Month: October 2014

Writing Dyscalculia

Posted October 16, 2014 by dove-author in Essays, Personal, Writing / 0 Comments

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I don’t know how old I was when I learned that my dad has dyslexia. It’s one of those things I’ve always kind of known. I’ve also always kind of known that he never got the support he needed to excel at school. For me it’s maths. Like my dad’s situation with dyslexia, when I was in primary and secondary school dyscalculia wasn’t a thing people paid attention to. My mum remains firmly convinced that I woke up one day, said “I don’t like maths” and decided to suck at it for the rest of my life. Because that’s a thing people with invisible disabilities do, you know, they decide that they have a problem. Please note the heavy use of sarcasm in that sentence because we do not, in fact, decide to have a problem and then it magically appears and if only we just decide not to have a problem then it will go away like it’s never been.

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Guest Interview: Cheryl Mahoney on The Storyteller and Her Sisters

Posted October 14, 2014 by dove-author in Guest Posts / 0 Comments

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Last year,  I interviewed Cheryl Mahoney about her debut release, The Wanderers. This year, we’re back with an interview centring on her second book, The Storyteller and Her Sisters! (I had the privilege and pleasure of being one of Cheryl’s betareaders. I’ve been sitting on my squee for so long. SQUEE! Suffice to say that if you enjoy fairytale retellings, I recommend you go out and get this as soon as possible. It’s a fantastic retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses.)

Before we get to the interview, here’s a little bit about Cheryl herself:

Cheryl Mahoney is a book blogger at Tales of the Marvelous, and the author of two books based on fairy tales. The Wanderers, published in 2013, follows the journeys of a wandering adventurer, a talking cat and a witch’s daughter. Her new novel, The Storyteller and Her Sisters, was published in October, 2014.

Welcome, Cheryl!

And here’s a bit about The Storyteller and Her Sisters too. Have the product description. ^_^

Maybe you’ve heard a tale about twelve princesses who danced their shoes to pieces. That was only part of our story.

Talya would tell you how dark and frightening the cursed forest and enchanted lake were. Vira would be too busy looking after us all to tell you many details, while Mina would try to give you every fact and figure (even though magic is rarely so logical). Each of my sisters would tell the story differently.

And Dastan—he’d write a ballad. Or maybe a love song.

As for me, I’m the storyteller, so I’m giving you my version. It’s about my sisters and me, our father, twelve princes and a cursed country—about a series of misguided champions, one even more misguided Fairy Godmother, and a great deal of dancing. It’s about twelve trapped princesses who decided to take control of the story.

I’m Lyra, the ninth princess, and this is how I tell the tale.

<3 And now, without further ado, below the cut lies the interview with Cheryl. Enjoy!

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