Fantasy Fiction, Short Story Anthologies, Other Fantasy Fiction Categories, Literary Styles & Movements - Fiction, Teen Fiction - Fantasy

Black Heart, Ivory Bones

Name: Black Heart, Ivory Bones
Author: Ellen Datlow,Terri Windling
ISBN: 9780380786237

by Ellen Datlow, Terri Windling

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Overview

Hair bright as gold...Lips red as blood...Heart black as sin...Truth sharp as bone...As in their previous critically acclaimed volumes of reconsidered fairy tales, award-winning editors Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling have gathered together remarkable stories that illuminate the more sinister, sensual, and sophisticated aspects of the tales we cherished in childhood; the fables of witches and princes and lost children that we once imagined we knew. Black Heart, Ivory Bones showcases twenty beguiling tales for the child-that-was and the adult-that-is, penned by twenty of the most creative artists in contemporary American literature. Here dissected are the darker anatomies of the timeless, seemingly simple stories we have long loved. Here wonder and truth have serious bite.

A lovelorn prince seeking his father's blessing concocts a fantastic tale of a witch, a tower, and lustrous long hair...A pair of accursed red boots punishes a beautiful dancer for her pride...A troll-killing, princess-rescuing warrior is compelled to consider events from his adversaries' point of view...In a blistering tell-all memoir, Goldilocks reveals the sordid truth about her brutal foster parent, Papa Bear...

Rich, surprising, funny, erotic, and unsettling, these twenty new yarns and poems offer exceptional anew treasures—as they brilliantly reveal lusts and jealousies, foibles, hatreds and dangerous obsessions, the things that slyly lurk in the midnight interior of oft-told tales.As in their previous critically acclaimed volumes of reconsidered fairy tales, award-winning editors Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling have gathered together remarkable stories that illuminate the moresinister, sensual, and sophisticated aspects of the tales we cherished in childhood; the fables of witches and princes and lost children that we once imagined we knew. BLACK HEART, IVORY BONES showcases twenty beguiling tales for the child-that-was and the adult-that-is, penned by twenty of the most creative artists in contemporary American literature. Here dissected are the darker anatomies of the timeless, seemingly simple stories we have long loved. Here wonder and truth have serious bite.

Rich, surprising, funny, erotic, and unsettling, these twenty new yarns and poems offer exceptional new treasures—-as they brilliantly reveal lusts and jealousies, foibles, hatreds, and dangerous obsessions, the things that slyly lurk in the midnight interior of oft-told tales.

Author Biography:

Ellen Datlow was the fiction editor at Omnimagazine for seventeen years. She is now editor of thewebzine Event Horizon She has edited numerous successful anthologies, including Blood Is Not Enough, Little Deaths, Off Limits, Twists of the Tale, and Vanishing Acts. With Terri Windling she has edited the popular anthology series The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror for thirteen years. A multiple World Fantasy Award-winner, she lives in New York City.

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Editorials

KLIATT

This is the last in an excellent series of fairy tales rewritten as fantasy short stories. All of the stories in this series have been of high caliber, and written by authors from various genres. It is hard to chose favorites, but some stand out. Jane Yolen's retelling of "Snow White," "Snow in Summer," sets the story in the Appalachian hills, with Snow's stepmother involved in snake handling, and the seven dwarfs as seven coal miners. Snow hides with the miners after she escapes the clutches of a violent young man sent by her stepmother. The stepmother comes visiting one day, disguised, and Snow, recognizing her for what she is, conks her with a frying pan. "Big Hair" by Esther Friesner features Rapunzel and her mama on the beauty pageant circuit, while "Rapunzel" by Tanith Lee has the prince concocting the tale to explain his long absence, peasant wife, and twin babies. Other authors in the collection include Neil Gaiman, Joyce Carol Oates, and Charles de Lint. If you're looking for good fantasy collections, or something different for your short story collection, this should fill the need. KLIATT Codes: SA—Recommended for senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 2000, Avon, 368p, 21cm, 99-050293, $13.50. Ages 16 to adult. Reviewer: Gail E. Roberts; Coordinator, Youth Svcs., New Bedford P.L., New Bedford, MA, July 2000 (Vol. 34 No. 4)

School Library Journal

YA-Continuing their successful project of producing rich, adult-oriented anthologies with fairy-tale motifs, the editors have enlisted 20 contemporary authors to share creations that have clear roots in fairy lore. Tanith Lee, Neil Gaiman, Jane Yolen, Brian Stableford, Michael Cadnum, Charles de Lint, and Joyce Carol Oates are among the literary luminaries who have contributed new work here. Many of the settings are contemporary, the characters share the realistic traits that make those who inhabit traditional fairy stories sympathetic, and their predicaments and exploits are compelling. Brief introductions and endnotes accompanying each tale provide just enough context to enrich readers' understanding of how and why the author may have constructed this particular tale. Esther Friesner's "Big Hair," for instance, will make readers think about the JonBenet Ramsey case, but the author disclaims this association. Severna Park provides a quick but lucid argument for the comparison her tale makes between the status of women and the status of Jews. Several of the stories are presented in alternative narrative styles, including Gaiman's blank-verse entry and Susanna Clarke's epistolary format. Teen readers dedicated to exploring fairy tale and myth will delight in this new volume. Further, it invites those who might just be experimenting with the genre to delve beyond this first taste of it. Several of the tales lend themselves to directed reading and analysis.-Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley Public Library, CA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.