Fairy Tale Review Archive
Once upon a time …
The practice of retelling fairy tales in the form of literary fiction is, if not quite hallowed, certainly established. The great Angela Carter’s revelatory 1979 story collection, “The Bloody Chamber” — a brocaded work of heady sensuality, intelligence and violence — remains the benchmark, but Kate Bernheimer’s Fairy Tale Review and the several excellent Bernheimer-edited anthologies spun off from it carry the standard forward. Those are just some of the more overt homages; Western literature owes as much to fairy tales as it does to Greek myth and the Bible.
-The New York Times
Spirit Medium
Now that my pen is made of glass
I pray to write of this loud tree
and not simply fashion
Magenta
Once lived a woman wrapped in a magenta skin so brilliant she glowed, but the story doesn’t start like that.
Three Poems
Even if he was a bull angel,
a land whale, a million tumblers of blubber,
a horned prevaricator,
it took dirty tricks to get him.
Joy Williams’ The Changeling Gets Another Print Run
Updated September 19, 2015 to reflect in-stock status at SPD. We always knew there was space in the world for Joy Williams’ 1978 novel, The...
Fairy-Tale Files: Stubborn Children
Fairy-Tale Files, published once weekly, feature three variations of a fairy tale chosen by one of Fairy Tale Review’s editors. This miniature-sized...
Fairy-Tale Files: Brother and Sister
Fairy-Tale Files, published once weekly, feature three variations of a fairy tale chosen by one of Fairy Tale Review’s editors. In the classic Grimm...
Fairy-Tale Files: The Back to (Umbrella) School Edition
“The Sky is falling…”And so are these oddities, based on documented reports:Nondairy creamer in Chester, South Carolina, due to clogged exhaust...
Fairy-Tale Files Special Report: Cosplay Buffet
Timeline Threads17th Century: Subjects of the late Ming Dynasty begin to don wardrobes inspired by characters in popular fiction.1939: Forrest J....
Fairy-Tale Files: An Account of Witches
Appalachian Granny MagicA mix of Scots-Irish magical traditions and regional rituals of the Cherokee Indians (known then as Tsalagi), adherents of...
Fairy-Tale Files: Forever’s Ramifications
What If Immortality Chose You? After a horrific car accident that should have ended her life, a lightning strike freezes Adaline Bowman’s age at 29...
Fairy-Tale Files: Sirens
Name That TuneWhere sirens sing, shipwreck and death follow. These creatures have bewitched sailors since the time of Euripides, though their most...
Fairy-Tale Files: The Ears Have It
For Shoehorn’s SakeFrom Jedi syntax to Vulcan nerve pinches, the pointy eared have long been embraced by pop culture. Yet there stands a contrast...
Fairy-Tale Files Special Edition: Tempus Hypothesis
Hourglass Slipper Cinderella had until midnight before things turned pumpkiny. Ariel only had three days to make Eric fall in love with her....
Fairy-Tale Files: Deceit
Little Red Riding HoodA girl, a grandmother and a conniving wolf. One of the earliest stories of deception we are introduced to as children, this...
Fairy-Tale Files: Kingdom, Phylum, Feral
The Stars & (Metamorphic) StripesAnimal transformation plays a role in many fairy tales, though “The Tiger’s Bride” by Angela Carter turns the...
