Gail Pallotta,Vanessa Riley,June Foster, and Connie Almony-The Fairy Tale Series

The Fairy Tale Series - from Gail Pallotta

Mildred Colvin’s son, Jonathan, suggested his mother and each of her critique partners write a fairy tale and self-publish them.

We all agreed, saying we’d be there for each other if any of us got stuck during the process.

Mildred, who’s self-published over twenty books, spearheaded the effort. Vanessa Riley, who’s a talented designer as well as writer, volunteered to create a cover for each story.   

We’re a laid-back group, so no one set rules about which fairy tales we chose or what direction we took with the retelling. We wanted and needed to make them consistent though.

First we discussed length and decided on novellas. Considering several options on how to tie them all together, we chose the location. June Foster had already started her story in a town called Fairwilde. We all agreed to put our characters there, but instead of having them in a particular town and state, we created Fairwilde Kingdom. I think this was important because it gave us a way to use more than one setting for our stories. Vanessa suggested the same size for the covers along with a title, sub-title and series name. We call each book A Fairwilde Reflection Novella.

We started writing and critiquing immediately. Working in our fantasy worlds for a year brought us lots of joy. We hope the novellas will do the same for our readers.

First out was At the Edge of a Dark Forest, a retelling of Beauty and the Beast by Connie Almony; next, Red and the Wolf, a version of Little Red Riding Hood by June Foster; third, Mirror on the Fall, an adaptation of Snow White by Mildred Colvin; fourth, Swept Away, a twist on Cinderella by Vanessa Riley and lastly Mountain of Love and Danger.