Author: C. Margery Kempe
Publisher: Tirgearr Publishing
Pages/Word Count: 23 Pages
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Blurb: How long would it be before the prince discovered Freawine couldn’t really spin straw into gold-or that this “peasant girl” was really a boy?
Review: C. Margery Kempe fractures the fairy tale classic “Rumpelstiltskin” in her short story Spinning Gold, the tale of Frea, a young man raised as a woman by his mother to keep her only child from being forced to go off to war. The story sticks close to the core of the original tale, but the author puts her own unique spin on it, of course, to give it a sexy M/M slant.
As in the original, Frea’s father is a braggart of the highest order, which lands his “daughter” in a deal with the prince to spin straw into gold, something Frea hasn’t the foggiest idea how to do, but in staying with the premise of its origins, she gets help from a mysterious benefactor who works his magic on the straw in exchange for the only possessions Frea holds dear. The final deal of the trade, her first born child, was a cute wink-wink/nudge-nudge joke on the ugly little man who appears and disappears from her spinning chamber each night.
After fulfilling her father’s bargain with the prince, I was anxious to see how the author would resolve Frea’s dilemma. As Spinning Gold winds down, C. Margery Kempe proves to have one more surprise up her metaphorical sleeve, bringing things to an amusing and unorthodox close.
I have to say that if you’re familiar with the story of “Rumpelstiltskin”, then this story is going to feel familiar as well, but I did enjoy some of the ideas the author came up with to give her version of the fairy tale a fresh perspective.
You can buy Spinning Gold here:
