Fable on May 2015 Amazon • Amazon UK • Book Depository
Talking badgers and salacious pixies. Impossible promises and broken hope. Exploring the fairy-tale evolution, Fable brings new tales formed from old skin with original inventions to boot. Spanning across three continents, Fable draws together some of the most beloved, or even feared, fairy tales while bringing to light those lesser known.
Are you interested in a new level of reading interaction? The Pigeonhole is a new online publisher, releasing books in a serial format.
Long ago, stories were published in a serial format in newspapers or other periodicals, similar to how we get television series in the modern day – a section at a time. At The Pigeonhole, you can subscribe to a book, and read each Stave as it is released as well as special bonus material. You can also comment on each stave on the site, allowing you to interact with other readers in a rather direct way. Each section of the book is called a Stave in honour of the great Charles Dickens, who first split up his A Christmas Carol in such a way.
One of the first books to be released in this format is Fable, a group of short fairytales written by various authors. There are eight staves altogether, with a couple of stories for each stave (some with just one story). They are written by several authors, including one of my favourite Aussie authors, Kate Forsyth (Bitter Greens, The Witches of Eileanan). Also included are Lucy Balmer Hooft, J.L. Baldock, Gareth Brierley, Michelle Madsen, Eli Lee and Krishan Coupland, all accomplished authors from a variety of backgrounds.
I found the stories in Fable to be quite varied, as with all groups of short stories. Some are classic retellings of traditional fairy tales, others are fairytales in a new retelling, such as the lift mechanic Rupun living in Dubai, or May Miller spinning gold from an online gambling website. They are all quite dark, as fairytales can be, but very good and well worth a read.
Other upcoming books on The Pigeonhole site include free classics such as Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, and Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. There’s also a number of other books of various types. I’d recommend taking a look to see what takes your fancy!
– I’m not a huge fan of the short story format, but these fairytales are entrancing and the whole serial idea is just such an interesting concept.
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Anni
Anni lives in Brisbane, Australia with her young family. She loves everything fantasy and science fiction and believes sleep is really very underrated.
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