Supernatural Fairy Tales ebook is Free This Week
Hi Friends,
Supernatural Fairy Tales by Dorlana Vann
Just wanted to let y’all know that my fairy tale inspired paranormal short story collection will be free all week. Go grab a copy over at Amazon (worldwide). Here is a little as to what you will find:
There are 9 short stories, which were inspired by classic fairy tales – Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, The Emperor’s New Clothes, Rumpelstilzchen, The Little Mermaid and more. These short stories are not retellings of the original tales but were inspired by them. They are paranormal themed stories about vampires, ghosts, mermaids, witches, etc., in genres ranging from romance to thriller. And fair warning: they don’t always have a happy ending.
Supernatural Fairy Tales – a collection of paranormal short stories by Dorlana Vann
The Cover:
The cover is by the creative team of Liz Shipe & Perry Heideman of Reconstructing Grimm . Art director, Liz Shipe, and photographer, Perry Heideman, along with many volunteers, recreate fairy tale scenes in urban settings. They do amazing work and have produced scenes from Snow White, Peter Pan, Little Red Riding Hood, Wizard of Oz, and more.
Fairy tale inspired paranormal short stories. fairy tale + paranormal element = supernatural fairy tale.
Below are all the titles with the story inspirations.
If You Feed a Wolf – Inspired by Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. This is one of my favorites because it was experimental. I just let myself be free to write without a real plan. As far as what I took from the original story: it reminded me of how I feel in dreams – so some of the things that happen in this story are taken from my actual dream journal.
The Vampire’s New Suit – Inspired by The Emperor’s New Clothes. I just like this one because it’s fun.
Blueberry Eyes – One of my very first supernatural fairy tales. I’m not going to say which fairy tale this one was inspired by because it would give away the ending.
The Gift – Inspired by The Ghost of Christmas Past from “A Christmas Carol.” This one was one of my favorites because I wrote the entire story backwards – line by line – It was my daughter’s idea to write it that way because I was stuck. I also like it because it is my first and only western – and it has a touch of steampunk and ghosts.
If it weren’t for Bad Luck – Inspired by Rumpelstilzchen. You see, I have this theory about luck..
Muse – (Also published in The Inferno under the title What You Know.) Inspired by Prince Ariel from “The Fairy Tales of Madame D’Aulnoy.” I had to do a lot of research on birds for this one. One of my darker pieces, but I like it.
His Soul Inspiration – (Originally published in Enchanted Conversation ) Inspired by The Little Mermaid, this is my last supernatural fairy tale short… to date.
Quiet on the Nightingale – (Also published in AllRomance eBooks Newsletter) Inspired by Jorinda and Joringel. A little sexy but mostly fun.
Forbidden Beach (Also published in Silverthorn Press) Inspired by Thumbelina, this short story is probably the truest to the fantasy genre of my stories and also the creepiest.
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Cinderella Inspired Poem
Dear Cinderella
by Dorlana Vann
Dear Mom,
Cinders on your face and hands, so you said.
Instead of supper you were sent to bed.
No one to play with—No huge castle walls.
Dined on the cold floor like one of the dogs.
Everyday I must hear your sad stories.
Really mother, they are getting boring.
Ellen, you start, you are so very blessed.
Living the sweet life of a spoiled princess.
Let me live it and make my own mistakes.
And you’ll see wealth is not an evil trait.
Your Loving Daughter,
Ellen
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Writing in Silence
As everyone is writing this month either for NaNoWriMo, or like me, working on a work-in-progress, I’m curious as to if you must write in silence, listen to music, or need a noisy coffee shop in order to write.
I’m a silent writer: no people, no television, no music. There are a couple of reasons for this. One, I type a few sentences behind my thoughts. So if I’m interrupted, it is a big possibility I’ll lose my train of thought. Two, I can’t concentrate with noise. I get distracted too easily. I have to be able to go into my writer-trance.
Of course there isn’t complete silence. There are a few sounds that I guess I’m used to because I have to really stop and listen to hear them: birds, cars, the tick-tock of the clock on the wall, and my fat cat snoring next to my desk. 
Happy writing!
Love and Laughter,
Dorlana
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Writer Humor from The Carol Burnett Show
Sometimes when I’m writing/editing and changing a lot of things around, I imagine my characters getting disgusted at me and saying, “Make up your mind, woman!” It reminds my of the writer skits from “The Carol Burnett Show” like the one below. Funny Stuff.
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September Book and a Movie: Atonement
Book: Atonement (2001) by Ian McEwan
Movie: Atonement (2007) directed by Joe Wright Screenplay by: Christopher Hampton
The set up:
Each month four of us (women ages 20-45) pick a book that has been made into a movie. We read the book and then get together for thematic food and to watch the movie.
On the menu:
We don’t know what the others are bringing. All we know is our category: appetizer, entrée (2 of us get this), or dessert. We can take food items directly from the book or go more inspirational. Below is what we ended up with this month.
Appetizer: Roasted Cauliflower and Heirloom tomato salad
Entrée: Quiche Florentine and French Bread
Entrée: Only one this time, we had one person who couldn’t make it this week.
Dessert: Chocolate bread pudding
My Book Review:
I liked it. Here are the words I jotted down to the describe the book: Intense, boring, sad, excellent writing. It had its ups and downs. I skimmed a lot, especially the war chapters. The author was very descriptive and really wanted to give his readers insight into each character, which sometimes made me sleepy but still a very thought provoking book: how young is too young to be responsible for your actions.
My Movie Review:
I didn’t like it very much. It was boring, especially the war scenes (which I really didn’t see what they had to do with the main plot of the story – in the movie or the book for that matter) The beginning moved really quickly through the scenes, and if I wouldn’t have read the book, I don’t think I would have really understood what was going on – and I probably wouldn’t have watched the entire thing.
Interesting Discoveries:
We were really surprised to learn that the film was nominated and won a lot of awards. Including an Oscar for Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score
Dario Marianelli (which I guess the music was fine) Here is a link on IMDB that list all 27 nominations: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0783233/awards?ref_=tt_awd
The Girly Discussions:
There was some discussion about the casting of Lola and Emily (the mother). They didn’t fit what we thought they would look like.
The costumes were awesome.
Most of us (I’m not going to name any names – lol) didn’t finish the book, so the premovie discussion was mostly about how boring the book was. But we all read to at least the middle of the book and so we were disappointed with how rushed the beginning of the movie seemed. Also, the sequence of events (going back to redo a scene from another character’s POV) seemed disjointed.
My Rating:
Book: 4 out of 5 stars
Movie: 2 out of 5 stars
The Bottom Line:
The book had too many details … the movie didn’t have enough details in the first half. Read the book, skip the movie. However, if you do want to watch the movie, be sure and read the book first. But then again, maybe the people who gave the movie such high marks didn’t read the book and therefore appreciated it more… IDK
Next month’s Book and Movie:
Love and Laughter,
Dorlana
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Rough Draft: the Good, the Fair, and the Ugly
After reading through and making notes to the rough draft of my novel, I scored each chapter on how well I believed it flowed and how much work was still needed. Right now, I’m on chapter 6 (Fair) and I really like how this tiny bit of information has helped me as I approach each chapter. Here are the results:
9 out 30 “Good”
1 out of 30 “Good but slow in beginning”
3 out of 30 “Good but short”
6 out of 30 “Fair”
6 out of 30 “Needs Work”
3 of them I didn’t mark for some unknown reason.
2 chapters really stood out: 23 I loved & 27 I hated.
By the end of the 2nd draft I hope to have at least all the “Needs Work” at “Fair”. And all the “Fair” to “Good” And all the “Good but short” chapters only “Good.” It would be so cool if all the “Good” were changed to “Awesome” – lol – but I’ll take have to take it one draft at a time.
Here is the breakdown:
- Good
- Needs work
- Needs work
- Good
- Fair
- Fair
- Needs work
- I didn’t mark
- Good but short
- Good
- Good but short
- Good
- Good
- Good but slow in the beginning
- Fair
- Needs work
- Good
- Good
- Good but short
- I didn’t mark
- Needs work
- Fair
- Intense – Awesome!
- Fair
- Good
- Fair
- Lousy chapter – Needs lots of work
- Good
- Needs work
- Didn’t mark
Regarding the title of this post – yeah, I’m a Clint Eastwood western fan
Love and Laughter,
Dorlana 🙂
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Psycho: Movie and a Book for August
Movie: Psycho (1960) Alfred Hitchcock
Book: Psycho (1959) by Robert Bloch.
The set up:
Each month four of us (women ages 20-45) pick a book that has been made into a movie. We read the book and then get together for thematic food and to watch the movie.
On the menu:
We don’t know what the others are bringing. All we know is our category: appetizer, entrée (2 of us get this), or dessert. We can take food items directly from the book or go more inspirational. Below is what we ended up with this month.
Appetizer: Pickles, Cheese, Summer sausage
Entrée: Sandwiches – an assortment of meats and cheeses, sour dough and rye bread.
Entrée: Cheese wrapped baked potatoes that had been cut and sliced.
Dessert: Coffee cake (decorated with shower curtain rings and a huge knife) and coffee ice cream
My Book Review:
Before I started reading the book, I already knew the twist (I watched the movie years ago) so there were no big surprises. I really enjoyed Bloch’s writing style. It was easy-going, and he really knows how to set a mood. By far, my favorite scene was the one at the end where Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) and Sam Loomis (John Gavin) are in the office – this, to me, was worth reading the entire book. The mood shifted and we got to see the darker side of Norman. Also it went from Sam feeling like he had the upper hand – to gradually realizing he did not. What an awesome suspenseful shift in reality.
My Movie Review:
I found the movie visually outstanding. Hitchcock used textures, lighting, and shading to really enhance the black and white movie.
It was a little slow in the beginning, and we were like, “Get on with it.” But once it did get going, and this might sound strange, the movie ended up being so much fun. We were cracking up laughing at so many of the “scary scenes” and were highly entertained.
Interesting Discoveries:
While watching the movie, Hitchcock was spotted and so were a lot of birds.
After watching the movie, we discovered something very interesting: Hitchcock actually intended the movie to be a comedy. He really was way before his time; it took a modern audience to really appreciate his sense of humor. Here’s the interview about it:
Hitchcock: Psycho meant to be a comedy
The Girly Discussions:
Half of us thought the sister, Lila Crane, played by Vera Miles looked younger than Janet Leigh and the other half thought she looked older.
We all agreed that Norman started out looking kind of cute in the beginning but then by the time we hit the end of the movie he was downright creepy. But Sam was way better looking.
My rating:
At first I thought the book was better than the movie. I thought Hitchcock left out the most suspenseful scene in the book (my favorite from above) and wondered why he changed Norman’s appearance. And there were other things, too. But it makes sense now: the book was horror, the movie was a comedy.
Book: 4 out of 5 stars
Movie: 5 out of 5 stars
The bottom line:
I’m really glad I read the book and watched the movie. If you haven’t watched Psycho in a while, grab a few friends and watch the movie in the frame of mind that you are about to watch a comedy.
Love and Laughter,
Dorlana
Dorlana Vann - Author 