Library Journal Top Titles Forecast for Early 2023
Foreword "Passion Pursuit" Featured Title

"As skillful as The Emerald Circus (2017), thematically warmer than The Midnight Circus (2020), this volume’s central thread is love. Featuring an introduction by Brandon Sanderson, it collects more of Yolen’s reimagined narratives, many of them previously published. But fairy-tale endings are not guaranteed: Characters choose badly, and death and other sadness enters in. Julie appears from her grave, mourning Roman, in a wry rewrite of Romeo and Juliet narrated by an elf. Several tales are about the power—for good or ill—of belief; merfolk, djinn, and ghosts play major roles. There is time travel and some real history as well as appearances by Merlin and Arthur, Alice Liddell, and many brave and independent young women. The rich and varied plots and tones are matched by advanced but suitable vocabulary—fortuitously, lambent, incorporeal, slatterns, sepulchral, and legerdemain, for example—much of which young readers will be able to decipher from the context. Occasional poems are interspersed among the stories. The fully realized details bring to life both this-worldly and otherworldly settings. Yolen enthusiasts will be rapt, and new fans will be won. Endlessly imaginative, superbly crafted tales that stir the heart.”
—Kirkus

“For this whimsical collection, World Fantasy Award winner Yolen (The Midnight Circus) brings together 11 fantastical shorts centered on romantic love. Yolen’s trademark fairy tale styling is on display throughout, with vivid, pithy prose animating each quirky flight of fancy.”
—Publishers Weekly

“The Scarlet Circus is a magnificent and beautiful anthology from a master storyteller! Jane Yolen's stories and poems reach directly into your heart and fill you with the loveliest kind of magic. I absolutely adored it!”
—Sarah Beth Durst, award-winning author of The Queens of Renthia series

“All these years, and Jane Yolen still reduces me to helpless, gibbering admiration. I'll read anything with her name on it, even if it's just a damn grocery list!”
—Peter S. Beagle, author of In Calabria

“In the fairy tales and poems of Jane Yolen’s The Scarlet Circus, there are curious permutations of haunting, mesmerizing love stories. . . It’s in these splendid spaces between the book’s winking tributes to sentimentality and its swerving surprises that an unabashed sense of romance lingers.”
—Foreword

“Jane Yolen is a national treasure. Cozy up, and let the master take you beyond the fields you know.”
—Sherwood Smith, author of Crown Duel

“Jane Yolen spins captivating tales of whimsy, romance, brave knights, dragons, and twist endings. It was like reading the Grimm's fairy tales as a kid—it has that same timeless feel. I was immersed in every story.”
—Heather Wallwork, author of Entwined

“Jane Yolen is not only one of the best writers I know of, she's also consistently excellent. A Grand Master, old-school style!”
—Mercedes Lackey, author of the Valdemar series

“The Scarlet Circus is a magical collection of love stories, where love is often an act of courage and intelligence. Jane Yolen has a true storyteller's voice—a voice that makes the writing disappear so that only the stories remain.”
—Anne Bishop, New York Times bestselling author of the Black Jewels series

“The Scarlet Circus is a charming bouquet of love stories from a heady array of fantastical viewpoints. Here be magic, and romance.”
—Susan Palwick, author of All Worlds Are Real and Flying in Place

Praise for the volumes of the Jane Yolen Circus Collection series

“Look this way, look that; blazing her consummate imagination against the shadows of human sorrow, Jane Yolen has done it again.”
—Gregory Maguire, author of Wicked

“Jane Yolen is, simply, a legend. The powerful fairy godmother of every writer working in mythic fantasy today. In these dark and wonderful stories, that legend proves itself true over and over again, a sure hand pulling aside black and gauzy curtains to reveal a blaze of genius that will light up all the secret places of your heart.”
—Catherynne M. Valente, author of The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own

“A modern master.”
—Kirkus

“[S]ings with magic, darkness, and wonder—perfect for anyone who has ever loved a fairy tale.”
—Meagan Spooner, author of Hunted

“An engrossing collection that will linger in readers’ minds long after reading, and a perfect (re)introduction to Yolen’s rich well of fantasy horror. For fans of Neil Gaiman, Kelly Link, and Leigh Bardugo.”
—School Library Journal

[STARRED REVIEW] “These delightful retellings of favorite stories will captivate newcomers and fans of Yolen as she once again delivers the magic, humor, and lovely prose that has attracted readers for years.”
—Library Journal

“Jane Yolen at her best, telling stories you’ve never seen before but have known all your life, and stories as familiar as your left hand that you barely recognize, spun from shadows and moonlight and breathed through silvered glass.”
—Patricia C. Wrede, author of the Enchanted Forest Chronicles

“A master storyteller at her best.”
—Chanda Hahn, bestselling author of Reign

“Yolen takes well-known fairy tales and splits them apart, sometimes leaving them still quite familiar and other times shining a light from an unfamiliar angle to reveal new truths and possibilities”
—Margo Kelly, author of Unlocked

“The Scarlet Circus is another fantastic collection by a master storyteller, one that should be added to every fantasy lover’s library.”
—Witty and Sarcastic Book Club

5/5 stars. “This isn't your typical romance novel though.  That romance has a broad definition and doesn't always have a happy ending. In fact, some of the stories are quite dark. I really like it when Jane Yolen takes a story you think you know and turns it on its head.”
—The Neverending TBR List

Advertising and co-op in national print, online outlets, and social media

Promotion at major trade and genre conventions, including BEA, Readercon, the International Convention for the Fantastic in the Arts, and the World Fantasy Convention

Features, interviews, and reviews targeting venues including the Washington Post, NPR, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and the San Francisco Chronicle

Author tour dates in New England, Scotland, and national TBD 

Planned galley distribution and book giveaways to include NetGalley, Goodreads, Edelweiss, Tor.com, and additional online outlets