Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears [Kindle Edition]

Nancy A. Collins (Author), Tanith Lee (Author), Neil Gaiman (Author), Gene Wolfe (Author), Joyce Carol Oates (Author), Lisa Goldstein (Author), Jane Yolen (Author), John Brunner (Author), Ellen Datlow (Editor), Terri Windling (Editor)

Book Description

In their third critically acclaimed collection of original fairy tales for adults, World Fantasy Award-winning editors Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling present 21 new stories by some of the top names in literature today. Dark, disturbing and delightful, each story was written expressly for this superb collection of distinctly grown-up fantasy -- a brilliant companion volume to Datlow and Windling's acclaimed anthologies, Snow White, Blood Red and Black Thorn, White Rose.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Datlow and Windling, winners of a World Fantasy Award for their annual Year's Best Fantasy & Horror, score again with this third entry in their provocative volumes of original, updated fairy tales for adults. The collection, which gathers many impressive names from the field of dark fantasy, also contains introductory essays and extensive suggested reading lists. Highlights include Tanith Lee's "The Beast," a disturbing but all too believable vision of psychopathy and art, and a rather different take on art's worth in an even more unsettling story by Garry Kilworth ("Masterpiece"). Joyce Carol Oates offers an exceptionally surrealistic version of the Sleeping Beauty myth, while Roberta Lannes contributes an exceedingly amusing variation on "The Shoemaker and the Elves." The late John Brunner is represented by a masterful fable that employs Chinese myth, an evil emperor and all-powerful dragons, and Nancy Collins creates a wonderfully folksy atmosphere with her Kentucky-set yarn about fear and common sense. Though the collection skews slightly toward tales of damsels in distress imperiled by evil males (it's notable that only six of the 22 stories are by men), it triumphantly concludes with Delia Sherman's uplifting fable about redemption, nobility and friendship. Like its predecessors, Snow White, Blood Red and Black Thorn, White Rose, this anthology is a must for those who believe that "once upon a time" means now.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

From Roberta Lanne's upscale retelling of "The Shoemaker and the Elves," in which an ambitious cockroach lends his entrepreneurial talents to a Manhattan tailor ("Roach in Loafers"), to Ellen Steiber's moody tribute to Japanese folklore ("The Fox Wife"), the 22 original stories and poems in this collection bring a modern twist to classic and sometimes obscure fairy tales. Like its predecessors Black Thorn, White Rose (AvoNova: Morrow, 1994) and Snow White, Blood Red (Morrow, 1992), this volume explores new interpretations of old themes. It offers a fresh look at tales no longer for children only. Suitable for most libraries' fantasy or short story collections.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• File Size: 662 KB
• Print Length: 436 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0380778726
• Publisher: Wildside Press (February 6, 2012)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0076O7VC8
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Not Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #302,885 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Writing as Rich as Rubies, as Dark as Death March 27, 1998

By A Customer

Format:Mass Market Paperback

"Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears" is the third book in a series of short story volumes edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, all inspired by classic fairy tales. The genre of fairy tales tends to be seen as literature for children, but Datlow and Windling point out that this is a modern view - the early versions of the tales were often dark, adult and brutal, and they have invited authors to reinvent the tales with an eye on their origins.

The resulting stories cover a variety of styles and genres, from the humour of Roberta Lannes' "Roach in Loafers", to the disturbing horror of Anne Bishop's "Match Girl". This is very much an edition for adults, not to be mistaken for children's stories, and Match Girl (based on Hans Christian Andersen's "Little Match Girl") may be too much for some to stomach. Nevertheless, as the author points out, the instruments of torture described have all been invented and used by humankind.

Some of my favourite stories in this volume are Joyce Carol Oates' haunting and moving "The Crossing"; Neil Gaiman's poem "The White Road" - "Mr. Fox" with a twist; and Tanith Lee's "The Beast", an unusual and erotic version of "Beauty and the Beast" with more than a touch of "Bluebeard". But the book is full of gems, some fantastical, some darkly disturbing. Lovers of fantasy should lap it up, and anyone who has enjoyed the previous volumes of the series will find more delights in store for them here.

26 of 29 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Not my favorite December 7, 2001

By Kelly (Fantasy Literature) VINE™ VOICE

Format:Mass Market Paperback

I didn't like this as much as _Black Thorn, White Rose_ or _Black Heart, Ivory Bones_, but it wasn't bad. Add a couple of stars for the stunning novella "The Fox Wife", set in Japan, and for the lush and horrible "The Beast," the dark tale of a beautiful man who is not what he seems. Subtract a few for a pair of stories I heartily disliked--"The Match Girl" which seemed an endless litany of pain and torture, and "The Masterpiece", which is well-written but will forever haunt me. I can't believe the heroine could have made the choice she did at the end of this take on "Rumplestiltskin." Yes, that's probably the point, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars the best, so far January 4, 2004

By EmBee

Format:Mass Market Paperback

I love the whole Windling/Datlow edited series of fairy tale short stories. This particular book is by far the best one I have read (and I've read them all, to date, Jan 2004). Ellen Steiber's "The Fox Wife" is the best short story I've read in awhile - well worth repeated readings, and even led me to seek out more oriental "fox" tales. Joyce Carol Oates, Neil Gaiman, and Jane Yolen are here, and the editors, for this one collection, have abandoned their informal trademark touch of including that one truly odious story. ALL the stories are of high quality, and if you are a devotee of this genre, you MUST read this one. It's really the best of the bunch! Five stars!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars You get the good with the bad, but overall it's fantastic June 1, 2000

By Sara

Format:Mass Market Paperback

As with any collection of short stories, every author has a different style. And you're not going to nessecarily like every style, but that comes with the territory. Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears is the perfect example. Some of the stories are brilliantly written and some are just your average 'oh look, we're making fairy tales for grownups!' type. But as always there are always those that come out on top. Now in my opinion, some were overtly long and tiring ( The Fox Wife ), some were a look into something beyond (The Beast), and some were just... some. By far the stories that stand out the most are : 1. The Beast by Tanith Lee, who has always had an amazing way with her words. Just read one story and you'll be amazed at how well this woman conveys emotion. 2. The Crossing by Joyce Carol Oates, by now you've heard everyone talk about this one, but it's truly one of the best ones in here. Believe me! 3. Roach in Loafers by Roberta Lannes, this story was one of the only ones that actually conveyed a little humor. You need a lighter story in such a collection as this! 4. Lastly Match Girl by Anne Bishop. Although at some points ( actually the whole story ) this story is pretty hard to handle, it is a really good story about human pain. Although most of the stories are good, be warned you're going to get a few weeds among these roses.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars As Good As The Ones Before It September 6, 2000

By AllieKat

Format:Mass Market Paperback

I read two of the series before I read this one and it lives up to the standards of the others. As in the other books, the stories range from dark to humorous. Many modern authors give their own unique and wonderful spin on classic fairy tales. There were a few that stood out in my mind for different reasons. There was "Roach in Loafers," which was a play on "Puss in Boots," that struck me as a wonderful, funny, and modern spin on an old classic. "Billy Fearless" added a humorous southern twist to "A Tale About a Boy Who Went Forth To Learn What Fear Was." "The Fox Wife" while long (over seventy pages) was still interesting. And lastly, Anne Bishop's "Match Girl" was a dark, disturbing tale involving different instruments of torture. On a side note, if you liked "Match Girl" then you most likely will love Bishop's trilogy "The Black Jewels." These stories are definitely adult, and if you like Tanith Lee, Neil Gaiman, Joyce Carol Oates and others, you should pick up any of the Datlow and Windling anthologies.