There are more books retelling Snow White in various clever ways than there are about ALL THE MESOAMERICAN LEGENDS AND SACRED STORIES PUT TOGETHER.

#yaparenle

Publishing: And here's a fresh new take on Alice in Wonder...

Me: AAAAAAHHHHH!! FFFFFFFFFFFFKKKK!!!

(Authors from underrepresented groups who want to subvert heteronormative colonial folktales, etc., are exempt, I guess, even though I really wish we could all move on.)

Exempt from my frustration, I mean. We tell the stories we need to, of course. But the glut of unimaginative retellings by White authors takes up publishing space that could go to underrepresented groups' seldom-told stories, our folktales, legends, & genre riffs on them.

Some people have been asking for some recommendations of books retelling / drawing from Mesoamerican legend / sacred stories.

I mean, it's self-serving, but my first impulse is to point to my award-winning book FEATHERED SERPENT, DARK HEART OF SKY https://www.amazon.com/Feathered-Serpent-Dark-Heart-Sky/dp/1941026729/

So much of the rest is scholarly, academic books or more encyclopedic guides put together by anthropologists and archaeologists. Good stuff, but not really compelling, edge-of-your-seat reading, frankly.

Google Mesoamerican mythology.

Also, next year: https://www.amazon.com/Sea-Ringed-World-Sacred-Stories-Americas/dp/164614015X

There are some great versions of INDIVIDUAL myths, mostly written for children, like @duncantonatiuh's The Princess and the Warrior or his upcoming Feathered Serpent and the Five Suns.

My graphic novel RISE OF THE HALFLING KING is in a similar vein.

https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Halfling-Tales-Feathered-Serpent/dp/1947627376/

Genre riffs do better:

-Gods of Jade and Shadow— @silviamg
-Storm Runner series— @jencerv
-Charlie Hernández series— @thebookGLUTTON
-My Garza Twins series
-Summer of the Mariposas— @ggmccall
-Paola Santiago— @tehlorkay
-Lowriders to the Center of the Earth— @cfastwolf / @raulthe3rd