Today is part one of two where we are talking to Kimberly Ann about her novels. Over the next 2 weeks you will hear about knowing you want to write from a young age, joining groups to help you in your journey, knowing when you need to pull back and write a new story, giving yourself enough time to get everything done, finding your crew, and write what you want to read.

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Kimberly Ann lives in BC, Canada with her husband, two children and ridiculously cute German Shepherd. When she’s not dreaming of stories, she homeschools her two children as they explore and learn the world together, reads anything she can get her hands on, and drinks a lot of coffee.

 Growing up with her head lost in a book, it was no surprise when she picked up a pen, or her laptop, to write her own. Kimberly Ann’s stories are based on the world around her as she brings her imagination to life with stories of small towns, swoon-worthy men, and the women that keep them on their toes.

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Welcome to Freya's Fairy Tales, where we believe fairy tales are both stories we enjoyed as children and something that we can achieve ourselves.

Each week, we will talk to authors about their favorite fairy tales when they were kids and their adventure to holding their very own fairy tale in their hands.

At the end each episode, we will finish off with the fairy tale or short story read as close to the original author's version as possible.

I am your host.

Freya victoria I'm an audiobook narrator that loves reading fairy tales, novels and bringing stories to life through narration.

I am also fascinated by talking to authors and learning about their why and how for creating their stories.

We have included all of the links for today's author and our show in the show notes, today is part one of two where we are talking to Kimberly Anne about her novels.

Over the next two weeks, you'll hear about knowing you want to write from a young age, joining groups to help you in your journey, knowing when you need to pull back and write a new story, giving yourself enough time to get everything done, finding your crew and writing what you want to read.

Canadian Logan Creek book four.

A bubbly city girl.

A grumpy country boy.

A weekend that will change their lives forever.

Skyler Martin is more than happy to flee the city, leaving her past and failed engagement behind.

Her off on a new adventure in Logan Creek to plan a wedding for an old friend.

She hopes to do just that.

What she didn't expect was encountering a grumpy bear of a mountain man on her stop for coffee.

He riled her up, turned her on and drove her crazier than any man ever had before.

Just on that one stop, dylan Thompson had his life planned out, be the mayor of his hometown, Logan Creek, for as long as he could, and then figure out a way to live a quiet life that is free of responsibilities to other people.

After seeing how having a family could cause so much heartbreak, he swore he'd never put himself or anyone else through that.

Unfortunately, Skyler and Dylan had to grin and bear their discontent towards each other on a trip to Vegas for the bachelor and bachelorette parties.

Not only did they wake up in the same bed together, but also with rings on very important fingers, refusing to divorce.

Will their rings be enough to hold them together?

Or is not everyone meant to have a happily ever after?

The name of the podcast is Freya's Fairy Tales, and that is fairy tales in two ways.

Fairy tales are something that we either read or listened to or watched a movie of when we were kids.

And it is also the journey of spending weeks, months, years working on your novels.

To then get to hold them in your hands is a fairy tale for you.

So I like to start off with what was your favorite fairy tale or short story when you were a kid and did your favorite change as you got older?

That's a good one.

I've always loved Sleeping Beauty.

I know it was an underrated, especially Disney movie, but I don't know.

It's always been my favorite, partly because she gets to sleep, and as a parent, I don't get that.

I don't know, I just found it so magical, just the whole telling and the whole story around it just sounded so fantastic.

And then did your favorite changes you got older, or did it always stay Sleeping Beauty?

No, it's pretty much always been Sleeping Duty.

Yeah, she's always the top one for me.

All right, and then your first oh, my God, I'm having issues with words today.

When did you first think, hey, I might want to write, or maybe you first started writing, like, around what age was that?

I always wrote when I was younger, pretty much.

I think as soon as I could read, especially chapter books I wanted to write and anything I could write, for a while, I wanted to be a journalist.

So all through high school, I worked for various papers and whatever I could get experience with.

I ended up taking a different career journey as I got older and went into university.

But then after I had my first child nine years ago, I decided it was time for me to get back into it.

So that's when I first started writing, and I started looking at different writing groups so that I could get some support from other writers, and it's all just kind of been my journey from there.

And so that first actual full length book that then got published, how long did it take you to write that?

The first book I wrote I didn't actually publish, but the first one I did publish, it probably took me about four months.

Okay, and you joined writing groups for help with the writing or the after the writing part?

It was both, actually.

So it was a chapter of the Romance Writers of America.

Okay.

And I joined a local group where we actually met in person, and every month was like a different craft workshop, and then we got to talk with other writers who are all in different parts of their journey.

So it was really great learning for people who were published, were at the same part as me, who maybe were still just thinking about it.

So it was really great being able to be in such a group of supportive people that were willing to share what they've learned and where they're at so that people who are not so far along with them can maybe, like, ask some questions or see what they did and, you know, get their opinions on things.

And it was a really great place for me to start.

Okay, so you joined that while you're writing or before you started writing the first one that got published?

That was before the one that got published.

Okay.

And so why did you decide not to publish the first one that you wrote?

Well, back at the time, indie publishing was really not a thing, so it was a lot harder.

I did try to market it to a couple of different traditional publishers.

I was in talks with one, but at the end of the day, it just wasn't the right fit.

And then I took a step back because I had my second child, life got busy, and I honestly left sleep.

I honestly didn't write for years just because I didn't have the time.

But then I got back into it about 2020 and was able to find the time, get a little bit more sleep because my children are a bit older.

And then I started writing the 2021.

I started writing the book that got published last year.

Okay, and so you said that took you four months.

Once you finished your first draft, what did you kind of do next?

I basically went into marketing mode.

I tried to throw together what I possibly could.

I now learned that the timing that I gave myself for my first book was not ideal.

Definitely wanted some more time between writing the end and hitting the publish button.

And then I just started working on my second book.

So pretty much as soon as I was done that first one, I kind of sent it out to the world and then started writing again.

So on the time frame of the first one, how did you know that you did it too soon or whatever?

Probably because I didn't really take the time, maybe as a new writer, to see what I needed to do.

Like, hindsight is always 2020.

Right.

So I would have taken more time to go to some editors to learn how to market, to figure out everything that I needed to do in order to get it more polished, I guess a little bit, you could say.

I definitely would have taken more time between books because I published the first book in September, and then my second book came out the end of November.

So I definitely learned to maybe do a little bit more timing between those books.

Yeah, but at the same time, I had a great support group of other writers who helped me along the way, and we kind of were in it together, so we just kind of bounced ideas off each other and went from there.

Okay, so was it just you just didn't feel quite ready after you published it?

They got really bad reviews and they knew, like, go back to the drawing board a little bit.

Yeah, no, I was lucky in that.

For my first book, I actually got a really great response.

And I have gained a lot of really loyal readers that have also become friends, and they have been so supportive, especially in me, to keep going and do what you want to do as a writer and sometimes just give up and be like, oh, I'm done.

So no, I was lucky that way.

I think for me, it was more just the actual, maybe the back end side, like spending the money for the editor, spending the money for maybe a couple of promos to get the book more out there, that kind of thing.

Yeah, right.

Well, I feel like with things like that, no matter how much research you do, you're never going to feel ready.

Hiring an editor is definitely like that's different.

But as far as the marketing and stuff goes, I feel like you're always, no matter who you are, that first book is always going to feel like I'm not ready.

Should I put it out there?

Should I do something?

Should I talk about it?

What do I do?

Like, books in and out, learning.

I mean, it's kind of like, you know, learning.

Same with like, promoting podcasts and stuff.

It's a learning process.

Like, does this work?

No, that doesn't work.

Does that work?

No, that's not working.

It's a constant battle.

And then once you think that you have maybe figured out how to get into your niche, an algorithm changes or something changes and all of a sudden, what worked last week isn't working today.

So it's a really hard thing to keep up with.

And it's almost like having at least two fulltime jobs.

You're writing and your marketing.

You're kind of all in one, right?

Which, I mean, you're the same as a podcast, right?

It's like you're making a podcast and your marketing podcast.

Well, let's see.

Today it is recording podcast.

I am recording fairy tales for podcasts for Monday.

I am having to rebuild my entire website this weekend.

It's fun, isn't it?

I just had to do that too.

Yeah, it's one of those I should have listened when the guy from the company with the builder I used said, use another builder.

I should have listened instead of just trudging ahead.

And now it won't let me edit anything and it hasn't for a week, and now I'm having to rebuild it.

I should have listened several months ago.

But I did not.

It is part of the game.

With any job, career, funding, artistic endeavor, whatever, that you have to have a website and a plan and strategy for marketing it, it's always the same, no matter what it is.

You're at the mercy of the algorithms and the technologies.

Exactly.

All right, so you said five books in now.

So what have you kind of learned?

What changed from did anything change from book one to book two as far as your process goes?

Or did you not start to change up how you did things until after that?

I probably started to change things up for book three.

That's when I hired my first editor, I started to pay for a couple of the paid promos.

I started doing a book tour for book two, and actually that helped a lot too.

So that was something I did for that.

But bookthree was when I really started to kind of shift to a more, I guess, business mindset when it came to doing a launch and trying to make it more polished, trying to make it more professional.

And then because I had a little bit of a backlist, I could start to maybe promote it as, like, a series that was almost done, right.

So it made it a little easier that way.

And so you said you went on a tour.

Where did you go?

How did you get that together?

Oh, it was a virtual book tour.

So my virtual assistant, she actually does them, and so she finds hosts, basically, who read my books, and then over the course of a week, they post their reviews on their websites and their blogs and social media and things like that.

Okay.

It's a little bit of a different way to do things.

I would love to find somewhere to go and actually meet readers, but there's not a whole lot of that around me, so I'm still looking, though.

No local bookstores or anything.

You know what?

I haven't looked yet.

I actually just moved, so I'm trying to find the local bookstores is on the top of my list, for sure.

Yeah, I know libraries do, like, readings for kids.

I don't know if they do, like, live readings for grown up books.

I don't know that I've ever seen one before.

No, I'm not too sure, actually.

Not that I've seen either.

Maybe if you got into the bigger cities.

Yes, that's true.

That's true.

There's always the social media you'll see, like, on YouTube where some authors like, standing up at the front of a room of people reading their book or whatever.

That also sounds like my nightmare, though, to be honest.

I'm not a public speaker to begin with and then try to get me to read my book.

Yeah, my face always turns bright red, so I'm like, I have to make up ahead of, like, put on makeup ahead of time to try to COVID it a little bit.

I'll be honest, it hits different when you hear it being read, because when you did that Power a couple of months ago, you read part of my book and even I was blushing when I was hearing you.

It hits a little different when you hear it out loud.

Yeah, I can say that.

And I usually get asked, like, how do you do spicy books?

And I don't know what they asked, like, do I just get embarrassed, like, reading all this out loud?

And I'm like it's more clinical when you're the one having to, like, read through it and then narrate it because you have to think, how am I going to say this where it's not going to sound stupid.

Well, I think he did a fantastic job, but for me, I was just blushing.

I even showed my husband and I was like, I wrote that.

I had one author I'm narrating for.

He was listening through the sample that I had sent to get the job, and his wife was like, oh my God, whose book is that?

I guess not having heard any of my own stuff out loud before, I don't know how that feels, but I imagine it would be weird.

It's a little weird.

It was amazing, but it was a little weird.

So you are five books in and you are now working with an editor.

And you said an assistant as well.

What is your assistant kind of do for you?

She helps me out with my newsletters every month.

So she's the one that puts it all together for me and does all the admin side of that for me.

She helps with all my advanced reader copies that go out.

So she's the one that puts it all together, advertises it for it follows up and everything?

Yes.

And then she's the one that puts the book tours for me as well.

But she also become a really good friend, so she let me bounce ideas off of her too.

Did you find her through your writing groups or did you find her somehow else?

She actually reviewed my very first book.

She was a bookstore grammar, and I had reached out to her to see if she would read my book for me.

And then between book one and book two, she decided she was going to be a virtual assistant and reached out to see if I needed any help.

And then it just kind of went from there.

All right.

Everything like any job that you do, it's like, know your strengths and know where you need to bring in help.

For me, this podcast, I made the logo thing for it myself, but I have another one where I wanted like a hand drawn kind of looking thing.

And my version is awful.

It is terrible.

It's like a stick figure and it looks like a crazy person and it's just awful.

And so I had my husband is an artist, and so I had him draw it hand drew again.

And then we digitized it.

So I like, traced over it with an iPad and all this.

But then finally, like a month ago, I'm like, we need to, like, get this to where it's polished, and that's not either of us.

So we had to tire out to get the professional looking one.

That was bad before.

It was just not polished.

It's like having a hand drawn book cover as opposed to an actual fully fledged book cover.

Oh, totally.

And like, going into it, even with my first published novel, I knew I could not do covers.

I just don't have the brain for that kind of, like, technical work.

Like, my husband is very computer savvy.

He has a degree in computer science.

He knows how to do all the things, but he's just like, oh, do this, this, and this.

And I'm just like, I don't know what you just did.

You're speaking a different language to me.

I don't get it.

Like, you could show me ten times and I still be like, I don't know what you're doing.

Does he do it or did someone.

Else he did not.

I tried to get into, but he unfortunately didn't have the time, so no.

I hired Kerry March.

She did all of the covers for my Logan Creek series, and she did a phenomenal job.

They look amazing.

I was going to say it had to have been the same person because they all look like they all match.

Yeah, it was definitely the same person.

And she did such a good job.

I feel like that's important.

It's the same as, like, having a narrator that can carry through an entire series if it's the same main character.

I feel like just the continuity of a series is important.

I feel like I want all the covers to be not exactly the same, but where they fit together.

Yeah, like, you wanted to be like, oh, this book belongs with this book.

And aesthetically, if you have them all lined up next to each other, you want them to kind of flow.

And I think she did a great job making sure that happened.

In fact, I actually bought a book series that was one like, there was the original covers, and then it got made into a TV or, like, movies, and I had, like the first four books were the movie covers.

And so I was trying to get the rest of the books and the movie covers, and I got sent at one point, they sent me the wrong one, and I'm like, this isn't what the picture showed when I bought it.

I want them to match.

Yeah, I want them all to be the movie covers because I find what I already said.

I know.

I'll start a book series before it becomes a movie or a TV show, and then I'll have the original covers, and then the later ones, they'll have, like, the COVID for the TV show or the movie.

And I'm like, no, no, I want the old one.

Yeah, I prefer original covers, but when I bought this particular series, I bought it, like, at a college bookstore, and the only one they had was the movie cover.

Well, now I'm stuck with getting the movie cover one.

Typically, I try to get the I don't even like it.

Having the now a Netflix show.

I don't even like that sticker on it.

Like, I want, like, the original original.

I like peel.

If there's a sticker on it, I take it off.

Okay.

Yeah.

I can't do it.

So you hired out for the covers.

Did she actually take the images or did she hire out for your company?

No, the stock images.

Okay.

Yeah, so I'm not too sure which side she got them from, but usually like, a deposit photo or something like that.

Okay.

Yeah, I'm familiar with even, like, Canva has stock images.

I love canva.

Yeah.

I use them for lots of things.

They're great.

Yeah, me too.

I love it.

Yes, they're really good.

And they have really good photos in there, too.

They do.

I actually ended up paying for the after doing the free version for a while.

I now have the paid one because it was like, there's only so many graphics, and I'm tired of the ones I want to use, having the stupid lock on it.

I know.

And you know what?

I did too.

But I have definitely got my money worth out of it.

As somebody that needs to put out a lot of graphic or video images, like, if you're doing social media, anything, it's just worth it.

Definitely.

Yeah.

So now you're working with you have a cover designer, you have an editor, you have a PA.

Who else works out your team of getting your books out there and finished and polished?

I hope I'm not forgetting anybody.

Let's see, what process am I going through right now with my books?

So, no, there's the COVID there's the editor, there's my PA that does the arc and the arc release and follow ups and everything.

And then it's me that hits the actual upload button, publish button and everything.

So yeah.

Okay.

So where do you come up with.

The ideas for your books, the storylines?

A lot of times, actually, songs are a big influence for me.

Music is always playing when I'm writing, and it just is where I get a lot of my inspiration from.

That's where Canadian Summer came from, and then the whole series kind of spawned from there because side characters tend to just make up their own personalities and demand you your time as well.

So they just kind of evolved from there.

But a lot of times I'll hear a song and I'll be like, oh, no, that needs to happen in a book.

Or I'll hear something and I'll get, like, a scene idea or something like that.

But yeah, without sounding a little too crazy, the characters themselves do have a lot of input.

That is, you are not the first author to say that.

That's good.

I heard it's an author thing.

But when I'm talking to my non author friends, they're like, Are you okay?

I'm like, yes, I promise.

I'm not, like, making up these things.

I know these are characters.

I'm fine.

I just saw a video yesterday of an author saying, like, she's talking about her character as if she's a real person, and she's like, yes, I understand.

She'S fictional, but she's not.

Yeah, and it's really fun when you start collaborating with another writer friend so you have like a shared character or something and then your character is talking to their character through you both and then you're just kind of like if anybody got a hold of this conversation, we'd be committed.

One of my character, Zach, who's from Canadian Winter is featured in my friend Monique Brasher's book Love at the Flower Cafe.

So when she was writing her side, like her book, she was like, OK, what would Zack say to this?

Right?

So then I'm like, okay, Zack, what would you say to this?

And then it just kind of goes from there and I'm just like, I don't know, what would Tom say it is?

You know, back and forth.

That's fun.

There's another author.

I'm sure there's a ton of authors that kind of do that.

But I remember I think there's a couple of Julia Quinn books that cross with another author and I couldn't tell you who it is or maybe they just write similarly.

I don't know.

That's cool that you guys because I plan on writing a series where they interconnect like the characters crossover.

But I don't know that I've ever actually read ones where another author altogether was writing your characters.

Yeah, it's fun and I haven't read it too too much.

Sometimes you find little Easter eggs of books authors referring to other authors things.

I know.

Sometimes I believe Claire Kingsley and Lucy score crossover.

Sometimes you find little tidbits in both of their books referencing each other's things.

But yeah, it's a lot of fun.

I find it a lot of fun to write with other authors.

I find it a lot of fun to join our characters together and see what shenanigans they can get into because they get into a lot.

It's fun to kind of have that crossover and then have it exposed to a whole new market that maybe would end up loving each other's books and then you're also helping each other out when it comes to finding new readers.

Right?

Now you know what I'm thinking about?

There was like an anthology that multiple writers wrote and the characters crossed between the anthology stories.

That's what it was.

Yeah, those are fine.

Yes, I think it was like four different series, but then it would be like you're talking there'd be like the main characters of the one story and then one of the side characters would be in the next story and it just continued on for like four or five stories in this anthology.

That's what I'm thinking of.

It can be a little complicated, but at the end if it turns out it's a lot of fun, right?

Yeah, that's cool.

Like I said, I've thought of crossing characters between series and I've seen a lot of authors do that but never would have thought to cross with a different author.

You have is it five books in the Canadian or the Logan Creek series.

Yeah.

So there's four seasons.

Why, it's summer, fall, winter, spring, and then I have Mistaken Arrangement, which you can get exclusively through my newsletter, which is also a Logan Creek story.

Okay.

So that's what I have right now.

But I'm also working on two smaller little Logan Creek stories that will be featured in an anthology and a blog that's coming up too.

Okay, what are you any full length, like, I mean, you've got the four Seasons already.

Is Logan Creek going to continue with full length or are you going to a new series after that?

I'm going to a new series which is actually going to be unofficially kicked off in an anthology that's coming up in November.

So my next series is going to be called Whiskey Falls, which is another small town in BC, Canada, which is going to actually be linked to Logan Creek.

There's kind of like a crossover character, so you might see some Logan Creek characters pop up later on.

As for fulllength books, I'm hoping for one next year.

I actually have quite a few anthologies coming out with a bunch of shorter stories between now and May.

But then I'm hoping maybe later next year I'll have a full length in the Whiskey Creek coming out.

Okay.

Because it looks like I've got your Amazon thing pulled up.

So you released one in September, 1 in November, and then you wait until February.

So you got an extra month of leeway there.

I did, yes.

And then you waited four more months before you did book four.

Yeah, I learned to give myself some buffer.

So what is your ideal full length time frame between books?

The four months I found was a good time.

Again, it also depends on, you know, what's going on in my life too.

Right.

So I am taking a bit of a break from a longer poll length novel because we do have a lot going on.

Like I said, we just moved, which was actually a pretty big move for us.

I home school my kids, so that's going to be a lot of my time and energy for the next while getting that all set up, right?

Yeah, but the four months I found was a good break between full lengths because it gave me enough time to do all the processes to make sure that I had everything like it was in the plot holes that everything worked and I could work with everybody else's schedule to make sure that was all done.

So what is your in an Ideal World, how many full lengths and novellas would you be releasing a year?

Have you ever thought about your preferred release schedule?

You know what, I haven't because it's been such a wild roller coaster kind of what just happened.

I would say if it's a mix between full length and novellas, I'm thinking an Ideal World would be three to.

Four in a year.

Okay.

So we'll kind of see but again, it all depends on what happens, too.

Like, just with life and kids and active kids, because we just got the kids sport schedules too.

So every weekend is pretty much full right at the end of October right now.

So what is your writing process look like?

Do you try to get, like, a little bit done each day or how does one the song inspiration.

Yeah, so when I get a song inspiration, if I'm not driving, because a lot of time it happens, but I'm driving, of course.

Right.

I'll take notes.

So I use the apple notes.

I have so many, they're all over the place.

It's scary what's in there.

So in a typical day, though, I will kind of if I have some free time, I'll have my laptop open.

All right.

I'll try to be on social media a bit and try to break it up and just basically, if I'm not doing something with my family or I'm not doing something else that I have to be doing, I'm attempting to write.

I'm attempting to network or market or do something.

Writing life, right?

Yeah.

I feel like there's always something, like with Narrating podcasting, attempting to write my own stuff.

Like, right now, the attempting to write my own stuff is on the back burner because the other two things are like, these need our attention right now.

Yeah, exactly.

It's hard.

It's very hard to find the time, but I just try to make sure that I set aside some time that I at least have my face in front of the laptop.

So that if I can only get a couple of hundred words but I schedule five social media posts, then it feels like at least I did something right.

Yeah.

My mom is also starting a podcast.

But she went to school for social media marketing.

So I'm like, you know how to do all these things because you went to school for it.

Where I'm like, I have a scheduler that will recommend, like, hey, it's Thursday.

Why don't you post something related to Thursday?

You're like, Happy Thursday, or Thursday thoughts?

There's another Thursday one, or like, Wednesday.

Each day has different suggestions for posts that you can do.

I'm like, I pretty much like, log in in the morning.

And I do like that I have a daily podcast, so I post my daily podcast, what I need to post for that.

And then I'm like, let's just make up for the rest of it.

Like, pick one of the topics.

And occasionally today I posted something about having to rebuild my website because I'm having to rebuild my website.

So I'm like, let's throw that in there.

The rest of the time, it's just.

It is what it is.

But it's always scheduled because you can't post all of them at 08:00 in the morning.

Exactly.

You stagger them throughout the day.

Exactly.

Yeah.

I wish that there was some, like, do it this way, like schedule post at this time, this time, this time, and use these hashtags and use these topics.

And like, here's a cookie cutter approach that works for everybody.

And we could just all use it and magically be rich because everything sold millions of copies.

That would be amazing.

I know a lot of people do like content buckets, so they'll be like, monday we'll post about what I'm reading.

Tuesday we'll post about what I'm working on, or things like that.

So ideally I try to follow that.

In reality, it doesn't happen so much.

The only one I'm consistent with, I do a flashback Friday, where on Friday morning I'll post a clip from usually the sample from an audiobook that I've narrated.

And then I just kind of cycle through.

So I was doing them in order of when I narrated them, but I just got to the bottom of the list.

So now I'm like, we're going to go in alphabetical order by book title this next go round, so that they all get I don't want to use the same order every single time because eventually, if you're going in order when they got released, you're just going to keep adding to the bottom of that and never go back to the beginning.

That's very true.

I'm like I'm still narrating actively.

So that list just gets longer, which.

Is a good thing.

Which is always a good thing.

Yes.

Kimberly liked the story of Sleeping Beauty growing up.

Sleeping Beauty, or Little Briar Rose, also titled in English as the Sleeping Beauty in the woods, is a classic fairy tale about a princess who has cursed to sleep for 100 years by an evil fairy to be awakened by a handsome prince.

At the end of them, the good fairy, realizing that the princess would be frightened if alone when she awakens, uses her wand to put every living person and animal in the palace asleep to awaken when the princess does.

The earliest known version of the story is found in the narrative Purse Forest.

Composed between 1330 and 1344, the tale was first published by Gian Batista Basil in his collection of tales titled The Pentagon, published posthumorously in 1634, basil's version was later adapted and published by Charles Perrault in historis Ocantess du Temps Passe.

In the version that was later collected and printed by the Brothers Grimm was an orally transmitted version of the literary tale published by Perrault.

The ARN Thompson classification system for folktales classifies Sleeping Beauty as being a 410 tail type, meaning it includes a princess who is forced into an enchanted sleep and is later awakened, reversing the magic placed upon her.

The story has been adapted many times throughout history and has continued to be retold by modern storytellers throughout various media.

Today we'll be reading The King of Erin and the Queen of the Lonesome Island.

This story has been noted to be similar to the original Sleeping Beauty story and comes from Ireland.

Don't forget we're reading LaMorte de Arthur, the story of King Arthur and of his noble Knights of the Round Table on our Patreon.

You can find the link in the show notes.

The King of Aran and the Queen of the Lonesome Island an Irish Tale there was a King and Aaron long ago, and this king went out hunting one day, but saw nothing till near sunset, when what should come across him but a black pig.

Since I've seen nothing all day but this black pig, I'll be at her now, said the king.

So he put spurs to his horse and raced after the pig.

When the pig was on a hill, he was in the valley behind her.

When he was on a hill, the pig was in the valley before him.

At last they came to the seaside, and the pig rushed out into the deep water straight from the shore.

The king spurred on his horse and followed the black pig through the sea till his horse failed under him and was drowned.

And the king swam on himself till he was growing weak, and said it was for the death of me that the black pig came in my way.

But he swam on some distance yet, till at last he saw land.

The pig went up on an island.

The king too, went on shore and said to himself, oh, it is for no good that I came here.

There is neither house nor shelter to be seen.

But he cheered up after a while, walked around and said I'm a useless man if I can't find shelter in some place.

After going on a short space, he saw a great castle in the valley before him.

When he came to the front of the castle, he saw that it had a low door with a broad threshold, all covered with sharpedged razors and a low lintel of longpointed needles.

The path to the castle was covered with gravel of gold.

The king came up and went in with a jump over the razors and under the needles.

When inside he saw a great fire on a broad hearth, and said to himself I'll sit down here, dry my clothes and warm my body at this fire.

As he sat and warmed himself, a table came out before him with every sort of food and drink without his seeing any one bring it.

Upon my honor and power, said the King of Errand, there is nothing bad in this.

I'll eat and drink my fill.

Then he fell too, and ate and drank his fill.

When he had grown tired, he looked behind him, and if he did, he saw a fine room, and in it a bed covered with gold.

Well, said he, I'll go back and sleep in that bed a while.

I'm so tired.

He stretched himself on the bed and fell asleep in the night he woke up and felt the presence of a woman in the room.

He reached out his hand towards her and spoke, but got no answer.

She was silent when morning came and he made his way out of the castle.

She spread a beautiful garden with her drutic spells over the island, so great that though he traveled through it all day, he could not escape from it.

At sunset, he was back at the door of the castle and he went over the razors and under the needles, sat at the fire, and the table came out before him.

As on the previous evening, he ate, drank and slept on the bed, and when he woke in the night, there was the woman in the room.

But she was silent and unseen as before.

When he went out on the second morning, the King of Errands saw a garden three times more beautiful than the one of the day before.

He traveled all day, but could not escape, could not get out of the garden.

At the sunset, he was back at the door of the castle, and he went over the razors and under the needles, ate, drank, and slept as before.

In the middle of the night he woke tip and felt the presence of the woman in the room.

Well, said he, it is a wonderful thing for me to pass three nights in a room with a woman and not see her, nor know who she is.

You won't have that to say again, King of Eren, answered a voice, and that moment the room was filled with a bright light, and the king looked upon the finest woman he had ever seen.

Well, King of, you are on a lonesome island.

I am the black pig that enticed you over the land and through the sea to this place.

And I am queen of Lonesome Island.

My two sisters and I are under a druidic spell, and we cannot escape from this spell till your son and mine shall free us.

Now, King of Errands, I will give you a boat tomorrow morning, and do you sail away to your own kingdom in the morning?

She went with him to the seashore to the boat.

The king gave the prow of the boat to the sea and its stern to the land.

Then he raised the sails and went his way.

The music he had was the roaring of the wind with the whistling of eels, and he broke neither ore nor mast till he landed under his own castle in Erin.

Three quarters of a year after the Queen of Lonesome Island gave birth to a son.

She reared him with care from day to day and year to year, till he was a splendid youth.

She taught him the learning of wise men, one half of the day, and warlike exercises with druidic spells, the other half.

One time the young man, the Prince of Lonesome Island, came in from hunting and found his mother sobbing and crying.

Oh, what has happened to your mother?

He asked.

My son, great grief has come on me.

A friend of mine is going to be killed tomorrow.

Who is he?

The king of Erin.

The king of Spain has come against him with a great army.

He wishes to sweep him and his men from the face of the earth and take the kingdom himself.

Well, what can we do?

If I were there, I'd help the King of Eren.

Since you say that, my son, I'll send you this very evening with the power of my drunk spells.

You'll be in Aaron in the morning.

The prince of Lonesome Island went away that night.

And next morning, at the rising of the sun, he drew up his boat under the king's castle.

And Aaron he went ashore and saw the whole land black with the forces of the king of Spain who was getting ready to attack the king of Erin and sleep him and his men from the face of the earth.

The prince went straight to the king of Spain and said I ask one day's truth.

You shall have it, my champion, answered the king of Spain.

The prince then went to the castle of the king of Eren and stayed there that day as a guest.

Next morning, early, he dressed himself in his champions array and taking his nine edged sword, he went down alone to the king of Spain and standing before him, bade him guard himself.

They closed in conflict the king of Spain with all his forces on one side and the prince of Lonesome Island on the other.

They fought an awful battle that day.

From sunrise till sunset, they made soft places hard and hard places soft.

They made high places low and low places high.

They brought water out of the center of hard gray rocks and made dry rushes soft in the most distant parts of Aaron till sunset.

And when the sun went down, the king of Spain and his last man were dead on the field.

Neither the king of Eren nor his forces took part in the battle.

They had no need and they had no chance.

Now, the king of Eren had two sons who were such cowards that they hid themselves from fright during the battle.

But their mother told the king of Eren that her elder son was the man who had destroyed the king of Spain and all his men.

There was great rejoicing and a feast at the castle of the king of Eren.

At the end of the feast, the queen said I wish to give the last cup to this stranger who is here as a guest.

And taking him to an adjoining chamber which had a window right over the sea, she seated him in the open window and gave him a cup of drowsiness to drink.

When he had emptied the cup and closed his eyes.

She pushed him out into the darkness.

The Prince of Lonesome Island swam on the water for four days and nights till he came to a rock in the ocean.

And there he lived for three months, eating the seaweeds of the rock.

Till one foggy day a vessel came near and the captain cried out, we.

Shall be wrecked on this rock.

Then he said, There is someone on the rock.

Go and see who it is.

They landed and found the prince, his clothes all gone, his body black from the seaweed, which was growing all over it.

Who are you?

Asked the captain.

Give me first to eat and drink, and then I'll talk, said he.

They brought him food and drink, and when he had eaten and drunk, the prince said to the captain, what part of the world have you come from?

I've just sailed from Lonesome Island, said the captain.

I was obliged to sail away, for fire was coming from every side to burn my ship.

Would you like to go back?

I should indeed.

Well, turn around.

You'll have no trouble if I am with you.

The captain returned.

The Queen of Lonesome Island was standing on the shore as the ship came in.

Oh, my child.

Cried she.

Why have you been away so long?

The Queen of Erin threw me into the sea after I had kept the head of the King of Erin on him and saved her life too.

Well, my son, that will come up against the Queen of Eren on another day.

Now the prince lived on Lonesome Island three years longer till one time he came home from hunting and found his mother wringing her hands and shedding bitter tears.

Oh, what has happened?

Ask he.

I am weeping because the King of Spain has gone to take vengeance on the King of Eren for the death of his father, whom you killed.

Well, mother, I'll go to help the.

King of Eren if you give me leave.

Since you have said it, you shall go this very night.

He went to the shore, putting the prow of his bark to the sea and her stern to the land.

He raced high the sails and heard no sound as he went with the pleasant wind and the whistling of eels, till he pulled up his boat next morning under the castle of the King of Erin and went on shore.

The whole country was black with the troops of the King of Spain, who was just ready to attack when the prince stood before him and asked the truth.

Till next morning that you shall have my champion, answered the king.

So there was peace for that day.

The next morning at sunrise, the prince faced the King of Spain and his army and there followed a struggle more terrible than that with his father.

But at sunset, neither the King of Spain nor one of his men was left alive.

The two sons of the King of Eren were frightened almost to death and hid during the battle so that no one saw them or knew where they were.

But when the King of Spain and his army were destroyed, the queen said to the king, my elder son has saved us.

Then she went to bed and taking the blood of a chicken in her mouth, spatted out, saying, this is my heart's blood and nothing can cure me now but three bottles of water from Tuber Tinty, the Flaming Well.

When the prince was told of the sickness of the Queen of Errand, he came to her and said, I'll go for the water if your two sons.

Will go with me.

They shall go, said the queen, and away went to three young men towards the east in search of the Flaming Well.

In the morning, they came to a house on the roadside, and going in, they saw a woman who had washed herself in a golden basin which stood before her.

She was then wetting her head with the water in the basin and combing her hair with a golden comb.

She threw back her hair, and looking at the prince, said, you are welcome, sister's son.

What is on you?

Is it the misfortune of the world that has brought you here?

It is not.

I'm going to Tuber Tinty for three bottles of water.

That is what you'll never do.

No man can cross the fiery river or go through the enchantments around Tuber Tinti.

Stay here with me and I'll give you all I have.

No, I cannot stay.

I must go on.

Well, you'll be in your other aunt's house tomorrow night and she will tell you all.

Next morning, when they were getting ready to take the road, the elder son of the Queen of Erin was frightened at what he had heard and said, I'm sick.

I cannot go farther.

Stop.

Hear where you are till I come.

Back, said the prince.

Then he went on with the younger brother till at sunset they came to a house where they saw a woman wetting her head from a golden basin and combing her hair with a golden comb.

She threw back her hair, looked at the prince and said, you are welcome, sister's son.

What brought you to this place?

Was it the misfortune of the world that brought you to live under drudic spells like me and my sisters?

This was the elder sister of the Queen of the Lonesome Island.

No, said the prince.

I'm going to Tuber Tinty for three bottles of water from the Flaming Well.

Oh, sister son, it's a hard journey you're on, but stay here tonight.

Tomorrow morning I'll tell you all in the morning.

The prince's aunt said, the Queen of the island of Tuber Tinti has an enormous castle in which she lives.

She has a countless army of giants, beasts and monsters to guard the castle in the Flaming Well.

There are thousands upon thousands of them, of every form in size.

When they get drowsy and sleep comes on them, they sleep for seven years without waking.

The Queen has twelve attendant maidens who live in twelve chambers.

She is in the 13th and innermost chamber herself.

The Queen and the maiden sleep during the same seven years as the giants and beasts.

When the seven years are over, they all wake up, and none of them sleep again for seven other years.

If any man could enter the castle during the seven years of sleep, he could do what he liked.

But the island on which the castle stands is girt by a river of fire and surrounded by a belt of poison trees.

The aunt now blew on a horn, and all the birds of the air gathered around her from every place under the heavens.

And she asked each in turn where it dwelt, and each told her, but none knew of the flaming.

Well, till an old eagle said, I left two bird tinty today.

How are all the people there?

Asked the aunt.

They are all asleep since yesterday morning, answered the old eagle.

The ant dismissed the birds, and turning to the Prince, said here is a bridle for you.

Go to the stables, shake the bridle and put it on whatever horse runs out to meet you.

Now the second son of the Queen of Errand said, I'm too sick to go farther.

Well, stay here till I come back.

Said the prince, who took the bridle and went out.

The Prince of the Lonesome Island stood in front of his aunt stables, shook the bridle, and out came a dirty, lean little shaggy horse.

Sit on my back, son of the King of Aaron and the Queen of Lonesome Island, said the little shaggy horse.

This was the first the Prince had heard of his father.

He had often wondered who he might be, but had never heard who he was before.

He mounted the horse, which said keep a firm grip now, for I shall clear the river of Fire at a single bound and pass the poison trees.

But if you touch any part of the trees, even with the thread of the clothing that's on you, you'll never eat another bite.

And as I rush by the end of the castle of tuber tinti with the speed of the wind, you must spring from my back through an open window that is there, and if you don't get in at the window, you're done for.

I'll wait for you outside till you are ready to go back to Errand.

The Prince did as the little horse told him.

They crossed the river of Fire, escaped the touch of the poisoned trees, and as the horse shot past the castle, the Prince sprang through the open window and came down safe and sound inside.

The whole place, enormous in extent, was filled with sleeping giants and monsters of sea and land, great whales, long, slippery eels, bears and beasts of every form and kind.

The prince passed through them and over them, till he came to a great stairway.

At the head of the stairway he went into a chamber where he found the most beautiful woman he had ever seen stretched on a couch, asleep.

I'll have nothing to say to you, thought he, and went on to the next.

And so he looked into twelve chambers, in each with a woman more beautiful than the one before.

But when he reached the 13th chamber and opened the door, the flash of gold took the sight from his eyes.

He stood a while till the sight came back, and then entered.

In the great bright chamber was a golden couch resting on wheels of gold.

The wheels turned continually, the couch went round and round, never stopping night or day.

On the couch lay the Queen of Tubertinti, and if her twelve maidens were beautiful, they would not be beautiful if seen near her.

At the foot of the couch was Tubertinti itself, the well of Fire.

There was a golden cover upon the well, and it went around continually with the couch of the Queen.

Upon my word, said the prince, I'll rest here a while.

And he went up on the couch and never left it for six days and nights.

On the 7th morning he said, it is time for me now to leave this place.

So he came down and filled the three bottles with water from the flaming well.

In the golden chamber was a table of gold, and on the table a leg of mutton with a loaf of bread.

And if all the men and erin were to eat for a twelve month from the table, the mutton and the bread would be in the same form.

After the eating as before, the Prince sat down, ate his fill of the loaf and the leg of mutton, and left them as he had found them.

Then he rose up, took his three bottles, put them in his wallet, and was leaving the chamber when he said to himself, it would be a shame to go away without leaving something by which the Queen may know who was here while she slept.

So he wrote a letter saying that the son of the King of Aaron and the Queen of the Lonesome Island had spent six days and nights in the golden chamber of Tubertinti, had taken away three bottles of water from the flaming well, and had eaten from the table of gold.

Putting this letter under the pillow of the Queen, he went out, stood in the open window, sprang on the back of the lean and shaggy little horse, and past the trees and the river unharmed.

When they were near his aunt's house, the horse stopped and said, put your hand into my ear and draw out of it a druidic rod.

Then cut me into four quarters and strike each quarter with the rod.

Each one of them will become the son of a king.

For four princes were enchanted and turned into the lean little shaggy horse that carried you to Tuber Tinti.

When you have freed the four princes from this form, you can free your two ants from the spell that is on them and take them with you to the Lonesome Island.

The prince did as the horse desired and straight away four princes stood before him and thanking him for what he had done, they departed at once, each to his own kingdom.

The prince removed the spell from his aunts and travelling with them and the two sons of the Queen of Eren all soon appeared at the castle of the king.

When they were near the door of their mother s chamber, the elder of the two sons of the Queen of Eren stepped up to the Prince of Lonesome Island, snatched the three bottles from the wallet that he added.

His side and running up to his mother's bed said, here, Mother, are the three bottles of water which I brought you from tuber tinty.

Thank you, my son, you have saved my life, said she.

The prince went on his bark and sailed away with his aunt's to Lonesome Island where he lived with his mother seven years.

When seven years were over, the Queen of Tuberte awoke from her sleep in the golden chamber and with her the twelve maidens and all the giants, beasts and monsters that slept in the great castle.

When the queen opened her eyes, she saw a boy about six years old playing by himself on the floor.

He was very beautiful and bright and he had gold on his forehead and silver on his pole.

When she saw the child she began to cry and wring her hands and said some man has been here while I slept.

Straight away she sent for her xiondalgic.

Old blind sage told him about the child and asked what am I to do now?

The old blind sage thought a while and then said whoever was here must be a hero for the child has gold on his forehead and silver on his pole and he never went from this place without leaving his name behind him.

Let search be made and we shall know who he was.

Search was made and at last they found the letter of the prince under the pillow of the couch.

The queen was now glad and proud of the child.

Next day she assembled all her forces, her giants and guards and when she had them drawn up in a line, the army was 7 miles long.

From Van to rear, the queen opened through the river of Fire, a safe way for the host and led it on till she came to the castle of the King of Eren.

She held all the lands near the castle, so the king had the sea on one side and.

The army of the Queen of Tuberte on the other, ready to destroy him and all that he had.

The Queen sent a herald for the King to come down.

What are you going to do?

Asked the King when he came to her tent.

I have had trouble enough in my life already without having more of it.

Now find for me, said the Queen, the man who came to my castle and entered the golden chamber of tuber tinty while I slept, or I'll sleep you and all you have from the face of the earth.

The King of Eren called down to his elder son and asked, did you enter the chamber of the Queen of Tuber Tinti?

I did.

Go then and tell her so and save us he went, and when he told the Queen, she said, if you entered my chamber, then mount my gray seed.

He mounted the seed, and if he did, the seed rose in the air with abound, hurled him off his back in a moment, threw him on a rock and dashed the brains out of his head.

The King called down his second son, who said that he had been in the golden chamber.

Then he mounted the gray steed which killed him as it had his brother.

Now the Queen called the King again and said unless you bring the man who entered my golden chamber while I slept, I'll not leave a sign of you or anything you have upon the face of the earth.

Straightaway the King sent a message to the Queen of Lonesome Island saying come to me with your son and your two sisters.

The Queen set out next morning, and at sunset she drew up her boat under the castle of the King of Eren.

Glad were they to see her at the castle, for great dread was on all next morning.

The King went down to the Queen of Tuber tinti, who said bring me the man who entered my castle or I'll destroy you and all you have in Errand this day.

The King went up to the castle.

Immediately the Prince of Lonesome Island went to the Queen.

Are you the man who entered my castle?

Asked she.

I don't know, said the Prince.

Go up now on my gray steed, said the Queen.

He sat on the gray steed which rose under him into the sky.

The Prince stood on the back of the horse and cut three times with his sword as he went up under the sun.

When he came to the earth again, the Queen of Tuber Tinty ran over to him, put his head on her bosom and said, you are the man now.

She called the Queen of Aaron to her tent and drawing from her own pocket a belt of silk flindered as a cord, she said, Pull it this on the Queen of Aaron.

Put it on.

And then the Queen of Tuber tinty said tighten belt.

The belt tightened till the queen of Erin screamed with pain.

Now tell me, said the queen of Tubertinty, who was the father of your elder son?

The gardener, said the queen of Erin.

Again, the queen of Tubertinti said Titan Belt, the queen of Erin screamed worse than before and she had good reason, for she was cut nearly in two.

Now tell me, who is the father of your second son?

The big brewer, said the Queen of Eren, said the queen of Tubertinti to the King of Eren.

Get this woman dead.

The king put down a big fire then and when it was blazing high, he threw the wife in and she was destroyed at once.

No.

Do you marry the queen of Lonesome Island, and my child will be grandchild to you and to her, said the queen of Tuberte.

This was done.

And the queen of Lonesome Island became queen of Erin and lived in the castle by the sea.

And the queen of Tuber, Tinti, married the prince of Lonesome Island, the champion who entered the golden chamber while she slept.

Now, the king of Errands sent ten ships with messages to all the kings of the world, inviting them to come to the wedding of the queen of Tubertinti and his son, and to his own wedding with the queen of Lonesome Island.

The queen removed the druidic spells from her giants, beasts and monsters, then went home and made the prince of Lonesome Island king of Tubertinti and lord of the golden chamber.

Thank you for joining Freya's fairy tales.

Be sure to come back next week for the conclusion of Kimberly's journey to holding her own fairy tale in her hands and to hear another of her favorite fairy tales.