The Rebel And The Rose

Happily ever after is only the beginning in this epic YA reimagining of the princesses as young rulers of their lands, aided by a mystical group of women called the Queen's Council, whose job it is to advise queens throughout history.

In April 1865 the Civil War is over for most Americans. Confederate President Jefferson Davis flees Richmond, the Southern capital, accompanied by most of his administration, a cavalry escort, various hangers-on, and the Confederate treasury.

Lovely British aristocrat Lady Barbara Carr is wed to the wealthy Virginian Alan Maxwell in order to pay her father's debts and finds herself torn between conflicting loyalties during the turmoil of the American Revolution

Rose Pastor arrived in New York City in 1903, a Jewish refugee from Russia who had worked in cigar factories since the age of eleven. Two years later, she captured headlines across the globe when she married James Graham Phelps Stokes, scion of one of the legendary 400 families of New York high society. Together, this unusual couple joined the burgeoning Socialist Party and, over the next dozen years, moved among the liveliest group of activists and dreamers this country has ever seen. Their friends and houseguests included Emma Goldman, Big Bill Haywood, Eugene V. Debs, John Reed, Margaret Sanger, Jack London, and W.E.B. Du Bois. Rose stirred audiences to tears and led strikes of restaurant waiters and garment workers. She campaigned alongside the country's earliest feminists to publicly defy laws against distributing information about birth control, earning her notoriety as "one of the dangerous influences of the country" from President Woodrow Wilson. But in a way no one foresaw, her too-short life would end in the same abject poverty with which it began.

She brought honor on the battlefield. Now comes a new kind of war... The war is over. Now a renowned hero, Mulan spends her days in her home village, training a militia of female warriors. The peace is a welcome one, and she knows it must be protected. When Shang arrives with an invitation to the Imperial City, Mulan's relatively peaceful life is upended once more. The aging emperor decrees that Mulan will be his heir to the throne. Such unimagined power and responsibility terrifies her, but who can say no to the Emperor? As Mulan ascends into the halls of power, it becomes clear that not everyone is on her side. Her ministers undermine her, and the Huns sense a weakness in the throne. When hints of treachery appear even amongst those she considers friends, Mulan has no idea whom she can trust. But the Queen's Council helps Mulan uncover her true destiny. With renewed strength and the wisdom of those that came before her, Mulan will own her power, save her country, and prove once again that, crown or helmet, she was always meant to lead. This fierce reimagining of the girl who became a warrior blends fairy-tale lore and real history with a Disney twist.

Daniel Fischlin is a leading Canadian humanities researcher who has written over twenty books. Also a musician and community organizer, he chairs the Board of Silence, a community art space in Guelph, and is the founding director of the newly launched MA/PhD program in Critical Studies in Improvisation at the University of Guelph. Ajay Heble is the founding director of the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation (IICSI) and professor of English in the School of English and Theatre Studies at the University of Guelph. He is the founding artistic director of the award-winning Guelph Jazz Festival and Colloquium and a founding co-editor of the peer-reviewed journal Critical Studies in Improvisation. Heble is also an accomplished pianist who, with Daniel Fischlin, records and performs with the improvising quartet, The Vertical Squirrels.