Rags & Bones: New Twists on Timeless Tales

Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz #4 - Losing Her Divinity

by Melissa Marr (Editor)

The best writers of our generation retell classic tales. From Sir Edmund Spenser's "The Faerie Queene" to E. M. Forster's "The Machine Stops", literature is filled with sexy, deadly, and downright twisted tales. In this collection, today's most acclaimed award-winning and bestselling authors reimagine their favorite classic stories and use their own unique styles to rebuild these timeless stories, the ones that have inspired, awed, and enraged them, the ones that have become ingrained in modern culture, and the ones that have been too long overlooked. They take these twelve stories and boil them down to their bones, and reassemble them for a new generation of readers. Written from a twenty-first century perspective and set within the realms of science fiction, dystopian fiction, fantasy, and realistic fiction, these short stories are as moving and thought provoking as their originators. They pay homage to groundbreaking literary achievements of the past while celebrating each author's unique perception and innovative style.

Contents:
Introduction: Rags & Bones: New Twists on Timeless Tales (2013) • essay by Tim Pratt and Melissa Marr
That the Machine May Progress Eternally (2013) / shortfiction by Carrie Ryan, inspired by E.M. Forster's The Machine Stops
The King of Elfland's Daughter (2013) • interior artwork by Charles Vess
Losing Her Divinity [Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz] (2013) / shortfiction by Garth Nix, inspired by The Man Who Would Be King
The Sleeper and the Spindle (2013) / novelette by Neil Gaiman, inspired by Sleeping Beauty
Kai Lung's Golden Hours (2013) • interior artwork by Charles Vess
The Cold Corner (2013) / shortfiction by Tim Pratt, inspired by Henry James' The Jolly Corner
Millcara (2013) / shortfiction by Holly Black, inspired by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla
Figures of Earth (2013) • interior artwork by Charles Vess
When First We Were Gods (2013) / shortfiction by Rick Yancey, inspired by Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Birthmark
Sirocco (2013) / shortfiction by Margaret Stohl, inspired by Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto
The Shaving of Shagpat (2013) • interior artwork by Charles Vess
Awakened (2013) / shortfiction by Melissa Marr, inspired by Kate Chopin's The Awakening
New Chicago (2013) / shortfiction by Kelley Armstrong, inspired by W. W. Jacob's The Monkey's Paw
The Wood Beyond the World (2013) • interior artwork by Charles Vess
The Soul Collector (2013) / shortfiction by Kami Garcia, inspired by the Brothers Grimm's Rumpelstiltskin
Without Faith, Without Law, Without Joy (2013) / shortfiction by Saladin Ahmed, inspired by Sir Edmund Spenser's Faerie Queene
Goblin Market (2013) • interior artwork by Charles Vess
Uncaged (2013) / shortfiction by Gene Wolf, inspired by William Seabrook's The Caged White Werewolf.
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Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories, Young Adult, Anthologies, Fiction, Retellings, Fairy Tales

384 pages, Paperback

First published October 22, 2013

About the author

Melissa Marr writes fiction for adults, teens, and children. Her books have been translated into 28 languages and been bestsellers in the US (NY Times, LA Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal) as well as overseas. Wicked Lovely, her debut novel, was an instant New York Times bestseller and evolved into an internationally bestselling multi-book series with a myriad of accolades.

In 2024 she released a queer fantasy (Remedial Magic via Bramble), a picturebook about a wee one and his two moms (Family is Family via Penguin), and a DC Comics graphic novel about teen Harley & Ivy (The Strange Adventures of Harleen & Harley).

An Illumicrate edition of 6 Wicked Lovely books will release in 2025.

If she's not writing, you can find her in a kayak or on a trail with her wife.

Reviews

[Mir · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best writers of our generation retell the classics...

...like Sleeping Beauty... and Carmilla... and that famous classic by William Seabrook.

Huh? The mixture of source material here ranges from fairy tales to Renaissance literature to short stories from the 19th and 20th centuries. While I'm not necessarily opposed to this Laissez-faire approach, it's a bit odd in an anthology aimed at teens. How many of them have read E.M. Forster's story "The Machine Stops" or Henry James' "The Jolly Corner"?

That's not necessarily a problem -- I enjoyed most of the stories that I read (that's a bit of cop-out, I suppose, as I skipped the ones that I didn't care for) but they definitely read differently depending on whether you've read the source material.

Take Holly Black's "Millcara" for instance: a decent story, but if you've read the le Fanu story it's pretty obvious what's going on. In fact, the story is pretty much a making-explicit of what's ambiguous and unstated in the original, which to me seems like a step down in quality. I suspect that if I had read James' story then Pratt's would also have been pretty predictable.

This is an approach where I suspect that the tried-and-true retelling of myths and fairy-tales works better, because they are inherently more flexible, more designed for adaptation. Neil Gaiman's "The Sleeper and the Spindle" was an excellent recombination of two tales; my favorite in the collection.

Garth Nix's "Losing her Divinity" was also very good, although I've read neither the Kipling story it was based on nor Nix's series involving the characters.

Melissa Marr's reworking of The Awakening as a selkie story was a good story, although it didn't much remind me of Chopin.

Saladin Ahmed's take on Spenser was very interesting, although almost more a thought-piece than a story.

The only story that made me want to track down something I hadn't read was Gene Wolfe's. "Caged White Werewolf of the Saraban," here I come!

I tried all the stories not mentioned previously, and none of them changed my mind about authors I was already disinterested in, although they didn't seem awful, either.

Charles Vess's panels seemed a pointless inclusion, but I know many people think he's the bee's knees.

[Mara · Rating 2 out of 5]

My ARC of Rags & Bones was sent to me by the publisher through Goodreads First Reads giveaway. I was not obligated to write a positive review. This is my full and honest opinion.

Cover Blurb: Yes or No? I do like it, with its "twisted fairytale" feel and rather ominous ambiance. If only this volume had contained more fairytales than other short stories.

Story #1 - That the Machine May Progress Eternally (Carrie Ryan): Generally I'm not a fan of anti-technology stories because they tend to be anti-progress because progress is destroying the natural world, harming food and people and medicine, et cetera. Roll eyes! But this short story, a retelling of E. M. Forster's The Machine Stops, was actually rather creepy because it didn't take on a preachy tone. It was an intriguing science fiction/dystopian short story that I really enjoyed. Written in third person, past tense, the style is perfect for the story.

Story #2 - Losing Her Divinity (Garth Nix): A retelling of Rudyard Kipling's The Man Who Would be King. I found this to be a bizarre little short story, and one that I enjoyed mostly because of the more unique style of the narration. Told in first person, it reads like a person having a conversation with two others (which is exactly what's going on). It was confusing at first, but once I got into the swing of it, I found it to be entertaining and amusing. The end, however, was extremely abrupt, and there's sexual alludements.

Story #3 - The Sleeper and the Spindle (Neil Gaiman): A retelling of Sleeping Beauty, this was probably my favorite short story. Gaiman manages to make Sleeping Beauty very dark (which he is very good at) and put a whole new twist to it. I'm not sure I'll ever like the original ever again! None of the characters are ever given names, the Reader thinks they know how the story will go, and then WHAM! Gaiman gives it a nice twist. The narration is third person, past tense.

Story #4 - The Cold Corner (Tim Pratt): A retelling of Henry James' The Jolly Corner. Aspects of this particular story felt like a Twilight Zone, which I liked. However, our narrator is unnecessarily bisexual (but seems mostly interested in other guys), and also unnecessarily goes around assuming everyone will judge him because he drives a Prius, causing the Author to paint smalltown Southerners as close-minded people. I personally am not saying that they aren't, nor am I saying they are. People are people, but the Author wrote about it in such a way that it totally caused the whole story to feel like an agenda. Content-wise, there's 5 s-words. Narration style is first person, past tense, and because I didn't care about the protagonist, I didn't care for the narration.

Story #5 - Millcara (Holly Black): A retelling of Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla. The agenda feel continues, only this time our protagonist isn't bisexual; she's a young lesbian vampire. Who just looooves to talk about her girlfriend's succulent lips, body heat, skin, and everything else. Ugh; I don't want the details, thank you very much. While this, too, felt like a Twilight Zone, I again didn't care for the protagonist, and I am also sick of the lesbian/gay agenda being pushed down my throat. Narration: first person, past tense, though it jumped to present tense sometimes, as well as feeling almost like a stream-of-consciousness narration.

Story #6 - When First We Were Gods (Rick Yancey): A retelling of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Birth-Mark. Maybe I don't understand short stories. Maybe liking the protagonist - or any of the characters - really isn't supposed to matter. Unfortunately, I disagree; short story or not, I still need to be able to like someone, and I didn't in this. Absolutely everyone was lecherous and sleeping with everyone else (so there's lots of bedroom scenes in this). And the premise - a futuristic society where rich people can download their consciousness into new bodies, so they always stayed young - quite honestly didn't interest me. Narration style was third person, past tense, and there isn't anything wrong with the style. I just didn't like the story itself.

Story #7 - Sirocco (Margaret Stohl): A retelling of Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto. This began dully, and I didn't expect it to get any better. But I ended up really enjoying it, with its twisted end and murder mystery feel. I didn't necessarily care about any of the characters, but the story did in fact make up for that. Content-wise: 1 s-word. Narration style: third person, past tense.

Story #8 - Awakened (Melissa Marr): A retelling of Kate Chopin's The Awakening. I have always found selkie legends fascinating, but I am not a general fan of modern selkie fiction, because it's all so sexual. Awakened is no exception. I couldn't feel sorry for the selkie woman, either, when her pelt is taken and she is forced to marry a man she cannot love, but is forced to obey. Why couldn't I feel sorry for her? Because she just goes and sleeps with said man's best friend, and said best friend doesn't do much to resist the temptation, so I couldn't like him, either. Style: first person, past tense.

Story #9 - New Chicago (Kelley Armstrong): A retelling of W. W. Jacob's The Monkey's Paw. Part Twilight Zone, part zombie short story, I did enjoy the general premise of the story: our protagonist steals a monkey's paw that is said to grant three wishes, but the person making the wishes has to be very careful how they wish, because the monkey's paw doesn't always grant one's wishes with the best intentions. Really, other than the language (3 g--damns, 1 s-word), this was one of the more interesting short stories. Style: third person, past tense.

Story #10 - The Soul Collector (Kami Garcia): A retelling of Rumpelstiltskin. I didn't realize it was a Rumpelstilskin retelling until the very end, it is so dissimilar. Which was a good and bad thing. I enjoy retellings that are different from the original, but I also like to see some familiar aspects. The similar aspects in this story required some interpretation. Because The Soul Collector deals with street crime, there's drug, sexual, and profanity content (5 s-words), but nothing horribly explicit. Style: first person, past and present tense.

Story #11 - Without Faith, Without Law, Without Joy (Saladin Ahmed): A retelling of Spenser's The Faerie Queene. This was just bizarre. I didn't know if the weird factors were actually supposed to be happening, or if they were an allegory. There's snippets of (I assume) the original text in Old English that are, naturally, hard to read and therefore hard to understand. I don't really know if I liked this story or not. Style: first person, past tense.

Story #12 - Uncaged (Gene Wolf): A retelling of William Seabrook's The Caged White Werewolf of Saraban. This was another weird one that I had to read twice to fully grasp everything that was going on. I don't know if maybe my mind was just wandering the first time I read it, or if the narration was actually that hard to follow. It felt like it left out parts; like it jumped in its narration from moment to moment. I didn't especially care for the story; the twist (if there was one) was too obvious. Style: first person, journal narration.

[Lauren Scharhag · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review for http://urbanfantasyland.net/

Rag and Bones is a delightful collection. It contains an even dozen of stories by such authors as Neil Gaiman, Margaret Stohl, and Carrie Ryan; Marr and Pratt each have contributed a story as well. As the title implies, these authors offer a fresh riff on golden oldies, running the gamut from fairy tales and folklore to literary classics: Sleeping Beauty, selchies, Kipling and Spencer, James and Hawthorne, monkey’s paws, gothic castles. The almost requisite zombies, vampires and shapeshifters make their appearance, as do sinister science-fiction technologies. With these familiar elements come the expected themes: hubris, short-sightedness, betrayal.

The point, of course, isn’t originality. That’s the thing about fairy tales and classics. They’re not new even when they are new, but immediately tap into something familiar. When we hear them for the first time, we feel like we’re being told something we’ve already heard before. It’s their universal and timeless appeal that defines them. Sometimes, they even feel primordial. They tap into fears and anxieties that humanity has always faced—the fear of death, of possession, of the end of the world, of being bound by laws over which we have no control. They also tap into desires—who doesn’t believe, on some level, that technology is the solution to all our problems? Who hasn’t dreamt of living forever? Who isn’t searching for love? Riches? Power? Acceptance?

These authors understand that such stories are more than stories. They are our shared experience. The authors demonstrate this understanding by making good on their promise to bring modern voices and perspectives to these tales, infusing them with contemporary values and politics: feminism, diversity, tolerance. In “The Sleeper and the Spindle” by Gaiman, Sleeping Beauty is rescued not by a prince, but by Snow White—a fellow princess who has experience in dealing with enchanted sleep and old witches. Snow White isn’t a shrinking violet either, but a shrewd, pragmatic monarch who has been toughened by her ordeal. In “The Soul Collector,” Kami Garcia paints the miller who sells out his daughter as a drug addict who’s willing to pimp his daughter out for a fix. Saladin Ahmed, conscious of how Western literature has treated women and non-Christians, re-tells “The Faerie Queene” with the Saracens as the protagonists.

In other tales, the authors introduce purely modern dilemmas. Margaret Stohl’s “Sirroco” brings a film crew to the Castle of Otronto. They disregard the warnings of a curse in order to get the movie done, seal the deal, make the buck. Along the way, we experience the obnoxiousness of celebrity, of Hollywood’s self-importance, of children raised on the worship of people on a screen. In Rick Yancey’s “When First We Were Gods,” immortality is possible for the ultra-rich by being able to essentially download your soul onto a credit card and swipe it into a new body, exploring the dichotomy between the one-percenters and the rest of us poor bastards who can’t afford healthcare. It also explores boredom that accompanies the pampered and the long-lived, resulting in pointless, repetitive jobs and serial divorce. Carrie Ryan’s “That the Machine May Progress Eternally” reminded me of Wall-E, set on an ecologically devastated planet, which has left half of humanity reduced to fat, formless white blobs who now live out their lives in front of a computer. The warning rings loud and clear: don’t become slaves to the machine.

These tales are all richly, lovingly told. This is why so many of us started writing in the first place—we never let go of our childhood love of stories, the thrill we felt at discovering a classic inside or outside of the classroom. The stories are what matter, the stories we carry with us wherever we go.

My only quibble is that in between tales, the editors for some reason included descriptions and illustrations from other famous works. It was a little confusing, as I expected that these were supposed to be the sources of inspiration. It turns out, the author’s note explaining the source material comes after the tale. Once I caught on that these descriptions were unrelated, it in no way detracted from my enjoyment of the rest of the work.

Usually, when I read an anthology, I end up skipping at least one story. Not so with Rag and Bones. In fact, I was disappointed when it ended. I was eager to turn the page and find another gem, another shared experience opportunity offered by these lovely authors.

[All Things Urban Fantasy · Rating 5 out of 5]

RAGS & BONES is a gorgeously curated collection of short stories, as satisfying for the glimpses of each story’s origin story as the final product. Have you ever wished you could be a fly on the wall when your favorite author pitches an idea? See a little piece of art through their creative lens? As favorite authors distill classic tales to their essence, this anthology was immersive and thought provoking, a masters class in the creative process with an all star attendance list.

Many of the inspirations for these stories were unfamiliar, but that proved as intriguing as the stories themselves. Each author included a short note, offering a connection to the source material through their eyes. Updating classic sources with a new perspective and a fresh voice, I found myself enjoying the narrative, contemplating the moral complexities faced by characters, and then mentally retracing how the author’s original experience with a story gave birth to a new perspective. I find myself unable to pick a favorite, these stories are one delight after another. Neil Gaiman’s badass Snow White begs for future adventures, and even the stories without a happy ending leave me haunted and daydreaming. Saladin Ahmed’s heartbreaking brothers, Kami Garcia’s damaged cop or Carrie Ryan’s hapless, hopeless traveler are all so gorgeous, this collection contains so many hits and very few misses.

The narrative style of RAGS & BONES serves as a self contained book club, offering both the pleasure of well written stories and the connective sinew of the author’s own experiences. With these gorgeous illustrations and thought provoking, clever stories, I find myself simultaneously clutching my copy and wishing I could share it with every reader in my life. Maybe I’ll give them their own copy one day, but I can’t bear to part with mine yet.

Sexual Content: Non-explicit references to sex and rape.

[Nancy The book junkie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 3.5/5

Review to come!

[mads · Rating 5 out of 5]

DNF this in 2015 and never thought that I would pick it up and re-read it again. These short stories are, shortly, amazing. They were written beautifully and I love how these stories start off, not with introductions and what-nots but they all just jumped straight into the middle of all of these different worlds and then you get to read and see them unfold and at the end everything just clicks and it left me feeling "Well, shit, I didn't see that coming."

Some of my favourites are That the Machine May Progress Eternally by Carrie Ryan (this gives me black mirror-esque vibe and it totally gave me chills), Losing Her Divinity by Garth Nix (told in a hilarious point of view), When First We Were Gods by Rick Yancey, and New Chicago by Kelley Armstrong.

[Tess · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly, I wish they hadn't tried to emphasize that these short stories are based on other works.
For most of these I had never read the inspiration story and therefore had no basis on how "rags and bones" the story had been boiled down to. Since I, and many readers, are not familiar with the inspiration stories it would have been much better to have the Author's Note for each story at the beginning, rather than end, so when reading the short story you'd have a basic idea of where they were going with it.
Overall, though, I would have much preferred just to read original stories that drew inspiration from previous works the same way all art is inspired by previous works.

A few of these were very good. The Monkey's Paw retelling by Kelly Armstrong was pretty freaky. The Machine, the first story, was a solid interesting and surprising science fiction.
Many of the stories I could have skipped.

Not a bad collection of stories, on the whole, but I don't think the plan behind the anthology really came through.

[Sarah Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars

I didn't really enjoy this one. Short stories are a real hit or miss for me.

* That the Machine May Progress Eternally - About a boy who doesn't like the machine, but then comes to love it. This was okay, but maybe a bit too long for my tastes.

* The King of Elfland's Daughter - 1 picture, and about a page of text. Bit pointless.

* Losing Her Divinity - A man helps a woman to escape from those people pursuing her, and finds out that she is actually a Goddess. The whole story was told as a monologue from one rather irritating man, who continually went off on tangents, blathering about useless nonsense. Irritating.

* The Sleeper and the Spindle - Snow White has to go and save Sleeping Beauty basically. It's noted that the people of the castle would never understand what happened, and I have to say that neither will I. Where the hell did the bones come from? I'm puzzled 🤔

* Kai Lung's Golden Hours - Another random picture and snippet.

* The Cold Corner - About a man who goes home and keeps seeing other versions of himself who have followed different paths. Weird and a bit too long.

* Millcara - Story about a young vampire girl, who her mother repeatedly tricks people into taking in, and taking care of. The ending of this confused me though, did Laura really die? It wasn't exactly clear!

* Figures of Earth - Another picture and short bit of writing.

* When First We Were Gods - Story about a world in which the priviledged get to live forever. It was clever of Beneficent to work out a way to be with Georgiana, but based on what she had previously told him, it seemed pretty clear that she didn't want to be immortal.

* Sirocco - About a film crew at a castle in Italy. Some old lady uses a shifter who can turn into a crow or human, to kill two kids on the set to try to get rid of the Americans.

* The Shaving of Shagpat - Another random picture. Not sure what the point of these is.

* Awakening - About a selkie who is trapped by a man she doesn't love, and fears that she will never get her skin back, and that he will take her away from the sea forever.

* New Chicago - About a boy living in a world in which people get infected, and start trying to bite and infect other people. This one pissed me off because there was no end! We never got to find out what Cole chose!

* The Wood Beyond The World - Another random picture. Bored with these.

* The Soul Collector - About a girl who has to trade her soul to save her boyfriend's life, but then when the soul collector comes to collect her boyfriend sacrifices himself to save her.

* Without Faith, Without Law, Without Joy - About three brothers who have been captured, and have spent so long that way that they only know their new names, not their original names. Their new names are Faithless, Lawless, and Joyless. Joyless saves the day.

* Goblin Market - Picture.

* Uncaged - A man goes to rescue a caged woman, not knowing until too late that she is a leopard shifter.

[Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

"That the Machine May Progress Eternally" by Carrie Ryan - 3 stars (read Jan 19, 2023)
Inspired by E.M. Forester’s “The Machine Stops.” I thought this was good!

"Losing Her Divinity" by Garth Nix - 1 star (read Jan 19, 2023)
Inspired by Rudyard Kipling’s “The Man Who Would Be King.” This one was not for me. It was kinda cool how it was narrated, but the story didn’t work for me personally.

"The Sleeper and the Spindle" by Neil Gaiman - 4 stars (read Jan 20, 2023)
Inspired by “Sleeping Beauty.” Oh, this was magnificent! Snow White and the dwarfs coming to save Sleeping Beauty?? 🙌🏻 Plus, there was an incredible plot twist!

"The Cold Corner" by Tim Pratt - 3 stars (read Jan 20, 2023)
Inspired by Henry James’ “The Jolly Corner.” This was pretty cool! Definitely an interesting concept.

"Millcara" by Holly Black - 3.5 stars (read Jan 20, 2023)
Inspired by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla. This was good! Holly Black loves her vampires 😂

"When First We Were Gods" by Rick Yancey - 4 stars (read Jan 21, 2023)
Inspired by Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birth-Mark.” This kinda blew my mind! Going into it, I was prepared to skim if it didn’t interest me because at 60 pages it was the longest short story in the collection, and I have no patience 😂 But I found myself hooked! The story was incredibly interesting, the characters unlikeable in such a believable way, and the science of eternal life a little terrifying! I thought this was awesome.

"Sirocco" by Margaret Stohl - 3.5 stars (read Jan 21, 2023)
Inspired by Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto. I loved the Italian setting and film set setting of this one! It was good, but a little confusing in the end.

"Awakened" by Melissa Marr - 1.5 stars (read Jan 21, 2023)
Inspired by Kate Chopin’s The Awakening. I mean, I figured I wouldn’t like something related to The Awakening lol. It was written well enough, but just not my thing. Leo was a complete psychopath 😳

"New Chicago" by Kelley Armstrong - 4 stars (read Jan 22, 2023)
Inspired by W.W. Jacobs’s “The Monkey’s Paw.” I thought this was wonderfully done! A great retelling of this story.

"The Soul Collector" by Kami Garcia - 3 stars (read Jan 22, 2023)
Inspired by the Brothers Grimm’s “Rumpelstiltskin.” This was good but didn’t blow my mind or anything.

"Without Faith, Without Law, Without Joy" by Saladin Ahmed - 1 star (read Jan 22, 2023)
Inspired by Sir Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene I didn’t care for this story at all and ended up skimming most of it. I did love the reason the author got the idea for this, though.

"Uncaged" by Gene Wolfe - DNF (read Jan 22, 2023)
Inspired by William B. Seabrook’s “The Caged White Werewolf of the Saraban.” Didn’t care about this one at all.

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

This time I'll start by recommending a review, that by Mir at https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..., currently with more than 2-score Likes, and also the thread of comments on it.

And I'll go on to add my own comments on that review--most especially about Charles Vess's contribution. (Scroll down to see--please!)

Tim Pratt's "The Cold Corner: A New Twist on a Timeless Tale" is in fact not predictable from Henry James's The Jolly Corner, whose plot a dip into Wikipedia either told or reminded me of. Pratt's premise, but in no way his plot, is predictable from the narrator's first encounter with oddity, quite independent from James. And the result is highly enjoyable.

The spin-off from E M Forster's The Machine Stops, "That the Machine May Progress Eternally", was indeed the more interesting--I hesitate to say enjoyable--because I had happened to recently read Forster's classic in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two B: The Greatest Science Fiction Novellas of All Time Chosen by the Members of the Science Fiction Writers of America.

On the other hand, I want to testify that it didn't take having read Sheridan le Fanu's Carmilla to make Holly Black's "Millcara" transparent from the git-go. (I've read and liked plenty of other le Fanu over the years, but I don't think they included that one.)

Nothing to say on the other stories that Mir hasn't said at least as well as I could. And like her, I skipped those I didn't care to read. (E.g., everyone ought to read "The Monkey's Paw" once, but I don't feel obliged ever to repeat the experience, not even second-hand.)

But now I want to do what I really came here for: Celebrate the works that Charles Vess has illustrated title pages for!

Back in the old days, after we'd all stopped dreading pterodactyl attacks from above but before the Internet, Lin Carter of happy memory edited the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series, which "reissued a number of works of fantasy literature which were out of print or dispersed in back issues of pulp magazines (or otherwise not easily available in the United States), in cheap paperback form" (thank you, Wikipedia), thus sustaining us Tolkien fans until new authors could catch up--or be caught up on by publishers.

Seeing Vess's choices, all of them now available from Project Gutenberg at https://www.gutenberg.org/, and reading his commentary on them, was a blast of nostalgia over me for those many months when I happily anticipated yet another installment in that series. I wholeheartedly recommend them all to you now as the very best and most effective sort of escape literature.

The King of Elfland's Daughter by Lord Dunsany.

Kai Lung's Golden Hours by Ernest Bramah.

Figures of Earth by James Branch Cabell.

The Shaving of Shagpat by George Meredith.

The Wood Beyond the World by William Morris.

Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti.

On my honor, you really must at least try each of these--and if you like one there are, with the exception of Meredith, similar jewels from the same author.

[Crystal · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am usually not a huge fan of anthologies or short stories, but when I saw that the line up included in Rags & Bones I just had to get my hands on a copy! I am so thankful that I did give this one chance because it was truly amazing.

Every story in this book was awesome and no I am not kidding. Most short stories leave me feeling very unsatisfied and some tend to make me feel like I have stepped into the middle of a story, but the wonderful authors in this one had everything times perfectly and I can't honestly think of one bad thing to say about any of the stories.

Since I loved every story I thought I would just review my top 3 favorites. Melissa Marr, Holly Black, and Carrie Ryan had in my opinion the strongest stories. That does not mean that the rest weren't amazing, these three women just caught my attention a little bit more than the rest.

Melissa Marr gives us a look into the dark mind of a human who catches a selchie woman. This story was deeply disturbing but also heart breaking. What if you hurt everybody you knew and the only way for you to truly have someone in your life was if you had spellbinding rules that kept you from hurting them. We get to find out what Leo does with this decision when he captures Eden. I really fell into this story and Marr's writing like I always do when I read her words. It was definitely my favorite and I only wish that one day we might see a selchie novel from her.

Carrie Ryan's story was just as fantastic as Marr's but very very different. In this one we get to see what happens when mankind has to retreat to the Underground and live among the Machine. The Machine is a place that isolates all humans, but gives them everything they could possibly need at the push of a button. Food, bath, bed everything is included. Tavil finds himself thrown into this strange world and after many years he has to decide whether to stay inside the technology filled walls or brave the Surface from which he is from. I won't tell you what he decides, but I will say it is quite interesting to read his tale. I think we as a community are so technology driven that it makes me really think about what would happen if this were reality. I really loved that this story made me think!

And last but not least is Ms. Holly Black. I love Black and her creepiness and her story was brilliant. It showed what one will do to keep love at all costs. I don't want to say too much about this one since it does have a surprise element to it that I loved, so I will just say that you won't be disappointed in this short story. It is short but it packs an awesome punch that stays true to Ms. Blacks style!

I loved that this anthology was a collection of works inspired by other fairy tales. It was very interesting to read the authors notes and why they chose what they did to write about. This book will go on my favorites shelf and I foresee lots of rereading in my furture!

[Evie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rags & Bones is an excellent collection of short stories that showcases some of the best writers of our generation and their ability to take something old and well-known and then flip it inside out, creating something new, flavorful and often times even better than the original sources of inspiration. Kelley Armstrong, Holly Black, Rick Yancey, Garth Nix and Neil Gaiman are just a few of the bestselling authors who contributed to this eclectic anthology. Edited by the utmost talented Melissa Marr and Tim Pratt, Rags & Bones invites the reader to join the authors as they re-visit some of the iconic tales that inspired generations of writers and artists.

There are twelve stories in this collection, and they all range in styles, structures and tones. From fantasy and fairy tales to gothic thrillers, futuristic dystopian visions and disturbing post-apocalyptic worlds, they're all flavorful, imaginative and undeniably compelling. Some are more hopeful and optimistic, others ooze darkness and desperation. Similarly, some are closer to their literary origins, while others depart farther and make bolder statements. Overall, though, all these stories are utterly fascinating and executed with care. They're entertaining, thought-provoking and magical.

Of course, some of them were more to my taste than others, but I can honestly say that there wasn't a story in this anthology that I didn't enjoy. Even if I knew next to nothing about the original tale that inspired it. No need to worry about feeling lost or confused, though, each story in this book is accompanied by an author's note that tells us all we need to know about the inspiration behind it.

If I were to pick one story that made the biggest impression on me, I'd have to go with Carrie Ryan's That The Machine May Progress Eternally, in which she revisits the bleak post-apocalyptic reality from E. M. Forster's The Machine Stops. E.M. Foster's tale envisions a future in which human kind has abandoned the surface of the Earth and was forced to move underground, where people now live in isolated chambers with "the Machine" taking care of all their needs. The story is sad and disturbing in many ways, but it's also thought-inspiring and profound in its essence. It's a meaningful tale about humanity's crippling addiction to technology and the dangerous consequences that follow. In her tale, Carrie Ryan shows us what happens to a person from the surface who accidentally gets trapped in one of the underground cells. Her story is just as fascinating and eye-opening as it is deeply disturbing and bone-chilling.

I highly recommend this anthology. It's the most delicious box of chocolates you'll ever taste, and you'll be delighted with the variety of textures and flavors you'll discover within.

[Liza Wiemer]

Rags & Bones: New Twists on Timeless Tales is filled with stories we heard as children, now re-imagined and retold by numerous talented authors. They're creepy and scary, haunting and as memorable as some of the "originals."

Imagine living in a machine.
Imagine a monkey paw that grants wishes but with horrible consequences.
Imagine a woman who turns into a leopard and kills children.
Imagine selling your soul to the devil to save someone you love.
Imagine a goddess who wants to be human.
Imagine Sleeping Beauty rescued by a woman and not a prince. (Written by Neil Gaiman!)
Imagine changing the size and shape of your body and living for eternity.
With these stories, there's lots to imagine.

These are just a few of the ideas you'll encounter in these tales. The stories are horror, dystopian, and fantasy, the weird and the freaky. There's love and lust, sex and drugs, there's good and evil, and your worst nightmares. Pick and choose what you want to read. And in any order, it doesn't matter, which is awesome. I personally read each one straight through from beginning to end. But hey, I'm pretty conventional.

I think it's important to note that I am usually not a fan of horror or anything remotely scary. Setting that aside, I really got into this compilation of tales. That says a lot about the authors and the stories they told.

So, if you are ready to get into the Halloween spirit or are just a fan of things that are creepy, scary . . . then you will LOVE Rags & Bones: New Twists on Timeless Tales.

[scafandr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Мне продолжают нравится сборники рассказов. Как обычно, не все сборники распрекрасные, но пару-тройку интересных литературных алмазов найти всё же удаётся. С этим сборником мне было сложно от того, что на него практически нигде нет отзывов, а оценки варьируются от 5 до 7. Средняя оценка в 6 с копейками не внушает доверия. Обычно в таких случаях я либо пропускаю книгу, либо беру её где-то по очень выгодной цене. У меня сработал как раз второй вариант - совершенно неожиданно покет стоил совсем мало денег. Я тогда даже подумал, что если вдруг сборник окажется унылым, мне не жалко будет его пустить на растопку мангала для шашлыков=)
Честно говоря, ожидал от сборника разочарования (всё-таки чужие оценки влияют на восприятие), но чтение шло ровно - рассказы были как проходные, так и весьма занятные. Ближе к середине несколько рассказов так и вовсе меня порадовали. А качество рассказов скатилось лишь ближе к концу.
Итак, что понравилось больше всего.
Рик Янси "Сначала мы были богами". Сюжет для меня не нов. В далёком будущем люди, у которых есть много денег, научились копировать себя и внедрять сознание в новое тело. Таким образом можно существовать вечно. В данном рассказе упор идёт на отношения. Рокфеллер, которому много-много лет, влюбился в самую обычную женщину, служанку, которая живёт одной жизнью. Он понимает, что у него не может быть никаких отношений с ней, но он спустя много лет наконец-то смог влюбиться, и ему очень не хочется упустить возможность прожить какое-то время счастливо. А в идеале хотелось бы жить счастливо постоянно. Но как это объяснить же��е и любимой женщине, которой противна идея смены тела. Самый длинный рассказ в сборнике и самый интересный.
Второй понравившийся рассказ - "Пробуждённая" Мелиссы Марр. И снова сюжет не нов. Селка (тюлень, который может превращаться в очень красивую девушку) вышла на сушу, но её шкуру украл человек, а значит он может делать с ней всё, что захочет. Например, заставить её выйти за него замуж. Это рассказ про чувства, про то, как тебя принуждают любить то, что ты априори не можешь любить. Довольно женский рассказ, одновременно лёгкий и в тот же момент тяжёлый. Я прекрасно понимал девушку-оборотня, и очень надеюсь, что никто не будет в реальной жизни мучить человека, если у него нет обратных чувств.
Пять рассказов я отметил на семёрочку. Например, "Веретено и дева" Нила Геймана. Этот рассказ я читал раньше. Мэшап Белоснежки и Спящей красавицы. Или "Миллкара" Холли Блэк - про необычную девочку, которую подбросили семье (почему-то после этого в семье начались болезни и смерти).
Остальные рассказы ничем особенным не запомнились. Есть иллюстрации, которые немного странно смотрятся в сборнике, т.к. они не относятся ни к одному из рассказов.
Мне кажется, главная слабость сборника в том, что антология создана по рассказам и сказкам, которых мы не знаем. Все рассказы в "Сборщике душ" - это переделки старых рассказов, которые нравятся авторам. Очень сложно оценить новодел без знания оригинала. Ты не знаешь, что изменил автор и что оставил без изменения. Возможно из-за этого сборник и не получил популярности. Я готовился к чему-то более скучному. К обилию глупых новомодных течений, популярных в современной западной литературе (благо, был лишь один бисексуал, чья сексуальность никак не влияла на сюжет, при этом сам рассказ вполне неплох), унылому пересказу старых известных сказок и т.д. Но нет, вполне читабельный сборник. Не шедевр, но ничем не хуже других похожих сборников.
7/10.

[Shruthi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some stories were interesting, some bland and forgettable. Do not read this expecting fairytale retellings like I did. There are some retellings of some very obscure tales that I have not even heard of.

[Mythlee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the stronger anthologies I've read in quite some time. The standouts for me were 'Sirocco', 'The Soul Collector', and 'Without Faith, Without Law, Without Joy'.

***½ That the Machine May Progress Eternally by Carrie Ryan (E. M. Forster's 'The Machine Stops') - a suitable counterpart to the EMF story
**** Losing Her Divinity by Garth Nix (Rudyard Kipling's 'The Man Who Would Be King') - I love Nix's stories featuring Sir Hereward and the Sorcerous Puppet, and this was no exception. A pleasure to read.
***½ The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman ('Sleeping Beauty') - this one I'd listened to recently and found a little empty in the end, though the twist is nice when our heroine finds the sleeper.
**** The Cold Corner by Tim Pratt (Henry James's 'The Jolly Corner') - I particularly liked this one, as it went in a direction I did not expect and it made me want to read the original
**** Millcara by Holly Black (Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's 'Carmilla')
**** When First We Were Gods by Rick Yancey (Nathaniel Hawthorne's 'The Birth-Mark') - this one felt very familiar, even predictable... but I think that's because I'd read it before. It was still well done.
***** Sirocco by Margaret Stohl (Horace Walpole's 'The Castle of Otranto')
**** Awakened by Melissa Marr (Kate Chopin's 'The Awakening') - this was painful and familiar.
**** New Chicago by Kelley Armstrong (W. W. Jacobs's 'The Monkey's Paw')
***** The Soul Collector by Kami Garcia (The Brothers Grimm's 'Rumpelstiltskin')
***** Without Faith, Without Law, Without Joy by Saladin Ahmed (Sir Edmund Spenser's 'The Faerie Queene') - This is the story for which I sought out the collectoin; I'd first heard it on Podcastle.
Uncaged by Gene Wolfe (William Seabrook's 'The Caged White Werewolf of the Saraban')

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received my copy from the Goodreads Firstreads program. This is an anthology in which thirteen popular writers took classic stories which had influenced them and wrote their own stories as retellings or continuations inspired by the original pieces. I'll confess that I wasn't familiar with all of the originals, and think the book would have been enhanced by an explanation of their place and provenance. My favorite was Kelley Armstrong's version of "The Monkey's Paw," and I also enjoyed stories by Neil Gaiman, Gene Wolfe, and Kami Garcia. The only story that I especially disliked was based on a work by Nathaniel Hawthorne, which I thought was interesting because I always detested Hawthorne. I had an English teacher once who assigned reading Hawthorne as a punishment to unruly students, and I was forced to read more than my share. Most of the stories are just okay pieces; none of them really blinded me. There are a half-dozen nice works of art from Charles Vess based on classic fantasies included, too. All in all it's a pretty good selection, though I don't think it was quite all that it could have been.

[Christina (A Reader of Fictions) · Rating 4 out of 5]

With anthologies, the reading experience is always going to be a mixed bag. Rags & Bones is one I’ll remember as a favorite anthology. Typically, I struggle a bit with short stories, but the good solidly outweighed the rest in this one. The concept, too, is delightfully original. Rather than retelling fairy tales (for the most part), these authors tackle lesser-known classic tales to great effect.

Read the full review at A Reader of Fictions.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bought at the delightful Moonraker Books on Whidbey Island, and consumed in nightly installments in a cabin with the Hedgebrook tribe. Highlights include the Neil Gaiman (surprisingly--I usually don't love his stuff), Holly Black, and Saladin Ahmed pieces. Great illustrations interspersed throughout, by Charles Vess. A nice idea for an anthology--modern stories riffing on sources from The Faerie Queene to The Awakening--and the line drawings are a bonus.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Apparently, I gave this book three stars the first time I read it. And I didn't write a review. Well, this is the second time, and I have bumped the score up to a four. And now I have a review. :)

[Hazel West · Rating 2 out of 5]

I always love short story anthologies, and I love retellings of any kind so this was a definite must read for me. And while I didn't care for a lot of the stories in this collection, I don't regret reading it either. I enjoy short stories mostly for the fact that a lot of time it forces me to broaden my normal reading horizons that can be, for the most part, rather safe and normal, and I actually did enjoy some of the stories in here that I didn't totally expect to.

"That the Machine May Progress" was strange, and I didn't care much for that one. Not my kind of read, in fact, I really dislike those kinds of stories, but I did understand what the author was saying, which is more than I can say for some of the other stories in here.

"Losing Her Divinity" was interesting; I have always been a fan of Rudyard Kipling and I thought this story did a pretty good job of emulating his form. It was a little hard to follow at first but once I got the cadence of the narration, I enjoyed the story at least for the writing style. The story itself...meh.

"The Sleeper and the Spindle" by Neil Gaiman was probably my favorite story of the collection. It was more classic retelling, though with a really cool twist. I liked the dark, gothic feel to it, and I thought the idea of mixing Sleeping Beauty and Snow White was cool. Gaimen's writing style fits fairy tales very well too, so it really kept that fairy tale feel, and I liked the added touch of his never mentioning names. While I may not think that's a good idea in a novel, it works great for short stories and especially fairy tales.

I skipped "The Cold Corner" and "Millcara" and I tried to read "When First We Were Gods" by Rick Yancey, but just couldn't get into it. Frankly I thought it was stupid, and I didn't have the patience to wade through it just to give my opinion, skimming was quite enough for me, I got the gist of the story.

"Sirocco" was interesting, and I really liked the feel of it. That was another story that I actually did enjoy. I liked it because it had the gothic feel of a classic horror story, but it almost seemed like nothing was going to happen and then the end came with a bam and I was left feeling creeped out in a good way.

Then there is "Awakened" by Melissa Mar. I apologize in advance for the mini rant. I love Celtic legends, don't get me wrong, but I have never read a selkie story I liked. Frankly, I can't feel sorry for the selkie girls because, number one, they're no better than prostitutes anyway, so I don't see why they care so much being taken captive, and two, if they really don't want to be taken captive, can't they hide their bloody skins a little better? Seriously. And this story was so obviously a cry for feminism, which always annoy me because so often the girls do nothing to better their situation anyway so I can't feel sorry for them because they're pathetic. I hated all the characters, and it's obvious that there can't possibly be a good and kind male character in this story because these stories never have them. The message is simply "men are evil." And I'm done with these stories. Sorry, but that's my opinion.

"New Chicago" I actually liked a lot better than I expected to. I usually don't care for these kinds of setting where the world is practically wiped out because of a disease. it's so overdone and just bleh. And I admit, that I still wasn't horrible fond of the setting, and I mainly liked the story because of the brotherly relationship (which I always adore.) Cole's affection for his older brother was nice to see, even if it was his weakness, I couldn't blame him for what he did, because I think that in my position I would have done the same.

"The Soul Collector" was another one I didn't think I'd care for, but I actually enjoyed it, and thought it was a very interesting take on "Rumplestilskin." I'm not always a fan of such dark contemporary fiction, but as a short story, it was okay and I liked Petra, because she was a kind of flawed, dark character, yet still she was wary to kill anyone after killing her foster father in self defense and I could respect her for that. I also would like to mention that fact that the reason I liked her more than Eden from "Awakened" is because she actually took the initiative and wasn't going to let anyone sell her off.

And the weirdest story in this whole book was "Without Faith, Without Law, Without Joy". Seriously. It's supposed to be a retelling of Spencer's Faerie Queene and I have read that, and this just didn't seem like it. Honestly, I have no idea what the author was trying to portray with this story, I have no idea what the point of it was, if there was a moral. The best I could come up with is that it was some sort of allegory for the Crusades, but that's probably not it. Even the author's note doesn't really shed any light. It's just a total mess, and written in such a jumbled mass that I could hardly know what was going on at any given time.

"Uncaged" by Gene Wolf was another that I really didn't see the point to. It was kind of slow and boring and it meandered, and didn't really seem to have a beginning, middle or end. It was almost like a middle of a story with no real resolution and just a bunch of random events. I had a bit of trouble figuring out exactly who was who and what bits were happening "now" and what bits were flashbacks. I just wasn't impressed. Maybe I would understand it if I read the original story, but I don't really care to make the effort.

In any case, I found the stories interesting and I really liked the illustrations throughout as well. Overall, I rate the book 2 stars.

[sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

That the Machine May Progress Eternally ★★★☆☆
Losing Her Divinity ★☆☆☆☆
The Sleeper and the Spindle ★★★½☆
The Cold Corner ★★★½☆
Millcara ★★★★½
When First We Were Gods ★★★½☆
Sirocco ★½☆☆☆
Awakened ★★★★☆
New Chicago ★★☆☆☆
The Soul Collector ★★★☆☆
Without Faith, Without Law, Without Joy ★½☆☆☆
Uncaged ★☆☆☆☆

[Gala · Rating 4 out of 5]

Я довго шукала цю збірку, а потім куп��ла обсолютно випадково - бо хто ж знав що назву з англійської перекладуть саме так.

Це було приємне вечірнє недільне читання. Я люблю інший погляд на знайомі історії, проблема тут була лише в тому, що не всі з історій я читала в первинному вигляді. Зі знайомих мені найбільше припала до душі Кармілла, але не вона одна, звичайно.

[Jenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I skipped about, reading the stories that caught my eye. So I'll review the ones that I did read separately. Each with their own little star rating as well, since it's hard to judge a compilation when I admittedly skipped about a bit.

Losing her Divinity by Garth Nix - 3.5 stars

Discussing godlets with their priests is often fraught with difficulty, and this search for a goddess who had not left, or who possibly had, but under a different name, was very much in keeping with the tradition of godlets who did not at all correspond to their priesthood's teachings or texts.

While the beginning narration of this short story was a tad tedious, once the actual tale began, I was instantly gripped and intrigued throughout. The world was bizarre and the mysticism and the relationship between the godlet and the narrator was disturbing to read. I can't quite tell what happened in the end, but I'm glad that I read it!

The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman - 5 stars

They walked to the east, all four of them, away from the sunset and the lands they knew, and into the night.

Admittedly I picked up this compilation because I wanted to read this short story. I'm not biased whatsoever. While I'm not as much a fan of his short stories, this one I did like. It was short, concise, and immediately gripping. I enjoyed the lyrical nature of the writing (as usual) and the recreation of fairy tales. Reminiscent of Stardust and made me think of how Beowulf was redone. Also, since I'm watching Once Upon a Time, it made me think of it. It would be wonderful if Gaiman could do an episode, although it'd probably end up too dark for television...

Plotwise, I especially liked the multiple twists that received, changing our prior conceptions of good and evil. And, of course, I liked the end.

Cold Corner by Tim Pratt - 4 stars

The food was...well, I'm a cook, not a food writer, but it was like eating my childhood memories.

Nom nom. I actually started reading this short story because it made me want to eat the barbeque described, but then the story pulled me in. It was also bizarre, odd, and disturbing to think about. I like the idea of parallel dimensions so this rendition was extremely intriguing to think about different versions of me wandering about. I wonder if there would be any versions that dislike reading...

Millcara by Holly Black - 3.5 stars

Wake up, so we can drink secrets together. Wake up. I love you. The stars are shining down on us.... The sun is coming. Wake up and run through the streets with me, run through the world with me. Wakeupwakeupwakeup.

At first, didn't quite get pulled into this story, but the more I continued, the more I got spooked (quite like Doll Bones). The narrator was almost hypnotic to "listen" to after a while. Don't want to give it away, but it did become a quick read and when we got closer and closer to the end, I guessed what was going to happen and really didn't want it to happen. But, of course, it did. Brrr.

When We First Were Gods by Rick Yancey - 4 stars

I believe in love... In spite of life eternal...and because of it.

Haunting and disturbing and I couldn't sympathize with the characters at all, but that was most likely the whole point of this short story. Couldn't stop reading. And now I want to reread the Monstrumologist. The imagery of this I could easily see as becoming a sci-fi dystopian movie. But they'd probably add explosions and laser pistols and ruin it.

Awakened by Melissa Marr - 3 stars

Other me have looked at me that way. I've walked on shore, and I've known en. None of them knew that there was another shape to me. They saw only this skin.

Started reading this and immediately started thinking, "Ayashi no ceres!" I read this but I couldn't get into it, but think it's important the themes that are discussed within it. But I still wasn't sure about the writing style and how the characters played out.

New Chicago by Kelley Armstrong - 4 stars

The infected were not zombies. The hadn't died; they weren't rotting. They'd just changed. They'd become feral.

Spooky, worrying, and made me want to rewatch the Simpson's episode. I'm not sure if I'd be up to reading the actual story.

Uncaged by Gene Wolfe - 4 stars

She was kai gaibou, a leopard, meaning possessed by a panther spirit.

My reviews are getting shorter and shorter. But this was yet another disturbing story that I kept on reading and couldn't quite put down. Again, couldn't agree with the narrator's decisions and what that does to the plot of the book, but still it was quite intriguing to read.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVED! Definitely a must-read for fantasy fans. Haunting, lyrical and beautiful stories.

[Jodie Portugal · Rating 5 out of 5]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2u2Nd...

[Georgann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perfectly nice stories based on other stories, favorites of the authors. Nary a one stood out to me.

[Jessica Mocha]

This book is a collection of short stories that are twists on fairy tales of old. "Soul Collector" by Kami Garcia. This story is a modern day twist on the Grim Brothers "Rumpelstiltskin". Instead of the story being set in a lad of magic and fairy tales, the story takes place in a realistic setting and takes a look at organized crime.
This story is perfect to use in a middle school classroom because it changes things up a little bit and gives them a break from the classics they usually read. It also gives them a modern day perspective an story they might be more interested in. This text can easily be used as a mentor text for a writing prompt in which students pick their favorite fairy tale and modernize it into a REALLY short story. The have to use the same characters as in the first story and have a similar plot line, but set it in a time and place that is familiar to them. This shows the concept of change by showing how a few changes can affect a whole story and turn it into something new while helping the students work on their creative writing.

[Varunika Sood · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5
Twist to the classic tales.can be better but altogether nice one time read for sure

[Ann-Marie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was hoping to enjoy this short story anthology more than I did. I actually had a hard time getting through it. So instead of writing about what I didn't like, I'll only concentrate on the stories that I did like, or at least the ones that captured my imagination.

The first story by Carrie Ryan is based on E.M. Forster's "The Machine Stops". It started off slow for me but it turned out to be an intriguing read on the dangers of becoming too dependent on technology. It was kinda creepy how that could happen without you realizing it at first. While reading it I couldn't help but picture all the humans in "Wall-E". When I think of Forster I think of "A Passage to India" and Merchant Ivory films, not post-apocalyptic settings. So it was interesting to find out that he had ventured into that world.

Next up, Garth Nix. The man responsible for one of my favorite books ever, "Sabriel". If you're familiar with his work and Rudyard Kipling's "The Man Who Would Be King" (the story Nix had chosen to put a new twist on) then you'll get all the little nuances in this short story. If not, you can still read it without feeling completely lost. The ending was abrupt but fitting.

The third entry is Neil Gaiman's new angle on "Sleeping Beauty". I really liked the concept. It contains two fairy tales blended together, quite well I thought. No names were used but it becomes apparent soon enough who the main character is. This is the first story I've read by Gaiman. I never really had an interest in any of his work although I did like the movie adaptation of "Stardust", yet that still didn't pull me into his writings. But now I'm a little intrigued by him and if this short story ever somehow evolved into a fully fleshed out novel, I'd read it.

Fast forward to Rick Yancey's contribution, "When First We Were Gods", his take on Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Birth-Mark". I found it to be a disturbing futuristic tale on perfection, envy, mad love, and what can happen after you attain that ambitious goal: Everything. Once that happens, you're then left with an insatiable hunger for life which soon becomes redundant, pointless. For some reason it was very easy to picture Michael Fassbender as the lead main character doomed by love, Beneficent. I guess for me he just has that something about him to play such an obsessed and perfectly flawed character so well.

Finally, the last one that pulled me in, Kelley Armstrong's "New Chicago". Her twist on "The Monkey's Paw". I had to read the original short story once in school, but it was The Simpsons' take on it in one of their Treehouse of Horror episodes that left an impression on me. Great episode by the way. In Armstrong's story, a boy gets hold of the monkey's paw and is allowed three wishes in the midst of a pandemic, which makes people feral, and in a way, almost zombie like. Needless to say, the poor boy finds out the hard way to be careful for what you wish for.

And that's about all the stories that really held my attention. The rest were not for me. There's some language, sex, and violence sprinkled throughout this collection so I would say that this is more for the older YA set. I won this book in a First Reads Giveaway here on Goodreads and was happy to get it. I just wish it was a better read all the way through.