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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.

In The Secret of the Three Fates , Jess Armstrong reintroduces readers to Ruby Vaughn, the plucky American heiress who solved a string of supernatural murders in The Curse of Penryth Hall . Armstrong’s newest installment in her mystery series finds Ruby visiting Manhurst Castle with her octogenarian employer, Mr. Owens, to appraise and acquire illuminated manuscripts for their bookshop. Ruby soon finds out that Mr. Owens has brought her to the borders of Scotland under false pretenses. He has always had a keen interest in the occult, and when he hears The Three Fates, a trio of mediums who claim they can speak with the dead, will be at Manhurst Castle for a séance, he hopes to get in contact with his son who passed away during the Great War. When one of the fates is found murdered, Ruby must solve the crime to clear her name and the name of Mr. Owens, and she encounters plenty of supernatural and human secrets along the way. Jess Armstrong’s new story also reintroduces readers to Ruan Kivell, the Pellar who helped Ruby solve her first case in Cornwall. Like Mr. Owens, whose wife mysteriously disappeared many years ago, and Ruby, who was the object of a great social scandal, Ruan has secrets, and details from his past are slowly revealed throughout the novel. The romantic tension that ignited in The Curse of Penryth Hall  is elevated to a sizzle in The Secret of the Three Fates  as Ruan and Ruby navigate a world filled with danger. Armstrong’s main characters are the backbone of her writing; Ruby, Ruan, and Mr. Owens are interesting and compassionate people who possess both gifts and flaws. Although readers will be titillated by the twists and turns of the mystery at the heart of the novel, it is the characters who will stay with them long after the mysteries have been solved. I loved both The Curse of Penryth Hall  and The Secret of the Three Fates , and I can’t wait to read the next installment in the series which will no doubt delve even more deeply into the relationships between Ruby, Ruan, and Mr. Owens. Each novel in the Ruby Vaughn mystery series also explores the folkloric beliefs and superstitions of remote locations like Cornwall and Scotland, and the Gothic settings will sweep readers away on a journey through early 20th century Britain. Jess Armstrong’s writing is perfect for those who love historical fiction, murder mystery, and a touch of occult magic. 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/

As the dark days of winter set in, what I love most is the quiet. The bustle and parties and pressure—not so much. But walking out in the cold, watching the seasons change, and then being warm and cozy, making soups and stews, baking traditional holiday treats, curling up by the fire to watch a movie or read a book with a cat on my lap, those are the things I love. What means the most to me about those quiet times that fall around the of the longest night of the year is the chance to reflect on the old year that’s past and imagine the new one to come. I think Cinderella would do the same. Though hers is a story told in cultures the world over, I think that whatever way her family marked the shortest day of the year, she would be taking stock of things as well. I imagine her sitting in her kitchen, once her stepsisters, stepmother, and father have gone out to a party, leaving her behind as usual. She’s finished the night’s task of baking some traditional treats from a recipe her mother taught her, wiped the table, and swept the hearth. And now, with the candles out, she sits by the light of the dying fire and thinks of the year that’s past (maybe bidding it good riddance, but maybe thinking of some pleasures she enjoyed in spite of…well, everything), and maybe, as she imagines the year to come, she makes a wish. For we know that Cinderella is a girl who believes in wishes. And what better time than this liminal time between one year and the next, between past and future, to make a wish? So to mark this in-between time with all of its possibilities, I’d like to share a recipe from the English side of my family: Christmas Pudding. It was given to me by a cousin of my grandfather’s, and part of the instructions include a wish. After mixing and steaming, the puddings sit for 4 weeks, which is why we’re posting this recipe with plenty of time for it to do just that before the holidays. Alice’s Christmas Pudding ½ lb. stale bread crumbs ½ lb flour ½ lb raisins ½ lb golden raisins ½ lb currants ½ lb mixed peel 1 c. Crisco 1 1/8 c. dark brown sugar 1 large grated carrot ¼- ½  t. nutmeg ½ c. grape juice 1 lemon and 1 orange (both grated rind and juice) 4-5 eggs Mix all ingredients together. Wish while stirring Grease the pudding bowl or bowls. (These need to be able to withstand boiling water. I’ve always used pyrex or metal. It’s also good if they have a lip of some kind for tying the string around it.) Then add the pudding mixture to the bowls, leaving ½ inch of space at the top. Then add a sheet of waxed paper, doubled over on top of the bowl and secure it by tying string around the outside of the bowl. Prepare a piece of cloth for each bowl. It needs to be big enough to put the bowl upside down on top of it and tie the cloth over the bottom, making a little bundle. * Steam the puddings. Put a steamer basket (or small trivet) on the bottom of saucepan big enough to hold your pudding (one saucepan per pudding). Add the pudding. The opening of the bowl will face down, and the ties of the cloth will be at the top. Fill the pan ¾ with water. Bring to the boil, turn to low and steam 12-16 hours with the lid on. The first time I made this recipe, I understood why Charles Dickens described the smell of Christmas Pudding this way in A Christmas Carol : “Hallo! A great deal of steam! The pudding was out of the copper. A smell like a washing-day! That was the cloth. A smell like an eating-house and a pastrycook's next door to each other, with a laundress's next door to that! That was the pudding! ” Cool your puddings and store in a cool dry place for 4 weeks. (I always used the fridge. You can also freeze and bring them to room temperature before the big day.) Before serving, steam them again as before for 4 hours. As for toppings, lots of people do things like brandy butter, and they also may put rum in the pudding. But I use Bird’s Custard mix from World Market. In my opinion, this sweet and creamy version of Crème Anglaise makes everything better. And if you’ve never had Christmas Pudding before, I will warn you, it is an acquired taste. But if you like things like dark fruitcake or mincemeat, give this recipe a try. And while you’re stirring together the dried fruit and sugar and spice, don’t forget to make a wish for the coming year. I’m sure Cinderella would!  * Here’s  a good instructional blog post from Bigger Bolder Baking about steaming your pudding, if you’d like to know more. 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 Twitter, @LissaSloan.  Image credits: John Everett Millais and Arthur Rackham

Felicia Grossman’s latest spicy romance novel is a gender-bent take on the Snow White fairy tale. Wake Me Most Wickedly , which follows Grossman’s Marry Me by Midnight , tells the story of Hannah Moses, an outcast pawnshop owner who must live with the criminal actions of her parents, and Soloman Weiss, a man pursuing a respectable marriage to gain the money and influence he needs to pay back the older brother who raised him. When sparks fly between the two, they must learn to navigate their different worlds and find a way to be together. Grossman’s novel empowers the female character. Hannah is older than Soloman, and she has a life beyond searching for a husband. She enjoys her dangerous work procuring the items and information her customers need, and she cares for her younger sister, saving money so that her sibling can make a respectable match. The budding romance between Hannah and Soloman is filled with fairy tale references to apples and mirrors, but it is set in the neighborhoods of London in 1833. The characters in the novel are Jewish, and Grossman seeks to explore the legal and social antisemitism reflected in 19th century British culture. Her author’s note at the end of the book cites Charles Dickens’ Fagin from Oliver Twist  as an example of the fears Londoners held toward Jewish immigrants. If you enjoy spicy romance with a fairy tale twist, give Wake Me Most Wickedly  a try. It is an escapist romance that will teach readers about the harmful stereotypes that have plagued Jewish communities, and it will give romance fans a happily ever after. I loved it and I can’t wait for more installments in Felicia Grossman’s Once Upon the East End  series! 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/

Note: As I’ve done before, I’m recycling part of an old recipe column from a little weekly newspaper where I wrote for many years. This salad really is tasty and easy. In fact, if you don’t want to fool with the dressing, just mix some sugar to taste in a bottle of prepared dressing and pour it over the beans. Also, I do think that a simple recipe like this would have appealed to Cinderella, although hers would probably have been perfectly fresh from the garden! (KW) Way back in the late '80's and into the mid '90's, some form of "Three Bean Salad" showed up at virtually every carry-in. An old-faithful, it wasn't very fancy and bringing it certainly didn't announce its maker as a cooking sophisticate. Indeed, I remember that it often elicited snickers even as people filled their plates with it and gobbled it down. Eventually, good old cold bean salad somehow became too uncool to serve outside of the occasional Sunday supper. Yet, In a twist I did not see coming, it seems that in addition to just about every cookbook published before 1990, the Internet is awash in "Three Bean Salad" recipes--only nowadays, the number and variety of beans is bigger than ever. Through much sleuthing and based on my own tastes, I came up with "Fantastic Bean Salad,” about a decade ago. So follow my lead, and feel free to play with it to accommodate your family's tastes.    This recipe easily makes about 10 generous servings. The garbanzo beans were particularly good in this dish, so use them if you have them. There are five regular-sized cans of beans in the salad, but I think you could sneak a sixth can in here and keep the dressing amount the same without drying out the mixture. You will note that I use no salt. That's because many canned beans have plenty of sodium, as does white wine vinegar. Last, but not least, it is very popular at holiday gatherings year around. Fantastic Bean Salad Drain and rinse the following: 1 can black beans 1 can garbanzo beans (chick peas) 1 can yellow or wax beans 1 can green beans 1 can dark red kidney beans   Mix the beans up very thoroughly. Let them continue draining in colander and, meanwhile, mix (whisk) the following together:       1 cup white vinegar (or cider vinegar) 1 cup sugar Lots of freshly ground pepper A couple of pinches of Cajun-style seasoning (optional)   Let the dressing blend on its own for a few minutes, and, next, dice up the following and add it to the beans, mixing thoroughly: 1 bell pepper 1 small to medium sized onion 3 to 5 stalks of celery, depending on your tastes The celery, onion and bell pepper are very important to the success of this recipe. The crunch really transforms the taste of the salad. Anyway, now mix everything together on a large bowl and chill at least eight hours, but more is better. Stir from time to time to keep things mixed.  This is very pretty, and in a lovely container will stand out at any meal. Hope you find it fantastic!