Snow White Blood Red

Snow White Blood Red (1993) Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling

I often have a hard time putting down interesting books. Which means that if I’m reading a book I real like before bed, I end up staying up past my bed time instead of falling asleep. One solution is to read non-fiction before bed. The other solution is to read short story anthologies. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of high quality anthologies out there. At least, not enough to keep up with the rate at which I can read.

So I decided to go back and reread Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling’s fantasy anthology Snow White, Blood Red. This book has a whole bunch of things going for it at once: it’s edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling; it’s got stories by Neil Gaiman and Charles de Lint; and the stories are retellings or reinventions of folk and fairy tales. Mostly fairy tales in this book.

Plus, a gorgeous cover by Thomas Canty.

For those who are unfamiliar with folk tales and fairy tales, many of the original tales–before they got cleaned up and given to kids–were filled with sex, (in addition to the casual violence of people getting eyes poked out or chopping off bits of feet or being shoved into ovens.)

In other words, these are not stories for children.

The Charles de Lint story, “The Moon is Drowning as I Sleep,” is one of my favorites. It’s a Sophie Etiole stories, however, like all of Charles de Lint’s short stories, can be read and enjoyed without knowing anything of Newford. Another favorite is Neil Gaiman’s “Troll Bridge.” I love the idea of paths that take us off to hands hidden just beyond our sight. And I love the way that we are manipulated by the main character and the story.

I also particularly like Patricia A. McKillip’s story “The Snow Queen.” I reads to me precisely as a version of the tale involving grown-ups instead of children would read. Except of course that I wasn’t really sure about how things would end. Some of these stories end as you would expect if you’re familiar with the story, and so go off in unexpected directions, so I wasn’t sure where this tale was going.

Jack Dann’s story, “The Glass Casket,” was another story I really enjoyed.

There were a handful of stories I didn’t particularly care for, but there weren’t that many. And there were different reasons why I didn’t like the stories. Lisa Goldstein’s “Breadcrumbs and Stones” is excellent, but I found it terribly depressing. Melanie Tem’s story, “The Changelings” bothered me so much I couldn’t stand to finish it. (I did vaguely remember how it ended.) It was just too awful.

Also, the stories I liked less tended towards horror. This book is a collection of fantasy and horror (as are many Ellen Datlow-Terri Windling anthologies) so I expected that there were going to be at least one or two stories that I don’t care for. So it didn’t really bother me.

As best I can tell, this anthology is still available, so if you like short stories, this is an anthology you won’t want to miss. However, if you like anthologies, this is probably one you already have sitting on your shelves.
Rating: 7/10

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