This is Part One in a two-part special series from The Dark Woods. Part Two will be available in October, with a special sale price its first week.                                  Homely, awkward farmboy Jode Lintwich has always longed for adventure and greatness: two things which can't be had in his humble village and which don't happen often to anyone like himself. But desperation can change anyone's destiny-and Jode is desperate enough to try. A visit to a local witch, a few coins, and an inadvertant promise transforms Jode into something beyond his wildest imaginings; and also causes him to be cast out of his own village for good. A wanderer turned loose in the world, Jode must learn the truth about the magic upon him and embrace a destiny greater than any ever before conceived by his mind. If he wants to survive, he must find the one key to his ultimate happiness and escape the danger inflicted upon him by the two-sided coin of the witch's magic.From a pirate ship to the sands of the desert, from a mercenary knight to a monarch's deceptive pawn, the adventures of Jode-turned-Handsome-Jack are as a varied as his namesake's tales ... and as far from his true fate as he could possibly imagine. Book One of Briggs and Steinbrenner's retelling of CINDERELLA spins a tale of multiple threads as varied as their characters' fates: an awkward boy spun into a hero by magic, an unhappy orphan girl languishing in a house filled with secrets, a homely witch of unexpected powers and a coldblooded noblewoman of mysterious past. A tale of magic makers and fortune tellers, of con artists and criminals, bandits and sultans, artists and peasants, servants and monarchs, all bound by the common thread of one boy's existence.Other Books in The Dark Woods Series:Cindermaid (Coming in October)First Bite: The Wicked Queen's TaleGingerbread HouseThe Fairy Godmother's ApprenticeSpellSnow White's Knight and Magic Mirror Excerpt from CHARMING:Theshopkeeper descended from his ladder and perused a series of boxes behind hiscounter, with the same slow and methodical manner as before. What he producedfrom one of these was a small brass object in the palm of his hand. Size andworn appearance were not deceptive to Jack's eye, however."Thisis the item," he said, solemnly, as he placed it in Jack's hand.Jack'sfingers felt for a latch, popped it open. A lid lifted, revealing a hollowround shell beneath a thin layer of glass, a single pale seed lying at thebottom atop a pile of metal shavings."Acompass," Jack guessed. For he had seen the version of men, with a glass lensand moving dial, in the possession of Antigos aboard the Ill Winds. Sucha thing was the closest thing to magic young Jode might have ever seen in hislifetime, although Jack's wanderings had produced many stranger things thanscience."Acompass," echoed the shopkeeper. "Not of direction, but of fate."Jackbegin to comprehend the meaning. "Where it points, I go?" he suggested.Theshopkeeper hesitated ever so slightly. "Destiny is a complicated thing," hesaid. "This little box will show you where you ought to go to accomplishit-not where your destiny inevitably lies, perhaps." Jackclosed the lid over the strange hollowed shell and its seed. "Then it will showme what I most need, in a way," he concluded. It was certainly better thannothing, these blind wanderings and vague predilections of his existence.Theshopkeeper leaned closer. "I should not be without it, if I were you." Thesewords were stressed, with a peculiar emphasis, as if the shopkeeper's knowingmanner evidenced he had somehow foreseen Jack's fate already.