This anthology is filled with a diverse set of stories ranging from romance to horror, each one fascinating and unique. Jaylee James worked hard to make sure there was a little something for everyone in here. I'm going to touch on each story very briefly:
- "The Slumbering Hill" by Diane Dubas is basically two stories blending into a F/F Sleeping Beauty with gorgeous worldbuilding details
- Allan Davis Jr.'s "The Girl, the Stalk, and Entropy" is an exciting retelling of Jack and the Beanstalk where Jack trades his arm away instead of a cow for money.
- Marie Piper gives Little Riding Hood an action-y YA-esque twist in "Red and Black"
- "Alone, and Palely Loitering" by Nitai R. Poddar is a haunting spin on the legend of Galahad and the Holy Grail
- "Prina and the Pea" by Leandra Wallace is a fun retelling of The Princess and the Pea involving a forbidden romance
- Queer Latinas run the show in Sara Daniele Rivera's "Mi Sombra", a stunning retelling of Hans Christian Anderson's The Shadow
- "The Last" by Mandy Nachampassack-Maloney introduces us to a Rapunzel where she's the last human specimen in an alien tower
- "CAT Beyond the Moon" is a delightful Puss in Boots reimagination with...floating bread! Yes! Cats in space and gravity-free bread!
- "China White and the Seven" is James Wood's gruesome take on Snow White in a dystopian-like setting
- M.Z. Medina's "Across the Stars" takes The Weaver Girl and the Cowherd and throws them into a spaceship with cubes in this humorous romance
- "Le Trotteur" by Claudie Arsenault is based off a Québécois real-life-legend Alexis le Trotteur who could outrun horses. Except in this story, Alexis is doing some sweet magnet skating. Story also features an awesome asexual girlfriend
- Christopher Walker's "Some Assembly Required" is a hilarious retelling of The Fisherman and His Wife with a gay protagonist full of romantic admiration for his captain.
- "Scrapefoot" by Jennifer Lee Rossman is a creepy spin on Goldilocks with experiments and fake memories
- Lea Anne Guettler's "Code Red" brings us another exciting Little Red Riding Hood with holoknives and a Woodman love interest
- L.G. Keltner's "Treating the Beast" is a Beauty & The Beast retelling where our heroine is a doctor charged with caring for a sick politician
- Elizabeth Hopkinson takes the 12 Dancing Princesses and makes it solarpunk as heck with an agender, asexual android lead in "Fit for Purpose"
- "Compatible" by C.M. Lloyd (that's me, y'all!) is another Rapunzel story, this time with an alien Prince Charming and a trans high school student Princess
- "Spinward of the Sun, Handed of the Moon" by Eben Mishkin is a sweet, moving M/M retelling of West of the Sun, East of the Moon
- Caitlin Nicoll's twists the Little Mermaid into a unique story of love, cyborgs, and hard decisions in "Beside the Crimson Sea"
- "Voices" by Shannon McDermott is another Princess and the Pea, but this particular tale challenges the definition of a true princess
Sounds pretty cool, yeah? You can order it today!
