Wednesday, November 13, 2013

The Beautiful Beautiful Blog Tour Wrap-up & Giveaway


Once Upon a Time Today

Reviews!


This could have been reduced to a Disney-esque “Don’t judge people by their appearances!” and “What matters is what’s on the inside!” but it’s a lot more complicated than that. The story is really about examining beauty through Kerrin’s eyes, not as a simple dichotomy, but as a nuanced part of human experience.—Jimena Novaro, Fantasy and Science Fiction Author

I loved Kerrin’s character!  I loved her independence, I loved her humor, and I loved her eye for beautiful things! Besides, who doesn’t want a pretty pair of shoes covered in rhinestones!  This novella follows the story line of a child like fairly tale to Kerrin’s life in present time. This was a light fun read, and when I least expected it I was given a hint of suspense that really made the book!—Everything Marie

The story alternates between Kerrin telling her daughter the Beauty Beauty story, and following Kerrin through the actual events that inspired her fairy tale retelling. I thought the back and forth would be distracting but it wasn't. In some ways, it reminded me of The Princess Bride, but the scenes with Kerrin and Mirabella are sweet and much more frequent. Not only that, but it's hilarious to see Kerrin's fairy tale take on the events.—Kimber Leigh Writes  

Heidi Garrett’s Beautiful Beautiful reminds me of the film, The Princess Bride, with main character Kerrin’s fairy tale to her daughter  interspersed with her own story as Kerrin takes over for Peter Falk as storyteller. She tells her daughter the fairytale version of how she and her father met and married.

Kerrin is an award winning director, known for finding the beauty in a film but is unable to find that true beauty in a mate. I appreciated the fact the Kerrin isn’t looking to feel “whole.” Kerrin is proud of her ability to showcase strong female characters on the screen and Heidi has done just that with her character; Kerrin is a successful and accomplished woman on her own.


I also enjoyed the balance of the narrative. It isn’t easy to craft one story, let alone three. There’s Kerrin’s real life tale, the fairytale told to Mibi, her daughter and the subject for the film, Demion Glass. —Blissful Blog


When I was young my mother used to read to me almost every night, and I loved it. I was always proud when I understood the meaning of the story. It's great to see authors these days, that can write such a great book like Beautiful Beautiful. Heidi Garett really managed to make me fall in love with this story.—The Book Town


With its roots stuck in the fairytales of the Grim brothers and told in both the memories of past events and the present of stories told between a mother and daughter, Beautiful, Beautifuleasily captured my attention. The Dragon Pedestal


I love how Ms. Heidi Garrett wrote this  book.   Kerrin's life story was told as  a fairytale . And Kerrin was quite a good storyteller herself... sharing this to her daughter , Mirbella each night. I find this scenario very touching as I remember my Mom reading me bedtime stories each night as a child. Every word feels like magic to me and I never grew tired of hearing it again and again.  So, when Kerrin told her story, I am Mirabella.


The way Ms. Garrett interweave both reality and faerytale was a wonderful surprise.I never read anything like this... and it was really refreshing.—Billie's Pink Review

This is the stuff that fairy tales and dreams are made of, after reading this book I closed my eyes, and I could still see the brilliant job that Heidi Garrett did with this story. The characters were so defined that you could put yourself into their shoes and feel all the suspense and the emotions play out as it happen. I am a lover of all books, but this one was special.—Dreamer

I have read other books by Heidi and I love her stories. She is a fabulous writer with a wonderful imagination which allows her to create beautiful and exciting worlds for her characters to live in. I was entranced with her Queen of the Realm of Faerie series so was super excited to see that she was putting her spin on the fairy tales of old.


I love how, in Beautiful Beautiful, a fairy tale is woven into a story from the present so that the reader gets a sense of how the fairy tales relate to what is happening now. Kerrin tells her daughter bedtime stories which mirror her life stories as a way to teach her daughter life lessons.—The Book Bag


More Reviews:

Fanciful Fictions
Not a Lost Wanderer Includes Cool Playlist & Interview


Interviews!

You don't want to miss these!


"Why not?" you ask!


BECAUSE: The book bloggers on the IFB Tour have gotten me to reveal all sorts of deep and dark secrets, that on a normal day, I would never confess to.


Maybe I've been bewitched;) Or inhaled too much pixie dust! But you want to read these interviews!


Kimber Leigh Writes Kimber Leigh has me getting philosophical when it comes to writing advice!


Billie's Pink Reviews! Part 1 (FUNNY)  Billie has me putting my husband in an awkward position, and, yes, telling those secrets, when I fail her One Word Interview!


Billie's Pink Reviews! Part 2 (SERIOUSLY SERIOUS) Billie has me talking all about writing the Once Upon a Time Today collection. But it's not so serious that we can't talk about a little Magic. SNAP. Joy. CRACKLE. Faith. POP!


Curling Up With a Good Book  Beth has me confiding about who I really write my books for, and making an embarrassing confession about those 2014 releases… Uhm… That aren't mine!


Laurie's Thoughts & Reviews  Laurie has me answering who Heidi Garrett really is… Sort of!


Guest Posts!

How I retold the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale "Beautiful" at Drugs Called Books

What about that first book you wrote? at Angee's After Thoughts


Excerpts!

Mommasez….. Once Upon a Time Excerpt post!
The LUV'NV has an Excerpt wrapped up in a beautiful post!

Plus, an awesome giveaway will be at all the tour stops!

And what's this all for?

To celebrate the release of the first novella in my Once Upon A Time Today collection, Beautiful Beautiful!

Release Date: November 15th
Genre: Contemporary Adult Fairy Tale
Publisher: Half-Faerie Publishing

Synposis:

Every night, Kerrin tells her daughter a fairy tale. Mirabella's favorite is "Beauty Beauty"—the story of when her mother met her father. As Kerrin spins the tale wrapped around the most dark, and equally light, period in her life, she considers these questions:

What is beauty? When is it nourishing... And when is it treacherous?


Years of struggling on the indie film circuit are about to pay off for Kerrin Mayham. She's the frontrunner for the Golden Pinnacle's "Director of the Year." Winning will mean generous financial backing for her next project, and the most beautiful men in the industry will compete for the leading role.


Her integrity and sense of self will be challenged, because when it comes to casting Demion Glass, Kerrin will have to confront her personal demons--and an emptiness that has haunted her for years. (Adult language & situations, no explicit sex)

~~~
The core story Beautiful Beautiful is a retelling of the Hans Christian Andersen tale "Beautiful," and the first release in Heidi Garrett's Once Upon a Time Today In these stand-alone retellings of popular and obscure fairy tales, adult characters navigate the deep woods of the modern landscape to find their Happily Ever Afters.
~ Excerpt ~

At 10:00 pm on the dot, someone knocked on Kerrin’s door. Her pulse pounded in her ears. It had to be Anthony. She wasn’t expecting anyone else. Still in jeans, but now wearing a sweat shirt, and socks, she padded through the entryway, slow and ambivalent, her body, mind, and soul a conflicted triangle.


It had been a long evening of taking stock, her conclusion: The greater the public acclaim for her professional achievements, the more treacherous the need-sucking undertow to be cherished and loved for no particular reason at all.


Unfortunately, acknowledging that vulnerability did nothing to temper her curiosity—or her desire. If anything, it heightened the craving to relinquish control.


Just for the night.


She stopped.


One night. That’s all it would take to bring her world crashing down around her again.


Kerrin leaned against the wall.


The doorbell chimed.


Why hadn’t she called Norah or Joanie?


She pushed a stray hair behind her ears and wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand.


She hadn’t called her friends because Kerrin didn’t confess her sins, she buried them deep, and Tom had been, if not her greatest sin, then one of the top three.


And what was there to talk about? Really? A young woman’s misguided search for a father figure over fifteen years ago?


Kerrin glanced at herself in the mirror. Her makeup was gone. Pink tinged her eyelids.


She admitted careless grooming was a flimsy barrier against self-destruction, but it was the best she could manage on short notice.


She checked the peep hole.


He was so goddamned beautiful.


What game was she playing?


Anthony Zorr was dangerous.


The knowing pulsed through her entire body.


It wouldn’t be long before the tabs were paying thousands of dollars for photos of him and every secret he’d ever wanted to hide. The paparazzi would sniff him out like bitches in heat. If she became his secret, could she survive another detonation?


Feeling reckless she unlocked the door.


He waved a bottle of wine. “Evening, ma’am.”


She opened the door wider. “Punctual.”


He had on jeans, a jacket, and those flip flops. His shaggy-blond hair half-covered his eyes. The night air shimmered around him. His very presence on her doorstep seemed untrustworthy.


“You gonna’ keep me standing out here all night?”


Kerrin shook her head. “Come in.” She got a whiff of leather, aftershave, and pot. Hormones pounded her blood. She closed the door and shoved her hands deep into the pockets of her jeans. A physical reminder to keep them to herself.


He didn’t wait for her as he walked down the hall towards the brightest source of light, the kitchen, adjacent to her informal screening room. A large flat screen TV hooked up to her computer.


Kerrin padded after him, tingling from head to toe. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt such intense physical attraction to someone.


He set the wine bottle on the table. “Thirsty?”


“I wouldn’t mind a glass of—”


“Cabernet Sauvignon.”


She opened a cabinet and reached for two wine glasses. His arms circled her waist. Kerrin froze. If she said nothing, he’d interpret that as a yes. If she pulled away, pushed him away, the familiar easiness he took for granted would evaporate.


He nuzzled the back of her neck.


Wine glasses in hand, Kerrin steadied her wrists against the counter. Every cell in her body was aware of him. It had been so long since anyone had touched her like this, too long.


He pulled her body closer to him.


That was too familiar. She ducked beneath his arm and hurried to the table and the bottle of wine. Damn. She needed the wine opener. Could she make it to the drawer without another awkward dance?

Awkward because she was so uncertain about what she wanted.

Or was she?


Why had she agreed to let a man she hardly knew come over to her home at 10:00 at night? What had she expected they would do?



Sunday, November 10, 2013

The Mother & Child


Heather Baker—the main character in the original fairy tale The Girl Who Couldn't Singproduced a CD, The Faith of a Crucified Child, and a DVD, My Name is Heather Baker, Welcome to My World.

Today, I wanted to share a special clip from the DVD and a special mp3 from the CD. 


In today's DVD clip, Heather shares her belief about the sacred relationship between a mother and her child.



Although, Heather follows no particular religion, her faith in a higher being—that she often refers to as god—saturates her fundamental life philosophy.

In the song, A Mother's Prayer, Heather approaches that higher being, heart heavy with guilt from years of denying her relationship with her mother, at the behest of her father. Although she was very young, when the initial rejection occurred, her feelings of guilt—logical or not—are very real.


mp3: A Mother's Prayer


As a result of acknowledging and expressing that guilt, Heather experienced a deep healing. Reborn from that experience, her ultimate message is one of triumph and joy.


Read the rest of her hopeful story

Friday, November 8, 2013

My Name is Heather Baker, Welcome to My World


In 2005, Heather Baker—the main character in the original fairy tale The Girl Who Couldn't Singproduced a DVD.

My Name is Heather Baker, Welcome to My World is a fresh, irreverent journey into one woman's psyche.

Get links to songs from the original CD & full DVD in the book
 
Feeling out of place, but determined to make sense of it all, Heather uses different voices to chronicle her inner excursion, and we are invited along for the ride.

Whether it's dealing with darker fare like her mother's mental illness, quirkier subjects like her interest in astrology, or her obsession with the story of Seabiscuit, Heather uses her depth of insight, and zany sense of humor, to bring us all along with her.

The end result: We all enjoy the trip.

The DVD features several previously unrecorded songs: The Deep Blue Sea, Time and You, Broken Dolls, She Never Dyed Her Hair, and The Beach.

In this first clip, Heather introduces her multiple personalities, and discusses her ambivalence about her inner journey.



Perhaps, she's ambivalent about her inner journey, because troubling things lurk in the depths…

mp3: Modern Day Art




~ Excerpt  ~

Once upon a time there was a woman who didn't smile. She lived with a stern frown etched upon her face. On occasion, fleeting delight would catch her--like a doe in the headlights. Her lips would curve upwards, or she'd find herself unable to stifle a laugh, and someone would inevitably pronounce, "You have a beautiful smile."


She would pass the palm of her hand over her face, erasing all signs of glee, and grimace for the rest of the day in devoted penance, because life was a vale of tears and suffering, especially for women. That's what her Bible said, at least--and the misogynists.


The woman wasn't a particularly young woman, nor was she a particularly old one, but she wasn't quite middle-aged either. A late bloomer, with the planet of Neptune conjunct her Mid-heaven, she had a hard time distinguishing between fantasy and reality…


The three short stories, The Girl Who Watched for Elves, The Girl Who Dreamed of Red Shoes, and The Girl Who Couldn't Sing, chronicle the journey of a girl who believed in fairy tales and are a prelude to the Once Upon a Time Today collection.

Thursday, November 7, 2013

The Faith of a Crucified Child

Heather Baker—the main character in the original fairy tale The Girl Who Couldn't Sing—released her first CD, The Faith of the a Crucified Child in 2000.

Read her hopeful story and
Get the link to mp3s from the original CD in
A Short Story: The Girl Who Couldn't Sing
#28 College Music Journal Chart, CMJ Issue #704!WOBC, Oberlin, OH, March 2001
As good as the best goth releases out now!WSHL, North Easton, MA, March 2001
Good beats. Very pretty voice. What a picture! KCFV, St.Louis, MO, March 2001
I like Heather's voice! Definitely a unique sound.WDCE, Richmond, Virginia, March 2001
WOW! Modern experimental techno sound. Unique vocals!WMHC, South Hadley, Ma, March 2001

~About the CD~
Heather Baker has produced a unique CD of musical sounds & textures, that takes the listener on a ride, to what seems like other worlds, far far away. Like Dorothy's Emerald City, Heather Baker's world is wherever we want it to be, in a dreamy land far beyond our daily lives, or up close and personal, touching us deeply inside. The synthesized sound scapes are the perfect vehicle for her haunting vocals and lyrics. Refreshingly honest, they portray the emotional complexities of real life. There are no easy answers here, in fact there are no answers at all. Heather's musical journey is one that you must hear to fully understand.


Read her inspiring story and
Get the link to mp3s from the original CD in
A Short Story: The Girl Who Couldn't Sing

Track Listings:
1. Stop the Chain
2. Remember the Pain
3. Your Little Girl
4. Modern Day Art
5. Red
6. The Divorce Song
7. Bitter Blue
8. Full Circle
9. A Mother's Prayer
10. New World
11. Martian Woman
12. The Faith of a Crucified Child
13. You Didn't Win

Man. This album is nothing if not intense. My initial reaction to this CD was reminiscient of the Seinfeld episode where, after listening to George unload his darkest secrets, a stunned Jerry pauses, takes a step backward, and says "good luck with all THAT."

I will admit up front that I'm not a huge fan of electronica music. I typically find it too sterile, too repetitive, often too self-indulgent. Or was that jazz? (j/k!). What I am a fan of, though, is the computer and the opportunities and access it has afforded artists such as Heather to express themselves in ways not possible less than a decade ago. I guess we have Beck to thank for that.


It is against such backdrop that I review this CD.


The subject here is clearly and unambiguously divorce, specifically the havoc that divorces can wreak on children. It's honest, it's brutal, it's in your face. Maybe a little too honest. More on that later.


First, the music. As an earlier reviewer noted, Heather's voice is very reminiscant of Dolores O'Riordan, and in fact, the music itself is somewhat Cranberries-esque. At times the arrangement steps over the voice, at other times the opposite. I could personally do without some of the odd phrasings, but she doesn't go overboard. The voice is there, and it has a lot of potential. The artist bio noted that Heather put down her guitar "out of respect to all the guitar players much more talented and gifted than herself". Apparently, she doesn't consider herself to be a worthy musician, at least not as far as the guitar is concerned. While I've never heard her play, I would respectfully suggest that she reconsider this decision or at least find one of those "talented and gifted" individuals to work with her.


But enough harping about the music - the lyrics are clearly the star here. As noted, Heather holds nothing back. These are some tough words to listen to, and they must have been doubly tough to write. Certainly not every divorce is quite this painful, but anybody who's been through one will recognize the lies and betrayal inherent in the process, while anybody who hasn't will be glad they avoided it.


But my main criticism of this album is that Heather is almost too literal, almost too precise, in her language. A little subtlety or ambiguity is not always a bad thing, particularly when delving into a subject this heavy. This will come, I think, with Heather's growth as an artist. I look forward to her next effort— Woodrow Call, Music Reviewer


Read her Happily Ever After Story and
Get the link to mp3s from the original CD in
A Short Story: The Girl Who Couldn't Sing


Photography © Jennifer M. Kiger

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

The Girl Who Couldn't Sing



When life gets tricky, Heather Baker meditates on fairy tales.

She can't sing... Yet.


But, maybe, with:

  • A few more voice lessons, 
  • A music degree, and
  • Enough practice, 
Heather Baker's dreams of becoming the next indie singer/songwriter sensation will come true.

Enticed by Neptune, the planet that rules everything hazy and glamorous, and dogged by Saturn, the planet that rules obstacles and eveything practical--she bounces between fantasy and reality.


Which planet will win?

~ Excerpt  ~

Once upon a time there was a woman who didn't smile. She lived with a stern frown etched upon her face. On occasion, fleeting delight would catch her--like a doe in the headlights. Her lips would curve upwards, or she'd find herself unable to stifle a laugh, and someone would inevitably pronounce, "You have a beautiful smile."


She would pass the palm of her hand over her face, erasing all signs of glee, and grimace for the rest of the day in devoted penance, because life was a vale of tears and suffering, especially for women. That's what her Bible said, at least--and the misogynists.


The woman wasn't a particularly young woman, nor was she a particularly old one, but she wasn't quite middle-aged either. A late bloomer, with the planet of Neptune conjunct her Mid-heaven, she had a hard time distinguishing between fantasy and reality…


The three short stories, The Girl Who Watched for Elves, The Girl Who Dreamed of Red Shoes, and The Girl Who Couldn't Sing, chronicle the journey of a girl who believed in fairy tales and are a prelude to the Once Upon a Time Today collection.


Sunday, November 3, 2013

The Fairytale and Fantasy in My Three Worlds

As the three short stories—The Girl Who Watched for Elves, The Girl Who Dreamed of Red Shoes, and The Girl Who Couldn't Sing—that serve as the prelude to my new Once Upon a Time Today collection, are being released, I wanted to share my three worlds: The one for The Daughter of Light, the one for the three short stories, and the one for the Once Upon a Time Today collection. Each is distinct, and purposeful, to their particular stories.

The Daughter of Light Trilogy
The Daughter of Light cosmology is the most complex of my worlds, and includes the mortal and enchanted Worlds. The mortal world is real, it's ours, and it spans hundreds of years. The enchanted world is hard-core fantasy. All made up. However, I used the borders of time and space, between the two worlds, to shift time. While things in the series are always "present day" in the enchanted world, any creature from Faerie can travel to any time in the mortal world—as long as that time has already been lived and/or is currently inhabited by mortals, i.e. creatures from Faerie cannot travel into our world's unknown future. The hitch is: creatures from Faerie cannot travel back in time. Once they've traveled to a particular point in history, in the mortal world, they can't ever travel back to a prior period in human history. So time between the mortal world and enchanted world is fluid—to a degree.

I wrote it that way because The Tale of Melusine (which the entire series spins off of) is a 14th century French fairy tale, but I didn't want Melia's forays into the Mortal World to be strictly historical. I wanted her to be able to visit more contemporary times. So while Melia and her sisters visit their father in Ireland in the 1300s, and her older sister, Melusine, marries and lives with a French nobleman of that time in Half Faerie, Melia also travels to the early 1900s to find Gabriela in Texas, and to find Lola in California in 1998 in Half Mortal, and will, finally, enter our present time, in the last book in the series, War & Grace. Then, there's that nefarious character obsessed with bringing the twenty-first century to Faerie in Half Faerie

I'm a huge fan of The Lord of the Rings. To give us verisimilitude, Tolkien wrote his Middle Earth historically. It's a time period that existed, but it's in the distant past. I also wanted to create a sense of verisimilitude in The Daughter of Light, but I decided to create my enchanted world parallel to ours, existing in tandem with Planet Earth.

In creating my enchanted world, and the faeries and creatures that live there, I did a lot of research about faeries. I didn't like a lot of the traditional faerie lore. It didn't suit the faeries that I wanted to write about, so I decided that most faerie lore, as chronicled by mortals, would be recognized as fictitious, by the creatures that inhabited my enchanted world.

For example, in the mortal world, Melia's older sister is the famous sister—the legendary Melusine—but in the enchanted world, Melia—and her younger sister—Plantine steal the show—and for very different reasons. Plantine, because she triggers an apocalyptic event, and Melia, well, Daughter of Light is her story… so, sorry, no spoilers!

The Girl Who Believed in Fairy Tales
The three short stories in The Girl Who Believed in Fairy Tales that comprise the prelude to my Once Upon a Time Today collection are set in our world. You will find places in them that actually exist! Austin and Houston, Texas; San Diego and Escondido, California. However, they are written as fairy tales, so you'll also find overriding elements of symbolism and archetypes, in the references to the tarot (The Girl Who Watched for Elves), astrology (The Girl Who Couldn't Sing), and other fairy tales (The Girl Who Dreamed of Red Shoes).

The Once Upon a Time Today Collection
Finally, in the this collection, the world is also our world, but it's a timeless one. Therefore, in that collection all locations will be created ones, i.e., you won't find Hollywood, but you might find Glitter City (Beautiful Beautiful). These stories will be retellings of fairy tales drawn from the oeuvre of Hans Christian Anderson and Brothers Grimm. There will be no real world references. In Half Mortal, Jade belts out an Alanis Morissette song, but there will be no such name dropping in the Once Upon a Time Today collection. Although, you will find smartphones and the internet.

I created these three worlds in different ways for a reason. In Daughter of Light, I wanted to blend imagination and reality, to the highest degree possible. In the three short stories, I wanted to spin reality into a fairy tale. In the novellas, in the Once Upon a Time Today collection, I wanted to create the timelessness of the classic fairy tale, but with a contemporary sensibility.

The Numinous Moment
All in all, I'm always seeking that space between human and divine, ego and Self, conscious and unconscious, imagination and reality. In my own life, the moments I've lived in those spaces, have been the most numinous. (Numinous meaning spiritual—sorry, I had to use that word, because I just love it, and because it has the sense of shimmering and light those moments possess!)

Those are the moments, the opportunities, and the possibilities, that I strive to create in all my work.
Thus, my three worlds, and the sense of magic and enchantment in each.

Friday, November 1, 2013

The Girl Who Dreamed of Red Shoes


Synopisis:
In A Short Story: The Girl Who Dreams of Red Shoes a young woman searches for something to feed her deep spiritual hunger. Bavarian Kreme donuts and M&Ms only make the void worse. After weeks of binging, she dreams of her spirit floating through a large mansion, disconnected from her body. When she comes across an audiobook exploring an old fairy tale, she can’t resist buying it. As she listens to story of The Red Shoes, she experiences inner shifts that awaken her to the possibiliy of a renewed spiritual life.
~ Excerpt ~

Once upon a time, there was a young woman who’d lost her way. She knew her home address, and she knew how to get there, so she wasn’t lost in that respect. At night, she would have dreams, and in those dreams she would wander a cream-colored mansion infused with golden light. It would seem as if she was floating or flying, more like a ghost than a person. When she would have occasion to look in the mirror, she would start, because the person in the reflection looked nothing like who she felt herself to be… and so her dreams showed her: her spirit was disconnected from her body, hovering close by, but nonetheless lost to her daily reality.


And you wouldn’t think this would be a problem, since she was aware of it. Perhaps it would be an easy thing to coax her spirit back into her body, but in fact, it was not.


The young woman and her spirit had been disconnected for years, so even though they were familiar to one another, they weren’t really acquainted. Besides, the girl didn’t want her spirit to return to her body. She’d decided a long time ago that flesh was a dangerous place for spirit to live, so she made sure her spirit never felt welcome or comfortable inside her.


Yet, the young woman suffered from longing. The longing persisted, even though she pretended that it didn’t…