Guest Post with Michelle Davidson Argyle author of Bonded: How the Bonded Fairy Tale Collection Compares to Disney

It's with great pleasure that I present the guest post written by Michelle, who is a friend of mine and who writes fun books. I haven't read Bonded, and won't be for a while because it's not quite for me. However, I love supporting authors I know and wanted to take part in the tour. So first I present the all important book details, then it's on to Michelle's discussion on how Disney compares to the tales in Bonded.

(Book cover)

Bonded

by Michelle Davidson Argyle

Upper Young Adult/Fairy Tale/Fantasy

{Paperback, Hardback and Ebook

Rhemelda Publishing 

Published 1st November 2012

380 pages (Paperback) 366 pages (Hardback) 

 (A promtional poster)

Book summary

What happened after Cinderella married her prince? How did the evil sorceress in Sleeping Beauty turn evil in the first place? Discover these stories and a world filled with magic, forbidden love, elves, sprites, dragons, and the most powerful creatures of all - the fairies - in Bonded, a collection of three fairy tale inspired novellas. 

CINDERS: A Cinderella sequel. Money can't buy love, but magic isn't a sure bet either. Cinderella, now officially a princess, finds royal life is not what she once dreamed. When a mysterious elf from her past stirs up long-suppressed passion, Cinderella begins to wonder if there really is love beneath the spell that captured her husband's heart. But undoing magic can be harder than casting the initial spell, and the results are even less predictable.

THIRDS: A retelling of the Grimm's fairy tale, One-Eye, Two-Eyes, Three-Eyes. Issina is surrounded by magic, yet none of it belongs to her. Despised and abused by her mother and sisters, she finds comfort when she meets the beautiful elves living in the nearby woods. The elves want to help her discover her own magic, but it's not the kind of power she hoped for, and she learns there is more to magic than getting what you want. 

SCALES: A Sleeping Beauty prequel. The sun never sets in the realm of the fairies. When the young fairy Serina looks into her sister's eyes, she sees darkness for the first time. After her mother is murdered, Serina defies fairy law to follow her sister to the human realm. There she discovers the strength of a bond, the weight of a promise, and the darkness in her own heart. .

Book Trailer

HOW THE BONDED FAIRY TALE COLLECTION COMPARES TO DISNEY by Michelle Davidson Argyle

I have a lot of people ask me how my fairy tale interpretations compare to the widely known Disney versions, and whether or not I was inspired by the Disney versions. Honestly, it has been different for each novella in the Bonded collection, so I’ll start with Cinders first.

Overall, I was inspired to write Cinders, a continuation of Cinderella, because of Disney. I got the idea when I watched a trailer for Cinderella III: A Twist in Time. I thought to myself, what sort of story would I tell after Cinderella married her prince? The idea was planted, and it took off! After that, however, I stayed far away from pumpkins and talking mice and a cheery fairy godmother. I did, however, take the idea of a fairy godmother from Disney, since the original doesn’t personify the magic giver. Instead, it’s a tree and birds, which give Cinderella her dress and shoes. My version of Cinderella, hinted at in Cinders, is really my own mish-mash of ideas woven together to work for the story I wanted to tell.  

Thirds, a retelling of One-Eye, Two-Eyes, Three-Eyes, was obviously not taken from Disney, since Disney has not told the fairy tale. I used the Brothers Grimm version as my base, and twisted a bunch of the story to work for the setting I used. It’s one of my favorites because so many people do not know the fairy tale!

For Scales, a prequel to Sleeping Beauty, I most heavily relied on the Disney version of the tale as my basis. The reason I did this is because I am fascinated with Disney’s rendition of the evil sorceress (Maleficent) turning into a dragon. This does not occur in any original tales I could find. I kept thinking, why does she turn into a dragon? Why is she so angry with the king and queen? In the Disney version, the only explanation is that she wasn’t invited to the celebration, but why wasn’t she, exactly? I wanted to know more of her story, so I decided to explore her point of view in Scales. The story that unfolds is interesting, indeed!

So there you have my explanations of how the three novellas in Bonded tie in with the Disney versions of the fairy tales. A large difference in my stories is that I try to stick to a darker, more realistic view of these tales instead of focusing on happy endings. If you love fairy tales, I hope this peaks your interest in the book!

You can find out more about Bonded and Michelle's other books on her website. (My favourite is The Breakaway, whose sequel comes out next year!) 

As a Disney fan, this has been very intriguing. Many thanks Michelle for looking at your book from this angle, and for being a guest here on Nayu's Reading Corner today!