Yesterday, I read you an excerpt from the beginning of M.P. Kozlowsky's The Dyerville Tales (and I've already told you how this book has completely won over my mom, who, though she does like to read occasionally, never feels the need to tear through a book, let alone text me in the middle of the night to say "This book!").
Today, M.P. is dropping by to have a quickfire chat with us, and then give you a chance to get your hands on a copy of this engaging middle grade adventure!
If you could pop one of your characters into any iconic movie scene, who would you send where, and why? Would they interact/change anything, or just be a fly on the wall?
Well, I think Vince would love to get his hands on Marty McFly’s Delorean in Back To The Future. I know exactly when and where he would go with it.
What is your favorite magical object from any fairy tale? What makes it so special?
Off the top of my head: I was always amazed by Jack’s magic beans in Jack and the Beanstalk. Just imagine watching that stalk grow into the sky and where it would lead. Now that is a world worth exploring.
Make a case for your favorite lesser-known tale or retelling: which story should we all read, right this instant?
Godfather Death, by the Brothers Grimm, of course. A tale of beauty and sadness, a tale of God and the Devil and Death, love and our own mortality. Absolutely perfect.
This or That?
Trial by fire or trial by water?
Fire. I think we’ve had enough trials by water in this world. Then again the same could be said for fire.
Flying carpet or flying broom?
Carpet. I’ll leave the broom in the corner.
Talking animals or talking inanimate objects?
Animals, as evidenced in The Dyerville Tales.
Mermaid or unicorn?
Mermaid, and I think of the Disney movie; unicorn and I think of Legend with Tom Cruise. Merman? Well, that brings me to Zoolander.
Would You Rather?
Follow a wil-o’-the-wisp or face a troll?
Wil-O’-the-Wisp. Sometimes it’s okay to go off the safe path.
Sleep for one thousand years (Sleeping Beauty) or tell stories for 1001 Nights (Scheherazade)?
I’ll tell stories as long as I live – hopefully more than 1001 nights.
Follow a trail of breadcrumbs or try to climb a hair rope?
Well, the hair won’t lead you to danger.
Go about in the emperor's "new clothes" (ie nothing) or wear a smelly, crusty donkeyskin
for the rest of your life?
The emperor’s new clothes. I’m sure everyone would go along with it.
Word Association - Say the first word that pops into your head when we tell you….
Magic Empire
Hair Red
Knight Holy Grail
Orange Acid
Trees Birds
Frog Swamp
Gold Book
Food Salt
****GIVEAWAY****
To celebrate the release of The Dyerville Tales, the awesome folks at Walden Pond Press have offered up a SIGNED hardcover copy of the book to one lucky Fairy Tale Fortnight reader! Open to US/CAN, ends May 10th, 2014. Fill out the Rafflecopter to enter.
**To enter this giveaway, you have to be registered on the Giveaway Registration Form. Please make sure you have registered, and please do not leave any personal info (like your email) in the comments. Thanks, and good luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
ABOUT THE BOOK:
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336 pages
Published April 22nd 2014 by Walden Pond Press
A young orphan searches for his family and the meaning in his grandfather's book of lost fairy tales in this stunningly original coming-of-age middle-grade fantasy.
Vince Elgin is an orphan, having lost his mother and his father in a fire when he was young, but beyond that, his life hasn't been much of a fairy tale. With only a senile grandfather he barely knows to call family, Vince was remanded to a group home, where he spun fantastical stories, dreaming of the possibility that his father, whose body was never found, might one day return for him. But it's been a long time since the fire, a long time since Vince has told himself a story worth believing in.
That's when a letter arrives, telling Vince his grandfather has passed away. Vince cannot explain it, but he's convinced that if his father is somehow still alive, he'll find him at the funeral. He strikes out for his grandfather's small hometown of Dyerville carrying only one thing with him: his grandfather's journal. The journal tells a story that could not possibly be true, a story of his grandfather's young life involving witches, giants, magical books, and evil spirits. But as Vince reads on and gets closer to Dyerville, fact and fiction begin to intertwine, and Vince finds that his very real adventure may have more in common with his grandfather's than he ever could have known.
M. P. Kozlowsky, the author of Juniper Berry, has crafted a powerfully imaginative novel of the spaces in life where fantasy and reality intersect, a touching story of the things we give up to recover the things we've lost.
Vince Elgin is an orphan, having lost his mother and his father in a fire when he was young, but beyond that, his life hasn't been much of a fairy tale. With only a senile grandfather he barely knows to call family, Vince was remanded to a group home, where he spun fantastical stories, dreaming of the possibility that his father, whose body was never found, might one day return for him. But it's been a long time since the fire, a long time since Vince has told himself a story worth believing in.
That's when a letter arrives, telling Vince his grandfather has passed away. Vince cannot explain it, but he's convinced that if his father is somehow still alive, he'll find him at the funeral. He strikes out for his grandfather's small hometown of Dyerville carrying only one thing with him: his grandfather's journal. The journal tells a story that could not possibly be true, a story of his grandfather's young life involving witches, giants, magical books, and evil spirits. But as Vince reads on and gets closer to Dyerville, fact and fiction begin to intertwine, and Vince finds that his very real adventure may have more in common with his grandfather's than he ever could have known.
M. P. Kozlowsky, the author of Juniper Berry, has crafted a powerfully imaginative novel of the spaces in life where fantasy and reality intersect, a touching story of the things we give up to recover the things we've lost.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
M.P. Kozlowsky was a high school English teacher before becoming a writer. He is the author of The Dyerville Tales and Juniper Berry, and lives in New York with his wife and two daughters.
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If "fairy tale" is mentioned, I want to read it! I can't wait for this one!!
ReplyDelete(I like your interview questions!) ;)
If your nonreader mom liked it then I'm sure I will too plus it is a fairy tale.
ReplyDeleteWhy, book -- what a lovely, magical cover you have!
ReplyDelete(All the better to entice readers in, my dear.)