Friday, May 17, 2013

*Scribbler Love* Feature: Bettie Sharpe

It's my first Scribbler Love feature!
I talk a lot about the craft of writing and other writers on this blog. I'm happily obsessed with it, but I also think it's important to support the people working towards the same goals you are, so behold, Scribbler Love.

This scribbler recommends the dark, enchanting, fairy tales of Bettie Sharpe.


I stumbled onto Sharpe while trying different sites to promote my own blog fiction. Her novella, Ember, happened to be one of the top ranking blogs on the site and after reading it in a saucy single sitting, I could see why.
Ember is a little gem, a wonderfully twisted retelling of the classic Cinderella tale. It combines some of my favorite genres; there's romance, fantasy, horror, and while it wraps up with the Happy Ending, Sharpe makes her characters work for it.
The titular character, Ember, is the voice of the story, her wit and dark humor carry the narrative and keep the reader interested.
Retold Fairy Tales are hard to make interesting. You have to bring a unique twist to a tale people have ingrained in their collective memory. Cinderella has been Disney-fied, modernized, and even had a sex change. Sharpe's take: Cinderella is a Witch, with a big capital W there, sacrificing a piece of herself for magic to protect her from Prince Charming. That's right, you see Sharpe's Prince Adrian Juste is gifted with Charm. People cannot resist him, women throw themselves at him, everyone obeys his word to the letter, and he absolutely hates it. Plus her take on the "ugly step family" is just awesome. Just Awesome.
For a novella, the characters are fairly drawn out. It is difficult to flesh out rich characters in a shorter work and while I wish I had more to read, I still loved what I got. Sharpe has written a few other retold fairy tales, spinning new versions of The Little Mermaid and Puss in Boots, as well as an adventure story Strangers in the Night. But I really want to see what Sharpe does with a full length novel to flush out her unique and captivating characters. Her site states she has a work in progress as of Dec 2012. I shall be keeping an eye out for it!

Best part, Sharpe has the entire story of Ember still up on her page, FREE. It's a perfect quick escape and a great introduction to the author's work.

Check it out yourself: http://www.bettiesharpe.com/ember/

Enjoy!!


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