When I tell people that I've written a retelling of Rumpelstiltskin, often I get asked, "Do you watch Once Upon a Time ?" Yes! I love that show! And Rumpelstiltskin is one of my very favorite characters, of course. Robert Carlyle does an amazing job of staying true to the creepy villainy we so often associate with the character, and yet he is sympathetic (when he's not all green-scaly and ripping out hearts and other mean things.) Also his body language is spectacular.

Sometimes people as...