Thursday, November 5, 2015

Bargain Ebook: Silver Birch, Blood Moon, Short Story Anthology



Silver Birch, Blood Moon edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling is on sale in ebook format for $1.99, down from the usual $6-7 range. I didn't own this one in ebook yet but it's been on my shelves for years in hardcover and paperback. I miss the original cover art by Tom Canty on these ebook editions, but the content is the same and that is what I need most.

Book description:

Twenty-one darker, deeper, more adult takes on some of our favorite childhood fairy tales, from acclaimed contemporary fantasists

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. But, as World Fantasy Award–winning editors Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling remind us, these stories were often tamed and sanitized versions. The originals were frequently darker—and in Silver Birch, Blood Moon, they turn darker still.

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 Sea Witch gets her say, relating the story of “The Little Mermaid” from her own point of view. “Thumbelina” becomes a tale of creeping horror, while a delightfully naughty spin is put on “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” Author Caitlin R. 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.

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.

2 comments:

  1. Thanks Heidi! Bought it. No idea when I'll read it, but the price was right and love the description.

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  2. I love these anthologies. I had never thought of getting it as an ebook, but considering the price I may consider it. It'd be more portable than a book. (Although I should check which stories are in this anthology...)

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