I got this softcover anthology of "children's stories made horrific" - looks like fun! It's by Daniel Mallory Ortberg (he transitioned after this book came out), who also writes as the latest "Dear Prudence" on Slate. [Update: his name is now Danny M. Lavery.]

Later: I enjoyed this often-grim collection very much, with its varied interpretations of traditional stories. Among them:

"The Daughter Cells" takes "The Little Mermaid" and contrasts a VERY different life-cycle of the sea-people with that of land-based life. One line that highlights this: after the girl has fallen for a human prince, her grandmother says "if he is to live here, you must make him promise to let us eat him after he is dead, as you and I will be eaten". Recycling! This version of the story ends happily, for some interpretations of the word {wry grin}.

"Fear Not: An Incident Log" is a darkly hilarious tale from the viewpoint of the angel in charge of annunciations - turns out that "Fear not!" warning is very important, as the angel says most of his early assignments simply dropped dead before he could tell them his message. He touches on the problems of the "uncanny valley" too, with things that look sort of human but not quite being more scary than things clearly not human at all. His examples of the results of his announcements track with Biblical accounts, but with some dark twists, especially regarding the wrestling-with-Jacob incident. And the whole thing is presented in a self-justifying manner, as if he's being called on the carpet - lots of "that wasn't my responsibility, I was just to deliver the message". Reminded me a bit of Christopher Moore's angels, especially as depicted in Lamb.

"The Six Boy-Coffins" spins the brothers-turned-into-swans story, and while it follows the same basic plot, the resolution is very different - the king who insisted on marrying the pretty mute girl with the nettles (and who isn't shown in a very nice light here) meets a very grisly end...

There's a VERY dark take on "The Velveteen Rabbit," with the becoming-real business being a kind of soul-vampirism (!).

"The Wedding Party" is more psychological suspense, low-key but unnerving; reminded me of some of Shirley Jackson's "Daemon Lover" stories.

And there's more!

[One of the stylistic choices here involves messing with gender-based pronouns - we have granddaughters referred to as "he", and so forth, with no perceptible affect on the story but a bit of a mind-twist for the reader. I suspect the author was being prankish, but also providing a little nudge as to the ingrained gender-bias we have.]

I'm adding this to the Anthology Assortment bookbox, which will be on its way to its next stop soon. Hope someone enjoys it!

*** Released for the 2018 Spook-Tacular October release challenge. ***

*** Released for the 2018 Tick Tock release challenge. ***

Chosen from the Anthology Assortment Bookbox.

Interesting take on classic tales infused with some gender fluidity.

I especially enjoyed:
‘The Daughter Cells’ A fun take on The Little Mermaid. I liked that the mermaid is not the one suffering in the end this time.

‘Fear Not: An Incident Log’ where we learn it’s hard for an angle to do it’s job with people dying at first sight before they can deliver their message. Definitely not the angel’s fault. 😉

‘The Six Boy-Coffins’ At first I thought this was going to be a different take on Snow White, but it turned out to be ‘The Six Swans’.

‘The Rabbit’ could be nothing other than our favorite tear-jerker ‘The Velveteen Rabbit’. I’m going to be much more suspicious of my stuffed animals after that one!

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Sent to a friend in Alexandria, VA.
Happy Reading!

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