ALA Booklist

Editors Marr and Pratt asked 10 other writers to join them in creating short stories based on classics that had influenced their writing. With a stellar cast of popular and critically acclaimed authors (besides Marr and Pratt, there's Neil Gaiman, Holly Black, Rick Yancey, and more) and a wide variety of styles and settings, there's something here for every reader of science fiction and fantasy. Inspirations range from classics (Kate Chopin's The Awakening) to fairy tales (Sleeping Beauty) to gothic thrillers (Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's "Carmilla"). Vess provides six delicately evocative illustrations based on fantasy classics. Fans of dystopian fiction will enjoy the many stories exploring a postapocalyptic future, and hopefully will seek out lesser-known works such as E. M. Forster's "The Machine Stops," inspiration for Carrie Ryan's contribution. Of particular interest is Saladin Ahmed's take on Sir Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene, which shows us another side of the villainous Muslim Saracen brothers. With such diversity of styles and topics, it's likely that not every story will please every reader, but it's great fun sampling and discovering new authors and titles to explore.

Horn Book

Ten authors--well-known names in speculative fiction--and both editors share unexpected takes on fairy/folktales and classic literature. A few standouts: Marr's selkie-centric "Awakened" (inspired by Chopin's The Awakening), Rick Yancey's dystopian "When First We Were Gods" (inspired by Hawthorne's "The Birthmark"), and Neil Gaiman's sinister "The Sleeper and the Spindle" (inspired by "Sleeping Beauty"). Charles Vess contributes six delicate line drawings.

Kirkus Reviews

Twelve popular speculative fiction authors riff on classic literature, but for an ill-defined audience. Inspired by sources as old as Edmund Spenser and as recent as William Seabrook, from authors entrenched in the literary canon and those considerably more obscure, this collection is an eclectic mix of sequels, retellings, homages, pastiches and even responses with only tenuous connections to the originals. While the tone varies from witty to poignant, from lush and sensual to dry and didactic, the stories share a darkly fantastic sensibility, often with a horrific undercurrent. Though told mostly from a male--and usually adult--perspective, they also exhibit a common concern with the limited choices available to women and minorities in patriarchal, Eurocentric cultures. Standouts include Neil Gaiman's clever, biting crossover between "Sleeping Beauty" and "Snow White"; Holly Black's reshaping of the lesbian subtext in Carmilla into the intense friendship of pre-adolescent girls; co-editor Marr's savage and heart-rending updating of selkie legends; and Saladin Ahmed's impassioned defense of the nameless Other so often caricatured as a fantasy villain. It seems likely that adults will be the most appreciative audience, as few teens will be familiar enough with the originals to catch the subtle resonances, and most of the themes and language are as mature as the characters. A thoughtful selection of exquisite literary amuse-bouches; it will take a little work to connect teens with it, though. (finished illustrations not seen) (Fantasy/short stories. 14 & up)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

In this eclectic anthology, Marr (Carnival of Souls) and Pratt (Liar-s Blade) bring together 10 other authors, as well as illustrator Charles Vess, to reinterpret and reimagine a dozen classic stories, novels, and fairy tales. The mandate: to -boil those stories down to the rags and bones, and make something new from their fundamental essences.- The results derive from both familiar source material, such as Kelley Armstrong-s dystopian take on -The Monkey-s Paw- and Neil Gaiman-s splendid reworking of -Sleeping Beauty,- as well as less-remembered, like Margaret Stohl-s haunting update of Horace Walpole-s The Castle of Otranto and Pratt-s thought-provoking look at Henry James-s -The Jolly Corner.- Holly Black delivers a seductive update of -Carmilla,- while Marr takes on The Awakening. The tales tend toward the dark and Gothic, with happy or comforting endings in short supply, but the range of tones and approaches offers plenty for readers to savor. It-s a solid collection that may trigger flashbacks to English class among current and former students alike. Ages 15-up. Agent: (for Marr) Merrilee Heifetz, Writers House; (for Pratt) Ginger Clark, Curtis Brown. (Oct.)

School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up-A dozen original stories that emanate from the "nut" of a classic or other well-known tale comprise this inventive collection. Marr and Pratt invited their writer friends to select stories that spoke to their imaginations and then to create new tales that veered off in different directions. The result is an interesting mix of fantasy, science fiction, and horror-well written and highly varied-that is sure to appeal to older teens. Some stories, such as Rick Yancey's "When First We Were Gods," Kelley Armstrong's "New Chicago," and Carrie Ryan's "That the Machine May Progress Eternally" alter the time of the originals, propelling Hawthorne's "The Birth-Mark," Jacobs's "The Monkey's Paw," and Forster's "The Machine Stops," respectively, into the future. Others rework either the setting, as occurs in Margaret Stohl's "Sirocco," an offshoot of Walpole's The Castle of Otranto , or the point of view, as happens in Garth Nix's "Losing Her Divinity," a reworking of Kipling's "The Man Who Would Be King." Still others, such as Melissa Marr's "Awakened," or Kami Garcia's "The Soul Collector," transform the protagonists of their parent stories (Chopin's The Awakening and the Grimms' "Rumplestiltskin") to focus on a particular theme, in these cases the inequality and maltreatment of women. Each story is followed by the author's explanation of the selected tale and the way in which its essence was altered. Thus, readers may be moved to explore the source material, or teachers might assign the two versions as an exercise in comparative literature. Charles Vess's six precisely drawn illustrations from mid- to late-19th- and early- 20th-century fantasy novels add to the atmosphere of the collection; the descriptions that accompany them may inspire readers to write their own versions of these forgotten fantasies. This anthology merits first-purchase status. Nancy Menaldi-Scanlan, formerly at LaSalle Academy, Providence, RI