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Heartless Hunter by Kristen Ciccarelli has been the newest book in my reading lineup of fairy tale inspired romantasy. The folklore history of witch hunters and witches is long and fraught and I absolutely feel as though this book represented those tales perfectly. Following a revolution that turned the witches of her kingdom from rulers into hunted, Rune Winters works as a vigilante “Crimson Moth” saving the witches of her kingdom from execution. When Gideon Sharpe, the best witch hunter in the kingdom is sent to kill the Crimson Moth, Rune seeks him out to discover just how much he knows. In their pursuits, the lives of Rune and Gideon are inexplicably intertwined and they find themselves falling for one another even as Rune is keeping a deadly secret.  Rune and Gideon’s relationship is tension-filled and will tug at the heartstrings of any reader. We only want the best for them, but the structure of their society and the hatred between witches and civilians comes between them time and time again. Fans of Uprooted, Red Queen, and Six of Crows will devour this book. The world building is slow and precise, but not excessive and really adds to the tension of the novel. Now is a better time than ever to read this book, as the second book, Rebel Witch, will be released in February to continue the story! You can find Heartless Hunter here . Madeline Mertz is a graduate student at Truman State University in English and Education, having received her BA in Creative Writing. She works as a teacher, managing editor, and literary agent intern. In her spare time she enjoys traveling, reading, writing, and eating anything with copious amounts of sugar in it. Her work has appeared in journals such  Three Elements Literary Journal, Tomahawk Review,  and  The Fairy Tale Magazine.

I hope Cinderella had plenty of chickens to feed and keep her company. Chickens do have personalities; friends who raise them have sworn to me that they do, and Google concurs. Plus, eggs would have enriched Cinderella’s diet, cholesterol be damned. I was always skeptical of the decades-long campaign of “just say no” to eggs. Remember that idiotic ad about drugs where they cracked an egg in a hot, oily frying pan, and said it was your brain on drugs? I still see that as just another attempt to demonize the truly noble chicken egg. I blame you, Big Cholesterol. Thank goodness that the science began to change again on eggs about 10 years ago—not that I ever followed it anyway. Eggs are nutritious and delicious! I hope Cinderella scrambled them with abandon to keep up her strength. Sadly, as you no doubt know if you live in the US, we have an egg shortage, largely due to avian flu and transportation issues. You may also be aware that there are people who, in 2024, based the entire future of the United States of America on the price of eggs, so they are indeed important. They have become America’s caviar of the chicken coop, as prices have continued to rise. To me, the $5.47 we paid yesterday for 12 eggs was still a pretty good deal. I figure Todd and I can use them as the basis of two hearty dinners. One will be brinner (breakfast for dinner). The other will be a frittata filled with whatever vegetables I have lying around. Both of these meals will cost less than $5 each for both of us to eat, which is still very, very cheap.  You may be thinking that Todd and I are only two people, what about the cost of a family of four—two adults and two kids? Todd proudly eats the equivalent of an adult and two children, I assure you. My math stays the same. Eggs are not leaving our diet, even if the price doubles, and I imagine I’m not alone. I do, however, recognize that the higher cost of eggs may remove a very important and nutritious element from the tables of low-income families, so those of us who can afford an extra dozen should donate them to a food bank. Most food banks will accept clean eggs in good condition. Eggs are a foundational part of good eating the world over, they contain protein and vitamins and should I ever decide to become a vegetarian (a real possibility), they’ll be an even bigger part of my diet. If I have cheese, eggs and milk along with beans, vegetables, pasta and rice, I can eat as well as Cinderella’s mother-in-law, presumably a real queen. Crack ‘em open and fry ‘em up, and you too, can live a fairy tale at the dinner table. Kate Wolford was the publisher and editor of The Fairy Tale Magazine  for many years. She’s now enjoying being Resident Fairy Godmother. Image from Pixabay

In her new dark historical fantasy, Upon a Starlit Tide , Kell Woods delights readers with a scintillating love story that rewrites classic fairy tales like The Little Mermaid, Cinderella, and Bluebeard. Woods’ novel takes place on Saint-Malo, Brittany, 1785, where Lucinde Leon, the youngest daughter of a wealthy merchant and a noble woman, rescues a drowning man from the sea. When it is revealed that the sailor, Morgan, is the youngest son of another wealthy ship-owning family, Luce and her sisters begin dreaming of wedding bells, and their mother commissions dresses for each of them in anticipation of a grand ball celebrating Morgan’s survival. Although Luce is drawn to the dashing young sailor whose charm hides a dark past, she is also smitten with her best friend Samuel, an English smuggler who taught her to sail. The relationships between the wealthy families and between Luce and Samuel play out in the shadow of war on the high seas, and romance and danger intertwine themselves seamlessly as Woods spins her tale. Those who love the folklore of the sea will adore Upon a Starlit Tide . Woods captures the ocean’s natural beauty and creates a world where humans and Fae live side by side. In the novel, Saint-Malo has been built of storm stone, a protective ballast made by the Fae residents which includes korrigans, water sprites, washer-women, sea hags, and sea maids. Luce has a strange connection to these creatures who are just as likely to grant wishes as they are to cause mischief, and her skin tingles whenever storm stone, now a rare and valued commodity because it can protect ships and sailors at sea, is near. The past haunts this Gothic Tale as the ghosts of drowned sailors walk the beaches at night searching for retribution. Even Luce must uncover the sorted secrets of her childhood to help her make difficult decisions about her future. Upon a Starlit Tide  forces readers to confront the magic that lurks just beneath the surface as they read a story that is impossible to put down. In addition to her kind and adventurous personality, Luce has a talent for music, releasing tunes into the air rather than simply playing the notes, and Luce’s natural talent for music is evocative of Wood’s writing ability. Woods has a way of releasing characters, settings, symbols, and themes into the air, letting multiple storylines churn before they come together like a rising tide. Her lush descriptions of silk dresses and masquerade balls complement her beautiful explorations of the coastline and sea, and her romantic interludes harmonize with touching explorations of family relationships. If you are a fan of Gothic tales, family mysteries, romantic unions, ocean legends, or ancient fairy tales retold in innovative new ways, you must read this book. I loved it! You can pre-order the book here , and you can sign up to receive my exclusive, upcoming interview with Kell Woods here . Thank you to NetGalley for a free copy of the book in exchange for a fair review. Kelly Jarvis is the Contributing Writer for The Fairy Tale Magazine. Her work has also been featured in A Moon of One’s Own,   Baseball Bard , Blue Heron Review , Corvid Queen, Eternal Haunted Summer,   Forget Me Not Press, Mermaids Monthly , The Chamber Magazine , The Magic of Us, and the World Weaver Press Anthology Mothers of Enchantment: New Tales of Fairy Godmothers . Her first novella, Selkie Moon , comes out in 2025. You can connect with her on Facebook (Kelly Jarvis, Author) or Instagram (@kellyjarviswriter) or find her at https://kellyjarviswriter.com/

I like to imagine Cinderella curled up by a dying fire, reading every word she can before she drops off to sleep. The way I see it, books would have given her the imagination to believe in her fairy godmother enough to take the magical gifts and go to the ball. Books get me through tough times, easy times, sad and happy times. Books have been a through line in my life since early childhood. They are my number one love that isn’t a human or a pet. They’ve gotten me through illness, heartbreak, anxiety and boredom. Books broaden my mind and expose me to ideas that soothe my soul. I’d like to think that lonely Cinderella had the same consolation. January is always a big reading month for me. I just ignore the cold weather and keep turning the page. But this past week has been particularly rough. I think however you voted, the speed with which life is about to change in the US is startling. Coping through reading has been especially effective over the last couple of months. I shut the world out and sink into someone else’s fantastically detailed dream committed to paper. (It has to be paper. I’ve given up on Kindle. I don’t remember anything I read on Kindle.) I’ve probably read 20 books in the last couple of months, but only a couple have really stood out. One of the books I read changed the way I see the world, so I thought I’d share it with you. It’s Never Let Me Go , by Kazuo Ishiguro. Many of you may have already read it, as it is a very famous book, and it’s been out a while. In fact, a lot of people think that Never Let Me Go  (NLMG) is the book that won Ishiguro the Nobel Prize in 2017. Ishiguro’s prose is so direct and spare in NLMG that the reader barely knows that anything is happening. At first, you just think you are reading the thoughts and memories of a not especially special girl who went to a special boarding school in the UK. I found it just readable enough to keep going. Yet ever so slowly, I began to sense that there was something very odd about the school and the kids. The prose in the book is deceptively simple. It’s the work of a complete master—a master who uses clarity and simplicity to change the reader from one way to another. I don’t want to tell you any more if you’ve never read NLMG. It’s a slim book, and it’s best to go into blind. But I will tell you this: I was sobbing by the end. Sobbing at 2:30 AM, not caring that I’d never sleep that night. I was sad, for sure, but I also felt like my ideas of what it means to be human were bigger than they’d ever been. I still feel like it made me a slightly different and better person. I generally avoid sad books, but not if they make me more fully understand my own humanity and that of others. I also avoid sci-fi books. They just aren’t my thing. But NLMG is set in the UK of the recent past, and it’s really not about sci-fi. It’s about the person reading the book and how they experience being alive on this beautiful, difficult planet. Never Let Me Go  tore me up, but made me stronger. It helped make me feel a bit more equal to navigate the changes that are coming. Strangely enough, it also made me happier, because it made me feel my humanity and the humanity of others more keenly. It changed me as surely as the fairy godmother changed Cinderella. Kate Wolford was the publisher and editor of The Fairy Tale Magazine  for many years. She’s now enjoying being Resident Fairy Godmother.

The Book of Night by Holly Black takes a new approach to the classic tale of Pan and his shadow. It’s quick, dark, and full of murder, mystery, and intrigue. In short, everything good from a new look at an old fairy tale.  Charlie Hall, reformed thief and talented bartender is happy in her new chaos-free life with her boring boyfriend Vince and her psychic sister. Unfortunately, she lives in a world where shadow magic runs rampant, and gloamists, those that can alter their shadows, have all of the power and influence. When she witnesses the scene of a murder after a harrowing night at the bar, she is forced to dive back into her work as a thief and con artist to protect her sister. As secrets come to light and shadows fill every alley, it appears that her boring boyfriend is absolutely not what he seems and she must work with him to stand off against an old enemy even as her new life is falling to pieces.  I was on the edge of my seat throughout the entirety of this book. The shadow magic systems of this world are fascinating and really add something new to the magic systems of romantasy as a whole. Fans of Cinder, Cruel Prince, and Once Upon A Time will fall in love with this book, as it’s the perfect choice for a cozy winter read. You can find the book here . Madeline Mertz is a graduate student at Truman State University in English and Education, having received her BA in Creative Writing. She works as a teacher, managing editor, and literary agent intern. In her spare time she enjoys traveling, reading, writing, and eating anything with copious amounts of sugar in it. Her work has appeared in journals such  Three Elements Literary Journal, Tomahawk Review,  and  The Fairy Tale Magazine.

Hello Enchanted Friends: ⏱️ Time is running out to purchase membership in the Fairy Godparents Club at a discount! Did you know that the club is the biggest source of income for us, and the amount of members we have directly affects how much work we can publish? It’s true. The FGPC is very important to FTM. But the club is about more than that. It’s a great way to have fun and share your love of fairy tales and folklore with friends. ⭐️ From now through Jan. 15, members from 2024 can join for $50. New members can join for $55. On Jan. 16, the price goes up to $65 for everyone. Membership for the year closes on Feb. 20. ⭐️Purchase a club membership by sending the money to thefairytalemagazine@gmail.com  through PayPal. There is no other way to purchase a membership. Note that it’s for the club in the message, and if the email you’d prefer we use for the mailing list is different from your PayPal handle, put the preferred email address in the message. Read on for more details on what members will enjoy in 2025. 🌹Spindles and Thorny Towers: Rewriting Briar Rose Here’s a description from our fearless leader, Kristen Baum DeBeasi: “In this Feb. 22 workshop, we’ll look together at some magic moments from “Sleeping Beauty” retellings in both poems and prose, talking a bit about their methods for rethinking a dear old tale. Thus inspired, we’ll approach that briared tower in new ways. In a set of fun, short exercises with attached free-writing times, we’ll ask ourselves some strange and enchanting questions about fairies and curses, spindles and dreams, finding new ways around the tale through fresh imagistic and narrative moves. There will be time for any who want to share their work for encouraging feedback. Fairy Godparents, bring your pens and spindles, your notebooks and your spells–it’s going to be an enchanting time!” 🤩 The workshop leader will be Sally Rosen Kindred , a noted poet! The workshop is only for members. But there’s much more! 🦭🌕 We’ve added a tremendous bonus for 2025! Kelly Jarvis’s fantastic new novella, Selkie Moon , will be sent by email to each 2025 member in late February. Kelly is an amazingly talented writer, and, as Contributing Writer at FTM, helps keep the magazine going. Here’s the beautiful cover for her novella. Our 2025 calendar includes four seasonal (Zoom) socials:   🌸 May 3, 2025 (Saturday) at 1pm EST 😎 June 14, 2025 (Saturday) at 1pm EST  🍂 Oct. 11, 2025 (Saturday) at 1pm EST  ❄️ Dec. 6, 2025 (Saturday) at 1pm EST ⭐️ We are returning to PDFs this year, which is very exciting! Here are the publishing details:  🌸😎 Spring/summer theme: Sleeping Beauty (publishing April 15)  📖 Bonus mini issue showcasing winners of the writing contest (publishing July 15) 🍂❄️ Fall/winter theme: Trolls (publishing November 1) 🪄 📰 And, club members absolutely get the inside info on getting published! The special newsletter that only club members receive ensures that. Once again: Purchase a club membership by sending the money to thefairytalemagazine@gmail.com through PayPal. There is no other way to purchase the membership. Note that it’s for the club in the message, and if the email you’d prefer we use for the mailing list is different from your PayPal handle, put the preferred email address in the message. Hope to see lots of members! 🧚❤️🧚 Kate Wolford Fairy Godmother in Residence FTM Founder

This year, the Spring/Summer Issue of The Fairy Tale Magazine  is all about Sleeping Beauty! Submissions are open January 15th-21st (details found here ), and while you work on your stories and poems, you can take inspiration from our roundup of Sleeping Beauty inspired books! These titles are the perfect bedtime stories to inspire sweet dreams. Let’s begin with P. L. Travers book, About the Sleeping Beauty , a collection of five traditional Sleeping Beauty Tales accompanied by a beautiful essay on the meaning of the fairy tale by the writer of Mary Poppins. Now sold in used editions, this collection is perfect for the Sleeping Beauty scholar! Jane Yolen sets her stunning novel Briar Rose  among the European forests of World War II, using fairy tale imagery to process the horrors of the Holocaust. This riveting and powerful story twists fantasy and reality together to explore the painful and poignant truths of human existence. Neil Gaiman twists the story of Sleeping Beauty with the story of Snow White in his beautifully illustrated novella The Sleeper and the Spindle . Gaiman’s intelligent prose and Riddell’s gorgeous illustrations will transform the way you understand sleeping maidens and the lives they lead. Readers who love Robin McKinley’s classic fairy tale retellings will delight in her Sleeping Beauty novel, Spindle’s End . This spellbinding tale tells the story of Princess Rosie who is whisked away to keep her safe from an evil fairy’s curse. A Spindle Splintered  by Alix E. Harrow takes Sleeping Beauty into the multiverse with an exciting contemporary tale illustrated with the slightly altered silhouettes of Arthur Rackham. The first of her two fractured fables (followed by A Mirror Mended ), Harrow’s book introduces readers to Zinnia Gray, a young woman who pricks her finger on a spinning wheel while attending a Sleeping Beauty themed birthday party in an abandoned prison tower. In Rosamund Hodge’s novel, What Monstrous Gods , a beautiful woman named Lia is fated to wake a sleeping prince and kill the sorcerer who raised a deadly briar around the palace, but complications arise when an unexpected romantic attraction occurs. This book is full of atmospheric world-building. You can read my review here .   Girl, Serpent, Thorn , by Melissa Bashardoust, is a feminist fairy tale about the dangers and powers of curses. A woman cursed to be poisonous to the touch must decide if she is willing to leave the garden that serves as her prison in this Persian inspired Sleeping Beauty tale. Rosalyn Briar’s Her Dark Enchantments  tells the origin story of the fairy who becomes the villain of Sleeping Beauty. In this novel, it is the villain who grows up in an isolated tower, and it is her power that earns her the titles of “Spider”, “Witch”, “Wicked Fairy”, and “Mistress of All Evil.’ You can read my review here . A Wicked Thing , by Rhiannon Thomas, moves the story of Sleeping Beauty beyond her happily-ever-after. When Princess Aurora wakes up after one hundred years of sleep, she struggles to cope with a life that has doesn’t recognize and a fiancé she hardly knows. Shonna Slayton tackles Sleeping Beauty in Book Five of her Fairy-tale Inheritance Series Sleeping Beauty’s Spindle . Set in 1894 Vermont, this novel features a spindle made from fairy wood that just might make wishes come true. Finally, if art inspires you, check out Mahlon Craft’s Sleeping Beauty , a gorgeous picture book illustrated by award winning fantasy artist Kinuko Y. Craft. Inspired by the style of Baroque painters, the pictures in this book will breathe new life into the fairy tale you know and love. We hope you enjoyed this roundup of Sleeping Beauty inspired books, and we hope it will inspire you to dream up your own stories and poems to submit to our Spring/Summer Sleeping Beauty Issue! Sweet Dreams! Kelly Jarvis is the Contributing Writer for The Fairy Tale Magazine. Her work has also been featured in A Moon of One’s Own,   Baseball Bard , Blue Heron Review , Corvid Queen, Eternal Haunted Summer,   Forget Me Not Press, Mermaids Monthly , The Chamber Magazine , The Magic of Us, and the World Weaver Press Anthology Mothers of Enchantment: New Tales of Fairy Godmothers . Her first novella, Selkie Moon , comes out in 2025. You can connect with her on Facebook (Kelly Jarvis, Author) or Instagram (@kellyjarviswriter) or find her at https://kellyjarviswriter.com/ Cover Image: Rene Cloke

Can you imagine how dark it was for Cinderella as she slept in the ashes at night? At best, she probably had a rushlight  or a smelly tallow candle, while the rest of her family basked in the sweet glow of beeswax aflame. At worst, Cinderella probably slept with no light at all by a banked fire that gave off little heat. For that reason, I like to think that she lived with giant banks of glowing beeswax candles once she made it to the big time. We live in a luckier age than Cinderella did. With the candle industry at around $10 billion a year, we are awash in light and scent. You can buy soy candles, sweet-scented tallow candles, unscented candles, candles with crystals, candles with herbs—the variety never ends. I’m a scented candle freak, and have been for years. I love candles with herbal or fruit scents, like green tea, lavender, basil, or apple and spices. But most of all, I like candles that smell like incense from mass with a bit of cedar wood mixed in. That, and bayberry. I love bayberry candles so much because my mom always burned them at Christmas when we were children. These days my favorite brand is A Cheerful Giver , and I burn the candles year around. As for burning, we’ve arrived at the real purpose of this post. After decades of using matches and lighters and fearing I’d burn the house down with my candle habit, I discovered candle warming lamps in 2024. I’ll never go back. Candle warming lamps shed both light and scent. They make your candles last forever. You can set a timer to “burn” a candle for two, four or eight hours and walk away, because the lamp will shut off once the time is up. You can adjust how close the lamp’s light is to the candle (it’s the lamp’s lightbulb that melts the candle), which affects how much scent the candle throws out, as does the brightness of the bulb, which is also adjustable. The best proof I can give is in this picture. The candle is three ounces, and is supposed to burn for 20 hours. I’ve used it under the candle lamp for at least twice that long and it looks almost brand new—and the scent is as fabulous as ever. By the way, the candle is called “ Woodfire .” It’s by Illume, and I’m obsessed with it. It smells like a Holy Day of Obligation Mass to me, which also takes me back to childhood. The candle warmer  in the picture is highly rated on Amazon. It’s absolutely worth $36.99. I apologize for the Amazon link, as I try not to buy from there, but that’s where the lamps are at the best price. (Also, I have a cheaper candle warming lamp, but it’s nowhere near as good as this one.) It’s absolutely worth the splurge and comes in slightly different styles. The cold, dark season is upon us. Turn on a candle lamp for a cozy, sweet-smelling vibe. I think Cinderella would love it. Kate Wolford was the publisher and editor of The Fairy Tale Magazine for many years. She’s now enjoying being Resident Fairy Godmother.

Fans of fairy tale retellings will rejoice at the publication of Amy Trent’s new novella, Curses, Diamonds, & Toads . Trent reworks the fairy tales in the Kind and Unkind Girls cycle (popularly known as “Diamonds and Toads”), giving readers a new rendition that speaks to the pain of language and the beauty of true love. The novella begins with the protagonist, Astrid Lucia, who is desperately trying to sell her strange wares of toads, lizards, and snakes in order to survive. Cursed by a fairy to vomit the animals every time she speaks, Astrid Lucia has forced herself to be silent in public to avoid being thought a monster. She must communicate with gestures and expressions, and many customers shun her even though her products are valuable in chasing vermin away from homes and gardens. When a clay-covered potter named Bernard begins buying her snakes and lizards to recreate the animals in his pottery, Astrid Lucia is given a new chance at life and love. Astrid’s sister, Violet, is cursed as well, though in keeping with the fairy tale tradition, it is diamonds, gems, and flowers that emerge from her lips whenever she speaks. Although at first glance this access to endless wealth seems a blessing, Violet's greedy mother makes her life just as dismal as her sister’s. Astrid Lucia must face her fears of speaking out in an attempt to save her sister from persecution and find her own happily-ever-after. Trent’s novella is a brilliant reworking of the traditional “Diamonds and Toads” fairy tale. Trent teaches readers to look beneath the surface of blessings and curses. Her settings are rich with solstice markets, fairies, and witches, and the slow-burn romance between Astrid Lucia and Bernard showcases the strength of true devotion and the beauty of practical romance. The characters in the novella are all painfully human, and Astrid Lucia must learn that sharing the truth matters because “marriage is not a union of bits and pieces, but of whole selves.” Amy Trent’s reworking of a lesser-known fairy tale will delight those who enjoy stories about the love people carry for their families, their partners, and themselves. Be sure to check out Trent's full-length fairy tale retellings Smoke, Steele and Ivy  (a “Twelve Dancing Princesses” novel) and Clever, Cursed, & Storied   (which reworks “Kate Crackernuts”). You can find Amy's books here . Kelly Jarvis is the Contributing Writer for The Fairy Tale Magazine. Her work has also been featured in A Moon of One’s Own,   Baseball Bard , Blue Heron Review , Corvid Queen, Eternal Haunted Summer,   Forget Me Not Press, Mermaids Monthly , The Chamber Magazine , The Magic of Us, and the World Weaver Press Anthology Mothers of Enchantment: New Tales of Fairy Godmothers . Her first novella, Selkie Moon , comes out in 2025. You can connect with her on Facebook (Kelly Jarvis, Author) or Instagram (@kellyjarviswriter) or find her at https://kellyjarviswriter.com/

Highlands Christmas  is the first in a two part-novella about Melissa MacKenzie’s romantic adventures in Inverness, Scotland. When her cheating husband asks Melissa for a divorce on Thanksgiving evening, she flees America to Scotland where she has recently inherited family property. Her husband’s lawyer, Colin MacGregor, happens to be taking the same flight and train back home to Scotland for the holidays, and a bubbling romance ensues. Colin and his welcoming family help Melissa sample Scottish food and learn the local customs as she redesigns the crumbling interior of the home she has inherited. This short novella is a quick read, and it provides readers with a lovely holiday escape into a beautiful Scottish environment. Melissa’s new home is located on the shores of Loch Ness, bagpipers play in the streets, and men wear the kilts of their clans. Melissa attends the Highland Games, takes part in gingerbread baking competitions, samples Scottish cuisine, and prepares for Hogmanay (New Year’s Eve) celebrations. I thoroughly enjoyed the descriptions of the Scottish countryside and nod to local customs. Readers will be treated to an overview of Scottish folklore and Celtic traditions as they watch the sweet romance between Melissa and Colin unfold. As the book explains, “when a handsome man in a kilt beckons, you follow,” and I had fun following along on Melissa and Colin’s adventures! Like a light-hearted holiday romance movie, this book allows readers an escape from the everyday world. The sequel promises more romance to come! If you enjoy Christmas stories with a touch of happily-ever-after and a strong Scottish flavor, you will enjoy Highlands Christmas: Wishes Come True . You can find it here . Thank you to NetGalley for a free copy of the book in exchange for a fair review. Kelly Jarvis works as the Assistant Editor for The Fairy Tale Magazine where she writes stories, poems, essays, book reviews, and interviews. Her poetry has also been featured or is forthcoming in Blue Heron Review , Mermaids Monthly , Eternal Haunted Summer,   Forget Me Not Press, The Magic of Us, A Moon of One’s Own,   Baseball Bard , and Corvid Queen.  Her short fiction has appeared in The Chamber Magazine  and the World Weaver Press Anthology Mothers of Enchantment: New Tales of Fairy Godmothers . You can connect with her on Facebook (Kelly Jarvis, Author) or Instagram (@kellyjarviswriter) or find her at https://kellyjarviswriter.com/

December ushers in the season of celebrations, a time to enjoy the memories of the old year even as our thoughts turn toward dreams about the new. It is a time to gather with friends and family, staving off the inevitable chill of winter with parties by the fire. But, while December seems a cheery month to many of us, it must have been a difficult time for Cinderella, the heartbroken child who lost her mother and was held at arm's length from her new step-mother's family. Cold and alone by the kitchen hearth, Cinderella would have been forced to serve the holiday dinner rather than invited to share it, but, since all fairy tale protagonists are survivors, I like to think she took comfort in the little celebrations that the season has to offer, marveling at the patterns of frost left on the windowpane or taking joy in sharing her extra crumbs with the little mice who sheltered from the cold in the walls of her home. Sometimes these little, unexpected celebrations are the ones which capture the true meaning of the season, and in marking them, Cinderella may have found far more happiness than her step-sisters would find in the pile of presents that no doubt graced their Christmas tree. My husband and I try to enjoy the little things throughout the year, but no ritual we have is more enchanting than our annual celebration of the season's first snow. I have always loved the quiet beauty of snow, the way its icy crystals transform the landscape as they flutter down from the skies. When the weather turns frosty, my husband chills a bottle of champagne, and when the first flakes begin to dance, he pops the cork, letting the bubbling liquid spill over the tops of our glasses. We sit together by the window, watching Mother Nature's brilliant show, forgetting our worries and taking comfort in the warmth of each other's love. My favorite part about celebrating the season's first snow is its unpredictability. It may snow in the morning (perfect timing for mimosas), or it may snow on a Tuesday afternoon. To take part in our "First Snow" ritual, we must be willing to drop our plans and be present in the moment, and we must be willing to accept the imperfection of that moment, letting a mundane evening be transformed into a cherished memory as surely as Cinderella's rags are transformed into a beautiful gown. Cinderella's stepmother banned her from attending the kingdom's lavish parties and balls, but that doesn't mean she stopped Cinderella from taking part in the magic that the dark season has to offer. Cinderella may have found joy in the crackling of the fire or the lilt of winter birdsong. She may have marked the sweet taste and crunch of a late-season apple or sighed in contentment as she wrapped her hands around a warm mug of cocoa. Anything can be a celebration if we take the time to add a little magic, and maybe a glass or two of champagne. Kelly Jarvis works as the Assistant Editor for The Fairy Tale Magazine where she writes stories, poems, essays, book reviews, and interviews. Her poetry has also been featured or is forthcoming in Blue Heron Review , Mermaids Monthly , Eternal Haunted Summer,   Forget Me Not Press, The Magic of Us, A Moon of One’s Own,   Baseball Bard , and Corvid Queen.  Her short fiction has appeared in The Chamber Magazine  and the World Weaver Press Anthology Mothers of Enchantment: New Tales of Fairy Godmothers . You can connect with her on Facebook (Kelly Jarvis, Author) or Instagram (@kellyjarviswriter) or find her at https://kellyjarviswriter.com/

Reclusive, awkward Mr. Norrell seems an unlikely magician. He would much rather be in his library, where he hoards every book of magic he can get his hands on. But then again, he is the only person calling himself a magician who is able to actually perform magic, rather than merely study the stuff. Until Jonathan Strange appears, that is. Strange is a wealthy, rather idle young gentleman in need of a profession, only taking up the practice to impress his future wife. But he has a talent for it, and together, this odd couple seems destined to bring back English magic. After all, they are the two magicians the prophecy speaks of. Aren’t they? In J onathan Strange and Mr. Norrell , author Susanna Clarke creates an early 19th Century England that feels so meticulously researched and lived in, you might think she’s dropped you into a Jane Austen novel, or at times, an account of the Napoleonic wars. From Windsor Castle to the country to London and many places in between, Clarke’s Georgian England is full of historical details that set the story completely and believably into the time period—just with magic. For it is also full of capricious fairies, imaginative lore, and throughout the rocks, trees, and the very rain of England, is the influence of the Raven King, who ruled the North for 300 years before disappearing and forsaking it at last. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell  is a rather epic tale, taking place over many years in the cities, moors, forests, and castles of England, continental Europe, and Faerie. The expansive and fascinating cast of characters includes the long-suffering Stephen Black (the “nameless slave” destined to be a king), the mercurial Man with the Thistledown Hair (a king of Faerie), and Mr. Norrell’s enigmatic servant, John Childermass. The characters, atmosphere, mythology, even the footnotes are all incredibly compelling, but it’s the language that makes Strange and Norrell  one of my favorite books. Clarke’s writing channels the speech and manners of the time period so perfectly that her style is a whimsical (and thoroughly impressive) mixture of Austen and Dickens. If you can’t get enough of the Strange and Norrell  universe (or would like to start with something a little shorter before delving into the novel), try The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories from 2006   or The Wood at Midwinter, which just came out this October . While The Ladies of Grace Adieu is a collection of short stories that could come right out of Strange and Norrell’s  footnotes, The Wood at Midwinter is a single, beautifully-illustrated fairy tale (or saint’s tale might be more accurate) with a simpler style. But both are set in the mysterious, absorbing world of Strange and Norrell , and I highly recommend finding the nearest fairy road and escaping into this world at your earliest opportunity.  Lissa Sloan is the author of Glass and Feathers, a transformational continuation of the traditional Cinderella tale. Her fairy tale poems and short stories have appeared in The Fairy Tale Magazine, Niteblade Magazine, Corvid Queen,   Three Ravens Podcast, and anthologies from World Weaver Press. Visit Lissa online at lissasloan.com , or connect on Facebook, Instagram, @lissa_sloan, or X, @LissaSloan.