Story Wishlist: The Riddle

Welcome to the last story wishlist of 2020! It’s been a fantastic year full of great wishlist ideas from the wonderful girls on this team, and this month is no exception. So pull up a chair and some Christmas cookies and hot cocoa and enjoy some castles in the air.

THE RIDDLE

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Genres

Arielle

GOTHIC CONTEMPORARY FANTASY – This tale just screams Halloween-esque contemporary fantasy with the prince and servant as the rich boy and his best friend from the other side of the tracks in something with a Charles de Lint tone.

GASLAMP – This tale as a Regency fantasy with a spooky tone? Where do I sign up?

POST-APOCALYPTIC – The witch, the innkeeper, the treasure, the princess with the riddles: I think it would be so much fun to see this in a post-apocalyptic world. That’s how the witch gained her powers, and it’s why she dabbles in poisons so much. The innkeeper selfishly stockpiles supplies and rare items to use for money. The stepdaughter and the innkeeper’s daughter would prefer to do more to help displaced people.

MERLIN-ESQUE – You were all totally expecting us to say this after the commentary. It would just be HILARIOUS. The flavor of a buddy cop story in a light fantasy world, oh yes please.

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Christine

TRADITIONAL FANTASY – Because I always want at least one traditional fantasy take on basically every single fairy tale in existence, especially obscure ones! Having a story that follows along the same beats of this tale, but of course widely expanded, would be a treat!

FANTASY HORROR – At the surface, this is just a goofy little fairy tale, but if you really start picking it apart, it’s got some pretty dark elements. From the witch, to the den of murderers, to the horse dying, to the princess who beheads all those who fail her riddle games, this is a lot of pretty horrifying elements! I think it’d be an interesting horror story OR just a dark fantasy.

FANTASY COMEDY – On the complete flipside, it would be a blast to take all the ridiculous happenstances of the tale, supersize them, and make a comedic version of it, poking some fun at fairy tale tropes and just going wild with the reckless, adventurous prince and his poor faithful servant. It could be a riot!

COURT INTRIGUE – Messed up though she is, the haughty princess who beheads any who fail her riddle games kind of fascinates me. I think a story exploring her motivations and court life and how the prince gets involved would be one interesting read.

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Faith

WUXIA FANTASY – Riddles, witches, robbers, girls with incredible martial arts skills. This could be awesome!

HISTORICAL FICTION – I can see this story being interposed into real historical characters, or even in a semi-realistic “what if” world scenario.

COURT INTRIGUE – what Christine said!!

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Hayden

FANTASY. Like Christine said, I always like to see at least one traditional fantasy take on a fairy tale, and since it’s so obscure, I think we could use one!

MAFIA. All right, back to our mafia/noir kick…I think the whole “poisons everybody accidentally but not really” twist in the book would work SO WELL. Like…you’ve got the prince character and his servant character who are on the run from the mob or something and get caught up in all those adventures? I think it would work, especially if it had a vintage 20s or 50s setting!

HISTORICAL FICTION. For some reason I can see an adventure like this taking place in the late medieval or early renaissance period, in the style of some of those older YA/children’s books (like Cue for Treason or Adam of the Road, perhaps?).

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Authors

Arielle

FTC GODMOTHERS – Between Kiri’s current series, Hayden’s novellas, and bits I’ve read from Christine and Faith, I know the girls would each have such a fabulous take on this story.

MIRRIAM NEAL – While I’d love to see her tackle the gothic contemporary fantasy (she’d do so well with it), I’d also really like to see another Diana-Wynne-Jones-esque fairy tale from her: light and fun with hidden depths.

And W.R. Gingell putting an Aussie spin on this tale would be to die for.

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Christine

S.E. PAGE – She has such a beautiful writing voice and is great at eerie but fascinating settings. I’d be really curious to see what sort of epic spin she’d put on this tale with its deadly forest and intriguing characters!

BRITTANY FICHTER – Another author who’s great at eerie settings! I bet her re-imagining of this tale would be fascinating!

MELISSA ALBERT – Creepy forests, dark fairy tales, and messed up characters are truly her specialty. I could totally see her spinning this fairy tale into a strange and dark fantasy read!

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Faith

SARAH J. MAAS – pretty sure she’d deliver an epic retelling of this overlooked fairytale!

GAIL CARSON LEVINE – love to see her take a fun and amusing take on this story

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Hayden

KATE STRADLING- She’s done some great work with other obscure fairy tales, and I think he style and characters would work SO well with this one.

JENNIFER NIELSON- I don’t know that she’s written any fairy tale retellings before, but I really enjoyed her False Prince books and I think she could write an amazing middle grade (or even YA) retelling of this.

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Pre-Existing Story Worlds

Arielle

Katherine S Cole’s FAIRY TALES ON THE MOON. She’s writing a Snow White meets Magnificent Seven right now, and I can so see this one getting her space western treatment and being delicious.

A.G. Marshall’s FAIRY TALE ADVENTURES. I mean, how can we not?

A.W. Exley’s SERENITY HOUSE series. I can’t remember if this is gaslamp or steampunk, but either way, I think it would fit great into her fantasy world.

And Mirriam Neal’s PAPER CROWNS world would make just the greatest setting for this.

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Christine

I’m honestly drawing such a blank on any particular story worlds I’d like to see this one in. (Unless we’re talking BBC’s Merlin. See the commentary. XD) I guess since there aren’t any retellings of it, I’d love to see it constructed around its own world and characters!

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Faith

THE FOUR KINGDOM SERIES – Love to see Melanie Cellier add this story to her many retellings!

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Hayden

I can’t think of any off the top of my head, but since I just mentioned Kate Stradling, I think The Riddle would work well in the world of GOLDMAYNE!

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Movies / TV

Arielle

Like Christine, I’m 1000% on board with a MERLIN-style TV show in which this can be the opening episode.

I’d also love to see Faith’s wuxia, Christine’s court intrigue, and Hayden’s mafia idea on the small screen as miniseries for the latter two and a full-on Chinese wuxia for the former, of course.

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Christine

I think as a novel, it’d be a great dark fantasy. But if we’re putting it on screen that’s where I’d especially want a comedic take. I could totally see these roguish characters just causing all sorts of shenanigans—via animation or a live-action take. Maybe a buddy story sort of thing between the prince and servant as they travel the world and escape trouble with a bit of wit and a great deal of luck. That would be a really fun film and/or TV series.

(Basically I want them to bring Merlin back. *sniffles*)

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Faith

Other than our beloved Merlin returning, I’d love to see a movie that’s really dark and artsy and focuses on the riddle, court intrigue, etc side of the story.

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Hayden

Oh, I’d like at least one traditional take, since we don’t have one already. And call me crazy but…If you could translate this to some sort of buddy cop movie or tv show…that would be hilarious.

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Are you planning to retell this tale?

Arielle

Ehehehehehehe, maaaaaaybeee…

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Christine

I’ve never really given this one much thought until now… But never say never! And I do love to take elements from fairy tales and weave them into my novels, even if I’m not actually retelling the whole fairy tale. This one has some pretty fun characters and elements that I could absolutely see myself stealing from, so. *grins*

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Faith

There are definitely elements of this story that I may be using in some other tales that I have. 😀

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Hayden

I could definitely see me using this one, maybe not as straightfoward retelling, but using elements of it in another fantasy. BUT it would be really fun to do on its own, too. I don’t have any plans for either right now, though!

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What kinds of retellings or adaptations of this tale would YOU like to see?

Story Wishlist: The Goose Girl

Don’t these geese look magical? A hidden glade in the forest with enchantment hovering in the air, in the water, in the trees, and in our #storywishlist for . . .

THE GOOSE GIRL

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Genres

Arielle

HISTORICAL FICTION set in the Tudor era. Do I just want more GOOD Tudor fiction? Maybe. But seriously, this would be delicious set at the court of Henry VIII. Or make it Elizabethan, and the potential is just as rich. (In that case, make John Dee be the one to figure it out, please? That would be hilarious.)

HISTORICAL FANTASY 1920s mystery! Guys, I’m missing Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries. I know I’ve said before how much I want fairy tale retellings done in that style, and I’m saying it again. (I believe Aussie author W.R. Gingell has plans somewhere along these lines, maybe??) But seriously, can’t you see a fantasy version of Jack and Phryne investigating this?

DIESELPUNK. I know we keep saying this too, but really, it would be great. A secret Nazi-sympathizer servant forcing her wealthy mistress to trade places with her before they arrive at a place the mistress was going to use as an observational post? There are several epic World War plots that could be spun from this tale.

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Christine

ELEMENTAL MAGIC FANTASY – I’m thinking Avatar: The Last Airbender-esque here. A major part of the story is the princess calling to the wind to keep Conrad away from stealing locks of her hair, right? So let’s play that up and have the princess have some airbending-like powers BUT ALSO other people/kingdoms possess different elemental abilities as well.

MYSTERY – What if the story was told from not the princess’s point-of-view, but either the prince’s or king’s? And maybe Falada is not a horse but the princess’s guard or someone who gets murdered. And thus the prince and/or king realizes something nefarious is going on in their palace when they find his body and it turns into this big mystery novel with lies and murders and threats and all that fun stuff.

POLITICAL INTRIGUE – The story leaves a lot of questions about why the prince and princess must get married, what sort of relationship the two kingdoms have, why not a soul realized the maid wasn’t the real princess, etc., etc. I think it’s the makings for a very complex and delicious political intrigue story.

STEAMPUNK – Because I want a steampunk version of every fairy tale, and I’m not aware of one for The Goose Girl? What if the princess is tasked to tend to some sort of automatons instead of geese? Which ends up being a good thing because she’s always loved tinkering with machines but never got the chance as a princess. And somehow she rigs up an automaton army to help her take back her title? I don’t even know, guys. I just like weird steampunk stories.

REGENCY FICTION – Honestly, this story (minus the magic and more grim parts) feels like it could be a setup for a Jane Austen novel. The storyline of low birth stealing the title of high birth doesn’t have to involve royalty, after all. Why couldn’t a lowly maid steal the identity of her mistress and run off to take her mistress’s betrothed due to being bitter toward their different classes? Add some humor in there and sweet romances and it’d be perfect!

WESTERN – I’m not really a western person BUT this kind of seems like a perfect setup for a mail-order bride storyline. So I’m just going to throw that out there.

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Faith

HISTORICAL FICTION. I mentioned this in the live-action dream cast, but I’d love to see an Irish set (or Scottish hehe) historical tale. I can really see it set in many different timelines from Medieval, Elizabethan, to even the 18th-19th century. Oh man, I love a good period drama.

WESTERN. A mail-order-bride (Goose girl) is forced to change places with an on-the-run criminal (maybe she’s a train robber or gunslinger!) who takes her place to marry the mayor’s son.

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Hayden

HISTORICAL FICTION- I don’t know, but The Goose Girl seems MADE for historical fiction–maybe because of its dose of political intrigue?

TRADITIONAL FANTASY- I know, this has been done, but I’m still very much in the mood for some classic fantasy Goose Girl retellings, maybe because there aren’t nearly as many of those as we have for other popular tales like Sleeping Beauty or Snow White.

I’m ADORING the idea of an Avatar-like ELEMENTAL FANTASY. Christine, you are a genius!

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Kiri

ELEMENTAL FANTASY. YES. I’m soooo on board with having fairytale retellings inspired by the Avatar series. While reading the original fairytale, the fact that she calls/controls the wind always stood out to me and I wondered what it would be like to have more characters using elemental “bending” or whatnot. Yes, some of that is in the strain of Hale’s Books of Bayern, but I don’t consider those true elemental magic. Not really, anyways.

STEAMPUNK. Because why not, and because we always want more steampunk.

REGENCY MYSTERY. Technically, these could be two different genres, but I’d love to see them together. Someone else said it before me, but the Goose Girl feels very Jane Austen. And I’m also borrowing the aforementioned idea of retelling it from a secondary character’s POV wherein he/she finds the murdered Falada and must then unravel the maid’s treachery.

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Tracey

KOREAN HISTORICAL – I haven’t really delved into much Korean history yet, but I feel like this would be such an interesting tale to weave into the Joseon Dynasty!

THRILLER – Okay, but doesn’t this beg for a story where the maid is involved in human trafficking? This would be a gritty, difficult story to read (or write), but I could see it being really meaningful.

ELEMENTAL FANTASY – Yes yes yes, I want this!

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Authors

Arielle

ERICA LAURIE
She writes fantastic Korean fantasies, and I’d really like to see her do a novella retelling of this tale in that style.

A.G. MARSHALL
Do we mention A.G. Marshall in almost every SWL we do? Yes. Do we intend to stop anytime soon? Nope. Seriously, if you guys haven’t read her books, you are missing out. This tale would be great in both her short story series (Once Upon A Short Story) and her full-length novel series Fairy Tale Adventures.

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Christine

W.R. GINGELL – Because she’s great at stolen identities and conniving plots and lighthearted fantasy with a touch of murder on the side, and I think she’d excel at a delightful retelling of this one.

JENELLE SCHMIDT – Her fairy tales are always so full of beauty and discovery and doing hard things and the joys of the simple ways of life—which I think are all elements this fairy tale has, to a point. Or at least has the potential of having. So I’d love to see Jenelle bring it to life in her own poignant way.

RACHEL KOVACINY – The western idea I had? Yeah, I nominate Rachel to write it, since she’s the queen of western fairy tale retellings!

VIVIAN VANDE VELDE – Because I would absolutely love to see what sort of humorous take she’d do for this fairy tale. It feels like one she’d retell.

GAIL CARSON LEVINE – Do I even need a reason? I’d LOVE to see what she’d do with this fairy tale!

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Faith

Becky Wade. This is very random, haha, as Becky writes Inspirational Romance. But I’d be so curious to see her take on a series of fairy tales and translate them into contemporary romances! Like imagine there being a series about a family (like her A Porter Family series) but each sibling has a fairy-tale inspired storyline (Goose Girl, Snow White, etc). Inspirational Romance can be very hit or miss to me but I think Becky Wade is one of the greats out there in this genre.

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Hayden

I do love how we always mentioned A.G. Marshall…but seriously, I’m sure any version of this tale she’d retell would be amazing.

After reading Nina Clare’s The Miller’s Daughter and The Reluctant Wife, I know she could write an incredible Goose Girl retelling!

I also think a retelling done in the style of Jessica Day George’s Dragon Slippers would be great, too.

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Kiri

A.G. MARSHALL. woot, woot

NAOMI NOVIK. I read her Rumplestiltskin retelling a bit ago and, while it’s a bit on the darker side, I loved how she twisted and incorporated so MANY (i.e. basically all) of the elements from the original fairytale. Truly, I think she could take on the darker side of The Goose Girl and twist it phenomenally.

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Tracey

KAT CHO – Mentioning Korean historical earlier reminded me of Kat Cho, since she writes urban fantasy set in Seoul. Whether she went urban or historical with this tale, I think she’d write a really fun retelling.

GAIL CARSON LEVINE – I agree, I’m surprised she hasn’t retold this one yet!

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Pre-Existing Story Worlds

Arielle

PLENILUNE by Jennifer Freitag
A maid who forces her mistress to switch places with her? Marital politics and a king/lord who knows something else is going on and is determined to uncover it? This is tailor-made for Freitag’s Plenilune world.

THE PAPER CROWNS WORLD by Mirriam Elin Neal
Neal excels at loose retellings or re-imaginings of tales, with lots of room to interpret a tale. This seems perfect for her universe of portals, two worlds (greenlands and greylands), wyslings (oh, those wyslings), disguises, and fey.

FAIRY TALES ON THE MOON by Katherine S. Cole
She’s got an epic science fantasy series going on there (as yet unpublished but coming soon!), and this would be delicious in her style and universe.

ONCE UPON A WESTERN series by Rachel Kovaciny
I haven’t read much in this series yet, but it just seems like a Goose Girl retelling would fit there.

KINGDOMS OF FABLE by Erika Everest
I just got the chance to beta read the first book in the series (coming in October!) and it’s great. She’s set up so many fairy tale retellings and so many paths the series can go down. I don’t know if she’s planning to do The Goose Girl or not, but I’d love to see it there.

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Christine

KIRSTEN FICHTER’S ONCE UPON A TWIST TALES WORLD – This just feels like a tale that’d fit so perfectly in this novella series of lighthearted fantasy and sweet romances. I absolutely need a Goose Girl addition to this series.

J. GRACE PENNINGTON’S RUMPLED WORD – Rumpled was a delicious Rumpelstiltskin retelling with a steampunk backdrop, which I think would work perfectly for a steampunk The Goose Girl retelling. I would LOVE to see J. Grace Pennington do another fairy tale in that world, and this particular fairy tale feels just right for it.

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Faith

The (Fairly) True Story of… I love Liesl Shurtliff’s series for middle grade readers and I think the Goose Girl would be a perfect addition to add into this series!

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Hayden

Aside from A.G. Marshall’s fairy tale adventures, I’m having a hard time thinking of another story world for The Goose Girl. But I do admit I’m surprised Gail Carson Levine has never written a Goose Girl story in the world of Biddle!

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Kiri

GAIL CARSON LEVINE’S BIDDLE. Her Princess Tales were so hilarious, and I’d LOVE to see her add the Goose Girl to this story world!

RACHEL KOVACINY’S ONCE UPON A WESTERN. Umm, a Goose Girl retelling set in the Old West? YES, PLEASE.

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Tracey

GUMIHO SERIES by Kat Cho – Like I said, this would be a fun tie-in, as long as she could find some actual Korean mythology to mix with it.

ELLA ENCHANTED by Gail Carson Levine – Setting it in the same world as Ella Enchanted would be super fun.

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Movie/TV Adaptations

Arielle

A Cursed-style live-action teen series with actually decent writing and world cohesion would be cute. Plus our dreamcast movies, of course.

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Christine

An animated adaptation with the aesthetically pleasing world/art style of Tangled would be a dream. come. true. This story just begs for a brightly colored animated film.

I also think it’d serve very well for a live-action TV show or mini series since there is quite a lot to explore, between the maid’s treachery, the politics of the two kingdoms, the princess’s journey from royalty to goose girl, all of it. There would be a lot to unpack and I think could work quite well as a television show.

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Faith

Studio Ghibli. I’d love to see them take on another fairytale story – like Howl’s Moving Castle. cries it would be so beautiful!!

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Hayden

I’d LOVE an adaptation of Shannon Hale’s The Goose Girl. It was one of the first fairy tale retellings I ever read (and pretty much got me into the genre) and I’d LOVE IT if we actually got a movie!

I also agree that it would be amazing as a Tangled-style animated film! I get the same aesthetic vibes (for lack of a better word 😉 ) for The Goose Girl as I do for Rapunzel, so it would totally work.

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Kiri

I’d love a good, old animated, musical adaptation. Basically Disney in the style of Sleeping Beauty or Tangled. Yes, this fairytale has its darker sides, but Disney always blots that out. There’s just so much beauty in this fairytale, and I’m honestly surprised no big animated films have been made for it yet.

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Tracey

I’m in 100% agreement with the Studio Ghibli and Tangled-esque ideas! Sign. Me. Up.

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Are you planning to retell this tale?

Arielle

Yes! I’ve got a few retellings jangling around in my head now, having done the commentary on this tale. One for a Regency series, one for my contemporary fantasy Celtic fae series, and one for…a secret project, ehehe.

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Christine

I have been wanting to retell this one for YEARS. Sadly though, I’ve never had a specific idea. It’s just on my (long) list of “fairy tales I’d like to retell one day”. Though literally just the other day I got a veryyy interesting idea that turns everything on its head, and is…kind of dark. I haven’t explored this idea deeply yet, but I think it could be quite fun. rubs hands and cackles

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Faith

Not as yet but I think there’s loads of potential in this fairytale!

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Hayden

I don’t have any plans yet, but I can definitely see myself using this fairy tale at some point.

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Kiri

Eh, heh. Of course. grins Christine’s getting her wish for a Goose Girl retelling in my Once Upon a Twist Tales world. I can’t say when exactly in the series it’ll fall (probably not for some time), but I am planning on writing a Goose Girl and Golden Goose mashup retelling. Something along the lines of the princess switching places with her maid so she can escape the arranged marriage and go on an epic quest to find the legendary golden goose. I don’t have all the details ironed out yet, but that’s the nutshell version.

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Tracey

I don’t have any immediate plans, but there’s just so MUCH in this tale to work with… so who knows. Maybe someday!

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What kinds of retellings or adaptations of this tale would YOU like to see?

Story Wishlist: The Gnome

PC: mploscar

As much as we love doing story wishlists every month, our favorites miiiiight just be the obscure months. It’s hard not to write wishlists ten miles long. As Christine said in emails, “Since there AREN’T any retellings; the possibilities are literally infinite!”

Welcome to the #storywishlist for:

THE GNOME

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Genres

Arielle

DIESELPUNK
This could go the straight-up magical route—with real dragons, or a more mechanical route—with built dragons, or the more intense route of the Nazis’ fascination with the occult and possible dark things they awoke.

MAFIA
This would be great fun with a mafia element and a young cop tasked to infiltrate them to discover where the girls are. OR do it noir-style and have it be the mob. Either way, it would be delicious.

URBAN FANTASY
This begs for an urban fantasy set in the Pacific Northwest and a man with a very fine apple orchard. I’m seeing an autumn story, with the girls disappearing around Halloween and returning around Christmas.

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Christine

TRADITIONAL FANTASY – Since there are no retellings of this story (that I’m aware of) I’d love to see some good ol’ classic fairy tale fantasy novels of it, of any and all kind! Though I do so love unique genre takes on fairy tales, I still also want some more traditional ones as well.

DYSTOPIAN – I could see the whole dangerous underground world thing turning into a dystopian novel where maybe mutated creatures or a group of outcasts have to live underground. Then the daughters of the obligatory evil governor/emperor/president/your-choice-of-ruler-here accidentally fall into this dangerous underground place, so he tasks an underdog to go out and rescue them. Because he’d never send any of his prestigious men to that pit. Let the scrabble do the job for him.

STEAMPUNK – I can picture it now. Mechanical dragons, elf-like automatons that are controlled by a strange flute-like device, a cyborg gnome wreaking havoc. It’d be great!

MYSTERY – Historical or contemporary would work. Since the daughters go missing and it’s a mystery to the kingdom, I could absolutely see this as a mystery novel. Some esteemed man’s three daughters up and vanish and a young journalist takes up the case. OR an aspiring flautist accidentally gets involved in the mystery and ends up rescuing the daughters from a kidnapper. Or…something. ANYWAY. I think using all the elements and turning it into a mystery novel would be a lot of fun!

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Faith

COMIC BOOK – I’d love to see some obscure fairy tales get some love with comic books! It’d be especially awesome if this was an anthology comic book series with lots of different obscure tales. 😀

ADVENTURE HISTORICAL/STEAMPUNK – I’d love to see this version set in the Victorian/Edwardian days, however instead of just steampunk, they discover a “lost world” with vast, strange jungles, multi-headed dragons, and missing princesses. I’m thinking Jules Verne meets every dinosaur movie!

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Hayden

I’ll second a traditional fantasy. Because there simply aren’t any retellings out there, I think we could use a pretty straightforward one!

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Tracey

TRADITIONAL FANTASY – I have the same thoughts as Christine!

CONTEMPORARY THRILLER – Okay, hear me out—this would bear only the slightest resemblance to the original tale. But maybe a terrorist group represents the dragon, and the gnome is a lone vigilante working against them… and the huntsman and his brothers end up on the vigilante’s side in order to save the “princesses.”

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Authors

Arielle

INTISAR KHANANI
I started drafting this post while waiting for an author party to start—a party where Intisar was talking about her book: Thorn. And I kept thinking she would do such a superb take on this tale.

SUZANNAH ROWNTREE
Between the underground dragons, the questions about what how much the girls did or didn’t know about the curse, the father’s reactions, and the backstabbing huntsmen, this is right up Rowntree’s alley. Something in the vein of another City Beyond the Glass?

W.R. GINGELL
Oh stars, she would do such a delicious version of this tale! And I happen to know she’s in quarantine right now (it’s public knowledge on her FB page, I’m not spilling classified information), so… *glances sideways at her* Just a short story, Gingell?

A.G. MARSHALL
I definitely second Marshall! I just finished her Once Upon a Short Story collection today, and it was great. She flipped the tales on their head in fun, intriguing ways. I’d love to see what she would do with this. (I knooooooow, you’re busy preparing Princess of Roses, A.G. but, y’know. If you need a short break…)

I also would love to see our very own Wand and Fichter tackle this. (All of our FTC girls, actually.)

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Christine

A.G. MARSHALL – I’d love to see her do a fun, lighthearted take on the story, with all sorts of delightful banter and crazy adventures. I think she’d nail it!

BRITTANY FICHTER – Her Girl in the Red Hood was deliciously eerie, and I think she could create another one like that with this tale. The strange underground world is just begging for a semi-dark take as well!

RACHEL STARR THOMSON – I adored her novel Lady Moon and I feel like she could do an extremely unique, adorable, hilarious version of this tale.

GRACE MULLINS – Her story in the Five Magic Spindles anthology, The Ghost of Briardale, was just the most quirky, delightful thing. I would LOVE to see what fun spin she’d do with this fairy tale!

SHANNON HALE – Because it’s Shannon Hale and I think she’d do one epic retelling of this story!

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Faith

Gail Carson Levine. She’s a classic!!

Liesl Shurtliff – another Middle Grade hilarious retelling, this time of The Gnome? Yes please!

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Hayden

This would be very fun as a Kyle Robert Shultz story, and I also love the idea of Grace Mullins tackling this one, too! This story would work so well in the world she created in The Ghost of Briardale!

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Tracey

TIM DOWNS – He could write that thriller I was talking about!

TED DEKKER – So could Dekker, and then we’d get his signature layer of dark symbolism woven through it.

JENNIFER NIELSEN – If you’ve read the Ascendance Trilogy, you know she’s great at the kingdom adventure genre! Although unless the dragon is swapped out for something non-magical, I guess this would be squarely in the fantasy category after all. Either way, she has a brisk, snappy writing style that would fit this well.

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Pre-Existing Story Worlds

Arielle

Faith tossed out a #storywishlist idea a few months ago about a Dear America/Royal Diaries fairy tale series, and I think that would be a FABULOUS setting for this tale. Particularly if it was set in Ancient China, either as historical fiction or wuxia.

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Christine

HAYDEN WAND’S JANUARY SNOW WORLD – The mystery idea I had? I think it’d work SO WELL in Hayden’s delicious 1920s setup!

EMILY WINFIELD MARTIN ROSE AND SNOW WORLD – Her book Rose and Snow actually did involve an evil gnome and an underground world, so the setup is already there! I loved both the coziness and eeriness of that story and need moooore!

ALLISON TEBO’S WORLD OF AMBIA – This delightful world of reluctant fairy godfathers is just adorable and I think it’d be a fantastic place to set this fairy tale!

LEA DOU’S FIRETHORN CROWN WORLD – I’ve only read the first book of this series so far, but the world involves a ton of dragons, a lotta sisters, and there was an enchanted underground world (because the first book was a Twelve Dancing Princesses retelling) sooo, once more, the perfect setup for this fairy tale!

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Faith

Liesl Shurtliff’s The Fairly True Story series.

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Hayden

Aside from the worlds by the authors I mentioned above, I agree it would work soooo well in the world of the Tales of Ambia!

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Tracey

THE ASCENDANCE TRILOGY – Speaking of Jennifer Nielsen… What if we got a spinoff starring one of Sage’s friends in place of the huntsman?

ALLISON TEBO’S WORLD OF AMBIA – I second Christine on that one! ‘Twould be so much fun.

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Movie/TV Adaptations

Arielle

SAGEUK
I mentioned Ancient China a minute ago—from the same corner of the world, I think a Korean historical fantasy adaptation of this tale would be delicious. Especially with Ji Soo as the youngest huntsman and Kim Yoo-Jung as the youngest princess.

POST-APOCALYPTIC
Wouldn’t this make a great post-apocalyptic TV show? Abandoned castles, huntsmen wandering around having adventures, a father jealously guarding the last Honeycrisp/(fill in the blank with the delicious variety of your choice) apple tree, daughters who wonder if their father is exaggerating how bad the outside world has become, mutant dragons kept underground…
Just keep Netflix (and Jason Rothenberg) away from it, please. Hey, Apple TV, you feel like jumping into the post-apocalyptic waters?

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Christine

I would definitely love a lighthearted, brightly colored animated film with a sassy young huntsman going off on this crazy adventure underground. It’d be so much FUN.

Otherwise I can’t think of anything specific I desperately need. But, hey, I will take obscure fairy tales getting some recognition in any form or fashion.

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Faith

I’m with everyone else – a brightly animated film would be so sweet! I can’t help but dream that it could somehow have that 90s nostalgia?

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Hayden

Besides a traditional fairy tale fantasy, I could see this one as an animated tale. I don’t see it so much Disney, though, more of something along the lines of The Swan Princess or Anastasia.

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Tracey

I’m with Christine again. Something bright and colorful, and possibly kid-centric, would be enjoyable. The storyline would translate super well to a kids show, come to think of it.

And I wouldn’t say no to a film version of the thriller I was dreaming about, either! Something along the lines of the Bourne series, maybe?

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Are you planning to retell it?

Arielle

Yes, at some point, in at least one of my fairy tale series. Probably two of them.

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Christine

Indeed I am! Which I’ve already talked about a bit earlier in the month. But basically it’s going to be the framework for this big, super involved, semi-dark, highly strange and magical fairy tale novel I hope to write in the hopefully not too terribly distant future.

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Faith

Not yet! But I do have some ideas for fairy tale retellings with dragons 😀

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Hayden

I’d never heard of this tale until we chose it for this month’s spotlight, so it really hasn’t had time to make it on the list! I’m not sure if it’s a fairy tale I’d retell by itself, but I can DEFINITELY see myself using inspiration from it, or combining it in a mash-up retelling one day.

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Tracey

I don’t have any immediate plans. Too many other tales clamoring for my attention! But this might make a fun short story someday…

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What kinds of retellings or adaptations of this tale would YOU like to see?

Story Wishlist ~ Sleeping Beauty

A mysterious hedge . . . a castle layered in dust . . . and a princess long forgotten.

Welcome to the #storywishlist post for:

SLEEPING BEAUTY

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Genres

Arielle

POST-APOCALYPTIC: with the full hundred-year curse and waking up to ‘oh no, something decimated my kingdom and wait, what do you mean I’m not the princess anymore?’

COMEDIC FANTASY ala The Princess Bride. In this case, the princess wakes up to find she no longer has a kingdom because everyone went republican and/or democratic while she was sleeping.

WEIRD WEST with Sleeping Beauty inside the caves of a butte/lava field. I just got done hiking my favorite lava field with some friends earlier today, and it struck me how few stories really incorporate a lot of western terrain.

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Christine

TIME TRAVEL – Literally of any kind. More realistic sci-fi type of time travel or fantasy world magic time travel, IT DOESN’T MATTER. But this story screams timey-wimey to me. Such a prominent part of the story is that the princess and her castle is cursed for 100 years. But it’s kind of weird that the prince just swoops in and kisses some sleeping girl he’s never met and they fall in love. So the solution? TIME TRAVEL. She and the prince fall in love during their young years and then she falls into a sleeping curse that can’t be broken for 100 years so ol’ princey has to find a way to time travel to get back with her? Mmmm yes. I wants it.

POLITICAL INTRIGUE – This came up while we were doing our commentary. Apparently Sleeping Beauty’s kingdom got turned over to another royal family that wasn’t her own at some point during the curse, but the tale doesn’t specify HOW. Not to mention there’d be so many repercussions to a whole kingdom falling into a 100-year sleep. Can you imagine how messy the politics for that kingdom and its allies were during those first years? I want a story about that. Forget the sleeping princess. What all were her parents dealing with at the time? I NEED TO KNOW.

EPIC FANTASY – If you really examine it, there is so MUCH to this tale. From fairy courts to political intrigue, like I said, to ogres to the bad fairy to the mention of seven-league boots and DRAGONS to the whole story literally taking place over the course of 100 years. Most retellings seem to just choose one element or keep to a very straightforward plot. But I feel like there’s enough material for a very long, deliciously complex epic fantasy series.

FANTASY HORROR – I’m not even into horror BUT the idea of a castle being asleep for 100 years just begs for a good ghost story of some kind. It could be an eerie haunted house tale except the haunted house is the CASTLE. And some unsuspecting kids stumble into it and are attacked by thorny vines and haunted by sleeping people and maybe the evil fairy shows up for good measure. I don’t know. Seems like it’d be fun.

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Faith

CONTEMPORARY ROM-COM: Sleeping Beauty wakes up – only to find her prince is a modern day guy (probably a CEO, you know how this goes) and the world around her is *very* much different than when she went to sleep. Then the fun begins with Sleeping Beauty as a beloved fish-out-of-water heroine who learns the modern world and of course falls in love.

CONTEMPORARY MYSTERY: “Sleeping Beauty” wakes up out of her coma with no memories of her past or her current fiancé. But as she explores her home town, dark mysteries begin to surface along with multiple new enemies. What really did happen to her family? How did she end up in a coma? And is there someone in town that wants her dead?

REVERSE GENDER FANTASY: Just a story that switches all the roles, so we have a sleeping prince instead, a vengeful angry male fairy and a princess who wakes the prince up with a kiss. I think there could be a lot of fun twists here.

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Hayden

So Christine mentioned her own time travel story to us and I CAN’T get that thought out of my head! I LOVE the idea and want to see it done so badly.

GOTHIC. I mean, a true Gothic in the classic literature sense because HELLO a girl asleep for a hundred years is such an eerie picture! You could do so much with that with all the tropes and trappings of a Gothic Romance.

SPACE OPERA. this is prooobably because this was one of my early ideas that I’m not sure will ever see the light of day, but I’d love a sweeping, Star Wars-like interpretation of Sleeping Beauty. In fact, go ahead and make it a saga that incorporates other fairy tales, too. I mean, adding an alien Rumpelstiltskin into the story would work SO WELL.

SPY/HEIST. I’m actually thinking of this more along the lines of a fantasy novel in the manner of say, Six of Crows, where a group of (perhaps morally gray??) thieves/rebels are either 1) breaking in to a secure location to awaken the rightful ruler and start a revolution or 2) just breaking in to steal something and find a sleeping princess instead. It shifts the whole dynamic from “prince and princess” to an entire ensemble cast, which I think could be really fun and is a major element of all my attempted retellings of this tale. Great, now I have even MORE ideas.

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Kiri

TIME TRAVEL. I am all for that! It would make perfect sense with a Sleeping Beauty retelling. *wish I’d thought of it first*

HISTORICAL MYSTERY/ROMANCE. I’d love to see our Sleeping Beauty in history. I’m leaning muchly toward the mystery side of things with this one; for example, let’s imagine the beauty falls asleep during one portion of history and awakens 100 years later only to discover whatever mystery she struggled with back then is still very present. Add on some big, small-on-actual-details historical events and presto! What kinds of mysteries could span a century?? You’d get to explore two parts of history and not just one. #twoforonespecial What if she fell asleep during the American Revolution? Or the Black Plague? What would she discover 100 years later when she awoke?

POLITICAL/EPIC FANTASY. There’s so much to the original fairytale that so many retellings skip entirely. What happened to the kingdom for 100 years while the princess slept? Why was the ogre queen so desperate to eat her grandchildren? I want a tale that explains it all. 

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Tracey

SPY/HEIST: I’m in love with Hayden’s Six of Crows-esque idea, even though I haven’t even read Six of Crows yet. An ensemble cast and some fantasy burglaring (shh, we’ll say that’s a word) would be way too fun.

POLITICAL INTRIGUE: I’m also in love with Christine’s idea for this!

SCI-FI: After reading (and loving) Out of the Tomb, a Sleeping Beauty novella by Ashley Stangl, I want a novel-sized story along similar lines.

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Authors

Arielle

CLARA DIANE THOMPSON: she wrote such a delightful fantasy world for Five Glass Slippers, and I would really like to see her take on this.

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Christine

ANNE ELISABETH STENGL – Do I want her to retell every fairy tale ever? Yes, yes I do. I’m so sad she’s kind of stopped doing her Goldstone Wood books and things. She does such a fantastic job writing long, sweeping stories that often span over the course of years. I think she’d make such an amazing, clever, absolutely gorgeous take on Sleeping Beauty.

S.E. PAGE – Her writing actually reminds me a lot of Anne Elisabeth Stengl, with that rich, grand flavor. I’d love to see her do an epic fantasy version of this tale.

VIVIAN VANDE VELDE – Her middle-grade fiction is always a riot. I can imagine she’d come up with a great, hilarious take on this tale and its many plot holes. I don’t think she’s taken on this fairy tale yet…?

JOANNA RUTH MEYER – Her book, Echo North, is one of my favorites. I feel like she’d make such an interesting, richly magical, semi-dark take on this fairy tale, and I’d be HERE for it!

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Faith

SHANNON HALE. I want to see her tackle my contemporary rom-com version of this fairytale. I think she’d so a delightful job.

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Hayden

Kate Stradling – I’ve gushed so much about her books, which are mostly based on obscure (or not often retold) fairy tales, as well as her own original fantasy novels. I think she could do an EXCELLENT spin on Sleeping Beauty that would be so unique!

Hanna Sandvig – I recently read her novel The Rose Gate, which is a contemporary fantasy retelling of Beauty and the Beast. I don’t normally like contemporaries, so I was thrilled at how much I enjoyed this one! I think she could do a really great version of Sleeping Beauty.

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Kiri

A.G. MARSHALL. Yeah, I know she just came out with a Sleeping Beauty short story, but we seriously need a long retelling from her.

BRITTANY FICHTER. I’m amazed that she doesn’t have a Sleeping Beauty retelling yet; with all the romance and magic, this would be right in her niche. 

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Tracey

CLAUDIA GRAY: I adored her sci-fi Defy the Stars, and I think she’d do a great job reimagining our slumbering princess in space!

ANNE ELISABETH STENGL: Like Christine, I miss Tales of Goldstone Wood and would scream if we ever got another instalment. Or really just anything by AE Stengl!

NEIL GAIMAN: Weirdly enough, he popped into my head as a potential candidate to write something a bit like the fantasy horror Christine talked about.

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Pre-Existing Story Worlds

Arielle

STEPHANIE RICKER with her Cendrillon Cycle world. It’s a great sci-fi world and setting.

The world of JANUARY SNOW by our very own Hayden. Sleeping Beauty in this mafia world would be FASCINATING.

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Christine

ANNE ELISABETH STENGL’S GOLDSTONE WOOD – As previously mentioned because I think it’d work so well in that magical, mysterious, dangerous world of fae folk.

I can’t really think of any other specific worlds I’d like to see it set in. It’s such an intricate tale spanning across so many years, it seems like it needs its own world to really work!

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Faith

MARISSA MEYER. Who wants Marissa to do a sequel series in her Lunar Chronicles world––this time with four/five new fairytale heroines?

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Hayden

I mentioned Hanna Sandvig above, partly because I think this story would work so well in the world of The Rose Gate!

Also, the Lunar Chronicles idea? YES PLEASE

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Kiri

ELLA ENCHANTED. Did we all forget that Gail Carson Levine wrote ogres into this novel?? OGRES? You get where I’m going, right? It would just be too perfect.

LUNAR CHRONICLES. Yeah, I’m totally behind this bandwagon. 

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Tracey

Faith’s idea of a sequel/spin-off series to The Lunar Chronicles with new fairy tale characters is FANTASTIC. I want it. Very much.

And the same goes for Tales of Goldstone Wood, of course.

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Movie/TV Adaptations

Arielle

POST-APOCALYPTIC but make it fantasy. Rather like King Arthur: Legend of the Sword. Mmmmmhmmm, yes please.

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Christine

I mean, Maleficent is my fave, so I’m pretty pleased with what we have. XD

Okay, actually, I think that epic fantasy idea I had would make a really, really cool live-action series. Maybe Game of Thrones style minus the, well, mature rating. *cough* But plenty of court intrigue and magic and enchanted creatures and the complication of a whole sleeping castle having to sit there for 100 years and all that good stuff! Again, this story provides so much material! I think it’d make for a super intriguing TV series!

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Faith

I’d love to see some cute made-for-TV movies done of fairytales including Sleeping Beauty. Sort of like the Cannon films (but a little higher quality haha). I think that would be fun.

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Hayden

I admit that I kind of wanted a more fleshed-out version of the animated Disney movie, but we got Maleficent instead, which I don’t hate I just…well, it wasn’t the kind of spin on the original movie I was hoping for, lol. Aside from that, I’d love an Indiana Jones-inspired adventure version of the story, sort of like the one I mention in my answer for the next question!

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Kiri

I’m still bitter that we didn’t get a proper Disney remake. Don’t get me wrong; the Maleficent films were great, but I want the original remastered and rethought and beautiful with all the music and more. There’s so much potential there, and they’ve skipped it entirely! I’d love to see Philip get his deserved screen time, perhaps break out of Maleficent’s dungeon on his own? Oh, and this — I never realized until I was an adult watching the film that Maleficent never planned to kill Philip or let him starve to death in the dungeon. Instead, she planned for him to live there for the 100 years, after which time he’d be released to wake his sleeping beauty. His kiss of true love would break the spell, but her curse would have kept her from aging while he aged naturally. So, he’d basically kiss her awake and then promptly die of old age. How wicked is that? Way to go, Maleficent! Where’s THAT story? Where Philip fights to free himself before he becomes too old to get his happily ever after with Aurora? I guess that could properly go in my book wish list retellings, too. 

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Tracey

That Game of Thrones-minus-mature-content Christine mentioned? Yeah, I would gobble that right up!

I’d also love to see a TV show step into the gap Once Upon a Time left; maybe with some kind of superhero twist? It could go totally off the rails and put some wild, fresh spins on Sleeping Beauty and other tales. And hey, maybe Sleeping Beauty is actually a supervillain and the good guys try putting her in stasis to prevent her from using her powers!

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Are you planning to retell it?

Arielle

YES! I’ve got two or three going on various fairy-tale worlds and just started thinking about a Regency version.

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Christine

YES. I’m embarrassed to say it’s one I’ve been wanting to retell for YEARS. Like years and years, and I’ve done nothing about it. I’m also embarrassed to say I want to retell it not because it’s my favorite. I’ve always liked this fairy tale, but it’s never been on my list of favorites. Actually, so much of it BOTHERS me. Which is exactly why I want to retell it. *grins* I get so much inspiration from fairy tales with a ton of plot holes or just lack of logic (*cough* like the prince falling in love with a sleeping girl the moment he sees her *cough*), because my brain goes off on how to “fix” it.

My time travel idea is the one I really want to run with sometime. I’ve been thinking about it for so many years now and yet…I still don’t even know what genre it’d be. BUT IT’S GONNA HAPPEN. I definitely have ideassss. *rubs hands together*

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Faith

Oh actually, yes! I have a superhero series that loosely retells a fairytale each book – and one of them is dedicated to a very different version of Sleeping Beauty. 😀

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Hayden

Yes, very much so! I actually have two rolling around: one is a planetary sci-fi with a full-but-basically-abandoned first draft done, and one is a reworking of that sci-fi plot transported to ancient AND 1920s Egypt–think The Mummy meets Sleeping Beauty. : ) Sleeping Beauty is one of those stories that, for some reason, just lends itself really well to my imagination, and I have a dozen different variations of plots and settings I want to explore. Now, whether or not I actually get around to doing that is another thing entirely!

I also have to mention my sister has an unfinished Sleeping Beauty story that I’ve been begging her to finish because it’s one of my absolute favorites–it’s basically got all the aesthetics of Maleficent, but with a totally different plot.

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Kiri

Yes. I’ve actually already published a retelling, a non-magical, slightly steampunk story full of humor, friendship, and a mischievous horse. Spindle Dreams: A Sleeping Beauty Story is book two in my Once Upon a Twist Tales.

I also have a longer retelling in the preliminary stages of planning. I’d like to explore more of the second half of the original fairytale, what Sleeping Beauty woke to after sleeping for 100 years. Again, there’s no magic; instead of seven fairies, there are seven clans — muchly inspired by Scotland. I would classify it as an epic/political fantasy in genre. 

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Tracey

Yes! Right now I’m actually in the middle of final revisions on a Sleeping Beauty retelling called The Brightest Thread, and I have plans to start querying agents soon! Well, as soon as I get my creative mojo back in gear, that is.

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What kinds of retellings or adaptations of this tale would YOU like to see?

Pirates, Mafia, and Dear Fairy Tales ~ Prince Ahmed Story Wishlist

PC: bir

And now, prepare for a magic carpet full of retelling wishes! We ranged all over with genres and ideas this month, and let me tell you, I need a bunch of these RIGHT. NOW.

One of my favorite parts of #storywishlist is that we don’t coordinate our individual wishlists. We write them independently and then email them to each other, so it’s always great fun when some of us have overlapping ideas.

Hayden was unable to join us this month due to some family tragedies—all our thoughts and love are with her in this difficult time.

ARE YOU READY? We present:

PRINCE AHMED AND THE FAIRY PARIBANOU

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Genres

Arielle

PIRATE FANTASY
This feels like a great pirate succession story. Dad has ward Noor + pirate empire + three sons, isn’t sure who should inherit. Sends them off to find the best treasure, which Ahmed does. Knows Noor likes Ali better, so he declares a different contest is needed. Ahmed is annoyed because ‘coulda just said she liked Ali better, we didn’t need the drama’ and goes off wandering. Comes across Pari, who is the daughter of an old pirate legend who everyone thought was dead but had actually just retired a la Original Dread Pirate Roberts. Voila.

RENAISSANCE ITALY
I don’t think this needs much explanation but dang, can’t you see this in the time of the Italian city states and Dad as a duke needing to find some way to stand as equals against the other city states. Solution: send his kids off to look for political ‘treasure’ aka advantages. Or put it a bit earlier, like Medieval Italy, and when Ahmed loses, he joins Marco Polo’s expedition.

MUGHAL INDIA
I mentioned this in our dreamcast post. I think it would be great fun to see this tale set then. Sub-rajah to the Mughal Sultan? Yeah baby. So much potential to set it at almost any time in Mughal history.

WWII RURITANIAN/DIESELPUNK:
Dad as a weak counselor and Ahmed bringing reinforcement from Pari and kicking out the Nazi sympathizer leadership. Ooooh yeah.

(Ruritanian = adventure and intrigue set in a fictional monarchy in our real world, usually [but not always] in Europe. Princess Diaries 2 is modern Ruritanian. PD #1 is…kinda too, by extension, but closer to just ‘modern royals’. Most people call this genre ‘modern royals’ but that tends to apply most often to romance. Ruritanian is adventure + romance + intrigue.)

TUDOR ENGLAND:
Dad can’t decide who gets to marry his ward, sends them to find something that will gain him favor at court, when Ahmed loses, he runs off and stumbles on this out-of-the-way manor in England where a beautiful daughter runs the place in her father’s mysterious absence. Question is: does her father actually still live?

MOORISH SPAIN:
I think this is the perfect tale to set during a clash of cultures. The sultan can be Moorish, and Pari can be ancient Spanish or vice versa.

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Christine

SPACE OPERA – This tale could serve so well as a space opera. Just think: The emperor of a great planet sends his three sons across the galaxy to gather the universe’s greatest treasures, only for the youngest son to stumble upon a small planet of magical-like beings (a.k.a Paribanou and her court) where their riches and magical technology is innumerable. The Emperor is overcome with greed and jealousy and declares war on them. Meanwhile, the youngest son finds himself torn between loyalty to his own empire and this newfound people.

CONTEMPORARY FANTASY – First of all, contemporary books featuring brothers are always GREAT. Brother stories are some of my FAVE. So I think this story would be a blast set in modern times but with FAIRIES. Three brothers accidentally get caught up in a secret world of fairies and magical treasures—it sounds delicious!

URBAN FANTASY – Again, modern times but with a secret world of mythological creatures and three brothers getting tangled up into it. I think this story has huge potential in an urban fantasy setting.

MAFIA – What if the Sultan is a mob boss instead? And he sends out his sons to hit a mark and whoever succeeds inherits the “family business”?? But the youngest son ends up falling in love with the daughter of the mark??? And it just gets messier and messier from there????

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Faith

STEAMPUNK – basically technology mixed into a historical world. Steampunk Victorian is the most well-known style but a steampunk Arabic setting would be awesome!

DYSTOPIAN – Nothing like a good dystopian novel. I think there’s a lot of potential here to combine this with Prince Ahmed and the Fairy Paribanou.

MODERN/ALTERNATE HISTORY/CONTEMPORARY FANTASY: A fictional kingdom in our modern day times where Prince Ahmed and his brothers live. Of course they’re juggling school or college along with the royal expectations (i.e. The Princess Diaries) when Ahmed is shocked to find an ancient fairy. (Christine, I think we came up with the same idea haha!)

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Kiri

SPACE OPERA. I think this goes without saying.

MAFIA. Totally stealing this from Christine, but IT IS SUCH A GOOD IDEA. I’d love to see something in the vein of West Side Story (in an Arabian-style setting, even though something in America or even Italy would be AMAZING), with the competing gangs/tribes/mobs/whathaveyou. And you have a fantastic cast of characters already in place for all the things politics and crime and power and suspense.

STEAMPUNK. I’m totally down for an Arabian-inspired steampunk tale. I mean, there’s just so much stuff in this fairytale to work with: a transportation device, a long-range telescope, medical practices involving fruits… the list goes on and on and on. This tale SCREAMS for a steampunk retelling.

HISTORICAL COURT INTRIGUE. The whole story with the fairy Paribanou is so intriguing. What if our dear Pari was not who she said she was? What is the Sultan’s real reason for sending his sons away? Or the real reason he keeps asking impossible favors of his son’s wife? Why doesn’t the cousin Nouronnihar speak up about which son she wants to marry? Why does Ahmed agree to marry Paribanou so quickly? Yes, all of these questions could be answered with any sort of genre, but I want this tale set into history. Like all those novels people keep writing about English and French courts. I think an Arabian court could be pretty interesting; I mean, we’ve got a passel of royal/noble characters here, so why not use them? Are we trying to prevent or spark a war here, people?

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Tracey

STEAMPUNK – I am in LOVE with this idea, especially with Kiri’s mention of how all the magical objects would mesh with the genre.

HISTORICAL FANTASY set in Scotland – I’m envisioning something a la Pixar’s “Brave,” with clans and magic and the whole lot.

I’m also down for all these other court intrigue and historical-with-a-spin ideas the others have mentioned!

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Authors

Arielle

LUCY TEMPEST with an Egyptian version of the tale. She knows Egypt personally, I think she’d be great at it, and she has an unusual blend of elements in her stories.

INTISAR KHANANI because she creates great worlds but focuses most of all on good writing and storytelling and character dynamics.

ALWYN HAMILTON because after what she did with Rebel of the Sands, I think she’d do great with this.

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Christine

ALICIA GAILE – I recently read her The Faery Trials books which were contemporary fantasy involving brothers, and I LOVED THEM. She writes brothers so, so well. I’d LOVE for her to write a contemporary fantasy or an urban fantasy retelling of this. I think she’d do it BRILLIANTLY.

ELIZABETH LIM – Her novel Spin the Dawn is so beautiful and has such a rich, Asian fantasy world. I’d love to see her to take on an Arabian setting and do a more straight-up fantasy retelling of this.

MADDIE MORROW – I loved her novella Red as Blood in the Five Poisoned Apples anthology. It had a bit of a darker fantasy flavor, and I think she’d write a really cool urban fantasy story. Or maybe even that mafia idea I had.

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Faith

SARAH J. MAAS – very popular YA writer. Love to see her tackle a fairytale retelling that was close to the original tale

ELIZABETH LIM – I agree with Christine! I think she could do a great job with a story like this.

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Kiri

WYN ESTELLE OWENS. Giving a shout-out to a fellow indie reteller; I really think she could do awesome things with this tale, especially since she is able to incorporate the original fairytale elements so wonderfully. I loved her Asian-inspired Rapunzel.

MELANIE CELLIER. I’ve not read a ton by her, but I’d love to see her take on an Arabian fairytale. And Ahmed is just the sort of cinnamon roll that would work so well in her books.

MELANIE DICKERSON. Of late, her books have been getting better, so I’d really like to see what she would do in a non-magical, historical-esque sense with this tale.

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Tracey

C.J. REDWINE – After becoming obsessed with her Rumpelstiltskin retelling, The Wish Granter, I’d love to see what she’d do with this tale.

MELISSA ALBERT – Depending on the genre, I think her lush, dark, emotive prose would bring this to life beautifully.

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Pre-Existing Story Worlds

Arielle

FAIRYTALES OF FOLKSHORE because Lucy has already done Arabian-ish-atmosphere, like Faith said, and I think it would be great.

THE CLASSICAL KINGDOMS series by Brittany Fichter, especially her Egyptian-style country. She did that so well in Green-Eyed Prince.

H. Leighton Dickson’s lush fantasy world THE RISE OF THE UPPER KINGDOM, with anthropomorphic big cats, would be utterly fascinating with this tale.

Emma Savant’s GLIMMERS series because I’d like to see her do a Middle-Eastern character/plot there.

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Christine

ALICIA GAILE’S FAERY TRIALS WORLD – If she just wanted to retell this story in the deliciously creepy modern fae world she’s already created, I’d be 100% cool with that.

HAYDEN WAND’S JANUARY SNOW WORLD – Our very own Hayden DID write a brilliant mafia fairy tale retelling. Sooo if she wanted to do a sequel mafia story with this fairy tale, I wouldn’t complain! grins in Hayden’s direction

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Faith

Lucy Tempest’s FAIRYTALES OF FOLKSHORE – She’s already got an Aladdin retelling in this, so I think Prince Ahmed would fit in just perfectly.

Scholastic Press series – For anyone obsessed with THE ROYAL DIARIES series (or the Dear America series) back in 1999 to 2005, I think it’d be cool if they brought the series back but this time dedicated to fairy tale characters. We could tell the story from Paribanou’s perspective or Nouronnihar!

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Kiri

HAYDEN WAND’S JANUARY SNOW. le cough There’s no way I’m NOT jumping on the bandwagon for this one.

RACHEL KOVACINY’S ONCE UPON A WESTERN. There are a lot of elements in this fairytale that would lend SO NICELY to a western story. Apples, arrows, and all.

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Tracey

Since I mentioned C.J. Redwine already, I’ll say the RAVENSPIRE series! Surely there’s room for another Arabian-esque tale in there.

STRANGE THE DREAMER – Oh my goodness, what if Laini Taylor wrote a third book loosely based on Prince Ahmed? I could see the magical objects and Paribanou’s character blending in especially well!

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Movie/TV Adaptations

Arielle

A Bollywood movie or duology, particularly with Anushka Sharma and Ranveer Singh as Noor and Ali and Sonam Kapoor as Pari.

Wuxia. This story is tailor-made for a wuxia series. Definitely. With Liu Yifei as Paribanou and Yuan Shanshan as the magician girl.

A cyberpunk animated series! I think the treasures have enormous potential for reinterpretation with a cyberpunk world.

AND SAGEUK. I adore sageuk, and I’d love to see this set in Ancient Silla. I think the history there would be fascinating in this kind of tale.

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Christine

This story is so beautiful, I’d happily take it in any format! It’d make such a breathtaking traditionally animated film OR live-action, much like both of Disney’s Aladdin films.

But what I think would work best would be a full live-action TV series. With so many characters and such a long story, there’s be a LOT of material for a full series—from the brothers finding magical treasures, to Ahmed’s romance with Paribanou, to subplots with the other brothers, to the Sultan’s declining character arc. I think it could retell the original tale, while having plenty of material to explore each element and character more deeply, and just make for an intriguing Arabian fantasy drama. quietly nudges Netflix

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Faith

Love to see a miniseries for this – made by any of the streaming sites out there (Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime, etc). Miniseries are so awesome because TV shows can be quite long and a movie is only about a couple hours, so I think a miniseries could really get us into the story and give us a super satisfying ending.

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Kiri

LIVE-ACTION MINISERIES. I’ll admit it; I really liked the new Aladdin, so I wouldn’t be mad if Disney picked up this tale and retold it in that style. Music numbers and all. Okay, so maybe musical numbers won’t be the easiest to incorporate, but I gotta stand with the other fairy godmothers and say that we need a TV miniseries. A standard film just won’t cut it length-wise, unless, of course, we’re talking about the length of The Hobbit, in which case we’d get 3 movies that are super long instead of just the 1 film. I could live with that.

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Tracey

Live action miniseries – Yes. Yes to everything that’s already been said on this!

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Are you planning to retell it?

Arielle

OH, YOU BETCHA. I was getting some ideas just the other day.

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Christine

Well, I’ve only just recently been introduced to it (thanks, Arielle! :D), so I haven’t given it much thought. Prooobably not, simply because I have so many OTHER fairy tales I desperately want to retell. But I never shut the door on potential plot bunnies, especially when it comes to retellings. So…you never knooow.

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Faith

Not at present but this story is definitely been added to my favorite fairy tales. There is honestly so much potential with this tale!

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Kiri

Which fairytale am I NOT planning to retell? After a month of promoting a fairytale, you can BET I’ll have ideas and plot bunnies and urges to write mad things. Alas, retelling this one will not be anytime soon, and writing this particular tale without magic will be a challenge. But when the time comes… adjusts writing cap BRING IT ON.

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Tracey

Not in the immediate future, but it definitely offers a LOT of fodder for the imagination!

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What kinds of retellings or adaptations of this tale would YOU like to see?