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Tales & Transformations: Stories by Melissa Mead
Melissa Mead left a legacy of enchanting stories.
She wrote twisted fairy tales, magical fantasy, and emotional stories of transformation — stories both humorous and heartbreaking, with the imagination and optimism she showed in her life.
Collected here are stories which first appeared across many publications.
Cinderella doesn’t want to marry the prince, she has her own career plansHansel and Gretel are replaced with changelingsOld ladies build mechanical cats and grow suspiciously healthy vegetablesAn injured centaur learns to run on prosthetic legsCats dance, frogs learn to be princes, and birds fall in love with kingsIncludes 36 stories, a selection of drabbles (ultra-short fiction), and her essay on writing about disability.
With this book, long-time fans and friends can celebrate her work and others can discover it for the first time. Enter the magical world that Melissa Mead gifted us.
Melissa Mead lived in Loudonville, NY. She was a member of Carpe Libris, a group of strange writers and good friends (or vice-versa). Her stories were published in Sword & Sorceress, Daily Science Fiction, Intergalactic Medicine Show, Bull Spec, and many anthologies. She died in 2022.
She wrote twisted fairy tales, magical fantasy, and emotional stories of transformation — stories both humorous and heartbreaking, with the imagination and optimism she showed in her life.
Collected here are stories which first appeared across many publications.
Cinderella doesn’t want to marry the prince, she has her own career plansHansel and Gretel are replaced with changelingsOld ladies build mechanical cats and grow suspiciously healthy vegetablesAn injured centaur learns to run on prosthetic legsCats dance, frogs learn to be princes, and birds fall in love with kingsIncludes 36 stories, a selection of drabbles (ultra-short fiction), and her essay on writing about disability.
With this book, long-time fans and friends can celebrate her work and others can discover it for the first time. Enter the magical world that Melissa Mead gifted us.
Melissa Mead lived in Loudonville, NY. She was a member of Carpe Libris, a group of strange writers and good friends (or vice-versa). Her stories were published in Sword & Sorceress, Daily Science Fiction, Intergalactic Medicine Show, Bull Spec, and many anthologies. She died in 2022.
340 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 9, 2025
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November 23, 2025
Years ago, I read a lot of Melissa Mead's flash fiction in Daily Science Fiction, and it was an absolute treat to discover more of her work in this compilation of short stories. Melissa approaches fairy tales and fantastical situations with an eye for dropping in twists that delight the reader, and she has the ability to create characters that draw me in right from the start. I am heartbroken we won't get to enjoy further stories from Melissa, for she was a master with words, but in the meantime, I'm so happy her work has been placed in this compilation so I can enjoy her tales all in one place.
Displaying 1 of 1 review