Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire

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Fairy tales for a good cause.

A long, long time ago—literally twenty years ago, when the world was a different place, and I was a different person—I met a man named Mike. Mike would go on to become very important in my life. He told me stories; he listened to me when I told him stories; he was one of the first people to read the adventures of a beat-up half-fae detective girl and say "There's potential here." Mike helped me a lot as a writer, because he listened to me when I wasn't good enough for many people to be listening to.

Also, he and his wife took me to Disney World for the very first time ever, and I'd love him forever for that alone. Dude gave me the Tower of Terror for my birthday. How could I not adore him? Anyway...

Mike is currently running a Kickstarter project to help fund an anthology project that's very dear to him, both as an editor and as a human being, titled Scheherazade's Facade. To quote the Kickstarter page:

"History, literature and mythology are replete with stories of those who, for one reason or another, disguise themselves as the opposite gender, or are transformed into that which they are not. Whether it's for love, ambition, or self-preservation, whether it's to challenge the status quo or simply to embrace their true nature, whether it's done willingly or thrust upon them, there will always be those who cross-dress and blur the lines between genders. Scheherazade's Facade takes its inspiration from those themes. From Bugs Bunny's dress-wearing shenanigans, to Mulan's impersonation of her father, from Tamora Pierce's Alanna of Trebond, to M*A*S*H's Klinger, this collection's antecedents are everywhere."

If you'd like a little more information, his full writeup is here.

I don't normally point people at Kickstarters, because there are just so damn many of them that I think are awesome that you'd be "uh, what?" at me over. I'm even planning one of my own, to reprint Stars Fall Home. But this is a good cause by a good friend, with clear goals and results. It's worth taking a look, and if you think this is a book that should be, maybe you could help a fella out a little.

Thanks for reading.
Tags: fairy tale remix, friends rock, people make things, requesting things, shameless plea
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  • 30 comments
Done! Thanks for the heads-up.
Very welcome.
Done. Sounds like a great book - I'm looking forward to hearing the whole thing was a success so I can read it!
Yay!
Oh man, I'm HORRIBLE at finding the brilliant on kickstarter, I would love for you to point me at things.

Like this. This is good.
Good. :)
Oh, this looks amazing. The subject matter is right up my alley -- Tammy's Alanna stories are among my favorites ever -- and that's a really awesome author list there. I'll have to see what we can budget in. :)
The Alanna stories were a huge influence on me as well. There was just something so -neat- about this girl who was so determined to break the rules and have awesome adventures that she'd hide her true identity until she'd proven herself to them all....

catnip13

5 years ago

oneminutemonkey

5 years ago

seanan_mcguire

5 years ago

I have to say, I'm humbled and blushing at Seanan's kind words. I mean, I'm just like this guy that's known her for ages, and yah, there was the Disney thing, and the thing we almost killed her at a Japanese restaurant, and she tried to steal my cat before getting her own dang Maine Coon(s) and our characters had wacky adventures once upon a time, but y'know. Now I have to live up to this sort of praise!

So for everyone who pledges to Scheherazade's Facade because Seanan sent them, I promise it'll be worth it. :)
I'll hold you to that promise, Mike. :D

This sounds like a fantastic anthology, and you have my pledge! I can't wait to read it!

And Seanan, I'd love to hear what other gems you're finding on Kickstarter. It may bankrupt me, but helping facilitate awesomeness is worth it!

seanan_mcguire

5 years ago

Shall be done when I have more than 57 cents in the bank!

Also, I'd kickstart the bejabbers out of SFH, because it has almost all of my favourites of your songs on it, just so you know.
Yay!

I'm definitely planning to, I've just needed to get the bandwidth.

Deleted comment

Yay!
Oh cool... done!
Yay!
Oh, wow! I just heard about Kickstarter a couple of weeks ago, but it never occurred to me that it could be used to fund books! *facepalm*

Must check the book budget to see how much I can pledge...
Yeah, that's happening a lot lately. I can see the temptation...

Deleted comment

Very welcome.
Looks like a fun project, and what the hey? I can always use more cool fiction in my life. So I backed it. Thanks for the heads up.
No problem.
So, what does it mean that I react to the combination of "anthology" + "crossdressing" with "Yes! That is exactly what we need!"?
That you have good taste in fiction.
Sidenote: Crossdressing appears in an odd way in the Welsh tale of Peredur (aka Percival, aka that guy looking for the Grail), when the old ugly female hag turns out to be his bespelled, young, handsome male cousin. (And kudos to the movie The Fisher King for the nod to that, whether or not it was intentional.)
I knew that! Yay, mythology!
Done!