Once upon a Crime [Paperback]

Ed Gorman (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime; Advance copy edition (1998)
• ASIN: B000VAP6EE
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Ed Gorman is an award winning American author best known for his crime and mystery fiction. He wrote The Poker Club which is now a film of the same name directed by Tim McCann.

He has written under many pseudonyms including "E. J. Gorman" and "Daniel Ransom." He won a Spur Award for Best Short Fiction for his short story "The Face" in 1992. His fiction collection Cages was nominated for the 1995 Bram Stoker Award for Best Fiction Collection. His collection The Dark Fantastic was nominated for the same award in 2001.

He has contributed to many magazines and other publications including Xero, Black Lizard, Cemetery Dance, the anthology Tales of Zorro, and many more.

Visit his blog at newimprovedgorman.blogspot.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy This and Live Happily Ever After, August 13, 2003

By 

James N Simpson (Gold Coast, QLD Australia) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Once upon a crime (Hardcover)

This is a sensational collection of short stories which are either parodies of classic fairy tales or short stories that the editors have found where they can see comparisons between the modern day and Black Forrest characters. Like any collection by various writers the quality varies for each story, in fact to be honest some especially the last few are pretty average but there are a substantial number of brilliant literature masterpieces.

Find out the truth about Cinderella with the story After Happily Ever. This is a superb spin on the classic tale. Of the Fog is my favourite, a sensational thriller about a guy who is targeted for vengeance by a hitchhiker who he decides not to stop for. The Better to Eat You With about a guy living in the Minnesotan wilderness who comes upon a plane crash attended by wolves is another great story. It Happened at Grandmother's House gives us an insight into what it's like to be werewolf. Clever Hans is another great tale of an Alaskan cruise gone wrong. Now Fetch Me an Axe takes the reader into the terrified writing of a girl who has just worked out she is about to murdered and has no way of escaping. Prince Charming is a who done it mystery where the hero works out who kidnapped a girl he just met and fancies. Snow White and the Eleven Dwarfs is a superb planning of catching your father's killer who happens to be your evil stepmother while hiding out from her with a group of men. There's other great stories to read as well. This is really a pretty good collection of crime stories. Once Upon a Time I read this and was happy ever after finishing it.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable and unique, April 20, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Once upon a crime (Hardcover)

Children have always been fascinated by fairy tales, but many adults find the stories magical and awe inspiring also. Well renowned editors Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg have come up with a collection that will tantalize the child in all of us. The famous authors put a mysterious or suspense spin on popular fairy tales like SNOW WHITE; THE EMPORER'S NEW CLOTHES, and THE BRAVE LITTLE TAILOR. Keep in mind that the endings do not always match the original story line.

There are twenty-four stories contained in the anthology that range from cozy to hard-boil. Additionally, many of the tales are placed in a contemporary setting. All the stories are fabulous, but this reviewer especially enjoined "It Happened at Grandmother's House", a tale in which the wolf is a hormonal teen (redundancy)werewolf. Anyone who enjoys fairy tales will love this entertaining short story anthology.

Harriet Klausner

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Some good stories, May 16, 2005

By 

Michele Slack "book bean" (Lehi, UT USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Once upon a crime (Hardcover)

Several of the stories in here were very good. There were a few that were real "stinkers"; like a rapunzel one where a computer genius escapes his captors by climbing out the window down his "hair" computer cables. And there was one that was very foul involving descriptions of very violent rapes. Overall I thought it was an ok read, but not great. I think so much more could have been done with this idea.