Black Thorn, White Rose: A Modern Book of Adult Fairy Tales - Softcover

Storm Constantine; Susan Wade; Nancy Kress; Patricia C. Wrede; Ann Downer-Hazell; Daniel Quinn; M.E. Beckett; Michael Kandel; Michael Cadnum; Lawrence Schimel; Isabel Cole; Tim Wynne-Jones; Midori Snyder

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0451184440 ISBN 13: 9780451184443

Publisher: Penguin, 1996

Synopsis

• The award-winning editors of Snow White, Blood Red return us to distinctly adult realms of myth and the fantastic — with 18 wondrous works that cloak the magical fictions we heard at grandma's knee in mantles of darkness and dread. From Roger Zelansky's delightful tale of Death's disobedient godson to Peter Straub's blood-chilling examination of a gargantuan Cinderella and her terrible twisted "art," here are stories strange and miraculous — remarkable modern storytelling that remold our most cherished childhood fables into things sexier, more sinister... and more appealing to grown-up tastes and sensibilities.

About this title

About the Author:

Terri Windling (www.terriwindling.com) is an award-winning editor, artist, essayist, and author. She has edited more than thirty anthologies, many of them with Ellen Datlow, and has been a consulting editor for the Tor Books fantasy line since 1986. A former New Yorker, Terri now lives in a small country village in southwestern England with her husband, daughter, and a dog named Tilly.

From Kirkus Reviews:

The editors of the annual Year's Best Fantasy and Horror concoct a potent brew of fairy tales spiked with feminism. These intoxicating delights are not meant for children or the timid. Storm Constantine retells the princess and the pea through the voice of the widowed queen of Gordania, a narrator so wickedly charming, sinister, and intimate with the use of poisons that she brings to mind ancient Rome's Livia. In Nancy Kress's version of Rumpelstiltskin, an enchanted young woman surrenders her talent to spin gold, and ultimately her own life, to save her only son. Susan Wade presents overweight princess Ylianna who, to gain the love of a prince, uses a toxic powder to metamorphose into a raven-haired beauty. Life as a mortal is so unbearable after his rejection that Ylianna transforms her wounded spirit into the magnificent black swan. Death gains a face--and a godson--in Roger Zelazny's witty story about the grim reaper who, despite his power of death-over- life, cannot resist sparing his favorite football players. No matter which tour you take through this frightening and dark enchanted wood, Datlow and Windling again prove themselves the best guides. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0451184440
• ISBN 13: 9780451184443
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 386
• Editor: Ellen Datlow, Terri Windling