This Fairytale Retelling Is All About Fandoms & You're Going To Love It

In her 2017 YA novel Geekerella, Ashley Poston gave readers a geeky spin on the Cinderella fairytale centered on the Starfield fandom. (Starfield is a science-fiction universe akin to Star Trek.) Now, Poston is back with The Princess and the Fangirl, due to hit shelves on April 2, 2019, and it needs to be on your TBR list immediately. Bustle has the exclusive cover reveal and an excerpt from the book below!

For those who need a refresher: Geekerella centers on Elle, who enters a cosplay contest for a new Starfield movie, hoping to win an invitation to the ExcelsiCon Cosplay Ball and a meet-and-greet with the actor slated to play Federation Prince Carmindor in the reboot. That actor? Darien Freeman, who used to live for cons before he got too famous to attend as a regular person. As ExcelsiCon draws near, Darien feels more and more like a fake — until he meets a girl who shows him otherwise.

In The Princess and the Fangirl, a fairytale retelling of The Princess and the Pauper, Poston dives back into the Starfield fandom, this time through the eyes of Imogen Lovelace, an ordinary fangirl on an impossible mission to save her favorite character, Princess Amara, from being killed off in the franchise. The problem? Jessica Stone, the actress who plays Princess Amara, wants nothing more than to leave behind the intense scrutiny of the fandom. A case of mistaken identity throws look-a-likes Imogen and Jess together, and when the script for the Starfield sequel leaks — and Jess is the main suspect — she and Imogen must trade places to find the person responsible.

If Poston's spin-off is anything like the original, The Princess and the Fangirl will be the fandom-filled, fairytale-esque romp you'll need on your shelves come 2019. And while you still have to wait a few months to pick this one up, hopefully the gorgeous cover and excerpt below will tide you over until then:

The Fate of Amara by Elle Wittimer

Excerpt from RebelGunner

After a record-breaking month at the box office, Starfield has captured the hearts and minds of legions of fans worldwide, rocketing its young leads, Darien Freeman and Jessica Stone, to superstardom. Soon after the announcement of its third consecutive week in the #1 spot, the studio revealed plans for a sequel, to the surprise of no one who enjoys money.

Now, rumors are beginning to circulate: Who could the villain be in the sequel? Which new lucky lady will capture the Federation Prince Carmindor’s heart? Jessica Stone has stayed mum about any sort of obligation to reprise her role as Princess Amara, and for those of us who have seen Starfield, we know this to be a near impossibility anyway.

The cast will come together for the first time since the success of Starfield, gathering at the twenty-fifty annual ExcelsiCon for panels, interviews, and meet-and-greets.

The director, Amon Wilkins, will reveal the title of the sequel (and perhaps even our villain!) over the course of the comic convention.

But as Starfield goes on, and the story continues where the television show left off, what does this mean for the legacy of Amara?

And what will Starfield be without our princess?

Day One: Thursday

Jess

Princess Amara is dead.

In a perfect universe, I wouldn’t care. My character dies a noble and brilliant death at the end of Starfield, when she rams her spaceship into the Black Nebula (which is more like a black hole, but whatever) to save her one true love, the dreamy Federation Prince Carmindor.

In a perfect universe, I would’ve cashed my check and used Starfield as a springboard to more Oscar-worthy roles. Roles that mean something, roles that tell invaluable stories, that aren’t me looking hot in a suffocating dress while running in heels.

In a perfect universe, I would be happy.

But this universe is not perfect and neither am I, although I’ve tried to be. I’ve tried so, so hard. And it all might be for nothing.

"But this universe is not perfect and neither am I, although I’ve tried to be. I’ve tried so, so hard. And it all might be for nothing."

Because today I made three unforgiveable mistakes.

The first one:

During a presser (pressers are basically a marathon of filmed interviews with different media outlets back to back to back... I can usually endure them for hours, but these nerd ones are a different beast entirely. How I long for questions about Darien Freeman’s new diet or my glittery pumps), held in a small room in a hotel, I accidentally let this slip:

“I certainly hope Amara doesn’t come back.”

Which, I know.

Bad answer.

The interviewer had been coming for blood for the past thirty minutes, poking and prodding at our airtight answers until something had to give. Plus, the bright lights were giving me a headache.

"The interviewer had been coming for blood for the past thirty minutes, poking and prodding at our airtight answers until something had to give. Plus, the bright lights were giving me a headache."

So of course it was me who slipped first.

I wasn’t paying attention. For hours Dare — Darien Freeman, my costar— had been entertaining the interviewers. He lived and breathed Starfield — he was a fanboy before he became Prince Carmindor, and that’s stellar publicity. The world eats it up. It’s adorable.

What’s decidedly less adorable is Princess Amara, poor dead Princess Amara, played by a girl who’s never even seen the show.

I don’t make good press fodder.

Or, at least, I didn’t think I did.

The interviewer’s eyes widened behind her candy-apple-red glasses. She was petite and blond, stylish in a ’60s pinup meets Revenge of the Nerds sort of way. “But thousands of fans would love to see you back! And your character, too. Have you heard of the #SaveAmara initiative?”

I shook my head.

Dare jumped at the chance to inform me. “Oh, it’s a Twitter hashtag created to rally the fandom and save the princess from her fate.”

The interviewer nodded enthusiastically. “The user who created it claims that Amara deserved better, especially in this reboot. She deserved to live, not to be fridged for Prince Carmindor’s character development.”

“Oh.”

It was all I could say.

Excerpted from The Princess and The Fangirl by Ashley Poston. Reprinted with permission from Quirk Books.