Never Ever After: Three Short Stories [Kindle Edition]

Ruth Nestvold (Author)

Book Description

Three previously published fantasy short stories by Ruth Nestvold:

"Happily Ever Awhile"

Everyone knows the story of the filthy girl who married the prince by not bleeding into a glass slipper. But what happened to Ellie after the happy ending?

"King Orfeigh"

A young Irish king has lost his wife to the king of Faerie. Is there any way he can win her back?

"A Serca Tale"

A retelling of the old Irish legend "The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Gráinne."

Never Ever After is a short story collection of approximately 9000 words.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Ruth Nestvold's source tale for 'Happily Ever Awhile' is 'Cinderella,' yet her story could serve just as well as the 'what happened next' version of any fairy tale where the original ending was 'And they lived happily ever after.' Because the first thing we learn from the re-told tales is how this business of living happily ever after isn't all it was cracked up to be. From the title, the reader might think that the question at the heart of this story is how long true happiness can last, but in fact, it proves to be the nature of happiness: how to know when you've found it, how to keep hold of it, how not to piss it away."

-- Lois Tilton, Tangent Online

About the Author

Ruth Nestvold's short stories have appeared in numerous markets, including Asimov's, F&SF, Baen's Universe, Strange Horizons, Realms of Fantasy, and Gardner Dozois's Year's Best Science Fiction. Her fiction has been nominated for the Nebula, Tiptree, and Sturgeon Awards. In 2007, the Italian translation of her novella "Looking Through Lace" won the "Premio Italia" award for best international work. Her novel Yseult (Flamme und Harfe) appeared in translation with the German imprint of Random House in 2009 and has since been translated into Dutch and Italian. She maintains a web site at ruthnestvold.com.

Product Details

• File Size: 147 KB
• Print Length: 35 pages
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0072V9HDQ
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #408,022 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A terrific collection of fantasy stories. February 25, 2012

By Kriti Godey

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I'll review the three stories in Never Ever After one-by-one.

"A Serca Tale": In a lot of stories, heroes are portrayed as universally likeable. Every woman wants him, and every man wants to be him. But what if there's a woman that doesn't want him, but has been promised to him by people that assume she does? This story is set in an Eriu similar to that of 'Yseult', so I enjoyed the familiarity. I wish that the heroine hadn't fled one man only to end up with another, but I suppose it's the freedom of choice that matters. I did enjoy the story, though.

"King Orfeigh": I really enjoyed this story, which tells of a king who has lost his wife to the faerie king, and has been trying to find her and win her back. It's written in the second person, which I found kind of jarring at first, but got used to pretty quickly. The story is heartfelt and touching.

"Happily Ever Awhile": This story explores Cinderella's life after she marries her young Prince Charming and lives "happily ever after." Being married to a prince has its drawbacks - he has to rule a kingdom, and lead its men to war if there is one. Ellie manages to find happiness, though. "Happily Ever Awhile" is a fun story, and manages to balance the fairy tale and the realistic quite well.

Overall, a great collection of stories!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Three Modern Day Fairy Tales May 28, 2012

By Lisa Binion

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Do you remember being read fairy tales when you were a child? The monsters were always defeated, the beautiful lady was always rescued by Prince Charming, and everyone lived happily ever after. Or did they? What happened after the end of the stories that we read? Did everyone really live happily ever after?

Never Ever After: Three Short Stories, written by Ruth Nestvold, are three fairy tales that look at things in a very different way. The three stories are A Serca Tale, King Orfeigh, and Happily Ever Awhile.

A Serca Tale looks at the epic hero in a very different way. Normally all the women long to be with the hero because he is so brave, so handsome. But what happens if his physical and personality are less than desirable? The hero is now old and frail, and has asked for a beautiful young princess to be his wife. Her father consented to the match, but the princess did not. The names - Grainne, Fionn, Oison, Daire, Diarmait - are hard to get used to, but as the story progresses you become familiar with them.

Will the young princess be doomed to a life with this grumpy, old, once-upon-a-time hero? Or does she find a way out?

King Orfeigh was written in the second person POV. I normally do not like stories written in this point of view, but the author did such a fantastic job that it was actually a pleasure to read. King Orfeigh is a human king whose wife is seduced and whisked away form him by a faerie king. This beautiful story tells of Orfeigh's love and longing for his missing wife, his search for her, and his desire to reclaim her, if only she will have him back.

Happily Ever Awhile is a continuation of the story of Cinderella. Did she and her Prince Charming really live happily ever after? Or did the problems of real life enter into their fairy tale marriage? She has married a king and all is well, until he has to lead his men into battle. She is left at the castle with their two children and has to find ways to amuse herself until her husband returns.

What happens while her Prince Charming is gone? Does she still live a fairy tale life?

These stories were a joy to read. The novella is short, so it only took a few hours to read through them. If you are a fan of fairy tales, you would love these stories written from a unique perspective.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazingly Written August 24, 2012

By Kristen Mascera

Format:Kindle Edition

"A Serca Tale" - a tale of love vs heart. A knight is forced to choose between loyalty to his liege and love without knowing the choice is his.

"King Orfeigh" - Didn't enjoy this as much because it seemed too abridged. If the story was elongated and included a bit more detail it would be much more interesting.

"Happily Ever Awhile" - Cinderella's story continued after the "I DO". This story is a heartbreakingly realistic step away from a fairytale ending. Would love to read more along these lines!

More About the Author

Since about the age six, Ruth Nestvold wanted to be a writer (besides wanting to be a singer and an actress and President of the United States), but for too many years she put practical pursuits first and writing fiction second. After completing a Ph.D. in literature and working as lecturer and assistant professor at the University of Stuttgart and the University of Freiburg, she took time off from academic pursuits to attend the Clarion West Writers Workshop, a six week "boot camp" for writers of science fiction and fantasy. She learned more there than she could have dreamed possible, changed her priorities, and gave up theory for imagination. Two years later, she sold her first short story to the acclaimed science fiction magazine, Asimov's. Since then, she has sold over forty pieces of short fiction to a variety of markets, including Baen's Universe, Strange Horizons, Scifiction, F&SF, Realms of Fantasy, and several year's best anthologies. She has been nominated for the Nebula, the Sturgeon, and the Tiptree awards. In 2007, the Italian translation of her novella "Looking Through Lace" won the "Premio Italia" for best international work. Her novel Yseult appeared in German translation as Flamme und Harfe with Random House Germany and has since been translated into Dutch and Italian. It is now available as an ebook in the original English. It was followed in June 2012 by the second book in the Pendragon Chronicles, "Shadow of Stone" (http://pendragonchronicles.wordpress.com). She taught creative writing for a semester at the University of Stuttgart, participates regularly in online writing workshops, and founded the Villa Diodati workshop for English-speaking writers of speculative fiction in Europe. She maintains a web site at www.ruthnestvold.com.