The Starlit Wood: New Fairy Tales was released exactly one month ago. How has it fared up to this point? Well, Navah and I are certainly pleased with the results so far! Pretty damn pleased, I’d say. Here’s some of what’s happened since the release day (which was also eventful, as you can see here).
We launched the book at the World Fantasy Convention in Columbus, Ohio, and the response was incredible. Our party suite was full to bursting, and we sold out of books. The launch was a joint party with the fine folks at Uncanny Magazine, and Uncanny’s Michael Damien Thomas proved invaluable in our planning efforts. We were also lucky enough to have some of our authors on hand to celebrate with us and sign books: Amal El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone, Genevieve Valentine, Jeffrey Ford, and Daryl Gregory.
Here we are, amidst the chaos of the launch party.
Some reviews:
- Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog: For fairy tale aficionados, this volume is a must-read; for those interested in sampling the work of some of the best short fiction writers in sci-fi and fantasy today, it is no less essential.
- Portland Herald Press: Clever, touching, frightening, funny and frequently surprising, “The Starlit Wood” shines with magical possibility.
- Tor.com: The Starlit Wood furthers the conversation that surrounds the evolution of fairy tales in the context of a society that’s removed itself significantly from the world these tales originated from. What are our needs, now, as an audience? You’ll have to wander through the woods (and beyond) to find an answer, but it will be a wondrous journey.
- Black Gate Magazine: Are you searching for that fairy tale feeling in your own reading life? That deepening, that enrichening, that gilding and scarifying and ensorcelling of your inner landscape that changes the way you see the outside world in a myriad small ways? If so, then The Starlit Wood is the marvel-limned, shadow-skinned, witch-infested, magic-invested place to start.
- The Little Red Reviewer: If you were ever fascinated by fairy tales as a child, if you have ever read a fairy tale to a child and watched their face light up, this is an anthology for you.
These are in addition to the excellent early press from Booklist, Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, and The Romantic Times, as well as a number of reviews on various blogs.
Articles, Essays, and Other Things
- Navah wrote an article about what fairy tales mean to her, and about The Starlit Wood, for Uncanny Magazine: A Saga of Ink and Tea: Welcome to the Woods
- Navah and I each wrote about a story in The Starlit Wood that resonated with us on a personal level for Mary Robinette Kowal’s My Favorite Bit
- Navah and I wrote a guest post on Black Gate about our process for the cover for The Starlit Wood, and we also discussed the interior illustrations and the book as a physical object
- Shana Dubois held a terrific Mind Meld with many of our writers on the B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog: Mind Meld: Exploring Fairy Tales with The Starlit Wood Storytellers
Reprint
- Amal El-Mohtar’s story “Seasons of Glass and Iron” was reprinted in Uncanny Magazine, issue thirteen
Today we also announced the winner of our Twitter draw for the beautiful The Starlit Wood pendant, made by Elise Matthesen. Congratulations, A.C. Wise!
We’ll have some more exciting things to announce soon, so check back!
Dominik Parisien 