I got this fair-condition softcover at a local Savers thrift shop, for another release copy.

I enjoy steampunk and also fairy-tale retellings, and so it's not surprising that I really liked this collection! Some of the stories are fairly faithful adaptations, with changes mainly in the setting, while others turn the whole story upside down. My favorite stories include:

"La Valse" by K. W. Jeter, based on "The Red Shoes" - it puts a very dark twist on the "forced to dance" concept, in a decadent, decaying society.

Steven Harper's "Fair Vasyl", based on "Vasilisa the Beautiful", has a "perform dangerous task to win the maiden's hand" plot - but with several twists, including the hero's innermost secret and the maiden's own preferences. Other characters include Vasyl's trusty robot Broom, his friend Petro the blacksmith - and the witch Baba Yaga, whose help Vasyl will need. But at what cost?

"You Will Attend Until Beauty Awakens" by Jay Lake follows the "Sleeping Beauty" story through the eyes of several different characters, including the 13th fairy whose ire triggers the curse.

"Mose and the Automatic Fireman" by Nancy A. Collins is based on a legend I hadn't heard of, "Mose the Fireboy" - but it's rather like "John Henry" in an urban environment, fighting fires instead of driving steel. Some really good scene-setting and characterization.

G. K. Hayes' "The Clockwork Suit" takes "The Emperor's New Clothes" and kinda-sorta inverts it, with some intriguing world-building and some characters that kept me interested.

[There's a TV Tropes page on "clock punk" as a sub-genre of steampunk, with some entertaining tidbits.]

I plan to leave this book on the porch of the Lull farm stand at around 1:30 or so; hope the finder enjoys it!

[See other recent releases in NH here.]