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The Collected Enchantments
A wicked stepsister frets over all the ways in which she failed to receive her mother’s love. A lost woman travels through an enchanted forest looking for someone who can remind her of her name. A girl must wear down seven pairs of shoes to gain help from a witch. A fox makes a life with a human, but neither can deny their true natures. A young woman returns to her childhood home and the fantastic stories she left there. A man lets himself be taken prisoner by the Snow Queen to prove that the woman who loves him would walk barefoot through the ice to save him. Medusa cuts her hair for love.
The Collected Enchantments gathers retellings of folk and fairy tales in prose and verse from World Fantasy and Locus award-winning author Theodora Goss, creator of The Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club series. Drawing from her Mythopoeic Award-nominated collections In the Forest of Forgetting and Songs for Ophelia and her Mythopoeic Award-winning tome Snow White Learns Witchcraft, and adding new and uncollected stories and poems, The Collected Enchantments provides a resounding demonstration of how, as Jo Walton writes, Goss provides “a vivid, authentic and important voice” that, in the words of Jane Yolen, “transposes, transforms, and transcends times, eras, and old tales with ease.”
The Collected Enchantments gathers retellings of folk and fairy tales in prose and verse from World Fantasy and Locus award-winning author Theodora Goss, creator of The Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club series. Drawing from her Mythopoeic Award-nominated collections In the Forest of Forgetting and Songs for Ophelia and her Mythopoeic Award-winning tome Snow White Learns Witchcraft, and adding new and uncollected stories and poems, The Collected Enchantments provides a resounding demonstration of how, as Jo Walton writes, Goss provides “a vivid, authentic and important voice” that, in the words of Jane Yolen, “transposes, transforms, and transcends times, eras, and old tales with ease.”
436 pages, Hardcover
First published February 14, 2023
About the author
Theodora Goss
134 books2,193 followersTheodora Goss was born in Hungary and spent her childhood in various European countries before her family moved to the United States, where she completed a PhD in English literature. She is the World Fantasy and Locus Award-winning author of the short story and poetry collections In the Forest of Forgetting (2006), Songs for Ophelia (2014), and Snow White Learns Witchcraft (2019), as well as novella The Thorn and the Blossom (2012), debut novel The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter (2017), and sequels European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman (2018) and The Sinister Mystery of the Mesmerizing Girl (2019). She has been a finalist for the Nebula, Crawford, Seiun, and Mythopoeic Awards, as well as on the Tiptree Award Honor List. Her work has been translated into thirteen languages. She teaches literature and writing at Boston University and in the Stonecoast MFA Program.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
September 1, 2025
what is a princess, anyway? a girl that people bow to and call princess. of course, i loved it! it can definitely join the likes of lewis and lang on the bookshelf (maybe next to mrs. piggle-wiggle). goss mainly focused on the intrusion of fairytales into the tedium of life or the centering of those characters who usually exist on the periphery of stories. a few examples: the mistress forced upon you by your father the pauper king turns out to be a wood nymph, you must help your violin teacher stitch canvas wings in order to fly to a celestial kingdom, you let a princess in out of the cold and...?! her more current-day stories were very hit-or-miss with me: the mothers are always getting sick with cancer, the girls are always attending (my) college in boston (lol). sometimes it worked and sometimes it ruined the escapism for me. but a very beautiful collection overall, with a sense of fluidity—a certain word in the verse previous to a story will be repeated within, or goss will do a variation on fairytale theme (think of snedronningen). the stories i loved: the rose in twelve petals, the ogress queen, the witch, the wings of meister wilhelm, princess lucinda and the hound of the moon, lily with clouds, rumpelstiltskin, in the forest of forgetting, blanchefleur, fair ladies, in the snow queen’s castle, and the nightingale and the rose.
February 23, 2025
A delightful book. Goss is a scholar of fairy tales and European legends. Her affinity for central Europe is clear, having left Soviet-occupied Hungary as a child. This long volume (684 pages) contains almost all her fiction related to fairy tales and legends. The organization is interesting: A longer narrative story, often incorporating old tales into a modern setting, is followed by a series of poems or flash fiction that spin a variation on the legend just written about. She has a bit of a magpie mind that ranges far and broad throughout history.
Ursula Le Guin's Orsinian tales, about a fictional central European country (Orsinia), inspired Goss to develop her own fictional country of Sylvania, which would be located somewhere around Hungary. Woodlands (a literal translation of 'Sylvania') often play heavily in these stories, as they used to in the old legends. Not all the stories are about Sylvania, but there are enough of them with a shared history that a reader can start to feel they know the country.
Ursula Le Guin's Orsinian tales, about a fictional central European country (Orsinia), inspired Goss to develop her own fictional country of Sylvania, which would be located somewhere around Hungary. Woodlands (a literal translation of 'Sylvania') often play heavily in these stories, as they used to in the old legends. Not all the stories are about Sylvania, but there are enough of them with a shared history that a reader can start to feel they know the country.
February 28, 2025
With 24 short stories and 49 poems, this collection has a lot going on. Not every piece was a fairy tale retelling of some kind, but many were. Most of my favorites tend to be the original stories or the indirect retellings. I also had a hard time with her poetry, as it's nearly all free verse, and in several cases I could read the story purely as a prose piece (aside from the apparently random line breaks). Seriously, I have no idea why the wonderful "Seven Shoes" and "The Dragons" were structured as poems.
Anyway, my absolute favorite stories were "The Wings of Meister Wilhelm" (just lovely imagery and that sense of wanting to escape hate), "Lily, with Clouds" (well written but creepy!), "Pip and the Fairies" (adorable), "Red as Blood and White as Bone" (the one reread for me, but loved the unexpectedness), and "Saint Orsola and the Poet" (I love folklore gathering, apparently).
A fairy tale retelling and/or poetry fan would probably appreciate this collection more than I did (my overall rating for this collection ignores all of the poems).
Anyway, my absolute favorite stories were "The Wings of Meister Wilhelm" (just lovely imagery and that sense of wanting to escape hate), "Lily, with Clouds" (well written but creepy!), "Pip and the Fairies" (adorable), "Red as Blood and White as Bone" (the one reread for me, but loved the unexpectedness), and "Saint Orsola and the Poet" (I love folklore gathering, apparently).
A fairy tale retelling and/or poetry fan would probably appreciate this collection more than I did (my overall rating for this collection ignores all of the poems).
May 2, 2023
A really good, big fat collection of stories and poems. Meny thoughtful and interesting rewritings or fairy tales. A theme going through this is "witches" and "witches" and "if I where a witch" as well as strong female characters.
February 5, 2026
A truly lovely set of stories and poems exploring fairy tales and folk stories. I loved many of these and liked practically all of them, which is rare with collections.
December 23, 2022
A beautiful and whimsical collection of Goss' original work over the last 15 years.
Together with Goss, we dive into the world of tales. There is no mistaking the author's Hungarian heritage when you read her work. There is a feeling of dark forests, wise witches, pretty princesses, and dangerous kings. The collection is vast, with 400+ pages, and I feel fortunate to have all those stories in different forms at my disposal.
There are both poems, short stories, and longer, more traditional fairytales.
My absolute favorite is without a doubt 'Medusa gets a haircut'.
Together with Goss, we dive into the world of tales. There is no mistaking the author's Hungarian heritage when you read her work. There is a feeling of dark forests, wise witches, pretty princesses, and dangerous kings. The collection is vast, with 400+ pages, and I feel fortunate to have all those stories in different forms at my disposal.
There are both poems, short stories, and longer, more traditional fairytales.
My absolute favorite is without a doubt 'Medusa gets a haircut'.
January 5, 2025
A couple of my favorite authors had mentioned this collection & when they talk, I listen. I’m glad I did as there’s some gems in here.
Here be reimaginations of fairytales; some you’ll identify easily- others less so. Other times you’ll encounter retellings of myths.
Some are set in the present, in cities familiar to ours, others take place on far away locations like the moon. What ties these stories and poetry together is a running theme of Central European sensitivities as well as a tenderness.
I tend to read pretty violent stories (I mostly read a lot of horror & crime) and this made for a nice change of pace. I suspect others might enjoy it’s soothing qualities as well.
-it deals a lot about characters taking reins of their lives, realizing their potential, taking the leap or self realization. As is often the case with collections there were some stories and poems that resonated with me more than others. Even still, a good introduction to an author quite capable of creating tender paced atmosphere.
An overview of the writings will follow below. I’ve marked my favorites with a “*”.
-Why You Might Be a Witch (poem):
Oh, let me count the ways that make you a witch? A sweet poem highlighting the mundane (yet magical) things that might just make you a creature of magic.
-The Rose in Twelve Petals:
A retelling of Sleeping Beauty focusing on the witch who cast the curse and the motivations behind it; betrayal, sorrow, vengeance. Told from many POVs; both animate and inanimate objects (spinning wheel, tower).
-The Ogress Queen:
Short vignette told from the POV of a jealous ogre about to take her anger out on children & their mother ; a woman she knows her husband violated.
-Rose Child:
An encounter with a small, albeit not helpless, child in a garden leaves a woman touched and hopeful she’ll be visited when she too passes.
-The Rapid Advance of Sorrow:
An insurrection of sorrow comes to Budapest and does not leave our MC untouched as he encounters it through a lover’s touch.
-Lady Winter:
A visit to Lady Winter and some much needed (possibly eternal?) rest in her guest room.
-Shoes of Bark:
Rich in nostalgia and highlighting the magic of the mundane.
-Miss Emily Gray:*
Sometimes you pray to nature; and sometimes nature listens.
A governess appears as if from thin air (or from a wish) and her charge knows something is off in the new arrival but not quite what. That is, until her father & brother end up dead. 5 words: careful what you wish for.
-The Witch:*
A longingly beautiful vignette about a lonely witch’s daughter and the solitary and mundanely magical lives they live.
-Binnorie:
The role as an instrument we’re cast into as women; or poets.
-gender roles makes instruments of us, but so does poetry- albeit one might offer freedom where the other is more akin to a prison.
-The Wings of Meister Wilhelm:*
A girl befriends an old violin player when they bond over the dream of going somewhere. What follows is a project of building a glider in the hopes of the violin player reaching a mythical island of artists. A touching tale.
-The Egg in Twelve Scenes:
Humpty Dumpty meets Bluebeard in this piece about a resourceful sister.
-Vivian to Merlin:
Vivian, now misunderstood & blamed for having trapped Merlin wonders who is really responsible
-In Autumn:
Harkens back to my days reading Grimm/ specifically reminded of The 6 Swans & 7 ravens, although the maiden in this one is a housewife who saves herself and offers herself freedom after a builder’s discovery. I was also reminded of selkie.
-Seven Shoes:
A deal made between a girl and a witch; wear through 7 pairs of shoes and she’ll get her wish. Her wish turns out to be a fairly mundane but equally magical one.
-The Clever Serving-Maid:
A round of impersonation where a maid changes places with a princess teaches a lesson that there are better things out there to be experienced.
-Princess Lucinda and the Hound of the Moon:*
A queen unable to have children of her own finds a child under a chestnut tree one night. What follows is the story of that adopted princess and how she learns about how she came to be (her brother a celestial hound & her mother the moon)
-The Cinder Girl Burns Brightly:
A fiery retelling of Cinderella who’s on a mission and has other ideas for the prince than a happy marriage and long life. This is about vengeance and more than a girl victimized by her family; this is a woman with agency.
-The Stepsister’s Tale:
Cinderella’s stepsister has moved on and grown but tries to explain the motivation behind the acts of self mutilation in the hopes of passing off as Cinderella. What was it? The desperate love for a mother rather than the prince.
-Lily With Clouds:
Sisters reunited through terminal illness. Lily went away and married an artist and has only returned now that she’s dying from cancer. Sometimes you only see the beauty in someone through the eyes (or art) of someone else.
-The Gold-Spinner:
A miller’s daughter pulls a rare feat when she fools Rumpelstiltskin into thinking she’s all too common and makes her way to safety.
-Rumpelstiltskin:
Rumpelstiltskin splits himself into 2 halves; each with its own dreams and aspirations. One wants to live as a saint, the other as a thief.
-Singing of Mount Abora:
Two tales in one; complimentary ones which each deal with relationships it’s worth making the effort for. The main tale concerns itself with Sabra who’s insecure about introducing her boyfriend to her all too beautiful mom & the other is a tale told by Sabra and deals with Kamora who wants to marry the Cloud Dragon but has to be granted the permission by the empress first (and she isn’t keen on the idea of saying goodbye to her favorite maid)
-The Dragons:*
Tuesday has brought this woman.. dragons!
-Thumbelina:
Most of us have wished to shrink at some point in time; maybe to be able to live in a tree, or shell ?
-In the Forest of Forgetting:
An odd, dreamlike and multilayered tale featuring a woman who can’t remember her name and meets a witch in the forest to get treated for an illness. She meets different characters as she gets closer to the mountains; people that might hold the key to a bit of her past.
-Autumn’s Song:
A poem about belonging & not being alone; even if you’re a season.
-Green Man:
A love poem to the green man of the forest.
-Sleeping With Bears:
We follow a woman as she partakes in her sister’s wedding to a bear.
-Goldilocks and the Bear:
Goldilocks marries the bear and lives a good long life.
-The Bear’s Wife:
A woman tries to make it back to her bear husband.
-Professor Berkowitz Stands on the Threshold:
Art comes all too alive in a dream for this professor. A dream ; or the threshold to something/somewhere else.
-Persephone in Hades:
Persephone feels (rightly) trapped and unfulfilled.
-The Princess and the Peas:
The Andersen tale; but where the princess isn’t just borderline-unhinged and too sensitive, but a crafty pig girl.
-Blanchefleur:
Ivan’s father is at his wits end with his son; affected by his mother’s loss and having retreated into himself, the entire town thinks him an idiot. Ivan’s father agrees to send Ivan to his fairy aunt and this begins a series of apprenticeships and rediscovery. Oh, and there’s cats. Lots of them, but one in particular: Blanchefleur
-Rapunzel:
Betrayed by her mother, Rapunzel grieves and self isolates by cutting her own hair.
-The Sorceress in the Tower:
A sorceress in need of getting out more does just that.
-Fair Ladies:*
A young baron-to-be is forced by his father to take a mistress that will help him rise in society. Said mistress has a secret and he soon falls for her but finds that loving sometimes means letting go.
Fairy-adjacent ‘fair ladies’
-Swan Girls:
Selkies but swans instead (and less easy to trap)
-The Gentleman:
A gentlemanly agent of chaos has been to this farm; the farm lady thinks twice about bringing him to Justice, lest there’ll be more trouble than milk gone sour.
-Christopher Raven:*
An enjoyable gothic in which old friends & classmates reunite & rehash the dreams that used to haunt them while they stayed at school. A bit of haunting and mystery-solving and a ghost laid to rest.
-Ravens:
Selkie-like, but a man-raven. The wife breaks a rule and throws a rock at a raven + maybe he found his feathers? All the same, both he and their kids are gone
-The Fox Wife:
A marriage between a husband and fox wife deteriorating; sometimes our lives aren’t compatible with nature no matter how hard one might try. Some things can’t be tamed.
-Reynalda:
Another fox-shapeshifter story where the fox wife has fallen in love with a farmer who’s killed a member of her family while in their Fox skin in spite of his promises to not do so.
-Mr. Fox:
A woman marries a fox man who himself says he’s not to be trusted, that he’s a thief. The only way to make it work is that she’s a thief herself (locks herself into his lair and sees and accepts the masks he’s worn).
-The Mysterious Miss Tickle:
A girl wants to be just like the owner of the local antique book & oddities shop; a witch.
-Lessons With Miss Gray:*
A group of girls take witching lessons; learning to fly, turning pebbles into gold, seeing visions in a mirror etc. Eventually they’ll have to lean on these newfound powers to help one of their own. A good coming of age-tale about friendship and family dysfunction
-The Witch-Girls:
A poem from the POV of a girl who wishes she could be part of the witches coven too.
-The Witch’s Cat:
A poem dedicated witches’ feline friends. My cat disappears too, only to reappear like she was always right there. It all makes sense now
-Pip and the Fairies:*
The loss of a mother brings an actress back to her home town and to the memories surrounding her mother’s popular fairy books. It all feels more real than just stories.
-Tam Lin Remembers the Fairy Queen:
A vignette where the POV reminisces about their former relationship with a fairy and the complications of dating someone so ethereal. There’s longing in this, but also an acceptance of the unavoidable.
-The Fairies’ Gift:
Fairies attend and bring a gift to a human christening, possibly the best of all: courage and endurance (because other things can be learned).
-Snow, Blood, Fur:
A retelling of Red Riding Hood, highlighting dangerous men, women’s loss and trauma & stepping out of victimhood (say, becoming the wolf)
-When You Have Lost Yourself:
Sometimes the act of re-finding yourself demands the simple, but comforting acts: soup, telling yourself a story.
-The Mermaid’s Lament:
A mermaid deals with the loss of loved ones she couldn’t save (from humans?)
-Conversations With the Sea Witch:
A dying Queen dowager reminisces of how she came to marry and live with the king & shared conversations with the sea witch responsible for it.
-Diamonds and Toads:*
Sometimes toads falling out of your mouth can be as useful as if it were diamonds. + watch what you say to women who might be a witch.
-Medusa Gets a Haircut:
A different take on the Greek myth of Medusa and Perseus. Desperate to please him she gets a hair(snake) cut only to realize that it came at a cost of herself. Just after the inevitable breakup we’re treated to the hope that snakes, like hair, grows out again.
-The Other Thea:
We’re reunited with Miss Gray as a young woman, Thea, returns to school unwell. If she’s to be well (survive) she’s going to have to track down the shadow her grandmother pulled off her 12 years ago.
-Mother Night:
Poetry as the secret to dealing with pain.
-The Red Shoes:
The red shoes you can never take off ; kept hearing Kate Bush’s song in my head reading this
-Red as Blood and White as Bone:*
An orphaned girl with a love of fairytales opens the door to someone she thinks is a princess in need. The prince of the land has killed one of the near-mythical black wolves no one was to touch and the arrival of the princess might just be related to this. A tale of vengeance and the love of stories.
-Girl, Wolf, Woods:
A different take on Red Riding Hood with empathy towards the wolf.
-In the Snow Queen’s Castle:
We forgo the damsel in distress for a boy in distress instead. Trapped in the Snow Queen’s Castle, he hopes his girlfriend will save him.
-A Country Called Winter:
A student learns she’s the rightful heir to a kingdom known as Winter.
-How to Make it Snow:
A magical world in the well and a series of favors leading to a girl being able to make it snow
-Snow White Learns Witchcraft:*
An elderly Snow White makes plans for what to do now that she’s older and wiser (and her less than useful husband is dead).
-How to Become a Witch-Queen:*
Snow White is tired living under the thumb of men; her father, husband & now her son. She decided to take the reins of her own life and makes her way to the old family castle to keep her as well as her daughters freedom; lest she gets married off to an idiot prince as well. A refreshing feminist retelling about women carving out the space for themselves.
-Mirror, Mirror:
Keeping vanity at bay is hard when you have a certain kind of mirror.
-The River’s Daughter:
Suicide as a homecoming to father River.
-Saint Orsola and the Poet:
How a chance encounter on a mountain with a possible saint made a man become a poet.
-The Nightingale and the Rose:
The ultimate sacrifice of a nightingale for someone else’s love.
-Your House:
Sometimes we have to say goodbye to what we thought was our home and head towards the unknown.
Here be reimaginations of fairytales; some you’ll identify easily- others less so. Other times you’ll encounter retellings of myths.
Some are set in the present, in cities familiar to ours, others take place on far away locations like the moon. What ties these stories and poetry together is a running theme of Central European sensitivities as well as a tenderness.
I tend to read pretty violent stories (I mostly read a lot of horror & crime) and this made for a nice change of pace. I suspect others might enjoy it’s soothing qualities as well.
-it deals a lot about characters taking reins of their lives, realizing their potential, taking the leap or self realization. As is often the case with collections there were some stories and poems that resonated with me more than others. Even still, a good introduction to an author quite capable of creating tender paced atmosphere.
An overview of the writings will follow below. I’ve marked my favorites with a “*”.
-Why You Might Be a Witch (poem):
Oh, let me count the ways that make you a witch? A sweet poem highlighting the mundane (yet magical) things that might just make you a creature of magic.
-The Rose in Twelve Petals:
A retelling of Sleeping Beauty focusing on the witch who cast the curse and the motivations behind it; betrayal, sorrow, vengeance. Told from many POVs; both animate and inanimate objects (spinning wheel, tower).
-The Ogress Queen:
Short vignette told from the POV of a jealous ogre about to take her anger out on children & their mother ; a woman she knows her husband violated.
-Rose Child:
An encounter with a small, albeit not helpless, child in a garden leaves a woman touched and hopeful she’ll be visited when she too passes.
-The Rapid Advance of Sorrow:
An insurrection of sorrow comes to Budapest and does not leave our MC untouched as he encounters it through a lover’s touch.
-Lady Winter:
A visit to Lady Winter and some much needed (possibly eternal?) rest in her guest room.
-Shoes of Bark:
Rich in nostalgia and highlighting the magic of the mundane.
-Miss Emily Gray:*
Sometimes you pray to nature; and sometimes nature listens.
A governess appears as if from thin air (or from a wish) and her charge knows something is off in the new arrival but not quite what. That is, until her father & brother end up dead. 5 words: careful what you wish for.
-The Witch:*
A longingly beautiful vignette about a lonely witch’s daughter and the solitary and mundanely magical lives they live.
-Binnorie:
The role as an instrument we’re cast into as women; or poets.
-gender roles makes instruments of us, but so does poetry- albeit one might offer freedom where the other is more akin to a prison.
-The Wings of Meister Wilhelm:*
A girl befriends an old violin player when they bond over the dream of going somewhere. What follows is a project of building a glider in the hopes of the violin player reaching a mythical island of artists. A touching tale.
-The Egg in Twelve Scenes:
Humpty Dumpty meets Bluebeard in this piece about a resourceful sister.
-Vivian to Merlin:
Vivian, now misunderstood & blamed for having trapped Merlin wonders who is really responsible
-In Autumn:
Harkens back to my days reading Grimm/ specifically reminded of The 6 Swans & 7 ravens, although the maiden in this one is a housewife who saves herself and offers herself freedom after a builder’s discovery. I was also reminded of selkie.
-Seven Shoes:
A deal made between a girl and a witch; wear through 7 pairs of shoes and she’ll get her wish. Her wish turns out to be a fairly mundane but equally magical one.
-The Clever Serving-Maid:
A round of impersonation where a maid changes places with a princess teaches a lesson that there are better things out there to be experienced.
-Princess Lucinda and the Hound of the Moon:*
A queen unable to have children of her own finds a child under a chestnut tree one night. What follows is the story of that adopted princess and how she learns about how she came to be (her brother a celestial hound & her mother the moon)
-The Cinder Girl Burns Brightly:
A fiery retelling of Cinderella who’s on a mission and has other ideas for the prince than a happy marriage and long life. This is about vengeance and more than a girl victimized by her family; this is a woman with agency.
-The Stepsister’s Tale:
Cinderella’s stepsister has moved on and grown but tries to explain the motivation behind the acts of self mutilation in the hopes of passing off as Cinderella. What was it? The desperate love for a mother rather than the prince.
-Lily With Clouds:
Sisters reunited through terminal illness. Lily went away and married an artist and has only returned now that she’s dying from cancer. Sometimes you only see the beauty in someone through the eyes (or art) of someone else.
-The Gold-Spinner:
A miller’s daughter pulls a rare feat when she fools Rumpelstiltskin into thinking she’s all too common and makes her way to safety.
-Rumpelstiltskin:
Rumpelstiltskin splits himself into 2 halves; each with its own dreams and aspirations. One wants to live as a saint, the other as a thief.
-Singing of Mount Abora:
Two tales in one; complimentary ones which each deal with relationships it’s worth making the effort for. The main tale concerns itself with Sabra who’s insecure about introducing her boyfriend to her all too beautiful mom & the other is a tale told by Sabra and deals with Kamora who wants to marry the Cloud Dragon but has to be granted the permission by the empress first (and she isn’t keen on the idea of saying goodbye to her favorite maid)
-The Dragons:*
Tuesday has brought this woman.. dragons!
-Thumbelina:
Most of us have wished to shrink at some point in time; maybe to be able to live in a tree, or shell ?
-In the Forest of Forgetting:
An odd, dreamlike and multilayered tale featuring a woman who can’t remember her name and meets a witch in the forest to get treated for an illness. She meets different characters as she gets closer to the mountains; people that might hold the key to a bit of her past.
-Autumn’s Song:
A poem about belonging & not being alone; even if you’re a season.
-Green Man:
A love poem to the green man of the forest.
-Sleeping With Bears:
We follow a woman as she partakes in her sister’s wedding to a bear.
-Goldilocks and the Bear:
Goldilocks marries the bear and lives a good long life.
-The Bear’s Wife:
A woman tries to make it back to her bear husband.
-Professor Berkowitz Stands on the Threshold:
Art comes all too alive in a dream for this professor. A dream ; or the threshold to something/somewhere else.
-Persephone in Hades:
Persephone feels (rightly) trapped and unfulfilled.
-The Princess and the Peas:
The Andersen tale; but where the princess isn’t just borderline-unhinged and too sensitive, but a crafty pig girl.
-Blanchefleur:
Ivan’s father is at his wits end with his son; affected by his mother’s loss and having retreated into himself, the entire town thinks him an idiot. Ivan’s father agrees to send Ivan to his fairy aunt and this begins a series of apprenticeships and rediscovery. Oh, and there’s cats. Lots of them, but one in particular: Blanchefleur
-Rapunzel:
Betrayed by her mother, Rapunzel grieves and self isolates by cutting her own hair.
-The Sorceress in the Tower:
A sorceress in need of getting out more does just that.
-Fair Ladies:*
A young baron-to-be is forced by his father to take a mistress that will help him rise in society. Said mistress has a secret and he soon falls for her but finds that loving sometimes means letting go.
Fairy-adjacent ‘fair ladies’
-Swan Girls:
Selkies but swans instead (and less easy to trap)
-The Gentleman:
A gentlemanly agent of chaos has been to this farm; the farm lady thinks twice about bringing him to Justice, lest there’ll be more trouble than milk gone sour.
-Christopher Raven:*
An enjoyable gothic in which old friends & classmates reunite & rehash the dreams that used to haunt them while they stayed at school. A bit of haunting and mystery-solving and a ghost laid to rest.
-Ravens:
Selkie-like, but a man-raven. The wife breaks a rule and throws a rock at a raven + maybe he found his feathers? All the same, both he and their kids are gone
-The Fox Wife:
A marriage between a husband and fox wife deteriorating; sometimes our lives aren’t compatible with nature no matter how hard one might try. Some things can’t be tamed.
-Reynalda:
Another fox-shapeshifter story where the fox wife has fallen in love with a farmer who’s killed a member of her family while in their Fox skin in spite of his promises to not do so.
-Mr. Fox:
A woman marries a fox man who himself says he’s not to be trusted, that he’s a thief. The only way to make it work is that she’s a thief herself (locks herself into his lair and sees and accepts the masks he’s worn).
-The Mysterious Miss Tickle:
A girl wants to be just like the owner of the local antique book & oddities shop; a witch.
-Lessons With Miss Gray:*
A group of girls take witching lessons; learning to fly, turning pebbles into gold, seeing visions in a mirror etc. Eventually they’ll have to lean on these newfound powers to help one of their own. A good coming of age-tale about friendship and family dysfunction
-The Witch-Girls:
A poem from the POV of a girl who wishes she could be part of the witches coven too.
-The Witch’s Cat:
A poem dedicated witches’ feline friends. My cat disappears too, only to reappear like she was always right there. It all makes sense now
-Pip and the Fairies:*
The loss of a mother brings an actress back to her home town and to the memories surrounding her mother’s popular fairy books. It all feels more real than just stories.
-Tam Lin Remembers the Fairy Queen:
A vignette where the POV reminisces about their former relationship with a fairy and the complications of dating someone so ethereal. There’s longing in this, but also an acceptance of the unavoidable.
-The Fairies’ Gift:
Fairies attend and bring a gift to a human christening, possibly the best of all: courage and endurance (because other things can be learned).
-Snow, Blood, Fur:
A retelling of Red Riding Hood, highlighting dangerous men, women’s loss and trauma & stepping out of victimhood (say, becoming the wolf)
-When You Have Lost Yourself:
Sometimes the act of re-finding yourself demands the simple, but comforting acts: soup, telling yourself a story.
-The Mermaid’s Lament:
A mermaid deals with the loss of loved ones she couldn’t save (from humans?)
-Conversations With the Sea Witch:
A dying Queen dowager reminisces of how she came to marry and live with the king & shared conversations with the sea witch responsible for it.
-Diamonds and Toads:*
Sometimes toads falling out of your mouth can be as useful as if it were diamonds. + watch what you say to women who might be a witch.
-Medusa Gets a Haircut:
A different take on the Greek myth of Medusa and Perseus. Desperate to please him she gets a hair(snake) cut only to realize that it came at a cost of herself. Just after the inevitable breakup we’re treated to the hope that snakes, like hair, grows out again.
-The Other Thea:
We’re reunited with Miss Gray as a young woman, Thea, returns to school unwell. If she’s to be well (survive) she’s going to have to track down the shadow her grandmother pulled off her 12 years ago.
-Mother Night:
Poetry as the secret to dealing with pain.
-The Red Shoes:
The red shoes you can never take off ; kept hearing Kate Bush’s song in my head reading this
-Red as Blood and White as Bone:*
An orphaned girl with a love of fairytales opens the door to someone she thinks is a princess in need. The prince of the land has killed one of the near-mythical black wolves no one was to touch and the arrival of the princess might just be related to this. A tale of vengeance and the love of stories.
-Girl, Wolf, Woods:
A different take on Red Riding Hood with empathy towards the wolf.
-In the Snow Queen’s Castle:
We forgo the damsel in distress for a boy in distress instead. Trapped in the Snow Queen’s Castle, he hopes his girlfriend will save him.
-A Country Called Winter:
A student learns she’s the rightful heir to a kingdom known as Winter.
-How to Make it Snow:
A magical world in the well and a series of favors leading to a girl being able to make it snow
-Snow White Learns Witchcraft:*
An elderly Snow White makes plans for what to do now that she’s older and wiser (and her less than useful husband is dead).
-How to Become a Witch-Queen:*
Snow White is tired living under the thumb of men; her father, husband & now her son. She decided to take the reins of her own life and makes her way to the old family castle to keep her as well as her daughters freedom; lest she gets married off to an idiot prince as well. A refreshing feminist retelling about women carving out the space for themselves.
-Mirror, Mirror:
Keeping vanity at bay is hard when you have a certain kind of mirror.
-The River’s Daughter:
Suicide as a homecoming to father River.
-Saint Orsola and the Poet:
How a chance encounter on a mountain with a possible saint made a man become a poet.
-The Nightingale and the Rose:
The ultimate sacrifice of a nightingale for someone else’s love.
-Your House:
Sometimes we have to say goodbye to what we thought was our home and head towards the unknown.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 30, 2022
The Collected Enchantments, by Theodora Goss, is a book filled with magic. Goss has paired previously published stories and poems with never-before-seen works to create a must-read collection of fantasy and fairy tales.
Goss begins her collection with an introduction titled “Why I Write Fantasy”, sharing her experience as an immigrant child born behind the Iron Curtain in Budapest, Hungary, a land rich in fairy tales. Goss attributes her love of fantasy literature to her liminal existence between two homes and reveals that she dreamed of becoming a writer, or a sorceress, when she grew up. The introduction perfectly prepares readers for the enchantments they will find in the book’s pages.
The Collected Enchantments is rich with fairy tale retellings in prose and verse form. Classic stories include “Conversations with the Sea Witch”, which moves “The Little Mermaid” beyond its happily-ever-after, and “The Rose in Twelve Petals”, a retelling of “Sleeping Beauty” presented through the perspective of twelve different characters. Goss’s poems explore tales like “Cinderella”, “Goldilocks”, and “East of the Sun, West of the Moon”, and engage with legends and myths in works such as “Tam Lin Remembers the Fairy Queen” and “Medusa Gets a Haircut”. Her stories feature mothers who turn into birds and fly away, men who are ravens, a princess who is the daughter of the moon, and oak trees which bend down to take your hands as you travel through the forest. Each image creates a lasting mark in the reader’s mind.
Fantasy poignantly collides with reality in stories and poems that confront death like “In the Forest of Forgetting” and “Rose Child”. In other poems, women and poets are transformed into harps, and daughters learn of mothers who dance to bring in the seasons of winter and spring. Goss explores the benefits of a magical education where former fairy tale princesses and witch girls learn “how to turn a poem into a spell”, and one of my favorite poems, “Seven Shoes”, uses the fairy tale task of wearing through seven pairs of shoes as a metaphor for becoming a writer. In her introduction, Goss reveals that it “took a long time...to become a writer. I’m still working on the sorceress part.” Her beautiful collection, part writing and part magic, proves that she has become both.
The Collected Enchantments is an essential read for all who love fairy tales, fantasy, witchcraft, and magic. Goss uses stunning images and beautiful words to cast a spell over her readers. The book is sure to become a favorite in every fantasy reader’s collection.
Thank you to Edelweiss + for a free copy of the book in exchange for a fair review.
Goss begins her collection with an introduction titled “Why I Write Fantasy”, sharing her experience as an immigrant child born behind the Iron Curtain in Budapest, Hungary, a land rich in fairy tales. Goss attributes her love of fantasy literature to her liminal existence between two homes and reveals that she dreamed of becoming a writer, or a sorceress, when she grew up. The introduction perfectly prepares readers for the enchantments they will find in the book’s pages.
The Collected Enchantments is rich with fairy tale retellings in prose and verse form. Classic stories include “Conversations with the Sea Witch”, which moves “The Little Mermaid” beyond its happily-ever-after, and “The Rose in Twelve Petals”, a retelling of “Sleeping Beauty” presented through the perspective of twelve different characters. Goss’s poems explore tales like “Cinderella”, “Goldilocks”, and “East of the Sun, West of the Moon”, and engage with legends and myths in works such as “Tam Lin Remembers the Fairy Queen” and “Medusa Gets a Haircut”. Her stories feature mothers who turn into birds and fly away, men who are ravens, a princess who is the daughter of the moon, and oak trees which bend down to take your hands as you travel through the forest. Each image creates a lasting mark in the reader’s mind.
Fantasy poignantly collides with reality in stories and poems that confront death like “In the Forest of Forgetting” and “Rose Child”. In other poems, women and poets are transformed into harps, and daughters learn of mothers who dance to bring in the seasons of winter and spring. Goss explores the benefits of a magical education where former fairy tale princesses and witch girls learn “how to turn a poem into a spell”, and one of my favorite poems, “Seven Shoes”, uses the fairy tale task of wearing through seven pairs of shoes as a metaphor for becoming a writer. In her introduction, Goss reveals that it “took a long time...to become a writer. I’m still working on the sorceress part.” Her beautiful collection, part writing and part magic, proves that she has become both.
The Collected Enchantments is an essential read for all who love fairy tales, fantasy, witchcraft, and magic. Goss uses stunning images and beautiful words to cast a spell over her readers. The book is sure to become a favorite in every fantasy reader’s collection.
Thank you to Edelweiss + for a free copy of the book in exchange for a fair review.
December 30, 2022
(ARC copy)
I can't get enough of Theodora Goss' writing. I have read books from her before, so some of the stories and poems in this volume were familiar, but there are also plenty of new ones included, and the others were good to read again. To risk a cliché, the book is a whole crate of bonbons, one delightful surprise after the other. Very colorful in mood and topic, but also with elements and styles that string them together.
The genre she writes hits the right spot for me. It's a mix of fairy tale adaptations, alternative history, magical realism, and mythic fiction. I love delving into her use of language, and the diverse literary and folklore references. The whole book is an invitation to play, to hunt symbols and recognize references, and discover in "aha!" moments what story we are in. Goss lets the reader make their own discoveries, not spelling anything out too obviously (which is a rare talent for a writer, and I love it). I also enjoy her eloquent descriptions, whether they are about flowers, food, or what a witch might think a child would taste like... The whole book is interwoven with winks at the reader who enjoys reading and literature, without being too forced about it.
I also love how the author treats folktales and fairy tales. She looks at them from new points of view (many times from a feminist one, or one from a villain character), creates new patterns from them, but she is never dismissive or mocking about the older versions. None of the tales are cutesy or sugarcoated; magic still has a weight. All of them are capable of standing alone in their magical realistic, alternative 19th century world, but they open up even more if you have some background knowledge of folklore and history. Especially if it's Hungarian folklore and history, which are reflected through the author's family background in a dream-like world of memories, names, and feelings.
It is worth reading the book slowly, maybe one story/poem a day. As a whole, it is a lovely collection which presents an amazing body of work from a creative, playful, and deeply emphatic author. Enjoy!
I can't get enough of Theodora Goss' writing. I have read books from her before, so some of the stories and poems in this volume were familiar, but there are also plenty of new ones included, and the others were good to read again. To risk a cliché, the book is a whole crate of bonbons, one delightful surprise after the other. Very colorful in mood and topic, but also with elements and styles that string them together.
The genre she writes hits the right spot for me. It's a mix of fairy tale adaptations, alternative history, magical realism, and mythic fiction. I love delving into her use of language, and the diverse literary and folklore references. The whole book is an invitation to play, to hunt symbols and recognize references, and discover in "aha!" moments what story we are in. Goss lets the reader make their own discoveries, not spelling anything out too obviously (which is a rare talent for a writer, and I love it). I also enjoy her eloquent descriptions, whether they are about flowers, food, or what a witch might think a child would taste like... The whole book is interwoven with winks at the reader who enjoys reading and literature, without being too forced about it.
I also love how the author treats folktales and fairy tales. She looks at them from new points of view (many times from a feminist one, or one from a villain character), creates new patterns from them, but she is never dismissive or mocking about the older versions. None of the tales are cutesy or sugarcoated; magic still has a weight. All of them are capable of standing alone in their magical realistic, alternative 19th century world, but they open up even more if you have some background knowledge of folklore and history. Especially if it's Hungarian folklore and history, which are reflected through the author's family background in a dream-like world of memories, names, and feelings.
It is worth reading the book slowly, maybe one story/poem a day. As a whole, it is a lovely collection which presents an amazing body of work from a creative, playful, and deeply emphatic author. Enjoy!
December 17, 2023
I've read and enjoyed several short stories by Theodora Goss in other anthologies so I was excited to try more of her work and it did not disappoint. This is an amazing collection of stories and poems, many gathered from her previous anthologies. I'd love to own a print copy of this treasury.
Several of them seem set in the same world of Sylvania, and feature the enigmatic figure of Mother Night and her court of wild Fae-like creatures, and I'd love to read more about it!
If you love fairy tales and retellings, and whimsy and wonder, this is a collection for you!
There were too many to review individually, so here is a quick list of my favourites, in the order in which they appear:
The Wings of Meister William
Princess Lucinda and the Hound of the Moon
Singing of Mount Abora
Persephone in Hades (poem)
Blanchefleur
Fair Ladies
The Witch's Cat (poem)
Pip and the Fairies
When You Have Lost Yourself (poem)
The Mermaid's Lament (poem)
The Sea Witch
Diamonds and Toads (poem)
The Other Thea
Mother Night (poem)
Red as Blood, White as Bone (reread, published free on Tor.com)
How to Make it Snow (poem)
How to Become a Witch-Queen
The Nightingale and the Rose (poem)
Really looking forward to reading more of Goss' writing!
Several of them seem set in the same world of Sylvania, and feature the enigmatic figure of Mother Night and her court of wild Fae-like creatures, and I'd love to read more about it!
If you love fairy tales and retellings, and whimsy and wonder, this is a collection for you!
There were too many to review individually, so here is a quick list of my favourites, in the order in which they appear:
The Wings of Meister William
Princess Lucinda and the Hound of the Moon
Singing of Mount Abora
Persephone in Hades (poem)
Blanchefleur
Fair Ladies
The Witch's Cat (poem)
Pip and the Fairies
When You Have Lost Yourself (poem)
The Mermaid's Lament (poem)
The Sea Witch
Diamonds and Toads (poem)
The Other Thea
Mother Night (poem)
Red as Blood, White as Bone (reread, published free on Tor.com)
How to Make it Snow (poem)
How to Become a Witch-Queen
The Nightingale and the Rose (poem)
Really looking forward to reading more of Goss' writing!
February 6, 2023
This collection of fantastical short stories and poetry was quite a mixed bag for me. I loved many of Theodora's poems so much. They are different takes on fairy tales, folklore, or mythology, which really stand out. I adored her writing style and would read more of her work. Along with the poems, she has many short stories interspersed. I enjoyed quite a bit of those, especially "Christopher Raven."
Many of her short stories, though, were not for me. It took me forever to read some of them; they did not hold my interest in the way I want from fantasy. Though many of them were great, like I said about "Christopher Raven," that story was unique. They were different from what I wanted.
I recommend Theodora Goss's beautiful writing style for fantasy readers, especially her poetry. One of my favorite parts of the collection was her introduction: "Why I Write Fantasy." It was great to learn about her as a writer and these aspects can be seen in her writing.
*Thank you to Edelweiss for my ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.*
Many of her short stories, though, were not for me. It took me forever to read some of them; they did not hold my interest in the way I want from fantasy. Though many of them were great, like I said about "Christopher Raven," that story was unique. They were different from what I wanted.
I recommend Theodora Goss's beautiful writing style for fantasy readers, especially her poetry. One of my favorite parts of the collection was her introduction: "Why I Write Fantasy." It was great to learn about her as a writer and these aspects can be seen in her writing.
*Thank you to Edelweiss for my ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.*
February 25, 2023
THE COLLECTED ENCHANTMENTS by Theodora Goss
Spinning and weaving appear in so many of the old stories and in several stories and poems in this wonderful anthology, which does indeed spin old tales and weave them with wisdom and relevance for today. I hadn’t thought of the economic disasters from eliminating spinning wheels, not just for people’s immediate clothing needs, but also for commerce. Unfair penalty to those who did nothing wrong.
Is “witch” just a convenient label for independent women who refuse to comply with expected roles? . . . a useful excuse for persecution? What will the sleeping beauty choose to do when she awakens? What might all the formerly docile women do when they see options?
I haven’t read all the stories yet; it’s a very big book, but as my dad used to say, I’ve already “gotten my money’s worth” with so much more to enjoy, to learn from, to dream about. Metaphor and legend are powerful.
Spinning and weaving appear in so many of the old stories and in several stories and poems in this wonderful anthology, which does indeed spin old tales and weave them with wisdom and relevance for today. I hadn’t thought of the economic disasters from eliminating spinning wheels, not just for people’s immediate clothing needs, but also for commerce. Unfair penalty to those who did nothing wrong.
Is “witch” just a convenient label for independent women who refuse to comply with expected roles? . . . a useful excuse for persecution? What will the sleeping beauty choose to do when she awakens? What might all the formerly docile women do when they see options?
I haven’t read all the stories yet; it’s a very big book, but as my dad used to say, I’ve already “gotten my money’s worth” with so much more to enjoy, to learn from, to dream about. Metaphor and legend are powerful.
July 27, 2023
An excellent compilation of Goss' work, and good place to start if you are new to her writing. It has a lot of overlap with earlier collections, but it makes up for that by gathering up the stories and poems that have been published in scattered SFF magazines. Goss' stories and poems are primarily concerned with issues of feminine agency, complicated relationships between mothers and daughters, and the use of the fairy tale genre to express both female pain and power. They're thoughtful, introspective, and quietly humorous, rather than dark or gritty. She's one of my favorite authors, I reread her endlessly.
February 2, 2024
I had read most of the stories here once or twice or three times before, but it was still a pleasure to revisit them. I have not, in the past, been much of a poetry reader, but I found myself savoring each one here. There is an undercurrent in many of these works of women whose lives have been hijacked in one way or another -- by men, by mothers, by other people's wants or the things that they themselves thought they wanted -- and the ways that they steer themselves back on the desired path. Maybe the results aren't quite what they wish, maybe the price is high, maybe it comes late in life, but I read it as a hopeful thing. A great collection.
January 15, 2023
This book is incredible. I had not read Theodora Goss’ work in the past. This book shows an assortment of her stories and poems that are based on fairy tales, specifically Eastern European fairy tales. If you enjoy twisted fairy tales or different takes on folk tales, this book will take you through a surprisingly diverse group of stories, and her poems are beautiful. Definitely recommend.
August 3, 2024
Not unlike her blurbmate, Cathrynne M Valente, Theodora Goss puts too much emphasis on being clever and Atmosphere and everything suffers for it. This collection is just Snow White Learns Witchcraft BUT WITH NEW THINGS, and at least it was better than that collection
Also, I don't know what hack set the margins and kerning, etc., but the line spacing was too small and the margins were terrible.
Also, I don't know what hack set the margins and kerning, etc., but the line spacing was too small and the margins were terrible.
January 29, 2024
5/5 stars. A glorious compilation of stories and poems, ranging across Goss's long and varied career. An absolute must read for anybody who loves fairy tales and folktales. I was initially intimidated by the length but actually it flew by. Very highly recommended.
March 8, 2024
compelling
I hated to put the book down. So many different takes on both classic and obscure fairy tales, and new ones to treasure. I am going to start reading everything I can from this author
I hated to put the book down. So many different takes on both classic and obscure fairy tales, and new ones to treasure. I am going to start reading everything I can from this author
March 9, 2023
It was lyrical, lovely, and enchanting. Some pieces were only 2 pages long; others went on for dozens. All of them were very good art.
December 29, 2023
An enjoyable collection of stories and poems that reimagine fairy tales and craft new ones in early modern central Europe, North Carolina, and Massachusetts.
April 26, 2024
Reminiscent of the fables and fairy tales I read and loved as a kid. Robin McKinley vibes 100%.
Read
July 26, 2024DNF. I have realized I do not particularly like collections of short stories - and I did not particularly enjoy the style of these.
January 3, 2025
An exquisite collection of fairy tale short stories and poems, reinterpretations of classic tales and new ones created from a stew of influences and the author’s own mind. Goss is one of my favorite short story writers, and everything in this collection is magic. Some favorites: “The Rose in Twelve Petals,” “The Wings of Meister Wilhelm, “The Rapid Advance of Sorrow,” “Singing of Mount Abora,” and the exquisite narrative poem, “The Nightingale and the Rose.”
October 30, 2025
I zipped through this in a couple of days, but I know I’ll reread it. Such beautiful stories that I wish I had someone to read them aloud to.
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