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Overview
A stellar assymbly of many of today's most creative and accomplished storytellers has gathered around the tribal fire to embroider well-worn yarns with new golden thread. Black Swan, White Raven revisits the tales that charmed, enthralled, and terrified us in our early youth - carrying us aloft into the healthy, beating heart of cherished myth to tell once again the stories of Rumpelstiltskins and sleeping beauties, only this time from an edgy, provocative and distinctly adult perspective. The themes and archetypes of our beloved childhood fiction are reexamined in a darker light by 21 superb teller of tales who deftly uncover the ironic, the outrageous, the enigmatic and the erotic at the core of the world's best-known fables, while revealing the sobering truths and lies behind "happily ever after."Synopsis
A stellar assymbly of many of today's most creative and accomplished storytellers has gathered around the tribal fire to embroider well-worn yarns with new golden thread. Black Swan, White Raven revisits the tales that charmed, enthralled, and terrified us in our early youth - carrying us aloft into the healthy, beating heart of cherished myth to tell once again the stories of Rumpelstiltskins and sleeping beauties, only this time from an edgy, provocative and distinctly adult perspective. The themes and archetypes of our beloved childhood fiction are reexamined in a darker light by 21 superb teller of tales who deftly uncover the ironic, the outrageous, the enigmatic and the erotic at the core of the world's best-known fables, while revealing the sobering truths and lies behind "happily ever after."
Publishers Weekly
John Crowley, Joyce Carol Oates and Michael Cadnum are the biggest names among the 21 authors who contribute to this sterling fourth collection of retold fairy tales edited by Datlow and Windling (Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears). A few of the stories here, such as Anne Bishop's "Rapunzel," differ from more familiar versions only through a change in point of view, but others take more radical and inspiring liberties. In "The Trial of Hansel and Gretel," Gary Kilworth raises more than a few doubts about the motivation behind an old woman's murder, while Oates demonstrates, in "In the Insomniac Nights," that imagined threats can be just as deadly as real ones. Susanna Clarke's charming "On Lickerish Hill" sets the tale of Rumplestiltskin in the days of the gentleman scientist, and Don Webb's "Three Dwarves and 2000 Maniacs" proves a wonderfully twisted mix of fairy tales replete with deliciously bad puns. Other standouts include Pat Murphy's "The True Story" (of Snow White) and Esther Freisner's "No Bigger Than My Thumb," a bitter tale of witchcraft and vengeance. Compared to these, the Hansel and Gretel remakes of Crowley's "Lost and Abandoned" and Nina Kiriki Hoffman's "The Breadcrumb Trail" come off as strangely bland. Readers looking for deeper insight into childhood stories will enjoy this collection, as will anyone who just wants to read some good fantasy. (June)
Editorials
Publishers Weekly -
John Crowley, Joyce Carol Oates and Michael Cadnum are the biggest names among the 21 authors who contribute to this sterling fourth collection of retold fairy tales edited by Datlow and Windling (Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears). A few of the stories here, such as Anne Bishop's "Rapunzel," differ from more familiar versions only through a change in point of view, but others take more radical and inspiring liberties. In "The Trial of Hansel and Gretel," Gary Kilworth raises more than a few doubts about the motivation behind an old woman's murder, while Oates demonstrates, in "In the Insomniac Nights," that imagined threats can be just as deadly as real ones. Susanna Clarke's charming "On Lickerish Hill" sets the tale of Rumplestiltskin in the days of the gentleman scientist, and Don Webb's "Three Dwarves and 2000 Maniacs" proves a wonderfully twisted mix of fairy tales replete with deliciously bad puns. Other standouts include Pat Murphy's "The True Story" (of Snow White) and Esther Freisner's "No Bigger Than My Thumb," a bitter tale of witchcraft and vengeance. Compared to these, the Hansel and Gretel remakes of Crowley's "Lost and Abandoned" and Nina Kiriki Hoffman's "The Breadcrumb Trail" come off as strangely bland. Readers looking for deeper insight into childhood stories will enjoy this collection, as will anyone who just wants to read some good fantasy. (June)Library Journal
The fourth book in Datlow and Windling's anthology series of well-known and obscure fairy tales retold by contemporary writers, this collection features 19 short stories and two poems about Snow White, the fisherman and his wife, Hansel and Gretel, Rapunzel, and others. Writers like Joyce Carol Oates, Pat Murphy, Don Webb, and Jane Yolen put interesting twists to the sanitized Victorian versions we have, proving that these tales, along with the originals, aren't really for children. Highly recommended for fantasy and short story collections.Cleveland Plain Dealer
"Rich, ripe and rewrding... the stories are well-written and sharp in unexpected places."Book World Washington Post
"Datlow and windling's series gives the reader a look at what some of our best storytellers are doing today."Kirkus Reviews
Fourth in the series of fairy tales reworked for modern audiences (Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears, 1995, etc.). As the editors point out, the stories familiar to us today are drastically edited Victorian variations intended to entertain and instruct children. The older versions, almost invariably darker and more complex, yield no single, unambiguous interpretation, but consist of timeless themes and potent archetypes that new generations of storytellers may draw upon as they will. Of the 19 tales and 2 poems here, the most popular source is Hansel and Gretel (Garry Kilworth, John Crowley, Nina Kiriki Hoffman), followed by Snow White (Don Webb, Pat Murphy) and Sleeping Beauty (Karen Joy Fowler, Michael Blumlein). Other famous contributors include Joyce Carol Oates, Nancy Kress, and Jane Yolen; numbering among the well-known characters in new guises are Thumbelina, Rumpelstiltskin, Rapunzel, the Tin Soldier, the Tinder Box, Thomas the Rhymer (he actually existed), and a certain L.R.R. Hood.Fresh, often feminist significance teased out of ancient, ageless tapestries.