Giveaway: RandomBuzzers Codes!

I am giving away five codes to sign up for Random House's RandomBuzzers.  One of the fun things about the site is that as you participate you earn "Buzz Bucks" that you can spend on books.  Each of these codes comes with enough Buzz Books to get a free book.  One lucky winner will also receive an ARC of STRANDS OF BRONZE AND GOLD by Jane Nickerson (my review).

This is US only, but since I'll be sending you the code electronically, it doesn't matter whether you have a PO Box or not.  Codes are first come first served and I'll randomly pick one of the five to receive STRANDS OF BRONZE AND GOLD using Random.org.

Jane Nickerson: An Interview with an Adventurous Young Lady

Today I have a special interview for you all!  Jane Nickerson wrote this interview with a young Sophia Petheram, the main character of her novel STRANDS OF BRONZE AND GOLD (my review), set before she moves to Wyndriven Abbey.  I've written about STRANDS OF BRONZE AND GOLD many times if you want to learn more about the book.

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“The Girls’ Friendly Companion of New England” takes this opportunity to interview a young lady who is about to commence a considerable journey. Seventeen-year-old Miss Sophia Petheram, of Boston, is shortly to leave the bosom of her loving family to travel the great distance southward to Mississippi, a destination that many in the more long-settled regions of our great country consider “the back of beyond.”

Q. Miss Petheram, will you tell our gentle readers what causes you to launch on this undertaking?

SP: My dear father passed away during the spring, and so my godfather and guardian, Monsieur Bernard de Cressac—along with his wife, of course—has invited me to come live with them at their home. It’s a house with a name—isn’t that charming? Wyndriven Abbey. He wrote once that it was brought all the way across the ocean from England. In pieces, of course.

Q. And is your guardian well-known to you? 

SP: Not in person. He only came to our home once when I was a mere babe, and of course I do not remember that meeting, and neither do my siblings. It makes him quite mysterious. My brother Harry calls him my fairy godfather, and plagues me by descriptions of M. de Cressac as an ogre with tusks of pure gold. Harry is a silly goose. But my father knew my guardian from long ago and says he is a distinguished gentleman. I do feel I know him, though, through his letters to me. Such lovely letters. Through the years he has written of his travels and explorations with great detail. He even penned fanciful little tales in which I was the heroine. And that he would take so much time for a motherless little girl, makes me believe he is a person composed of kindness itself. And then there’s the delightful gifts.

Q. Has he been generous with you? I believe he is internationally well-known as a successful man of business. 

SP: Indeed he has. I cannot tell you how we all anticipated the arrival of his parcels. Sumptuous is the only word for them. There was a rocking horse with a mane of real horse hair—his name is Araby, since he is an Arabian steed. And a doll with a wardrobe fit for a princess—her name is Elodie, since she is French. Oh, I wish your readers could see her clothing! Glorious gowns in the height of style and underthings trimmed with the daintiest broderie anglaise. Tiny kid slippers and plumed bonnets. I still love them, even now when I am grown; there is something so enchanting about miniature things, isn’t there? I visit Araby and Elodie now and again in the attic. Of course when I was older the gifts were more appropriate for my age.

Q. Did he never send presents for your siblings? 

SP: Well…no. But then he is not their godparent. They were not jealous. I do not think. I have always shared everything.

Q. Did you ever expect that the day would come when you would actually live with him and his wife? 

SP: I suppose it has always been one of my fancies. For one thing, he has arranged for me to take riding and music lessons, and I have wondered if, perhaps, he were preparing me for at least an extended visit to his estate.

Q. The southern states of our country are very different from our own New England. Have you any trepidation? 

SP: Of course. Some. I shall miss my family dreadfully. I have never been anywhere, so everything will be new to me. Also, my people have abolitionist leanings. I must worry about living in a region that does not share those views. However, mostly I am excited. My heart begins palpitating when I think of where I am about to go. I hear that Mississippi has a lush and beautiful landscape.

Q. You appear to be a modern young lady, most brave and adventurous. Thank you so much for your time. We wish you great good fortune. 

SP: Thank you for speaking to me. I adore your periodical. Especially the serial stories. They provide such scope for imagination. I sometimes daydream that I am living in one of them. I hope I would be as brave as those heroines.

Jane Nickerson: Top Ten Changes I Would Make in Fairy Tales

Today I have a guest blog from Jane Nickerson for you all.  You can read my review of STRANDS OF BRONZE AND GOLD and check out the tag for more information on her new novel.  Her novel may let us in on what she'd change about "Bluebeard," but read on for her solutions for other famous tales.

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It’s obvious that there are many problematic aspects in most famous fairy tales. Why must everyone be beautiful? Why is there so much royalty going around? So many poor woodcutters? (Oh, now that I think of it, there probably really were so many poor woodcutters in that day and age.) Why so many childless couples who end up with either doomed or miniscule only children? Most of the problems are explained away because “it’s a magic thing.” However here are ten changes I would make if I were Queen of Fairy Tale Land:

10. The youngest child would not always be the most good-looking and clever, and the step-parent would never be evil, since step-parents have enough problems taking on a ready-made family as it is. But then again, one would hate to make the biological parent evil instead…

9. I would give the bright and beautiful heroine more choices for a love interest. A single prince should not be her only option. By the same token, it’s sad when only one sibling gets matched up. I would introduce the eleven unmatched dancing princesses to the (coincidentally) eleven unmatched princely brothers of “The Wild Swans” princess. That’s eleven options for each of them. If you stir them up, there’s bound to be one that each of them likes…but what if they all want the same one?

8 ½. Seven league boots for everyone!!! It’s only fair.

8. There should be more than three wishes. And the wishes are not allowed to be tricksy. Fairness again.

7. Several fairy tales involve the hero in burglary—The Tinderbox, Jack in the Beanstalk, Aladdin. The idea is that, because the owner of the object is evil, the hero isn’t really a thief. Huh. That doesn’t actually make sense. Therefore, there must be some clever, lawful way for them to get the loot. Gambling (if that’s legal in Fairy Tale land), labor, performing a service for the owner, some sort of trade, etc. Of course then the evil owner would probably try to cheat them out of the object, and then the hero would have to steal it…

6. How can King Midas turn everything he touches into gold and not be gold himself? It boggles the mind.

5. There’s got to be some reason why Little Red Riding Hood can’t tell that her grandmother has a furry face and pointy nose. It could be too dark, except that we need to keep those classic lines—“What big eyes, hands, teeth.” Perhaps the grandmother has some skin disease and needs bandages all over, except for the eyes and mouth. Leprosy? 4 ½. How can the wolf even blow that hard? Are wolves known for lung capacity?

4. Prince Charming has got to be able to recognize Cinderella in some other way than by her shoe size. For one thing, just how miniscule are her feet? Does she teeter about on points like Barbie dolls do? Having a body part that is so different from every other human your age is sort of the definition of a freak. And yet the glass slipper and big-footed stepsisters are such fun components. Maybe Cinderella also develops a sudden skin disease so her feet really are the only way she can be recognized.

3. I don’t want the miller’s daughter in “Rumpelstiltskin” to end up married to the king. He’s a greedy guy who only wants her because she can spin straw into gold. How about she runs off before she has to marry him? And even before she spins any straw or meets Rumpelstiltskin. Except then there’d be no story. A problem.

2. Rapunzel’s hair is simply too long. It would totally get in the way, be absolutely disgusting because it would be crawling with dust bunnies and impossible to wash, and get yanked out of her head if anyone tried to climb up it. Unless, of course, the young man and witch were tiny. Perhaps we could mix together one of the miniscule only children stories with this. Then again, I’ve seen some illustrations for the story that involve special hooks and pulleys to fix the weight problem, but still…Must be magic.

1. Isn’t it icky that the prince kisses Snow White’s corpse? And how long has she lain there supposedly dead, but not rotting and without nourishment? The nourishment thing also causes problems with Sleeping Beauty. Must be magic.

You know, all the solutions I can come up with are so problematic that, in the end, maybe we should continue to say that it’s a magic thing and leave it all as it is.

Review: Strands of Bronze and Gold

By Jane Nickerson
Available now from Knopf BFYR (Random House)
Review copy

Sophia Petheram grew up poor but happy with her three siblings.  When their father dies, she is invited to live with her wealthy godfather Monsieur Bernard de Cressac.  Thus she goes to live in Mississippi, far from her home in the North, to live with a man she only knew through his extravagant gifts.

Sophie is initially charmed by Monsieur Bernard, who offers her a life of luxury and indolence.  She loves the pretty dresses and excellent food.  However, there is a darkness lurking in Wyndriven Abbey.  There are Monsieur Bernard's many former wives - all redheads like Sophie.  There's his need for control and his temper.  There are the slaves, something the daughter of an abolitionist finds intolerable.  Eventually, Sophie cannot ignore her instincts and she begins to investigate Monsieur Bernard's secrets and assert her own personality.

At first, STRANDS OF BRONZE AND GOLD didn't have much to interest me aside from the setting.  I love the fairytale "Bluebeard," but it seemed like the novel was moving so slow.  I loved the descriptions of Sophie's new world and how well Jan Nickerson's prose evoked the oppressive heat of Mississippi, but it felt like nothing was happening.  When a visitor comes to town and helps Sophie find her resolve, STRANDS OF BRONZE AND GOLD clicked into place for me.  Suddenly, the novel was working.  Shortly after that moment, I fell completely in love with STRANDS OF BRONZE AND GOLD when something happens to make Sophie realize the difference between idly crushing on Monsieur Bernard and having him return her affections.  It's a creepy, quiet evil in a novel full of more theatric, Gothic evils.

I cannot praise the setting enough.  Nickerson manages to make the pre-Civil War South fairytale romantic and dreamy, but the sort of romance that has edges and dreams that turn to nightmares.  Fitting, since "Bluebeard" is one of the most menacing fairytales I've ever heard.  Nickerson does not pave over history to make the story work, but instead weaves the two together.  Sophie would free all the slaves escape if she could, but she's mostly ineffectual.  She's unfamiliar with the area, has no real power at Wyndriven Abbey, and there's no reason for anyone to trust her when she claims to want to help.  And her efforts for one individual often make things worse for others.

For those familiar with "Bluebeard," STRANDS OF BRONZE AND GOLD will hold few surprises.  Yet it's a story that always has the power to startle because it's so macabre.  And Nickerson does a wonderful job of bringing something new to the tale.  Sophie is not innocently curious, but haunted by her glimpses of Monsieur Bernard's evil and her strange kinship with his wives.

I'm eager to see Nickerson complete her trilogy and transform more fairytales.  STRANDS OF BRONZE AND GOLD will appeal to fans of Sarah Rees Brennan's UNSPOKEN and Donna Jo Napoli's BREATH.

Strands of Bronze and Gold on Polyvore

I told ya'll a little last week about Random Buzzers.  I did mention the author visits, didn't I?  Jane Nickerson, author of STRANDS OF BRONZE AND GOLD, will be visiting March 11-15th.  You can submit questions to her forum thread for a chance to win an ARC!  You have through next Sunday to ask her a question and win.  (You can ask a question after that, but you won't be able to win a copy of the book, and you know you want a copy.)

This week I whipped up a set on Polyvore to represent STRANDS OF BRONZE AND GOLD.  I discovered that I don't spend enough time on Polyvore to be very good at it.  We've all got different talents, right?

See it on pinterest!

I got a few dresses for the more modern girl in there, but they both have the plunging décolletage Monsieur Bernard prefers.  The bronze Docs clearly represent practical shoes for wandering around the nearby woods.  Obviously.  There's a swan boat, a braided bracelet, holy men, and an abbey in the novel.  I don't know why I put a fancy shoe there.  Does one need a reason for fancy shoes?

Are you intrigued?

Strands of Bronze and Gold Manicure

Are you familiar with Random Buzzers?  It's a program run by Random House and I've been a member for years.  Every week they feature a different Random House teen title and you can interact directly with the author.  It's a great way to get insider information and win books.  If you aren't a member, you might consider joining.  (It would be nice if you said that Liviania referred you!)  In fact, I have a limited number of referral codes that come with enough points for a free book.  Just note in the comments if you'd like me to hook you up.

My Ambuzzador package - a letter, two ARCs, and referral codes

Anyway, approximately three times a year they chose members to be "Ambuzzadors" for some of their biggest titles of the season.  I am currently an Ambuzzador for STRANDS OF BRONZE AND GOLD by Jane Nickerson.  It's a retelling of "Bluebeard" set in pre-Civil War Mississippi.  Ya'll know I'm a sucker for fairytale retellings.  I've been trying to think of nifty ways to get people interested in the story and I ended up designing a manicure inspired by the book!

This doesn't do justice to the shiny, sadly.

You'll need China Glaze Harvest Moon (bronze foil metallic) and OPI Goldeneye (clear base with gold glitter) to complete this look, in addition to your preferred base and top coat.  My technique was inspired by All Lacquered Up's ombre/gradation manicure done with jelly polish.

1.  Prep.  Cut and file your nails to your desired shape.  Wash nails well with soap or wipe with a bit of nail polish remover to get rid of excess oils.  Apply a thin layer of base coat.  (I used Seche Vite.)  Wait for base coat to dry.  You'll know it's dry when it's no longer tacky to touch.

2.  Apply a layer of China Glaze Harvest Moon to the entire nail.  I've had good luck getting one coat coverage with this polish, but if your first coat isn't opaque you will need a second coat.  Wait till dry.

3.  Apply a thin layer of OPI Goldeneye beginning about 1/3 up from the base of the nail.  Wait till dry.  Then apply another thin layer of Goldeneye, this time to the top third of the nail only.  Wait till dry.

4.  Apply a generous layer of top coat.  (I used Seche Vite.)  Wait till dry.  For best results, reapply top coat once a day.  I am far too lazy to do this and have so far gone 48 hours without chipping.

Obviously, you can substitute other bronze and gold polishes, but I highly recommend picking up a bottle of Goldeneye off eBay or a polish swap site if you can.  It's possibly the best polish I own.  It's like dipping your fingers into molten gold.  It wears well and you will get complimented on it.

What's the significance of bronze and gold, you ask?  It's the color of Sophia Petheram's hair.  And, as it turns out, all of her godfather's former wives had red hair as well.  As Monsieur Bernard de Cressac's new ward, she is curious about his past and the banished memory of those women who so resembled her.  Sadly, I'm a brunette, but I can have bronze and gold nails.  I think Sophia would approve of the spirit of my manicure, but she'd probably think it horribly flashy and gaudy.  It's a bit more Monsieur Bernard's style.

Feel free to ask me questions about the book or how to replicate the nail art for yourself.