I’ve been calling The Lord of the Wood a Beauty & the Beast-inspired queer cozy horror. in some cases (mostly an infographic I made), I even call it “Beauty & the Beast-inspired but NOT a retelling.”

but in reviews and posts, some readers have been calling The Lord of the Wood a retelling.

what’s the difference? good question.

as a reader, I’m more likely to think a book is a retelling if I recognize many characters and plot points from the original story, regardless of their changes.

for example: Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev. the author explicitly states in her author’s note that this is not a retelling of Pride & Prejudice—just inspired by it. I went “ah, too bad,” because I’d picked the book up thinking it was a retelling.

then I read it. and I went, “…I would personally classify this as a retelling, actually,” but I figure the author had her reasons for saying it wasn’t.

(it’s a good book regardless, and you can buy it here: Pride, Prejudice, & Other Flavors on Bookshop [affiliate link])

as an author, apparently, it depends on my intentions. in the first two drafts of The Lord of the Wood, Charlotte—not Arthur—vanished in the forest, and Arthur went into the wood to find her. Ira felt increased pain and had more and more plant matter growing on his body the farther he ventured from the vale, but he didn’t get stuck with animal anatomy after transformations. the story was pretty decidedly not Beauty & the Beast.

then I had the idea to send it in a Beauty & the Beast direction, which fixed a lot of issues I was having and wound up being the story I wanted to tell anyway. Arthur ventures into the forest and finds himself trapped in the Lord of the Wood’s home. Ira becomes increasingly beastly throughout the story. it’s more clearly Beauty & the Beast-inspired, but I didn’t set out to do a retelling. but I’m not mad if readers think it’s a retelling. but I don’t know if it is a retelling.

if you’ve read the book, what do you think? is The Lord of the Wood a retelling, or merely inspired by?

upcoming events

Boston peeps can come see me at SideQuest Books in Bow Market on Thursday, August 20, from 7:00-9:00p.m. EST for a discussion of The Lord of the Wood. a signing will follow.

this event is ticketed, but the $5 cost of the ticket can be redeemed the night of the event for store credit to buy a copy of the book.

• click here to buy tickets

as usual, I’ll also be at the Gathering Volumes Parking Lot Party & Author Fair! this year’s author fair is on Sunday, September 6, from 10a.m.-4:00p.m. EST at Gathering Volumes in Perrysburg, Ohio. I’ll have some Lord of the Wood character art stickers available this year!

this event is free and open to the public, but books and food will be available for purchase. the event helps fund the Northwest Ohio Teen Book Festival.

odds & ends

recent reads

• Emily Wilson’s translation of The Iliad, which I impulse-bought after a book event last month because I’ve had her translation of The Odyssey sitting unread on my shelf for years and thought I should start with this. it’s so good, but also, every time Paris appears on the page I kinda want to punch him in the face. this guy. this fucking guy.

recent watches

• the Hadestown pro-shot, which!! my god. incredible. both the performance and the pro-shot itself. without trivializing the work of the performers and crew involved, I have to admit that my favorite part was the audience’s gasp when Orpheus turned around. you know how it’s going to end. but it gets you every time. my god.

recent listens

• The Wellermen’s Northern Sky, which includes new-to-me songs like the title track and old favorites like “Wild Mountain Thyme” (of which I could have an entire playlist, nothing but different versions, and I would listen to it on repeat forever)

recent birds

• great-crested flycatcher, which I only saw for the first time last year

• indigo bunting, which I still haven’t seen this year (dammit), but I’ve heard plenty!

until next time!