First published 2018
Hansel finds himself trapped in servitude to the cruel wanderer Grinnan as plague ravages medieval Europe. In another tale, a woman in rural Australia faces her final opportunity to rescue her brother, cursed with swan wings. Hans Christian Andersen's magical tinderbox appears as a worn cigarette lighter in a world where cities lie in ruins and morality has crumbled. Gangs of sheela-na-gigs patrol urban railways, disturbing passengers with their eerie songs. These fourteen stories twist familiar fairy tales into new shapes, transform humans into animals, and imagine futures where hope battles despair. Lanagan crafts worlds where the supernatural intrudes on ordinary lives, where ancient magic survives in modern forms, and where characters must navigate landscapes both physical and moral that have been forever altered. Each story explores the boundaries between human and beast, past and future, salvation and damnation.
Genres: short-stories, literary-fiction, fantasy, fairy-tale-retellings
Vibes: dark, lyrical, thought-provoking
Tropes: fairy-tale-retelling, magical-realism
Setting: Europe, Australia
Period: medieval, modern
265 pages · Hardcover · PS Publishing
Content warnings: violence