Twelve: Poems Inspired by the Brothers Grimm Fairy Tale

by Andrea Blythe

Overview

Twelve is a poetic retelling of the Brothers Grimm fairytale "The Twelve Dancing Princesses." Bewitching and beguiling, this short series of linked poems takes the reader to the underground realm and back, following the stories of twelve princesses and their life after the magic shoes.

 

The heroine's journey is vast with possibilities, the roads fork and then fork again. The power comes in the choosing.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940164382681
Publisher:	Interstellar Flight Press
Publication date:	09/07/2020
Sold by:	Draft2Digital
Format:	eBook
File size:	452 KB

About the Author

Andrea Blythe bides her time waiting for the apocalypse by writing speculative poetry and fiction. She is the author of Your Molten Heart / A Seed to Hatch (2018) a collection of erasure poems created from the pages of Trader Joe's Fearless Flyers, and coauthor of Every Girl Becomes the Wolf (Finishing Line Press, 2018), a collaborative chapbook written with Laura Madeline Wiseman. She is a cohost of the New Books in Poetry podcast and is a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association and the Horror Writers Association. Find her on Twitter @AndreaBlythe or at www.andreablythe.com.

Table of Contents

CONTENTS

Prelude: The Shoes

The First Sister

The Second Sister

The Third Sister

The Fourth Sister

The Fifth Sister

The Sixth Sister

The Seventh Sister

The Eighth and Ninth Sisters

The Tenth Sister

The Eleventh Sister

The Twelfth Sister

Author's Note

Acknowledgments

About the Author

About the Cover Artist

Editorial Reviews

"Andrea Blythe's collection of the retold (and often feminist) Brothers Grimm fairytale, 'The Twelve Dancing Princesses,' is a breath of air at the bottom of the ocean. It's not only fresh, but it's so different and unique that it deserves multiple reads. One of my favorite lines in the book is also something we should all ask ourselves, 'Do you mean it?'"

-Joanna C. Valente, author of Marys of the Sea and editor of A Shadow Map: Writing by Survivors of Sexual Assault

"Hearkening back to when Grimm's tales were less fairy, more formidable, Andrea Blythe offers a rhythmic, alliterative retelling of traditional stories that reveal a stark imbalance between genders. An engaging and eerie tribute to the young girls and women who read, dance, and keep things clean, Twelve does exactly what her storyteller suggests of her characters: it 'see[s] the truth beneath the pretty surface.'"

-Christina M. Rau, Elgin Award-winning author of Liberating The Astronauts

"A delightful deviation from the known tale 'The Twelve Dancing Princesses,' Blythe's retelling offers an inspiring and poetic account of what can happen when women take back their power. The language is beautifully selected for each sister's story -- and each one has been carefully crafted to have an individual voice, yet we feel the strength of the bond that ties them. Within, we are granted glances into enchantment and passion, to lyrical attractions that will have you spinning breathless from page to page."

-Sara Tantlinger, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of The Devil's Dreamland

"The prose poems of Twelve shimmer like precious stones, each reflecting the original fairy tale in strange, beautiful, and unsettling ways-- and when set together, they become a mosaic of womanhood in all its forms."

-Cassandra Rose Clarke, Rhysling Award-winning author of Sacred Summer

From the Publisher