Cinderella Claps Back: The Reckoning

Book excerpt: North Carolina author Traci Claywell has released a satirical allegory, Cinderella Claps Back: The Reckoning, about two opposing forces in today’s American politics: female voters and MAGA. In the story, when the Fairy Bureau of Investigation uncovers a plot to overthrow the Palace on Charlotte’s Dark Web, Queen Ella and her cabinet of ministers must devise a plan to keep Rumplestiltskin and his horde of angry, brown-coated wolves at bay. “He gimped back and forth slowly from one end of the stage to the other, clapping back to the audience, his minions, his all-adoring tools. He knew they would believe anything he said. He was the only character who said things outwardly that they believed privately but were too hesitant to say out loud. He removed the plugs from their private jugs of resentment, stirred their pots of bitterness, and electrified their disappointments into a blaze of self-deluded victimhood. In a nutshell, he validated their hate. And they adored him for it. “Rumpelstiltskin licked his slobbery lips as his eyes glazed with power. Seconds turned to minutes as the chanting continued. Rumpelstiltskin returned to the middle of the stage and, with his head held way back, eyes closed as if standing under a shower of golden rain, he raised both arms into the air in the form of a cross and soaked it up. The wolves howled even louder, eventually reducing his quadric-syllabic name to just one word.” Traci Claywell is a graduate of Wake Forest University and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where she earned her B.A and M.A. in Psychology and Counselor Education, respectively. She worked with children and adolescents as a school counselor before migrating to Beaufort, North Carolina, where she launched and published two community newspapers: The Beaufort Gam and The Venture of Carteret County. Using both observation and imagination, Claywell presents one possible scenario for the burning quandary of the day: what’s going to happen to our country? In Cinderella Claps Back: The Reckoning, the answer to that serious question is played out by a team of familiar childhood characters using their vision, intelligence, and grit. Cinderella Claps Back: The Reckoning will launch Sunday, September 22 in both soft cover and eBook format. For more information about Traci Claywell visit cinderellaclapsback.com .