Fairy Tale Review Archive
Browse submissions from past editions, web exclusive content, author Q&A, and more.
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
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.
The Seed and The Stone
The Arbor tells us stories of a time before, when all the dead were kept in orchards that rolled endlessly, and had always been there, and people tended to them constantly in gratitude and respect for their ancestors.
Fairy-Tale Files: The Deer in the Dream
Fairy-Tale Files, published once weekly, feature three variations of a fairy tale chosen by one of Fairy Tale Review’s editors. In this Chinese...
Fairy-Tale Files: Laughing Eye and Weeping Eye
Fairy-Tale Files, published once weekly, feature three variations of a fairy tale chosen by one of Fairy Tale Review’s editors. Also known as “The...
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....
