Yay! A fairy tales novel thread!!

To answer the questions:

1. Hmm, that's hard. My favorite is a tie between Shadow of the Bear and Waking Rose, with Alex O'Donnel.

2. Fishy!!! (Fish) Rose and Bear would probably tie as second favorite, Alex is awesome, as well.

3. My darling older sister Valia! (I think she heard of them from another NWebber.)

Oh, and I just thought I'd share a favorite quote (one of many, least ways) of mine:

"How do you say 'bring me eggs and steak or I'll slit your throat' in Italian?" he [Fish] asked.
"Look it up in the phrase book," Bear said absently...

Anybody else got a favorite they'd like to share?

1. Which is your favourite book?

I'll have to say Black as Night. But sometimes it's Waking Rose, so I'm not sure. I LOVE how the plot is so intricately connected in BaN, but Fish is just so GREAT in WR. He's exactly my type of guy, problems and all.

2. Who is your favourite character?

Not fair! Not a fair question!

*sighs*

Okay. I pick Fish. Even though (if I were Rose) he would bug the crap out of me! I really get super annoyed by one of my guy friends who does the exact same thing-- but under the cynicism, Fish is a great guy and really deep.

3. How did you learn about the series?

My mom got The Shadow of the Bear and Black as Night for two of my sisters for Epiphany (we always get books for that feast). She found them in a Christian books catalogue, but we quickly discovered that they weren't your run-of-the-mill Christian books. They're so well-written.

These books are fairytales retold, but the most awesome thing about these books is that they take on a life separate from the tale.

Let me explain: You can read some retold fairytale books and they're fine, but you really know what's going to happen because their outline is the fairytale, and they're holding pretty closely to it. Just elaborating enough to make it long enough for a novel.

BUT for the Fairy Tale Novels, Regina Doman brings a whole new life into the fairy tale she's re-telling. She doesn't let the fairytale rule the story. She tells the story of her characters and it's more like you look back on the story and think, "Hey, that story reminds me of 'Sleeping Beauty'/'Snow White'/ etc." She follows the tale, but the story is so much BIGGER than that.

It's hard to explain. But that just shows how awesome it is.

And these books are Christian/Catholic books, but I'd totally recommend them to someone who is even neither religion. They're simply well written, fantastically structured books.

I've lent BaN to one of my friends. And I'm thinking of rebelling at NaNo in November to write an audio drama for BaN.

Oooh, a BaN audio drama would be really cool!

*loves audio retellings* At first I wasn't exactly thrilled with the SotB one, but it got better as it went along; the actors seemed to be putting more into their parts. The violin bits were lovely, and my favourite scene was the one in the church (right before the snowball fight). I still have the sketches I did based on that scene. I keep meaning to redo/finish it. It needs dramatic lighting, and I was too detailed with the pencil to really get dynamic with it.

1. I don't really have a favourite book. I like 'em all. At this point, I think FC (Alex O'Donnel and the Forty Cyberthieves) and BaN are the ones I'd go back and read 'just 'cause'.

2. Rose. She finds amazing things in thrift stores.

3. I saw Snow White and Rose Red in a Bethlehem Books catalog soon after it was published, and I'd wanted to read it ever since. A couple of years ago, it was finally in our library system and I read it and the rest, as they say, is history.

Oh, I really hate how SoTB is told in the official audio drama. It was just too full of dialogue that wasn't relevant to the story, and too much was drawn out in the lines. It's a good story, but Regina's knowledge of how teenagers talk somehow failed in the script. As Rose says, "Holy Kettles, Batman!"

I mean, seriously?

Regina is an EXCELLENT author, but I can't say the same for her script. That audio drama could have had at least an hour trimmed off.

Hi, it's me, the girl who would not shut up about these books.

I love these books so much! Regina Doman is one of the authors who inspires me most. She blends the beautiful and the dark so well. The writing style and themes are like a tribute to G.K. Chesterton, who is my favorite author of all time. It's not often that I find a modern writer who I can admire as much as I do the classic authors. But Regina...

1. My favorite book... it's so hard to choose. I love all of them for different reasons. Right now I think The Midnight Dancers is my favorite, because of the theme of goodness and beauty. Very philosophical and lovely. I also love the deeper character parallels (Rachel = us, Paul = Christ)

2. Favorite character would probably be Rose. I identify with her a lot. Next favorite is Paul. Because flute-playing, juggling, ninja medical students in the army are way awesome.

3. My mom bought me the first two books for a long road trip. I enjoyed them way more than I expected to, and I've been hooked ever since then.

You should all check out the blog for the student film NarniaWebber Elenatintil is making of the first book: http://www.theshadowofthebear.blogspot.com/ They recently completed filming and are in the editing process. I love looking at the pictures. From everything I've heard, the cast is amazing. There should be DVDs available some time next summer and I'm definitely excited to see it!

^oh, I love that blog! I actually found this forum through the Fairy Tale Novels Forum - another amazing one. Now, onto these questions...

1. Which is your favourite book?
I think my absolute favourite would, after reading them all, still be Waking Rose. It combines my favourite character with more of my favourite characters making it a favourite book! Also, the story is... to die for. *dies for it*
2. Who is your favourite character?
My favourite character would have to be... Rose. And Fish. And Paul. Oh, they're all just too amazing to pick ONE favourite!
3. How did you learn about the series?
Good question. I'd known about the first book for ages (The Shadow of the Bear) but I was always too young to read it. Finally I read it, and loved it, and lamented that there were no following books. Then one day I picked up a book.... by Regina Doman! I literally jumped for joy! (It was Black as Night) After that, I joined the FTN forum, and... here I am!

Welcome to NarniaWeb, Illeana! It's nice to have you join us!

sweeet, really? I guess I wasn't really paying attention to the more technical side of the drama, just how well the actors were portraying the characters.

I have a vague grasp on the fact that audio dramas need to use the dialogue to 'show' what's going on; but I seem to remember that most of the lines were similar to the book. Was this the problem?

I think it depends on the drama, Mel. Certainly, lines are one way of showing what's going on-- but I think that the dialogue can be streamlined so that it's done in a less-bulky way. It was just painfully obvious in SOTB audio drama. Another way to describe is to have a narrator. The best way I've seen (er, heard ) is when they combine the two, or make it so that it's revealed by character's lines to each other, not just them talking to themselves.

I liked some of the lines being similar to the book, but, like a film, an audio drama is a different medium than a novel. Changes should be made, IMO. Then and again, thinking of bad adaptions *coughvoyageofthedawntreadermoviecough*, I suppose I should be grateful for book faithfulness in some cases.

Something neat: I read a Shakespeare sonnet for school today that Bear quotes to the Brier girls! It was so COOL!

Yayh! A fairy tale novels thread!

Or that was what I was going to write before I notice Winty had written the exact same thing. The sentiment is the same, though.

1. Favorite book: Hmm, how to choose? Probably The Shadow of the Bear, Waking Rose, and Alex O'Donnell and the Forty Cyberthieves would be my favorites.

2. Rose & Fish.

3.

My darling older sister Valia!

*echoes Winty*

And I'm thinking of rebelling at NaNo in November to write an audio drama for BaN.

Sounds neat!

Faun_Song612, I've been watching the blog for a while now. I'm really excited about the seeing the end result as well.

I suppose I should answer my own questions...

1. Which is your favourite book?
That's really hard. I like them all, but absolute favourite is a toss-up between the 1st, the 3rd, and the 5th book.
2. Who is your favourite character?
Well, it's a toss-up again. I'm going to say, though, it's either Fish or Kateri. I've always liked Fish's character, but in AOatFC (my abbreviation), I really kind of 'connected' with Kateria, which quite surprised me.
3. How did you learn about the series?
Through folks on NW, especially Fauny and Aly.

I've listened to part of the SotB audio drama a couple of years ago, but have never finished it because I can't get my hands on it. My library doesn't have the books, much less the audio drama, and I think I tried ILL-ing it back before they started charging for ILLs, and I couldn't get it. I know I can buy it, but I keep forgetting and have never gotten around to it (that happens a lot to me ). What I did hear, though, I remember liking. Then again, I was paying attention to 'technical' details, and I was also attempting a sewing project at the time, so my attention was divided. I remember it being faithful, though, which always helps a TON for me...though, I suppose, I couldn't expect it to be a horrible adaptation since Regina Doman was so closely involved in it.

Let me explain: You can read some retold fairytale books and they're fine, but you really know what's going to happen because their outline is the fairytale, and they're holding pretty closely to it. Just elaborating enough to make it long enough for a novel.

BUT for the Fairy Tale Novels, Regina Doman brings a whole new life into the fairy tale she's re-telling. She doesn't let the fairytale rule the story. She tells the story of her characters and it's more like you look back on the story and think, "Hey, that story reminds me of 'Sleeping Beauty'/'Snow White'/ etc." She follows the tale, but the story is so much BIGGER than that.

Thank you! I wanted to say that in my intro, but couldn't figure out how to phrase it. But, yes, part of what I like is that the story is so much bigger than just the tale.
Oh, and I think writing a BaN audio drama script would be such fun.

I've been following the SotB movie blog as well, Fauny, and I'm very happy to see how close they are to getting it all finished!

Oh, yes, Mel---I'd love to go thrift-shopping with Rose, if I thought her penchant for finding things would extend to me. That said, she almost always makes me want to give thrift-shops another try, in the vain hope I'll find something wonderful in one.

Please note that this Special Feature will be closing on Wednesday, November 3. ( It's November already?!!) For further discussion, then, please see the Books thread.

Also, a reminder to all you bright members here to PM a Spare Oom mod if you have an idea (or two) for the Special Feature list. Don't wait until spring; do it now! (Or "autumn" in the southern hemisphere. )