Bargain Ebook: The Magnolia Sword: A Ballad of Mulan by Sherry Thomas for $1.99

The Magnolia Sword: A Ballad of Mulan by Sherry Thomas is on sale for $1.99 in ebook format.

Book description:

CHINA, 484 A.D.

A Warrior in Disguise

All her life, Mulan has trained for one purpose: to win the duel that every generation in her family must fight. If she prevails, she can reunite a pair of priceless heirloom swords separated decades earlier, and avenge her father, who was paralyzed in his own duel.

Then a messenger from the Emperor arrives, demanding that all families send one soldier to fight the Rouran invaders in the north. Mulan’s father cannot go. Her brother is just a child. So she ties up her hair, takes up her sword, and joins the army as a man.

A War for a Dynasty

Thanks to her martial arts skills, Mulan is chosen for an elite team under the command of the princeling—the royal duke’s son, who is also the handsomest man she’s ever seen. But the princeling has secrets of his own, which explode into Mulan’s life and shake up everything she knows. As they cross the Great Wall to face the enemy beyond, Mulan and the princeling must find a way to unwind their past, unmask a traitor, and uncover the plans for the Rouran invasion . . . before it’s too late.

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New Release: The Dinner That Cooked Itself by J.C. Hsyu & Kenard Pak

(US/UK Links)

The Dinner That Cooked Itself by J.C. Hsyu (Author), Kenard Pak (Illustrator) was released late last year in both the US and UK. See The Dinner that Cooked Itself (UK Link). This is a charming story. The publisher offered the following photos of the book on their site, Wish they were larger, but there's enough to show the art style.

The story is similar to Swan Maiden tales, but sweeter and gentler.

Book description:

Long, long ago, in a small town in ancient China, there lived an honest and respectful man called Tuan. Tuan was lonely and looked hard for a wife, but even the matchmaker couldn't help him. One night, however, Tuan's luck changed. And so begins the story of Tuan, White Wave, and the Dinner that Cooked Itself. This beautiful and enchanting Chinese fairytale will captivate the imagination with the perfect blend of magic and realism!

J.C. Hsyu was born in Taipei, Taiwan, and raised in Los Angeles. A graduate of UCLA and the Clarion Writers' Workshop, she has worked in the animation, VFX, and video game industries and published speculative fiction short stories. She lives in San Francisco, California, with her husband and reads incessantly. The Dinner That Cooked Itself is her first children's book.

Kenard Pak grew up in Baltimore and Howard County, Maryland. He studied at Syracuse University and California Institute of the Arts, and as a visual development artist worked on films with Dreamworks and Walt Disney Feature Animation. The Dinner that Cooked Itself is his second children's book. Along with his wife, he lives and works in San Francisco.

The Dragon Prince: A Chinese Beauty & the Beast Tale by Laurence Yep (Author), Kam Mak (Illustrator)

The Dragon Prince: A Chinese Beauty & the Beast Tale by Laurence Yep (Author), Kam Mak (Illustrator) is not a new book, but one I wanted to share. I have already posted about The Fairy Serpent: A Chinese Beauty and the Beast Tale but forgot to post about this book the same day since it is essentially the same story. So today I will mostly share some images from the book.

There are many wonderful Beauty and the Beast tales, but very few have been offered in picture book format. Fortunately, this one has been and it has been done beautifully.

So what kind of Beast would you want? A bear? A wolf? A snake? A monster? Or a dragon? (Especially one voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch. My niece Leighton votes for that one.)

Book description:

When a poor farmer falls into the clutches of a dragon, only Seven, his youngest daughter, will save him—by marrying the beast.

Publishers Weekly praised "Yep's elegant, carefully crafted storytelling" and Mak's "skillfully and radiantly rendered illustrations" in this captivating and luminous Chinese variation of the beauty and the beast tale.

A 1998 Notable Children's Trade Book in Social Studies (NCSS/CBC)

A 1997 Pick of the Lists (ABA)

New Film: The Sorcerer and the White Snake

Here's a change for SurLaLune, a new film based on a Chinese folktale, Legend of the White Snake, that is making the press rounds now. And judging from these trailers it is visually stunning. Makes me want to watch Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon again.

From Action stars put modern twist on classic fairy tale:

Veteran action star Jet Li and action director Tony Ching haven't forgotten their adult audiences, even though their latest movie is the children's fairy tale "The Sorcerer and the White Snake."

The movie, based on a Chinese fairy tale much like Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty, made its world premiere out of competition Friday at the Venice Film Festival.

Cast members said they recalled first hearing the classic tale from their grandmothers.

But Ching says he sought to put a modern twist on the fable by mixing action with special effects. He says "the idea was to blend Chinese tradition, which is martial arts, with Western technology."

There's more about the tale on Wikipedia, with more links to learn more. Here's an excerpt:

The Legend of the White Snake is a Chinese legend, which existed as oral traditions before any written compilation. It has since become a major subject of several Chinese opera, films and television series.

The earliest attempt to fictionalize the story appears to be The White Maiden Locked for Eternity in the Leifeng Pagoda (白娘子永鎮雷峰塔) in Feng Menglong's Jingshi Tongyan (警世通言), which was written during the Ming Dynasty.

At its most basic, the story tells of a young scholar who falls in love with a beautiful woman, unaware that she is a thousand year old white snake that has taken on human form. A monk intervenes in order to maintain nature's law and casts the white snake into a deep well at Leifeng Pagoda.

Over the centuries the story has evolved from horror story to romance with the scholar and the white snake-woman genuinely in love with one another, but such a relationship is forbidden by nature's law. There have also been variations on the telling of the story : like the thousand year old white snake have met the boy before and the story continues as reincarnation; or the white snake's offspring being a reincarnation of Wenchang Wang.

An additional character is a hundred year old green snake (or in some cases a carp) that has also transformed into a woman, and serves as the white snake-woman's soul sister and confidante.

Zhou Long Wins Music Pulitzer For Fairy Tale Opera

From Zhou Long Wins Music Pulitzer For Fairy Tale Opera by Tom Huizenga:

Chinese-America composer Zhou Long has won the Pulitzer Prize for music with his opera Madame White Snake. The work received its world premiere in a production at Opera Boston Feb. 26, 2010, conducted by Gil Rose.

Pulitzer officials described Zhou's piece as "a deeply expressive opera that draws on a Chinese folk tale to blend the musical traditions of the East and the West."

The story of Madame White Snake — a traditional transformation myth, not unlike the Western Little Mermaid — is something that Zhou says every Chinese would know.

"It's very popular not only in China but in Asia. They've adapted it into movies and television series," Zhou said in a telephone conversation earlier today. "But this is the first modern, Western opera form sung in English."

Isn't it nice to know that the Pulitzer rules don't automatically disqualify music inspired or drawing from fairy tales for inspiration? Remember that The Little Match Girl Passion by David Lang won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2008 so this isn't a fluke.


Yes, I am looking at you National Book Foundation.
Congrats to Zhou Long!
 
And if you are interested, here is a book copy of the story in English to read, Madam White Snake (English-Chinese). I haven't seen a recording of Madame White Snake available yet.