EXCEPT THE QUEEN

with Midori Snyder

NAL/Roc Spring 2010

ISBN# 0451462734

With Midori Snyder. Coming in Spring, 2010 from NAL/Roc. Adult/YA fantasy novel about two fairies kicked out and stripped of their magic and their ability to remain young, who have to save the queen’s only child from the Unseelie Court.

An SF Book Club Alternate Selection
Link to Midori Snyder’s blog: http://www.msnyder.typepad.com/

Midori Snyder and I originally wrote and sold this as a novella, which was published in the anthology The Fair Folk edited by Marvin Kaye. The book won the World Fantasy Award.

We always thought we’d make the book into a novel, but the first editor we showed it to felt there wasn’t enough there to make it a book. However, the second editor jumped at the chance (thanks, Jessica!) and even made us cut back on the 225,00 words by 10-15,000 to make it a tighter, better novel. (Though I carped and winged and moaned about doing it, I managed to cut 5,000 on a first pass and Midori cut the rest.

It was such a pleasure working with Midori because we have many of the same literary and mythic sensibilities.  We each wrote several of the characters. Mine include the fey Serana, Red Cap, Robin, Jamie Oldcourse, the Man of Flowers, and the black Crones. Hers were the fey sister Meteora, Baba Yaga, the Queen, the girl Sparrow, the Jack, and the tattoo artist Long Lankin. But we also each went over the other’s chapters to make the book into a seamless whole.

What the Reviewers Say:

• “. . . Yolen  teams up with Snyder . . . to weave a magical tale. After Serana and Meteora stumble across a secret that could damage the reputation of the Fairy Queen, the close-knit fay siblings are separated and banished to Earth. Stripped of youth, beauty, and magic, they struggle to adapt to the baffling modern world. In New York, Serana meets a feral young man whose talent for music is uncanny. In Milwaukee, Meteora finds refuge in the legendary Baba Yaga’s house, where she befriends a trouble woman being stalked by a murderous tattooist. As the various players converge for a deadly showdown, the truth behind the sisters’ exile is revealed. Unconventional narrative techniques and a full dose of magic and folklore give this urban fantasy a lyrical, mythic feel.”—Publisher’s Weekly
• “While many books have trod the paths of mortals becoming lost in fairy mists, ‘Except the Queen’ illuminates the astonishing trail of immortals who have been thrust into the iron-and-concrete forests of modern-day mankind. And through the eyes of two Elven sisters, our polluted, noisy, crowded, dirty world suddenly resonates with a veritable rainbow of magical undertones. Yolen and Snyder’s prose is an a cappella composition of small magics, both human and fairy, and each character seems to step right out of the pages of our much-beloved storybooks. A fantastic read whether you believe in fairytales or not! “—Sacramento Book Review
• “An unexpected delight of a novel. . . I loved the little surprises along the way to resolution and the unexpectedness of this quiet, beautifully written book. Indeed, it’s really the writing style that makes Except the Queen stand out – Jane Yolen and Midori Snyder have the collaboration thing down pat. Although I’m not sure if each author wrote as the separate voices of the sisters, my guess would be that is the case, and the overall result is damn near seamless. “—TheBookSmugglers.com

• 
• 
• 
• Search for Out of Print Books (U.K.)