Silver Birch, Blood Moon by Ellen Datlow

updates the story while staying true to the 'soul' of the genre.

the strange-looking but not-unattractive title character uses his magic to try to save the young weaver he loves from the threats of the vicious king. As usual, beautiful and effective writing from Lee.Ī poem which gives the reader a different (feminist) take on the motivations of the fairy whose christening 'gift' to Sleeping Beauty was perceived as a curse.īriggs here transforms the tale of Rumplestiltskin into a romance.

Lee's take on the story of The Frog Prince is at first droll, but later melancholy, as it shows how one doesn't always appreciate what one has until it is gone. If you haven't seen her website, check it out! : Terri Windling's one of the only people I've ever written out & out fan mail to - I'm just that totally in favor of everything she's worked to espouse in literature. One of Datlow & Windling's excellent series of anthologies of retold/reimagined fairy tales. Rich, provocative, and unabashedly adult, each of these tales is a modern treasure, reminding us that wishes have consequences and not all genies have our best interests at heart. Kiernan transports Snow White to a dark, gritty, industrial urban setting, and Patricia Briggs details 'The Price' of dealing with a royal and unrepentantly evil Rumpelstiltskin. 'Thumbelina' becomes a tale of creeping horror, while a delightfully naughty spin is put on 'The Emperor's New Clothes.' Author Caitlín R. The Sea Witch gets her say, relating the story of 'The Little Mermaid' from her own point of view. Twenty-one modern Grimms and Andersens-masterful storytellers including Neil Gaiman, Nancy Kress, and Tanith Lee-now reinvent beloved bedtime stories for our time. The originals were frequently darker-and in Silver Birch, Blood Moon, they turn darker still. But, as World Fantasy Award-winning editors Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling remind us, these stories were often tamed and sanitized versions. Long ago, when we were children, our dreams were inspired by the fairy tales we heard at our mothers' and grandmothers' knees-stories of princesses and princes and witches and wondrous enchantments, by the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen, and from the pages of 1001 Arabian Nights.

Winner of the World Fantasy Award: New twists on classic fairy tales from Neil Gaiman, Patricia Briggs, Robin McKinley, Caitlín R.

Silver Birch, Blood Moon by Ellen Datlow