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Seven Tricks
Some say a mouse king has seven heads. Hah, trust a human to get our legends wrong.
A mouse prince must perform seven tricks before the twelve days of Christmas are up. It’s how he wins his crown, but the prince has whiskers set on something else. A stiff beauty with a magnificent jaw, waiting for him under the holiday shrub. He caught his scent in a dream, which he's been sniffing after ever since.
Scamper with him through his adventures and misadventures, dodging traps, cats, and giants, while he wins a steadfast nutcracker’s heart.
A mouse prince must perform seven tricks before the twelve days of Christmas are up. It’s how he wins his crown, but the prince has whiskers set on something else. A stiff beauty with a magnificent jaw, waiting for him under the holiday shrub. He caught his scent in a dream, which he's been sniffing after ever since.
Scamper with him through his adventures and misadventures, dodging traps, cats, and giants, while he wins a steadfast nutcracker’s heart.
- GenresChristmas
ebook
First published November 27, 2017
55 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 2, 2017
This was completely charming and whimsical, what a perfect little Christmas Story! Hooray for Mousetrick and Cracktooth!
kindle-someday
December 11, 2017is this mouse king/nutcracker...?
December 6, 2017
This is a very cute concept, silly and entertaining. However, by the end of the book, I was more annoyed than charmed by Mousetrick, because he never truly seemed to care what the nutcracker wanted.
December 10, 2021
Writing this was a magical journey. Returning to it after four years to read it was also magical. I discovered the journey I took all over again.
Yes, I’m K.S. Trenten, the writer of Seven Tricks. I’m also a voracious reader with increasingly picky tastes who picked my book up, started reading it, along with my huge pile of books to read, favorites to read again, and review.
Doing so helped me rediscover the magic and a little of my youth. I’ve loved The Nutcracker ballet for years. I’ve been lucky to see many excellent performances of it, including one at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles as a child. I remember my friend, Nathalie taking me to see her sister’s performance in a school play/dance version. Several details of that version struck me; the Mouse King biting a princess and giving her an ugly face. He nearly bit Marchen as well until the Nutcracker saved her.
Research for Seven Tricks revealed that elements of this play and the ballet The Nutcracker itself were drawn from A.T.A. Hoffman’s story, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. The bite, the bitten princess, and the ugly face were all elements from that story, elements I drew upon when envisioning my own tale. I recognized them with a grin while reading this, amused by what I’d done with them along with the mouse king having seven heads. This particular detail inspired the title and the plot of Seven Tricks.
No source of inspiration was greater than the San Jose ballet’s performance of The Nutcracker which a friend took me to. The battle between the Nutcracker and the Mouse King was quite suggestive, involving a dance-off of pelvic thrusting which was perfectly in time with Tchaikovsky’s score.
After seeing the dance, the idea for Seven Tricks was planted and began to grow, along with a romance between the Nutcracker and the Mouse King. Only my mouse would be a tricksy prince, struggling to prove him, and making some fairly judgments. Or judgments which had consequences spiralling impressively out of control. I also did not want to villify Marchen/Marie/Clara in any way. I’ve loved that particular heroine for years. I’d never dream of taking away her moment with the shoe or making it unjustified. Mousetrick had to have it coming and somehow redeem himself.
Once I started the story, Mousetrick sprung to life with a squeak and began to scamper along with my moving fingers. His notions of beauty, his relations with Madam Mousenip and the warren, and the bond he developed with Cracktooth came together as if the characters were coming to life as I typed.
I suppose they were. It felt magicial.
I experienced an echo of this magic, reading this. I smiled at Mousetrick’s antics, marveled at Cracktooth’s generosity, and saw in Dousselmause the stately grandeur held by one who’s learned to thrive in spite of a society which might tear him down. The magician may have wanted something different for his nephew, but he was wise enough to respect Cracktooth’s choice.
While reading (and writing) I sometimes thought, “A mouse and a nutcracker? A mouse and a human? How is this going to work?” My doubt was often punctuated by the punchline, “He’s never going to fit in the warren.” This became a running joke which scampered through the story. In spite of my doubts, Mousetrick and Cracktooth won me over while reading them, just as they won me over while writing them. Just as they won over a reluctant Dousselmause.
Did I merit five stars when I wrote this? I often twitched with pride while reading this as if I were Mousetrick myself. I’m Year of the Rat. I wrote reviews on Amazon as mousewife before I was published. For years I’ve felt a certain squeaky pride for living in a household of cats. (My husband has often claimed if he were an animal, he’d be a big lapcat like the ones guarding Prissipat.) There’s a lot of myself in Mousetrick. I take a measure of pride in his antics. I’m proud of his Seven Tricks.
My Inner Editor is glowering at me, waving a shoe at me. :) Warning me that I’m not five-star material yet, not to get a swelled head, much less seven of them. My muse pops up behind, gives me a grin, a thumbs-up, and says I’m right to be proud. Keep writing, keep working, and I’ll only get better!
The happy news is he’s right. I am getting better the more I keep at it. I just have to keep at it. If I hadn’t, I never would have written this. You’d never be able to read it.
In conclusion, I’ll just say if you want a little Mouse King, err prince/Nutcracker romance innocent enough to share with your entire family, check this out. ;)
Yes, I’m K.S. Trenten, the writer of Seven Tricks. I’m also a voracious reader with increasingly picky tastes who picked my book up, started reading it, along with my huge pile of books to read, favorites to read again, and review.
Doing so helped me rediscover the magic and a little of my youth. I’ve loved The Nutcracker ballet for years. I’ve been lucky to see many excellent performances of it, including one at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles as a child. I remember my friend, Nathalie taking me to see her sister’s performance in a school play/dance version. Several details of that version struck me; the Mouse King biting a princess and giving her an ugly face. He nearly bit Marchen as well until the Nutcracker saved her.
Research for Seven Tricks revealed that elements of this play and the ballet The Nutcracker itself were drawn from A.T.A. Hoffman’s story, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. The bite, the bitten princess, and the ugly face were all elements from that story, elements I drew upon when envisioning my own tale. I recognized them with a grin while reading this, amused by what I’d done with them along with the mouse king having seven heads. This particular detail inspired the title and the plot of Seven Tricks.
No source of inspiration was greater than the San Jose ballet’s performance of The Nutcracker which a friend took me to. The battle between the Nutcracker and the Mouse King was quite suggestive, involving a dance-off of pelvic thrusting which was perfectly in time with Tchaikovsky’s score.
After seeing the dance, the idea for Seven Tricks was planted and began to grow, along with a romance between the Nutcracker and the Mouse King. Only my mouse would be a tricksy prince, struggling to prove him, and making some fairly judgments. Or judgments which had consequences spiralling impressively out of control. I also did not want to villify Marchen/Marie/Clara in any way. I’ve loved that particular heroine for years. I’d never dream of taking away her moment with the shoe or making it unjustified. Mousetrick had to have it coming and somehow redeem himself.
Once I started the story, Mousetrick sprung to life with a squeak and began to scamper along with my moving fingers. His notions of beauty, his relations with Madam Mousenip and the warren, and the bond he developed with Cracktooth came together as if the characters were coming to life as I typed.
I suppose they were. It felt magicial.
I experienced an echo of this magic, reading this. I smiled at Mousetrick’s antics, marveled at Cracktooth’s generosity, and saw in Dousselmause the stately grandeur held by one who’s learned to thrive in spite of a society which might tear him down. The magician may have wanted something different for his nephew, but he was wise enough to respect Cracktooth’s choice.
While reading (and writing) I sometimes thought, “A mouse and a nutcracker? A mouse and a human? How is this going to work?” My doubt was often punctuated by the punchline, “He’s never going to fit in the warren.” This became a running joke which scampered through the story. In spite of my doubts, Mousetrick and Cracktooth won me over while reading them, just as they won me over while writing them. Just as they won over a reluctant Dousselmause.
Did I merit five stars when I wrote this? I often twitched with pride while reading this as if I were Mousetrick myself. I’m Year of the Rat. I wrote reviews on Amazon as mousewife before I was published. For years I’ve felt a certain squeaky pride for living in a household of cats. (My husband has often claimed if he were an animal, he’d be a big lapcat like the ones guarding Prissipat.) There’s a lot of myself in Mousetrick. I take a measure of pride in his antics. I’m proud of his Seven Tricks.
My Inner Editor is glowering at me, waving a shoe at me. :) Warning me that I’m not five-star material yet, not to get a swelled head, much less seven of them. My muse pops up behind, gives me a grin, a thumbs-up, and says I’m right to be proud. Keep writing, keep working, and I’ll only get better!
The happy news is he’s right. I am getting better the more I keep at it. I just have to keep at it. If I hadn’t, I never would have written this. You’d never be able to read it.
In conclusion, I’ll just say if you want a little Mouse King, err prince/Nutcracker romance innocent enough to share with your entire family, check this out. ;)
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews