Re: The Land of Stories Main Thread

[Buenos]

Review:
Actor Chris Colfer has written a series of popular fairy tale capers with a tongue-in-cheek modern-day spin. This companion set to that series features two of his favorite characters – Queen Red Riding Hood and Mother Goose.
Queen Red Riding Hood’s Guide to Royalty is loaded with political savvy and snarky wit. It’s the ultimate guide to managing a kingdom, and hers happens to include an old woman in a shoe and Lady Muffet. Her advice ranges from how to survive a scandal, to entertaining for divas the likes of Goldilocks and Rapunzel. She includes helpful case studies on media spin, such as how the Wicked Stepmother and the Evil Queen could have survived their respective fiascoes if they’d just gotten out in front of the story.

Mother Goose Diaries is a recounting of her forays outside of the fairy world over the centuries, from her first entry in 100 BD (Before Dragons) to modern day. Along the way, Mother Goose and her sidekick Gander make many interesting stops. There’s a botched wedding to Henry VIII (Goose’s two-timing friend Ann Boleyn broke it up), a fateful meeting with Winston Churchill and a serendipitous encounter with Amelia Earhart to name just a few.

Colfer’s narration is zippy and fun. They’re his words, so he knows how they should be read. With plenty of smart one-liners (“The Big Bad Wolf was a great villain, but a better rug”) Colfer is clearly having fun delivering them. | Parents’ Choice

[Glorfindel]

[Glorfindel]

Chris Colfer's Ever-Expanding Land of Stories

By Sue Corbett |
Jun 28, 2016


Chris Colfer.

As he neared “The End” of the fourth volume in his bestselling The Land of Stories series, author Chris Colfer had an epiphany.

“I just knew I wasn’t done,” said Colfer, who gained famed for his portrayal of Kurt Hummel on the hit TV series Glee. “I started to get so depressed as I was finishing what was supposed to be the last book that I asked my editor if I could write another one.”
Sure, said Little, Brown’s Alvina Ling. In fact, she ordered two more installments. The fifth, An Author’s Odyssey, publishes July 12 and will be supported by a 10-city tour. The sixth will follow in July 2017.

But there’s more. What began in 2012 as a two-book deal has now grown into a nine-book (and counting), multi-format series, in which siblings Alex and Connor tumble into the land of fairy tales, which is a far cry from the setting described in their storybook. The books have been translated into 19 languages, with more than two million copies sold in the U.S. alone.

In October, Little, Brown will release a companion, The Land of Stories: A Treasury of Classic Fairy Tales, which will contain 30 full-color illustrations by Brandon Dorman, who also did the artwork for Colfer’s novels and picture book The Curvy Tree. The deluxe gift book will contain a collection of 24 fairy tales, designed to replicate the Fairy-Tale Treasury book that started Colfer’s main characters, Alex and Conner, on their adventures in the first book. Additionally, The Mother Goose Diaries and Queen Red Riding Hood’s Guide to Royalty, which were first published in a boxed set in 2015, will be available individually for the first time in July 2017.



It’s pretty impressive for the 26-year-old California native, who loved having stories read to him as a child, but had trouble reading himself. “It’s never been diagnosed but dyslexia runs in my family, so that might have been part of it. But also, I write pretty hysterical e-mails that are missing like 15 words. It might be some kind of actual disorder but I prefer to think of it as having my own special language,” Colfer said.

He fell in love with fairytales listening to his mother read them aloud. He could not get enough. “I would ask her all kinds of questions about the characters and their motives. I wanted the back story,” Colfer recalls. “And my mom wouldn’t have the answers. Finally she said, ‘Why don’t you write your own fairy tales?’ ”

Colfer did try – the series opener, The Wishing Spell, is dedicated to his grandmother, whom he calls his first editor and who told him, “Christopher, I think you should wait until you finish elementary school before worrying about being a failed writer.” It was during those elementary school years that Colfer was often expected to entertain himself because his younger sister had a “very rare and awful form of epilepsy” that required the majority of his parents’ attention. “Writing or even just thinking up stories was wonderful therapy for me, then and now,” Colfer said. “Whenever I am overwhelmed or sad or mad, I retreat to writing. This series has been an escape for me.”

Still, Colfer says he didn’t show any precocious literary talent as a child. “I don’t think any of my teachers would have said ‘He’s going to be a writer.’ They might have said I had a good imagination, but I think they all expected me to stick with performing arts.”

Colfer is still performing: he will appear in the forthcoming Absolutely Fabulous film, based on the British TV series, and will guest star on Julie’s Greenroom, a new Netflix series for preschoolers created by Julie Andrews and her daughter, Emma Walton Hamilton, featuring puppets from the Jim Henson Company, which is scheduled to start airing in 2017. He admits that after Glee he needed a break. “Even people in the industry don’t quite understand how grueling the schedule was. It’s one thing to shoot a new episode of an hour-long TV show every week, but we were in constant rehearsal to learn new songs, new dances, new performances,” Colfer said. “I’m still tired from it.”

It was after he broke out as one of the ensemble show’s stars, however, that Colfer was initially approached about writing. “The whole book deal came about because being on a TV show got some people to think I should write my autobiography,” he said. “I was 19. I didn’t think I was old enough to write my autobiography. But I had had this idea for a series about fairy tales since I was seven so I asked if I could write that instead.” Continuing the series not only has allowed him to exercise his fertile imagination, but occasionally allows him to stay in his pajamas all day. “I love the schedule,” he said.



And though, initially, Colfer was opposed to seeing his books turned into films, he’s come around on that topic and is in active talks about adapting Alex and Conner’s story for the big screen. “When the first and second book came out and these conversations about a film started, I mean, readers would be furious if they knew what was being suggested. I had people who wanted to age Alex and Conner up, make them high school age. I had someone suggest, ‘Maybe they’re not brother and sister. Maybe they’re boyfriend and girlfriend?’ I had to try very hard not to roll my eyes or throw up,” Colfer said.

He repeatedly said “No, thank you,” allowing the series to build in popularity, which has given him more leverage. Last year’s fourth volume, Beyond the Kingdoms, debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list and stayed on the list for the next 11 weeks. Sales of the previous titles rose significantly, too, suggesting new readers were binge-reading to catch up. Colfer says his patience may pay off.

“Many people thought I was an absolute idiot for just not selling it off to the highest bidder, but these are stories I have been carrying around almost my whole life so the series is important to me,” Colfer said. “I don’t want it to be someone’s interpretation of The Land of Stories. What they say about books made into films is that a great adaptation will immortalize the book but a terrible movie will kill it. I want a great movie because I still have so much planned for future books, maybe even a prequel series. So I want to make sure if it gets done, it is done well.”

Colfer will close out the year with the release of his second YA novel, Stranger Than Fan Fiction, a semi-autobiographical bildungsroman about the lead actor of a hit television show who shocks a quartet of fans when he accepts their invitation to go on a cross-country road trip with them. Little, Brown has scheduled it for a December release.
“It’s not the biography people initially wanted but I do realize that growing up on a TV show is a unique adolescence,” Colfer said. “So this is sort of my fictionalized coming of age story.”

publishersweekly.com

[Glorfindel]

[Glorfindel]

From the appreciation thread:

I wonder what and land of stories prequalify series would be about though. Maybe the twins dads journey there as briefly described in the first book?

That's what I think as well. Which would be interesting imo, as long as it wouldn't be mostly a repeat of how the twins found all those objects years later.
Or maybe the prequel would be about the twin's father's youth, how the death of his father (the twin's grandfather), all the travelling of his mother (the Fairy Godmother), and his sulking brother affected him.

But I would also love a prequel to be about the Fairy Tale World before the 'real'  fairytales happened. The time when 3 of the Charming brothers began their adventures to find Snowwhite, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, and when Charlie disappeared after being enchanted.
We already know that there's more ancient history with the Enchantress, involving the  fairy tales of Belle & the Beast (Sleeping Beauty's grandparents), Rumpelstiltskin, the Evil Queen, and the Princess and the pea. Plus there's the stories of how the Snow Queen won and lost the Northern Kingdom, and how the golden harp became a harp.
When I first read how Chris had inserted and intertwined those fairy tales in TLoS2 I was so thrilled by that. I think Chris elaborating on those background stories (for current day TLoS) in new prequel books would be very interesting, something I would love to read.

[Buenos]

Week of July 31, 2016:  NY Times BSL

[Buenos]

This is Chris's 8th week this year on the New York Times Best Sellers list , his most ever in a single year.

[Glorfindel]

^And it still continues with a 9th week, 21 weeks in total.

[Buenos]

Chris Colfer's NYT best seller lists stats:

2012-Land of Stories:  The Wishing Well (Stand alone novel)  5 Weeks
2013-Land of Stories:  The Enchantress Returns (Stand alone novel)  4 Weeks
2014-Land of Stories:  A Grimm Warning (Series)  4 Weeks
2015-Land of Stories:  Beyond the Kingdoms (Series)  8 weeks
2016-Land of Stories:  An Author's Odyssey(Series)  9 weeks (and counting)


Total: 30 Weeks on New York Times Best Seller Lists

Caveat: realize the Series selling includes all previous books sales also for that year.

[Buenos]

2012-Land of Stories: The Wishing Well (Stand alone novel) 5 Weeks
2013-Land of Stories: The Enchantress Returns (Stand alone novel) 4 Weeks
2014-Land of Stories: A Grimm Warning (Series) 4 Weeks
2015-Land of Stories: Beyond the Kingdoms (Series) 8 weeks
2016-Land of Stories: An Author's Odyssey(Series) 10 weeks (and counting)


Total: 31 Total Weeks on New York Times Best Seller Lists

[Glorfindel]

11 weeks this year, 23 weeks in total.

[ColferInspired]

Just amazing.

[Glorfindel]

24 weeks

[Glorfindel]

hrhchriscolfer Thanks @littlebrown! #TLOS

[Buenos]

Chris Colfer’s The Land of Stories series lands at #7 on the Indie Bound Children’s Bestsellers of 2016 Top Ten, based on sales at independent bookstores from January 1, 2016 to November 27, 2016

[Buenos]

Chris Colfer's NYT best seller lists stats:

2012-Land of Stories: The Wishing Well (Stand alone novel) 5 Weeks
2013-Land of Stories: The Enchantress Returns (Stand alone novel) 4 Weeks
2014-Land of Stories: A Grimm Warning (Series) 4 Weeks
2015-Land of Stories: Beyond the Kingdoms (Series) 8 weeks
2016-Land of Stories: An Author's Odyssey(Series) 12 weeks
2017-Land of Stories: An Author's Odyssey(Series) 1 week (and counting)

Chris is starting the new year right....

[Buenos]

Chris Colfer's NYT best seller lists stats:

2012-Land of Stories: The Wishing Well (Stand alone novel) 5 Weeks
2013-Land of Stories: The Enchantress Returns (Stand alone novel) 4 Weeks
2014-Land of Stories: A Grimm Warning (Series) 4 Weeks
2015-Land of Stories: Beyond the Kingdoms (Series) 8 weeks
2016-Land of Stories: An Author's Odyssey(Series) 12 weeks
2017-Land of Stories: An Author's Odyssey(Series) 2 weeks (and counting)

[Buenos]

http://68.media.tumblr.com/85fe067eebb2f02629c4f516d0f47359/tumblr_ok3cj2vHj21u88r6co1_500.png

ETA:

Chris Colfer's NYT best seller lists stats:

2012-Land of Stories: The Wishing Well (Stand alone novel) 5 Weeks
2013-Land of Stories: The Enchantress Returns (Stand alone novel) 4 Weeks
2014-Land of Stories: A Grimm Warning (Series) 4 Weeks
2015-Land of Stories: Beyond the Kingdoms (Series) 8 weeks
2016-Land of Stories: An Author's Odyssey(Series) 12 weeks
2017-Land of Stories: An Author's Odyssey(Series) 3 weeks (and counting)

[Buenos]

http://chriscolfernews.co


ETA:


Chris Colfer's NYT best seller lists stats:

2012-Land of Stories: The Wishing Well (Stand alone novel) 5 Weeks
2013-Land of Stories: The Enchantress Returns (Stand alone novel) 4 Weeks
2014-Land of Stories: A Grimm Warning (Series) 4 Weeks
2015-Land of Stories: Beyond the Kingdoms (Series) 8 weeks
2016-Land of Stories: An Author's Odyssey(Series) 12 weeks
2017-Land of Stories: An Author's Odyssey(Series) 4 weeks (and counting)



It doesn't even need a new book release to maintain strong sales;
The series has serious legs, to put it mildy....

[Buenos]

Chris Colfer's NYT best seller lists stats:

2012-Land of Stories: The Wishing Well (Stand alone novel) 5 Weeks
2013-Land of Stories: The Enchantress Returns (Stand alone novel) 4 Weeks
2014-Land of Stories: A Grimm Warning (Series) 4 Weeks
2015-Land of Stories: Beyond the Kingdoms (Series) 8 weeks
2016-Land of Stories: An Author's Odyssey(Series) 12 weeks
2017-Land of Stories: An Author's Odyssey(Series) 5 weeks (and counting)

[fantastica]

i bet when it's time for it to drop off the list his new book will come out.

[Glorfindel]

And it continues.....

[mindschemez]

It's amazing how consistently it's been in the top 10, and counting

[Buenos]

And it continues.....

Chris Colfer's NYT best seller lists stats:

2012-Land of Stories: The Wishing Well (Stand alone novel) 5 Weeks
2013-Land of Stories: The Enchantress Returns (Stand alone novel) 4 Weeks
2014-Land of Stories: A Grimm Warning (Series) 4 Weeks
2015-Land of Stories: Beyond the Kingdoms (Series) 8 weeks
2016-Land of Stories: An Author's Odyssey(Series) 12 weeks
2017-Land of Stories: An Author's Odyssey(Series) 6 weeks (and counting)

[Ranwing]

Amazing that it's still going so strong. So much great Chris news to enjoy today.

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