PostsGuest post: Me ... and the Beast by Moira Rogers (Bree) + Giveaway
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I'm bringing you another guest whose perception of fairy tales is different from the previous and usual fairy tale retellings. Please welcome the Bree part of the Moira Rogers author duo who will tell us about the inspiration behind their new fairy tale-esque paranormal romance series, the ... and the Beast series, the first and second novel of which ( and ) were released recently. Please give a warm welcome to Bree and don't miss out on her generous giveaway! ;-)
...and the Beast
It has always been my personal joke with myself that any book my co-writer and I write could easily be described as ___ and the Beast. The type of beast differs. Sometimes we switch the genders up. The setting might be futuristic or post-apocalyptic or an island off the coast of Maine during the Great Depression... but in our heart of hearts, we both love the moment where love tames a character's inner beast.
I don't think anyone who has read a Moira Rogers book is surprised by the fact that Beauty and the Beast is our favorite fairy tale. The plot itself is actually one we rarely follow--very few of our books involve enchanted Stockholm syndrome, for one--but that one moment, where love conquers power, that's why we love to write.
Because of that, whenever we got the urge to sit down and write a fairy tale retelling, we always started in the same place. We wanted to write a fairy tale! We love fairy tales! And we love Beauty and the Beast most of all, so it should have been simple, right?
Right?
So not right. Because it turns out that adding our favorite tropes and themes to the basic plot from whence they sprang while keeping it fresh and unique was about as easy as learning to juggle knives while riding a unicycle down a mountain. My harddrive is littered with aborted attempts, subversions, twistings, fracturings and retellings. It just wasn't going to work.
It didn't stop us from trying, though. And one day, in a particular fit of frustration, we decided this would all be much easier if we could just make up our own fairy tales. We didn't have to twist existing ones to our purpose. We could take what we liked--the curses, the epic magic, the larger-than-life storytelling and the dreamy nature of them, but make the twists and turns our own.
So that's what we did. We created a fantasy world of shapeshifters and curses and indulged ourselves in ruining the lives of all of the princes and important warriors. Once they were sufficiently beastly...well, then we got to write our heroines taming them.
Sabine and Kisri are not retellings of classic fairy tales. But they're fairy tales for us, and we picked the series name as a tribute to the one fairy tale that's given us the most inspiration: ...and the Beast.
By day, Bree and Donna live extraordinarily average lives. At night, with a wave of their fairy godmother's magic wand, they're transformed into Moira Rogers, author of dozens of paranormal romance stories, novellas and novels. It's an enchanted life...as long as they don't stay out past midnight. (If you've seen their glass slipper, visit them at http://www.moirarogers.com or let them know on twitter - Donna: or Bree: )
GIVEAWAY RULES:
Bree and Donna have very generously offered 5 yes you read that right FIVE copies of , 1st book in their to 5 lucky commenters!
All you have to do is:
1) leave us YOUR suggestion for a ... and the Beast novel. (you can leave as many as you wish) The more original and funny, the better! :-D It can be a mash up of already existing fairy tales, or your own creation. Like: The three little pigs and the Beast; The Lion, the Witch and the Beast, etc.
2) leave me a way to contact you (e-mail address, Twitter handle, etc.)
2) leave me a way to contact you (e-mail address, Twitter handle, etc.)
Giveaway is open worldwide and ends on 15 July 2011!
