring’s entertainment lacks a bear, and Lucas must play the part of the savage creature to regain his freedom.
Lorcan D’vard cares only for three things: tending to his beloved beard, promoting his Rosethorn Ring, and eradicating the assassin out to kill him. With time running out, D’vard agrees to cancel Lucas’s debt and let him go free – if Marita and Diamond can apprehend the assassin before the assassin ends the show.
This is Snow White and Rose Red with a twist like you’ve never seen it before.
About the Series:
Once Upon a Twist Tales are your favorite fairytales retold backwards and upside-down, with a little bit of steampunk thrown in for fun!
Other Books in the Series:
Book One ~ The Rose and the Balloon: A Beauty and the Beast Story
Book Two ~ Spindle Dreams: A Sleeping Beauty Story
Book Three ~ Diamond: A Rapunzel Story
And now…for the part everyone’s waiting for.
GUEST POST BY AUTHOR KIRSTEN FICHTER: AWESOME AND OBSCURE FAIRYTALES
Question: Just how many fairytales are out there? Is it possible to know them all?
Answer: Too many fairytales. You might be able to read a lot of them, but chances are you won’t be able to get your hands on all of them. They’re just extravagantly numerous.
But I don’t say that to discourage you from fairytales. Oh, no. Rather, I want to pique your interest. There are so many more fairytales out there than the familiar Cinderella, The Little Mermaid, and Sleeping Beauty. Yes, those are definitely some of the more popular ones, but Disney doesn’t have the corner market on fairytales. There are fantastic fairytales that aren’t as popular but are still really good, like Rumpelstiltskin, The Princess and the Pea, The Snow Queen, and Little Red Riding Hood. If you recognize those, good for you. Keep reading.
Some of the lesser-known fairytales are particularly amazing and intricate, like The Wild Swans, King Thrushbeard, Jorinde and Joringel, and even Snow White and Rose Red. What about fairytales that can only be labeled as obscure? Do you know The Wounded Lion, The White Snake, The Bamboo-Cutter and the Moon-Child, or The Story of the Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was? Ah, no, I thought not. You see? There is a huge world of fairytales out there, and you’ve only scratched the surface of magical tales by reading Beauty and the Beast. Keep searching out fairytales to see what you’ll discover!
Here are a few of my favorite fairytales that are both awesome and obscure.
The Riddle (link)
One of my absolute favorite obscure fairytales is a fun one by the Brothers Grimm. Have you ever noticed how royals typically act without reason in fairytales? Well, for once, we see a decently clever royal with a slightly cleverer servant as the main characters. Their adventures take them to a witch’s house, an inn full of dangerous robbers, and the castle of a snooty princess. For those of you who enjoyed BBC’s Merlin, it’s basically one of Arthur and Merlin’s misadventures where they win the day without really meaning to. The irony woven throughout the story is guaranteed to have you guffawing outright.
The Steadfast Tin Soldier (link)
Depending on the childhood books you grew up with, some of you may recognize this obscure Andersen fairytale. I had a version of this story in a fairytale anthology growing up, and it quickly became one of my favorite fairytales. This is the story of a tin solider with one leg who falls in love with a paper dancer; she dances with one leg tucked up, so he believes they both are missing a leg. When he’s thrown out of the house because of his love, the solider endures a long and pretty miserable journey before finally returning to his lady. When he’s thrown out into the fire, the dancer follows him, Romeo-and-Juliet-style, and they both perish together. Okay, so my children’s version of the story allowed them to live happily ever after, but still – it’s a really sweet and romantic story. I’ve been dying to retell it for years.
The Two Brothers (link)
This is a lengthier Grimm fairytale, involving two identical brothers. They accidentally eat the heart and liver of a magical, golden bird, and then awake every morning to find gold piece under their pillows. Their cruel uncle convinces their father that the mysterious gold appearing is witchcraft, and the boys are turned out of their home. A huntsman takes them in, treats them like his own, and teaches them to hunt. When they leave the huntsman’s house to prove themselves as men, the two brothers collect a strange menagerie of animals, and then, at last, part ways. One slays a dragon and wins the hand of a princess, but there’s a lot more to the whole adventure. It’s just one of those sibling stories that I like so well.
The Dragon of the North (link)
This is an Estonian fairytale that was included in Andrew Lang’s The Yellow Fairy Book. I discovered it while browsing the internet for fairytales with dragons, and just loved it from the first. A young hero seeks to slay the terrible dragon plaguing the land, but only King Solomon’s ring holds the answer to defeating it. Yes, it’s a ring of power, and I’ve very intrigued by rings that make their bearer invisible. *winks* The hero makes friends with a magician, betrays a witch, and then uses the special powers of the ring to defeat the dragon. But that’s before the witch gets mad and decides to get her revenge. This is one of those fairytales that begs for more details, to be fleshed out and made into an epic adventure.
Brother and Sister (link)
Similar to The Wild Swans, this is a story of a sister saving her brother, originally a tale from Russia but retold by the Grimm Brothers. A brother and sister flee from their cruel stepmother (classic fairytale trope), but while wandering through the woods, the brother drinks from a magical stream and is turned into a deer. The sister vows never to forsake him, even when his heedlessness gets him injured in a hunt. The king who was hunting finds them and – true fairytale style – immediately falls in love with the sister, asking her to marry him. The sister and the deer are supposed to be living happily ever after in the palace, but their stepmother discovers that they’re still alive and is ready to fight to make her own ugly daughter queen in the sister’s place. This is, at its heart, a sibling story, but there’s a lot more besides that.
I don’t know about you, but I hadn’t heard of some of those fairytales ’til now. My muses are now plotting and planning (and totally ignoring the story I’m working on right now) and the plot dragons (because why have bunnies when you can have dragons?) are emerging and demanding random snippets of ideas that suddenly appeared after reading these tales be written.
Which awesome and obscure fairytale intrigues you the most? Are there any you might retell? Or, if you already knew about these delightful stories, which one do you like best? Be sure to visit the rest of the stops on the blog tour!
BLOG TOUR SCHEDULE
April 5th
Welcome & Giveaway @ A Synesthete Writer
Author Interview @ Living Outside the Lines
Favorite Fairytales About Siblings (Guest Post) @ Lands Uncharted
Book Review @ Tower in the Plains
April 6th
Snow White and Rose Red Tag @ A Synesthete Writer
Author Interview & Book Review @ Madi’s Musings
Looking Ahead at the Twist Tales (Guest Post) @ Virtual Paper
Book Review @ E. Kaiser Writes
April 7th
Snow White and Rose Red Mad Libs @ A Synesthete Writer
Inspiration for The Bear of Rosethorn Ring (Guest Post) @ Ink Castles
Favorite Characters from the Twist Tales (Guest Post) @ Living Outside the Lines
Book Review @ Shieldmaidens of Shiloh
Book Review @ Live. Love. Read.
April 8th
The First Chapter @ A Synesthete Writer
Awesome and Obscure Fairytales (Guest Post) @ Madi’s Musings
SWRR Elements in The Bear of Rosethorn Ring (Guest Post) @ Abigail Falanga
Book Review @ Blooming with Books
April 9th
Winner & Wrap-Up @ A Synesthete Writer
Author Interview & Book Review @ Virtual Paper
Retelling an Unknown Fairytale (Guest Post) @ Live. Love. Read
Madi's Musings 
Ahhh, yes. I have the same problem when reading through the obscure fairytales. I want to retell them ALL! There are just too many cool elements and characters and EVERYTHING that demand a retelling. *shakes head* So many ideas, so little time.
Plot dragons. *nods seriously* There is no reasoning with them. They’re so much more dangerous than bunnies.
Thanks for being a part of my blog tour! 🙂
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Indeed – too many ideas, too little time!
Yes, plot dragons can be obnoxious at times, not to mention inherently more dangerous since they can breathe fire. Still, once the little buggers are wrangled into obedience, they can be quite useful.
Of course! It was so much fun, and I thoroughly enjoyed BoRR.
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*starts to list all of the ones I recognize from this post.*
I know about Rumpelstiltskin, The Princess and the Pea, The Snow Queen, Little Red Riding Hood, The Wild Swans, Jorinde and Joringel, Snow White and Rose Red, The Bamboo-Cutter and the Moon-Child and I’m pretty sure I’ve heard of King Thrushbeard and The Steadfast Tin Soldier. (I’m not even going to mention the popular ones cause of course I know about them.)
And I have another obscure fairy tale for you. King Grisly Beard, which happens to be my favourite fairy tale.
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*shuffles in shame* I hadn’t heard of half of these until reading Kirsten’s post. I knew about Rumpelstiltskin, The Princess and the Pea, Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White and Rose Red, The Bamboo Cutter and the Moon Child, The Steadfast Tin Soldier, The Wild Swans, and The Riddle (which is one of my favorites). The others I had no idea existed.
I’d actually forgotten about King Grisly Beard! Fairtytale parents are either best of the best or need extreme parenting classes. This dad is amazing. I can see why this is your favorite. *shuffles away to add to list of “fairytales I must retell”*
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Oh, impressive! I only know three more than you I think.
WHAT? You have heard of King Grisly Beard?! I didn’t expect anyone to know that one. And I didn’t think the dad was particularly a good parent. XD
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Ahh! I should have mentioned King Grisly Beard! I think more people know it as King Thrushbeard, and yes, that would be another favorite fairytale of mine. ❤ I was trying not to be all Grimm stories in my list here, and that's one reason I probably didn't mention it. I also know of two Thrushbeard retellings off the top of my head (The Lady and the Wish by J.M. Stengl and Voyage by Camille Peters), so that makes it not so obscure in my mind.
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Oh my goodness, I had no idea King Thrushbeard is another version of King Grisly! *mind-blown* It’s clear I know of King Thrushbeard by name alone, haha. Oh, that so much sense! (I should definitely read those retellings too.) So I guess the story itself isn’t as obscure but I think the King Grisly version is! (just glancing at the story of King Thrushbeard and I could see certain details are different.)
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