Serena Valentino is an American comic book writer, author, and storyteller. She created the comic book series ''Gloomcookie'' and '' Nightmares & Fairy Tales''. She also authored the ''Villain'' novels published by

Disney Press Disney Publishing Worldwide (DPW), formerly known as The Disney Publishing Group and Buena Vista Publishing Group, is the publishing subsidiary of Disney Experiences, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. Its imprints include Disney Edition ...

, which have earned Valentino critical acclaim for her style of storytelling.

Career

Serina Valentino has published ten ''Villains'' novels. The first, ''The Fairest of All: A Tale of the Wicked Queen'', was based on the

Evil Queen The Evil Queen (), also called the Wicked Queen or simply the Queen, is a fictional character and the main antagonist of "Snow White", a German fairy tale recorded by the Brothers Grimm. In the Grimm's story, the Queen is Snow White's stepmother o ...

from ''

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs "Snow White" is a German fairy tale, first written down in the early 19th century. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'', numbered as Tale 53. The original title was ''Sneewittch ...

'' and released on August 18, 2009. The second novel, ''The Beast Within: A Tale of Beauty's Prince'', based on the character of

Beast Beast most often refers to: * Animal, a multicellular, eukaryotic organism in the biological kingdom Animalia * The Beast (Revelation), one of three beasts described in the Book of Revelation * Monster, a type of creature found in fiction, folklo ...

from ''

Beauty and the Beast "Beauty and the Beast" is a fairy tale written by the French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in (''The Young American and Marine Tales''). Villeneuve's lengthy version was abridged, rewritten, and publish ...

'', was released on July 22, 2014. This was followed by ''Poor Unfortunate Soul: A Tale of the Sea Witch'', which is based on Ursula the Sea Witch, the villainess from ''

The Little Mermaid "The Little Mermaid" (), sometimes translated in English as "The Little Sea Maid", is a fairy tale written by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. Originally published in 1837 as part of a collection of fairy tales for children, the story foll ...

''. This third book in the series was released on July 26, 2016. The fourth novel, ''Mistress of All Evil: A Tale of the Dark Fairy'', written from the point of view of

Maleficent Maleficent ( or ) is a fictional character who first appears in Walt Disney Productions' animated film, ''Sleeping Beauty (1959 film), Sleeping Beauty'' (1959). Maleficent is the self-proclaimed "Dark lord, Mistress of All Evil" based on the Wic ...

from ''

Sleeping Beauty "Sleeping Beauty" (, or ''The Beauty Sleeping in the Wood''; , or ''Little Briar Rose''), also titled in English as ''The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods'', is a fairy tale about a princess curse, cursed by an evil fairy to suspended animation in fi ...

'', was released on October 3, 2017. The fifth novel, ''Mother Knows Best: A Tale of the Old Witch,'' based on

Mother Gothel Mother Gothel is a fictional character who appears in Walt Disney Pictures' animated film ''Tangled ''(2010). The character is voiced by actress and singer Donna Murphy in her voice acting debut; Murphy auditioned for the role spontaneously upo ...

, the villainess from ''

Tangled ''Tangled'' is a 2010 American animated musical film, musical Adventure film, adventure fantasy comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Loosely based on the German fairy tale "Rapunzel" in th ...

'', was released on August 7, 2018. The release date for the sixth book, ''The Odd Sisters: A Villains Novel'', was July 2, 2019. Valentino released her seventh novel, ''Evil Thing'', on July 7, 2020, and is told in the first person from the viewpoint of

Cruella De Vil Cruella de Vil is a fictional character in Dodie Smith's 1956 novel '' The Hundred and One Dalmatians''. A pampered and glamorous London heiress and fashion designer, she appears in Walt Disney Productions' animated feature film ''One Hundred an ...

. Valentino released the eighth novel, ''Cold Hearted,'' detailing the backstory of

Lady Tremaine Lady Tremaine is a fictional character who appears in Walt Disney Productions' animated film ''Cinderella'' (1950) and its direct-to-video sequels '' Cinderella II: Dreams Come True'' (2002) and '' Cinderella III: A Twist in Time'' (2007). In the ...

, on June 29, 2021. The ninth novel, released on July 19, 2022, featured the first male villain of the series, Captain Hook. Announced via Facebook, Valentino has been contracted with Disney Press to write three more volumes of the Villains series after the ninth volume, bringing the total number to twelve. In 2019, it was reported that her ''Villains'' series was being adapted into the television series ''Book Of Enchantment.'' With showrunner

Michael Seitzman Michael Seitzman (born November 1, 1977) is an American writer, producer and film director best known for film ''North Country (film), North Country''. He launched his production company Maniac Productions in 2017. He most recently signed a TV d ...

developing it, Disney had writers working on the script for 13 weeks, before cancelling the series in late August 2019 before the debut of

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

. Disney maintained the TV rights to the franchise. The cancellation was over concerns it was "too dark" for the new streaming service, and a fear that children under age would view it.

Publishing history

''GloomCookie'' series (Comic books)

* ''GloomCookie'' (January 26th, 2001) * ''GloomCookie, Volume 2'' (July 31st, 2002) * ''Broken Curses'' (April 1st, 2004) * ''The Carnival Wars'' (November 1st, 2005) * ''The Final Curtain'' (April 3rd, 2007) ; Companion comic book * ''A Monster's Christmas'' (January 1st, 2002)

''Nightmares & Fairy Tales'' series (Comic books)

* ''Once Upon a Time'' (April 14th, 2004) * ''Beautiful Beasts'' (July 6th, 2005) * ''1140 Rue Royale'' (April 18th, 2007) * ''Dancing With the Ghosts of Whales'' (July 29th, 2008)

''Disney Villains'' series (Novels)

* ''Fairest of All: A Tale of the Wicked Queen'' (August 18th, 2009) * ''The Beast Within: A Tale of Beauty's Prince'' (July 22nd, 2014) * ''Poor Unfortunate Soul: A Tale of the Sea Witch'' (July 26th, 2016) * ''Mistress of All Evil: A Tale of the Dark Fairy'' (October 3rd, 2017) * ''Mother Knows Best: A Tale of the Old Witch'' (August 7th, 2018) * ''The Odd Sisters: A Tale of the Three Witches'' (July 2nd, 2019) * ''Evil Thing: A Tale of That De Vil Woman'' (July 7th, 2020) * ''Cold Hearted: A Tale of the Wicked Stepmother'' (July 6th, 2021) * ''Never Never: A Tale of Captain Hook'' (July 19th, 2022) * ''Fire & Fate: A Tale of the Lord of Darkness'' (July 18th, 2023) * ''Kill the Beast: A Tale of Everyone's Favorite Guy'' (July 30th, 2024) * ''Heartbroken: A Tale of the Angry Queen'' (July 29th, 2025)

Stand-alone novels

* ''Raising the Horseman'' (September 6, 2022)

References

External links

*
Interview at comiXology
with Serena Valentino, 2008
Interview by Jess Salafia, ''The Disney Blog''
with Serena Valentino, 2018 {{DEFAULTSORT:Valentino, Serena American comics writers American female comics writers Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American writers of Italian descent