Sway by Melanie Stanford Cover Reveal

Today is a special day. Melanie Stanford from Daydream to Writer is revealing the cover of her soon-to-be-published novel, Sway. A retelling of my favorite Jane Austen novel (and the inspiration for my blog title), Sway will be released this coming winter via Samhain Publishing. Check out the cover and book blurb:

Ava Elliot never thought she’d become a couch surfer. But with a freshly minted—and worthless—degree from Julliard, and her dad squandering the family fortune, what choice does she have?

Living with her old high school friends, though, has its own drawbacks. Especially when her ex-fiancé Eric Wentworth drops back into her life. Eight years ago, she was too young, too scared of being poor, and too scared of her dad’s disapproval. Dumping him was a big mistake.

In the most ironic of role reversals, Eric is rolling in musical success, and Ava’s starting at the bottom to build her career. Worse, every song Eric sings is an arrow aimed straight for her regrets.

One encounter, one song too many, and Ava can’t go on like this. It’s time to tell Eric the truth, and make a choice. Finally let go of the past, or risk her heart for a second chance with her first love. If he can forgive her…and she can forgive herself.

Melanie Stanford reads too much, plays music too loud, is sometimes dancing, and always daydreaming. She would also like her very own TARDIS, but only to travel to the past. She lives outside Calgary, Alberta, Canada with her husband, four kids, and ridiculous amounts of snow.

melaniestanfordbooks.com

@MelMStanford

www.facebook.com/MelanieStanfordauthor

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25701546-sway

samhainpublishing.com

Congrats to Melanie on her big news! The cover looks fantastic and I can't wait to read all about Ava and Eric this coming winter. 

My Fair Selfie

The other day my friends and I gathered together for a afternoon of fun, frivolity, and musicals. As two members of our ranks had never seen My Fair Lady before, we decided to start with the Audrey Hepburn classic that answers the question 'where does the rain in Spain mainly stay'? 

I'll admit that while I know nearly every word to the film's soundtrack, it had been years since I'd actually sat down and watched the movie from start to finish. And I have to say, watching it through the eyes of adulthood made me see the movie I'd always thought a bit of lighthearted fun in an entirely new light. 

The ever so cheerful "Get Me to the Church on Time" is in fact not a song about a man anxious for his wedding day, but rather a man enjoying his last night of freedom before being dragged into matrimony [complete with him being carted off to the church in a simulation of a funeral procession]. And the "love story" between Eliza and Henry was a far cry from the romantic dream I remembered and something more akin to a feminist nightmare -- for what else would call a story where the fiercely strong female protagonist who admonished her admirers to not speak of love but show her ends up with a man who, upon her return, lounges back in his chair, places a newspaper over his face and asks where his slippers are. 

As beloved as the songs from My Fair Lady have always been, I really struggled to enjoy the movie. It infuriated me that Eliza would end up with a man who showed her so little regard upon growing into a strong, self-possessed woman with all the necessary tools to start a more satisfactory life. I much prefer the ending of George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, the play from which My Fair Lady draws its inspiration. For those of you unfamiliar with the original story, Shaw's version rejects the idea of a romanticized finale and shows Eliza leaving Henry in the end. Despite overwhelming criticism, Shaw avidly fought audience's desire for a "happy ending", staying true to his vision in which Eliza emancipates herself and starts a new life on her own terms. An ending which I respect and admire as much for Shaw's defense of it as for Eliza's triumph. 

And as long as I'm discussing adaptations, there's one other I'd like to mention. Despite its loathsome title, I actually liked the reinvention of My Fair Lady in the new ABC sitcom, Selfie. Sure, its use of texting vernacular grates on my nerves and it tries to fit three hours of content into one half hour show. But despite its flaws, I think the series' portrayal of Henry and Eliza gets something right. Eliza remains a course, class-less girl in desperate need of elocution lessons [with modern substitutions of "lol" and "hashtag" for a Cockney accent]. But rather than depicting Henry as a cold, unlikable gentleman with little regard for people's feelings, he acts instead as a means for social commentary. Henry critiques the common practice of using sexual innuendo when communicating with our opposite-sex friends/acquaintances and the excessive presence of cell phones in our daily interractions, while generally encouraging us to devote our attention to the people around us rather than turning to electronic sources for human contact. 

Together, Selfie's Henry and Eliza act as a reminder that social media is a far cry from real relationships. And while the show may soon disappear in the sea of mediocre sitcoms, I think its core ideas do greater credit to Shaw's Pygmalion than its predecessor, My Fair Lady. 

A Modern Make-Over: The Classics Retold

As a former English Lit major, I must admit that I’m somewhat of a classicist – I love those drafty old novels that made their way into the literary cannon. Shakespeare, Faulkner, Joyce . . . I read them all. For fun.

And while I feel as protective of them as a mama bird with her eggs – and thus should probably scoff at and reject any adaptation that strays even the slightest from the original text – I have to admit that sometimes I enjoy modern retellings of these classic tales. Like the movie Clueless. Sure it’s a silly 90’s teen flick, but it’s also an adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma. Here we're able to watch high school teen queen Cher struggle with the same issues as her 19th century counterpart. But, you know, with cell phones and credit cards.

I think it’s interesting to see these stories that we revere and study in school in a new context. To see them taken a little less seriously. Some might call these retellings irreverent, some say they’re pandering, but at the end of the day, I just think they’re fun. Here are a few you might (or might not) have recognized:

- Cruel Intentions – Based on Choderlos de Laclos’s Les Liaisons Dangereuses

- She’s All That – Based on George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion

- Bridget Jones’s Diary – Based on Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice

- Never Been Kissed – Based on Shakespeare’s As You Like It

- She’s The Man – Based on Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night

- Ten Things I Hate About You – Based on Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew

- West Side Story – Based on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet

[Clearly Shakespeare is a favorite of modern storytellers.]

Did you recognize any of them? Some of them are a bit more, uh, freely adapted than others.  Here are five more - the five that I consider my favorite modern retellings. Check them out:

My Fair Lady – 

It’s George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion set in Edwardian London. It’s got musical numbers, and dancing, elocution lessons and, of course, the incomparable Audrey Hepburn. It won eight Oscars and danced its way into the hearts of movie-viewers worldwide.

The Lion King – 

The one and only animated movie to make my list, Disney’s The Lion King is a wonderful retelling of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. It's got catchy songs and beautiful depictions of the planes of Africa. Not to mention anthropomorphic animals struggling for power and to find their rightful place in the animal kingdom. It does Shakespeare proud. 

Scotland, PA. –

If there’s a more bizarre combination than Shakespeare and fast food restaurants, I don’t know what it is. And yet somehow it works. Macbeth is my favorite Shakespeare play, and this is my favorite of its adaptations.

Easy A – 

Puritan Massachusetts, the setting of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, was a ruthless and vicious place. So what better than to re-imagine it in modern day high school - the most ruthless and vicious place there is. It gets an easy A+ in my book. 

O Brother, Where Art Thou? – 

Last but not least, from the brilliant mind of the Coen brothers comes Homer’s The Odyssey set in 1930’s Mississippi. It is my all-time favorite modern retelling, and one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen. Best line ever – "Well, ain't this place a geographical oddity. Two weeks from everywhere."

Are you a fan of seeing you favorite classics retold in a modern setting, with modern problems and situations? What are some of your favorites?