The author draws from a variety of folk traditions to put together this version of Cinderella, including elements from Mexico, Iran, Korea, Russia, Appalachia, and more.

Betraying the most powerful man in New York wasn't something I ever envisioned when I first started playing games with Winston Constantine. But he's engaged in far more dangerous games than ours, and his enemies are out for blood. Winston has my heart, the Morellis have incriminating photos, and I'm left with nothing except three evil stepbrothers and a future in doubt. I knew Winston wouldn't be my prince charming, but that didn't stop me from falling for him. After all, the slippers fit, and I let myself believe I'd be dancing with Winston forever. Until too much truth comes to light. Until I realize instead of ruling the board, I was just a pawn. In the end, I have only one question. When his game with me is over, will I be able to pretend as if the glass slipper wasn't a perfect fit?

Samuel D. Fohr holds that the Grimms' tales are not just childish 'fairy tales', but are filled with spiritual symbolism, and as such have value for adults as well as children. Snow White, for example, is a story of creation and spiritual growth, and its message parallels Hindu and Judaic creation myths. Hansel and Gretel and Cinderella both portray the journey back to God. Fohr also looks at recurring themes in the stories, and answers such questions as: Why are giants always evil and dwarves always good? What is the symbolic significance of the hungry wolf who appears in many stories? Exactly what are genies, and why are they always trapped in bottles? A delightful but serious examination of cherished stories, this book reveals new meaning in familiar tales. Also included is an extensive bibliography and an Appendix on the authenticity of the Grimms' tales. The author is a professor of philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford. He received his Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Michigan and has taught courses in both Western and Eastern Philosophy. He is the author of Adam and Eve: The Spiritual Symbolism of Genesis and Exodus, and editor of more than a dozen volumes of The Collected Works of Rene Guenon. To say that Fohr retrieves fairy tales from the nursery on the one hand, and retrieves them from mere entertainment for adults on the other, is only the start of the matter. Like Freud, Jung, and Levy-Strauss, he recognizes the wisdom folktales embody, but he goes beyond those students of myth in arguing that the authors knew what they were doing: they crafted their tales consciously. This is a courageous and cogent book that goes a long way toward revalidating a literary genre that modernity has irresponsibly trivialized. - Huston Smith, author of The World's Religions, etc.

The Bowl Champion Series (BCS) is under fire from fans, the media, college coaches, Congress, and even our new President. They worry that the two best teams in the country aren't consistently selected by the polls and the BCS computers to play for the National Championship. At stake is prestige, a place in history, recruiting advantages, and boatloads of cash. The solution proposed most often is a playoff system to give more schools a shot at a title. However, the problem of team selection won't go away with a playoff system, it will be exacerbated. The lack of a credible ranking system is the Achilles' heel of the current BCS system. Cinderella's Slipper reveals why the polls get it wrong, why the BCS computers can't be expected to get it right, why traditional statistics aren't useful for ranking teams, and why won/lost records are misleading. Cinderella's Slipper introduces the performance metrics necessary for team ranking and explains the rating system that can accurately rank teams with similar records. When combined with NCAA sponsorship and an accurate ranking system, a playoff scheme will produce deserving champions and will restore public confidence in the college football National Championship process.

Handsome princes, fancy castles, extravagant balls . . . in this girl-power fractured fairy tale, Cinderella learns that if it looks too good to be true, it probably is, and it's better to create your own happy ending. Cinderella is dying to go to the ball. She's seen pictures of the fancy castle and the handsome prince, she's heard the fairy tales about true love, she's found the perfect dress in Princess magazine and she's even found an ad for a Fairy Godmother. She's all set. Except the fairy godmother doesn't look like the one in the ad. And the castle doesn't look like the picture. And the prince . . . well, Cinderella decides her fairy-tale ending is going to look different--and be a whole lot more fun.

Winston Constantine is no prince charming...I crave him so badly I think I might be losing my mind. He's right in front of me, but he's just as remote as my dreams of getting away from my stepbrothers. I keep playing his twisted games, and I want to stay just as distant as he is. But I can't. I never could. I've fallen for him. Hopelessly. Irrevocably.But Winston isn't a lover, he's a business venture. A way for me to pay for college. A ticket out. He's never pretended to be anything other than that. I can't blame him for making me fall in love.There can be no happily ever after between a maid and a prince, no matter what the stories say.

Cinderella's father, a widower, married a woman with two daughters. When he died, full of envy for her sweetness and beauty, they treated her with great contempt and forced her to do the dirtiest tasks; But she still stays sweet and serene The prince organizes a dance to find a wife but despite being his greatest illusion, the stepmother prevents Cinderella from attending. While crying, her fairy godmother appears, who transforms her into a princess to go to the dance, warning that the spell will be undone at midnight. Cinderella and the prince fall in love and dance non-stop, but at midnight Cinderella runs off, losing one of her shoes. The prince decides to try it on all the girls and marry the one he serves. And despite the evil attempts of the stepmother and her daughters, finally the shoe serves Cinderella,