This is such a fun premise for a book I had to share it with you all.. aren't you lucky?
I first saw it on Shelf Awareness, and was immediately intrigued and requested an ARC.
Somehow I got two finished copies of these wonderful books.. so I am giving the spare away to one of my USA Followers. I haven't reviewed it yet, but I am certainly going to! I have not read fairy tales since I was a child, and I thought this would be a fun summer read and I might brush up on some stories to share with my own children. I haven't read fantasy or anthologies etc in a dog's age either, so this read will cover my bases.
Check this book out.. and I've bolded what is even so amazingly clever which sold me on this book...
450 pages, May 24 2011 Night Shade Books
Once Upon A Time...
...in the faraway land of Story, a Hugo-winning Editor realized that no one had collected together the fairy tales of the age, and that doorstop-thick anthologies of modern fairy tales were sorely lacking...
And so the Editor ventured forth, wandering the land of Story from shore to shore, climbing massive mountains of books and delving deep into lush, literary forests, gathering together thirty-three of the best re-tellings of fairy tales he could find. Not just any fairy tales, mind you, but tantalizing tales from some of the biggest names in today's fantastic fiction, authors like Gregory Maguire, Susanna Clarke, Charles de Lint, Holly Black, Aletha Kontis, Kelly Link, Neil Gaiman, Patricia Briggs, Paul Di Filippo, Gregory Frost, and Nancy Kress. But these stories alone weren't enough to satisfy the Editor, so the Editor ventured further, into the dangerous cave of the fearsome Bill Willingham, and emerged intact with a magnificent introduction, to tie the collection together.
And the inhabitants of Story, from the Kings and Queens relaxing in their castles to the peasants toiling in the fields; from to the fey folk flitting about the forests to the trolls lurking under bridges and the giants in the hills, read the anthology, and enjoyed it. And they all lived...
...Happily Ever After.
Table of Contents:
1."The Seven Stage a Comeback" by Gregory Maguire
2."And In Their Glad Rags" by Genevieve Valentine
3."The Sawing Boys" by Howard Waldrop
4."Bear It Away" by Michael Cadnum
5."Mr. Simonelli or the Fairy Widower" by Susanna Clarke
6."The Black Fairy's Curse" by Karen Joy Fowler
7."My Life As A Bird" by Charles de Lint
8."The Night Market" by Holly Black
9."The Rose in Twelve Petals" by Theodora Goss
10."The Red Path" by Jim C. Hines
11."Blood and Water" by Alethea Kontis
12."Hansel's Eyes" by Garth Nix
13."He Died That Day, In Thirty Years" by Wil McCarthy
14."Snow In Summer" by Jane Yolen
15."The Rose Garden" by Michelle West
16."The Little Magic Shop" by Bruce Sterling
17."Black Feather" by K. Tempest Bradford
18."Fifi's Tail" by Alan Rodgers
19."The Faery Handbag" by Kelly Link
20."Ashputtle" by Peter Straub
21."The Emperor's New (And Improved) Clothes" by Leslie What
22."Pinocchio's Diary" by Robert J. Howe
23."Little Red" by Wendy Wheeler
24."The Troll Bridge" by Neil Gaiman
25."The Price" by Patricia Briggs
26."Ailoura" by Paul Di Filippo
27."The Farmer's Cat" by Jeff VanderMeer
28."The Root of The Matter" by Gregory Frost
29."Like a Red, Red Rose" by Susan Wade
30."Chasing America" by Josh Rountree
31."Stalking Beans" by Nancy Kress
32."Big Hair" by Esther Friesner
33."The Return of the Dark Children" by Robert Coover
Doesn't this sound fantastically intriguing? What do you think? Would you want this for your own fairy tale collection?
If so.. comment here at Burton Book Review to enter the book giveaway for Happily Ever After by John Klima! Remember to leave your email address so I can contact the winner.
Open to my followers of Burton Book Review in the USA for an undetermined amount of time, and I will haphazardly pick from the comments in any way I see fit when I get around to it. Today, tomorrow, or next week. Or the next? Surprise me with your wittiness and clever commenting abilities..
.JPG)