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Draw Down the Moon is the first book in a new duology about Academia de la Luna, a magickal school located on a secret Moon Isle. The novel unfolds with the alternating perspectives of teenagers Wren Nightingale and Lee Young. Although they are both born to magickal families, Wren grew up believing she was a Mundane, a person without magick, while Lee grew up as one of the Moonstruck, a person born under a full moon in possession of magickal powers. When Wren suddenly feels magick course through her veins on her 18th birthday, the two friends’ lives are reunited as they travel to Academia de la Luna together to begin their magickal education. Academia de la Luna is a feast for the senses. The Magick School is a Gothic, dangerous, enticing place where Lee must prove his name and uphold his family’s powerful reputation. Students at the school are divided into halls and dormitories based on their elemental signs of Air, Water, Fire, and Earth. Known as Aquarius, Leo, Scorpio, and Taurus Moons, the students receive instructions for honing their powers and face trials for proving their worth. There is engaging description of the students, classrooms, dining halls, and professors, and the book provides a subtle romantic plot to keep readers interested. There are magickal twists and turns for fans of young adult dark academia. I thoroughly enjoyed the dual protagonist point of view in Draw Down the Moon. The fast paced plot sets a sequel into motion, and the duology will be perfect for readers thirsty for stories of moon magic and enchanted education. You can find the book 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 find her at https://kellyjarviswriter.com/

Well, I can't believe it, and I'm sure Lissa can't either, but it's here! Glass and Feathers, Lissa Sloan's brilliant continuation of Cinderella's story, and a book unlike anything you've read, is finally here! Now please buy it!!! Read it!!! You'll love it!!! I'm giddy so I'll stop. Here's the link again. Kate

Next week, CH will be back to normal, but for one last time, I'm plugging Glass and Feathers by Lissa Sloan in the Monday spot. This book is 20 years in the making for Lissa and nearly two for Lissa and me together. It represents countless hours of work, worry and creativity. I dearly hope all of you will buy a copy. And I hope that those of you who received ARCs will review it at Goodreads and in Amazon (starting tomorrow). Glass and Feathers is an absorbing, enchanting read. Here's the description: "They can bring you a night out, a gown, even a pair of slippers. Or something you never should have wished for in the first place. After the royal wedding, the girl in the glass slippers has everything she ever wanted: an escape from a life of drudgery, an innate magical gift, and a devoted husband who looks at her like she is the only one in the room. But all wishes come with a price. To the people of the palace, she is an outsider, nothing more. Even her famous shoes cannot help her--the glass slippers no longer fit. Glass and Feathers is a continuation of the traditional Cinderella tale. It transforms 'Happy Ever After' and soars beyond it." The best reason to read this book is because it's a fantastic book. But if you care about FTM, then you'll buy a copy and/or review the book, because book purchases directly affect the bottom line of The Fairy Tale Magazine. When you buy a copy of G&F, you're literally positively affecting our ability to keep going. So buy and/review the book! Please! Next week, back to housekeeping!

Mushrooms emerging From saturated ground Mist bearing shoots Scatter faintly Among tree roots Chirping echoes above As other nests Are feathered Crocus peaks out Through remaining Scattered icy traces Chrysalis spinning On softly greening limbs Cloudy dreams forming May soon come true Chartreuse froglets Multiply high and low Curious young things Explore bright colors Lured by scents Returning from deep Within the Earth But straying far Extracts a high price Beware destroying angels Bewitching mimics Fool the untrained eye Sampling newly emerged Saprophytes which Seem like treats Yield a death cap Toxic though tempting Such smell and taste Transports its victim To another realm Never to return Maria DePaul is a Washington, DC-based writer whose poetry, prose and reviews have been pushed extensively in print and online--including in Haikuniverse, Haiku Journal, Poetry Quarterly and Three Line Poetry. Image from Pixabay

New Moon Magic: 13 Anti-Capitalist Tools for Resistance and Enchantment is a phenomenal book of magic and scholarship designed to help readers create meaningful change. The forward, written by Dr. Christena Cleveland, likens the book to the “magic of Gestalt psychology” which teaches that the “whole is greater than the sum of its parts”. Cleveland, “enrobed in a Black and female body”, grew up feeling pressure to break down her sacred intersectionality into its simplistic parts, and she upholds this book and its magic as an antidote to harmful reductionism. Dickens and Torok, creators of the podcast Missing Witches, show readers how to liberate themselves from tyranny by fully embracing their identities and forging connections to each other and the bountiful world. The book is divided into thirteen sections that correspond with the astrological new moons and the meanings of the earth, air, water, and fire signs. The introduction defines the word “witch” not as a person but as a discursive space, “a meeting point of politics, spirituality, and art.” The writers chart “a path beyond the violence of capitalism, patriarchy, and white supremacy” by hearkening to the voices and stories of marginalized people. Each month’s new moon offers readers the dark space to explore a new way of living as they contemplate what “our worldviews and world will look like when we reintegrate marginalized, obscured, violated, missing wisdom.” I absolutely loved this book. Although it is full of thought-provoking ideas, it is easy to read and can be digested over time as each new moon rises. The book covers the magic of the body, the garden, song, dance, storytelling, geometry, and divination, pairing simple rituals and incantations with historical information and complex philosophies. In the section on the 13th moon, the writers issue a call to action, urging readers to understand that personal strength is political strength and that our greatest calling as humans is “to build a shared house of wisdom in community with all creatures of the earth.” Heartfelt, informative, and inspirational, this book reaches into a shared past to envision a brighter future, showing readers that true magic lies not in tools or aesthetics but inside ourselves. This beautiful book is full of ancient wisdom, personal stories, and innovative tips that will help readers to enchant their lives and, in doing so, change the world. You can find the book 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. Her poetry has been featured or is forthcoming in Blue Heron Review, Mermaids Monthly, Eternal Haunted Summer, Forget Me Not Press, A Moon of One’s Own, The Magic of Us, 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. She can be found at https://kellyjarviswriter.com/

Hello Enchanted Friends: Happy Spring tomorrow! Today I'm preempting "Cinderella's Hearth" (yes, again) to share bits of new with you. The Fairy Godparents Club has closed membership for the year, but we have around 50 members, which is great! Each will receive a free Advance Reader Copy of Glass and Feathers, by Lissa Sloan. The book publishes on March 26, only on Amazon. It will be available in both Kindle and paperback. If you've already read it, please leave a review on Goodreads! If you are a 2024 Fairy Godparents Club member, you should already have a Zoom link for tonight's meeting at 7 PM, EST, so double check your email. Kelly Jarvis, our Contributing Editor, and I, are hard at work on the May 1 issue. So put that day on your calendar, because we think it's going to be a great issue. The FALL/WINTER submissions window will be opening June 17, 2024 at 12 AM, EST., and closing on June 24, 2024 at 11:59 PM, EST. There is no fee to submit. We will be doing the fundraising contest in 2024. It will be our major fundraising event for the year. The contest window would be July 1 through July 30. This is the only fee-to-submit situation for 2024. All rules for length, theme, and content in place overall for this year are also in place for the contest. More info will come later in the year. If you have any questions about anything listed here, please don't put them into the comments, but email me at katewolford1@gmail.com. Please check the 2024 submissions guidelines before emailing me about submitting this year. Have a great week! Kate Image from Pixabay.

Hello Enchanted Friends: The deadline to join the Fairy Godparents Club for 2024 is March 17 (Sunday) at 11:59 PM, EST. And, if you've joined by then, you'll get a free Advanced Reader Copy of Glass and Feathers, by Lissa Sloan, which publishes on March 26! The first club meeting is Monday at 7 PM, EST. Don't miss it. Lissa will be giving away the Glass and Feathers swag pictured here to one lucky attendee! She'll also be reading a passage from the book. (And Kristen Baum DeBeasi will be sharing original music, along with other members sharing their own work or favorites by others.) Club membership is only $20 for the year. (PayPal only.) We will officially meet four times this year: March 18, June 17, Oct. 21 and Dec. 16. These meetings will be about celebrating our achievements and sharing our own poetry, prose and art (or a favorite by someone else). I hope to slip in a couple of unofficial fun meetings into the mix as well. And there will always be a giveaway that those who attend the official meetings can enter! (We’ve already done the free reiki course for members this year, but I’m hoping to offer another extra as well. Stay tuned.) Hurry up to join. Just email me at katewolford1@gnmail.con, and you'll be a member in a flash. Yours in Enchantment, Kate

In order to deliver a full year of Fairy Godparents Club benefits to every member, and for organizational purposes, membership will close at 11:59 PM on March 17. Club membership is only $20 for the year! We will officially meet four times this year: March 18, June 17, Oct. 21 and Dec. 16. These meetings will be about celebrating our achievements and sharing our own poetry, prose and art (or a favorite by someone else). I hope to slip in a couple of unofficial fun meetings into the mix as well. And there will always be a giveaway that those who attend the official meetings can enter! (We’ve already done the free reiki course for members this year, but I’m hoping to offer another extra as well. Stay tuned.) To join,  you can email me at katewolford1@gmail.com, and request membership. That is the official email for the site, and for our PayPal account. For bookkeeping and tax purposes we can only accept money through PayPal. If you haven’t signed up yet, please do. This club is a major fundraiser for us. And, I’m currently working on the February insider info email that only Fairy Godparents Club members receive! Yours in Enchantment, 🪄Kate🧚 Image from Pixabay

Modern takes on classic fairy tales can prove fascinating when they subvert the original narrative. Whether it's differing values, updated understanding of gender and economics, and plain wanting to add a new message, you can always find a new spin on older tales. Hans Christian-Andersen (HCA) earned fame in Denmark for his fairy tales. While a few had happy endings, the more infamous ones went to the downer conclusions. HCA believed that true love was hard to find and that sometimes death is the only happiness someone can find in their quest for dignity, or for a warm bed at night. Then modern writers like Terry Pratchett would lovingly mock this, and affirm that everyone may live, getting some comfort. Matches In The Snow "The Little Match Girl" is one of the most depressing HCA tales, and that is saying something. Even the first line warns us about the depression to come: "It was so freezing." We see the title character attempt to sell matches during a cold wintry night. She has a few coverings, and while she left the house with oversized slippers, a boy stole one of them and a horse carriage accidentally knocked off the other. If she doesn't sell any matches, then her father will beat her for bringing no coins home. Rather than go home after no customer comes to help, the girl crouches between two sumptuous houses and starts lighting matches to keep warm. They show her visions of loveliness to help her cope with the cold. People ignore her while going about their commute to work, or doing the shopping. As the night gets cold, the matches show different scenes: warmth from a stove, a good Christmas meal, and a shooting star. When she sees her grandmother in heaven, the girl asks for her grandmother to take her there. HCA was not in a happy state of mind when he wrote this. You can tell that he knew how to get into the mindset of someone facing a bitter cold in winter. Hogfather Says No To This Ending In Discworld, the fantasy parody series by the late Terry Pratchett, the little match girl story plays out during a segment in both the novel and television special Hogfather. Albert and Death encounter her still body in the snow, while Death is filling in for the world's Santa Claus, the Hogfather. Death says that a little girl should not freeze in the night. He says that it is not fair, and this is a chance to right a wrong. Albert, a retired wizard, and overall cynic, tells Death that it's how the winter stories go. Going against the status quo should find disruption. Everyone romanticizes a girl freezing to death in the snow while thanking their stars that it wasn't them. Normal folks have enough food and coal to get through the night and if they don't, then at least they aren't a child freezing in the snow. They can tell stories to make up for the drafty holes in the wall. If Death weren't the Hogfather, and if not for events in previous books, he would have accepted this state of affairs. Death is not fair, and he comes for everyone. An earlier book had him chide an apprentice for saving a princess from a pre-appointed assassination, complete with smacking him on the face for insubordination. But here, Death says no. He gives life, rather than reaps it. The match girl is not a fictional character, but an actual child that he can carry in the snow. You may not see this in the film because it would have broken the budget, but the "affronted" angels show up to collect the match girl's soul and take her to heaven. Albert responds by tossing snowballs at them so they will go away. Even though Albert tells Death to let the story play out as is, he listens to his master. Unlike the original fairy tale, we see the angels attempt to complete the tale. Death asked why didn’t they come earlier, to give the child a hot drink and a blanket. He has a point and shows that he puts his money where his mouth is by picking up the child and asking several constables to give her a place to sleep for the night, and a meal. Angels are supposed to be protectors. Yet they did not protect an innocent kid. Why is it important that Albert toss snowballs at the angels? He shows them how humans feel about the cold, and how an object traditionally used for child's play can prove annoying and disruptive to a formal occasion. This is not a time to be civil, but to show anger. Add A Level Of Disruption Sometimes we cannot accept children freezing in the snow. We can't tell a crying kid, "There are starving children in Somalia, cheer up." You can't let the little match girl serve as your cautionary tale against parental abuse and thieves that steal slippers from the vulnerable. Pick up that child if you can, and change the story. Show that happiness is possible, even if difficult to reach. Instead of waiting for the angels, shoo them away, and use your powers for a new ending. Priya Sridhar has been writing fantasy and science fiction for fifteen years, and counting. Capstone published the Powered series, and Alban Lake published her works, Carousel and Neo-Mecha Mayhem. Priya lives in Miami, Florida with her family. Illustration: The Little Match Girl by Arthur Rackham

Inspired by Toni Morrison who once said, “If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it,” Amy Trent presents readers with a retelling of the little-known Scottish fairy tale Kate Crackernuts in her beautifully crafted novel Clever, Cursed, and Storied. The second book in Trent’s Enchantment Retold series begins with a prologue that references Trent’s Smoke, Steel, and Ivy (a Twelve Dancing Princesses reimagining) before continuing with the stand alone story of Kate, who has fled to the North Mountains seeking magic to disenchant her cursed sister Annie, and Henry, the ailing prince of the North Kingdom who is suffering from a curse of his own. Disguised as storyteller, Kate must navigate a hostile environment to save both Henry and her sister. Although the overarching plot of Clever, Cursed, and Storied is a retelling of Kate Crackernuts, the novel glistens with references to other well-known fairy tales like Bluebeard, Hansel and Gretel, Sleeping Beauty, and Little Red Riding Hood. Kate, who has been wandering the countryside telling stories in exchange for meals and shelter, finds herself in the palace of the North Kingdom where she relays many of these famous tales to Henry. Storytelling is presented as a form of enchantment and connection, allowing Kate and Henry to share their fears and burdens with each other. They learn to see each other in the stories Kate tells, revealing the transformative magic at the heart of storytelling that will ultimately help the pair, and their siblings, face a dangerous and uncertain future. I thoroughly enjoyed Amy Trent’s luscious reimagining of Kate Crackernuts. Trent’s novel is set in a romantic world filled with dancing, dreams, Fae, and magic. The protagonists and their siblings are engaging characters who come to life through Trent’s beautiful description and well-paced narrative. Together, Kate and Henry learn that “the best stories…{have} something that {works} for everyone.” Clever, Cursed, and Storied: A Fairy Tale Retelling is one of those stories. This novel has something that will work for every reader, and it is a must read for all who look for the magic that lies at the heart of storytelling. I loved it! You can find the book here. 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 find her at https://kellyjarviswriter.com/

Just a quick reminder that Lissa Sloan, author of Glass and Feathers, has put together a glorious swag collection that we will be giving away at the March 18 Zoom meeting for the Fairy Godparents Club. The collection, featured here, contains a signed proof copy of the book, a tote, two postcards, a bookmark (created by Lissa herself), one notecard, a teabag, and a lavender sachet. Plus, there is a vintage, highly collectable, Fenton glass Cinderella's slipper. One lucky club member will win this entireswag package, but you must be present to win! Still not a member? Contact me (Kate) at katewolford1@gmail.com. We're taking new members through 11:59 PM, EST, March 17. It only costs $20 for the whole year. It's a gorgeous collection, and we know having these fabulous objects in your home will enchant your life. And since the book is based on "Cinderella," it definitely has a place here under "Cinderella's Hearth!

Hello Enchanted Friends: Today we're skipping "Throwback Thursday" to ask last year's readers of the serialized version of Lissa Sloan's Glass and Feathers to please leave reviews at Amazon and/or Goodreads. What are people saying on Goodreads so far? Suzanne Steward says: "I read this book in installments and absolutely loved it! This is a very wise and thought provoking tale about what really happens after the happily ever afters and the importance of being true to yourself in relationships. Read it; I promise you'll love it!" Johanna Haas says: "Excellent telling of what happens after the Cinderella story ends. Would you want to be stuck in a castle with all those better-than-everyone types having to wear a new dress everyday, but with the same glass slippers? Well-written and plotted this story goes in directions you will not expect." Tabby Brooke says: "This is like no other fairytale I have ever read, it was messy and it was beautiful. Instead of fancy party’s, extravagant dinners and over the top palace living there was deception and self-deprecation. So afraid of not fitting in, being unwelcome by her new royal in-laws and everyone else around her, Cinderella was unable to see that her Prince loved her truly—not just because of some wish." Supporting the this book not only helps book sales, it supports the magazine! The profits the Enchanted Press earns will go directly to The Fairy Tale Magazine. And while I'm on supporting the magazine, time is running short to join The Fairy Godparents Club. The window for joining closes at 11:59 PM, EST, March 17. Our first meeting is at 7 PM, EST on March 18. And a glorious Glass and Feathers swag package will be the prize for the night. If you wish to join, just email me at katewolford1@gmail.com. It's only $20 to join for the year. That's all for now. Stay Enchanted, Kate