Black Thorn, White Rose

Once upon a time . . . World Fantasy Award-winners Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling compiled an extraordinary anthology of adult fairy tales entitled Snow White, Blood Red. Now, once more, they return us to the realm of myth and the fantastic - with eighteen remarkable tales that remold our most cherished childhood fables into things darker and sexier, more resonant and appealing to grown-up tastes and sensibilities. Here are the wondrous works of masters who cloak the magical fictions we heard at grandma's knee in mantles of darkness and dread. Here are stories strange and miraculous, of rare and haunting beauty - from Roger Zelazny's delightful narrative of a contemporary knight's service to his godfather Death . . . to Peter Straub's blood-chilling examination of a gargantuan Cinderella and her terrible twisted "art." Between these covers Patricia C. Wrede entices and enthralls with a tale of a keep, a curse and a love stronger than death and time . . . while Storm Constantine transforms a charming and timeless fable into a decidedly horrific yarn about a conjured princess too good to be true. Once upon a time . . . the Gingerbread Man ran gleeful and free. Now he flees in terror from the baking pan to the fire. Once upon a time . . . Rampel stillskin was a heinous villain. Now he is a victim doomed to a cruel and tragic fate. Once upon a time . . . there was a childlike innocence. Now there is only the truth."Words Like Pale Stones" by Nancy Kress"Stronger Than Time" by Patricia C. Wrede"Somnus's Fair Maid" by Ann Downer"The Frog King, or Iron Henry" by Daniel Quinn"Near-Beauty" by M.E. Beckett"Ogre" by Michael Kandel"Can't Catch Me" by Michael Cadnum"Journeybread Recipe" by Lawrence Schimel"The Brown Bear of Norway" by Isabel Cole"The Goose Girl" by Tim Wynne-Jones"Tattercoats" by Midori Snyder"Granny Rumple" by Jane Yolen"The Sawing Boys" by Howard Waldrop"Godson" by Roger Zelazny"Ashputtle" by Peter Straub"Silver and Gold" by Ellen Steiber"Sweet Bruising Skin" by Storm Constantine"The Black Swan" by Susan Wade