Once Upon a Time: Erotic Fairy Tales for Women
Erotic retellings of fairy tales, many with BDSM content. Lesbian, transgendered, and bisexual protagonists.
. Highly Recommended.
February 6, 2010 | Revid 464 < prev | next >
An extensive collection of fairy tales—from "Rapunzel" and "Goldilocks", to "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" and "The Little Mermaid"—retold with darkly erotic undertones and fresh perspectives. Familiar contributors include Dorothy Allison, Laura Antoniou, Red Jordan Arobateau, Kate Bornstein, Pat Califia, Carol Queen, Francesca Lia Block, and Cecilia Tan.
Familiar or not, the authors in this collection pack a delicious punch: of twenty-seven stories, I adored all but a half-dozen and find myself in the enviable position of struggling to name just a few favorites. First would have to be Linda Smukler's "Hans and Greta," a harrowing tale of survival with a pair of strong, transgendered siblings. Like many other contributions, the story retains the breathtaking cruelty of the original, adding only a critical modern eye that lifts it into the remorseless light of day.
Francesca Lia Block accomplished a similar feat with "Sleeping Beauty," embedding the story even more fully in the contemporary world; painfully sad, and yet one of the few to find a qualified peace in the end. "Go Tell Aunt Tabby," by Wickie Stamps, paints a picture of lost childhood that gives us a glimpse of some unspeakable beauty—reminding me strongly of Jim Grimsley.
Katya Andreevna's retelling of the Russian tale "Svya's Girl" was poignant and lovely in its literal depiction of spiritual grief. Jenifer Levin's "The Piper" takes an unflinching look at a dystopia that is at once past and future. And Joan M. Schenkar's "Gammer Ermintrude's Revenge: A Love Letter from Snow White" was wickedly entertaining, providing some lighter moments in this otherwise somberly reflective collection.
Frankly, I'm astonished at the quality. The vast majority of stories are deliberately brief, like bedtime stories, and fully capture the unique cadence of a fairy tale. With few exceptions, they were a joy to read. I felt spoilt, transported. They invoked familiarity, but without the cloying necessity of Disneyfied comfort: we recognize Sleeping Beauty, but also the destructive legacy of child abuse; we know the story of the dancing princesses, but also the story of rich lives lived in closeted fear.
This marvelous collection should set the standard for queer fantasy anthologies. Obscure or not, it's easily the best I've ever read, and it ought to be better known—or reprinted. I'm not sure how difficult it is to track down (I borrowed my copy through inter-library loan) but if you can find it, grab it: it's a rare literary treat.
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