From Amazon.com
This sixth anthology in the adult fairy-tale series by acclaimed editors Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling presents another diverse collection of stories and poems loosely based on folklore traditions around the world. Readers familiar with previous books in the series will recognize the names of many regular contributors, including Tanith Lee, Jane Yolen, Esther Friesner, and Joyce Carol Oates, as well as works from Neil Gaiman, Charles de Lint, and others. Tanith Lee's "Rapunzel" opens the collection with a charmingly simple reconstruction of that classic fairy tale. Esther Friesner's "Big Hair" takes the same theme into the present with less cheerful results. Greg Costikyan considers the fate of an ensorcelled sleeping beauty dug up by archaeologists centuries later in "And Still She Sleeps," while Jane Yolen's "Snow in Summer" turns the tables on Snow White's evil stepmother with a deep-dish apple pie and a fry pan. Scott Bradfield's "Goldilocks Tells All" is especially memorable for its Jerry Springer-like portrayal of the ultimate dysfunctional family. Leah Cutter considers the loneliness of living under a curse in her Texas two-step story "The Red Boots." Severna Park's feminist "The Golem" revives a Jewish folktale, while Bryn Kanar's haunting "Dreaming Among Men" draws on Native American legend. Howard Waldrop's "Our Mortal Span" is perhaps the most unique story here, a surprising blend of black comedy, killer-robot story, and fairy tale. While on the whole this collection isn't as strong as previous volumes, it still delivers a fine array of thoughtful writing on some of the best-known--and yet unknown--stories we love.
--Charlene Brusso
From School Library Journal
YA-Continuing their successful project of producing rich, adult-oriented anthologies with fairy-tale motifs, the editors have enlisted 20 contemporary authors to share creations that have clear roots in fairy lore. Tanith Lee, Neil Gaiman, Jane Yolen, Brian Stableford, Michael Cadnum, Charles de Lint, and Joyce Carol Oates are among the literary luminaries who have contributed new work here. Many of the settings are contemporary, the characters share the realistic traits that make those who inhabit traditional fairy stories sympathetic, and their predicaments and exploits are compelling. Brief introductions and endnotes accompanying each tale provide just enough context to enrich readers' understanding of how and why the author may have constructed this particular tale. Esther Friesner's "Big Hair," for instance, will make readers think about the JonBenet Ramsey case, but the author disclaims this association. Severna Park provides a quick but lucid argument for the comparison her tale makes between the status of women and the status of Jews. Several of the stories are presented in alternative narrative styles, including Gaiman's blank-verse entry and Susanna Clarke's epistolary format. Teen readers dedicated to exploring fairy tale and myth will delight in this new volume. Further, it invites those who might just be experimenting with the genre to delve beyond this first taste of it. Several of the tales lend themselves to directed reading and analysis.
Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley Public Library, CA Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
