Megan, Amos, Janie, Morticia, Leadfingers and MMario --

Thank you all, friends, for your kind praise.

And, MMario, that reweaving of traditional themes into something wholly new is what I love about this genre. The familiar form (one often associated with comforting memories) draws the audience in right away, and that allows the author to throw in some surprises.

Hans Christian Andersen was a master of this, and my role model :o). Hard to remember, now, but at the time they were written, his stories were entirely new, too. Many stories were autobiographical in their themes and motifs (The Nightinggale is most famous, perhaps for "really" being about his love for the singer Jenny Lind.*

"The Barefoot Queen," is autobiographical in its own way, as well -- being inspired by my ambiguous and often diffecult relationship with shoes...

And would it be too immodest of me to mention that I'm offering an original wondertale in the Mudcat Auction -- one written especially for the winning bidder? Tough. I'm doing so anyway.

*I think my favorite Andersen story, though, is What One Can Invent, which has a certain tartness to its taste...