Good Reads - Fiction
Science Fiction/Fantasy
Fairy Tales for Adults: The Novels
SF/F/BRUST
Brust, Steven - The
Sun, the Moon and the Stars - 1987, 210p.
Parallel
stories contrast a present day group of young artists struggling
for recognition and success and an old
Hungarian folk tale of three gypsy brothers in medieval
Hungary struggling to fulfill a promise to their king that
they will find the sun, the moon, and the stars and hang
them in the sky.
F/BYATT
Byatt, A.S. - Possession:
A Romance - 1990,
555p.
In this retelling of The Fairy Melusine, literary scholars
investigate the lives of two mid-Victorian poets who loved
briefly and parted, with the man not knowing he had fathered
a child.
F/CARROLL
Carroll, Jonathan - Sleeping
in Flame - 1989,
273p.
Divorced for several years, Walker Easterling finally
falls in love again, but someone seeking to settle an old
score threatens his love and his life. A suspense-filled
updating of an old, familiar tale of love and deception.
SF/F/CHERRYH
Cherryh, C.J. - Rusalka - 1989, 374p.
A young man falls in
love with the ghost of a murdered girl who must draw life
from others or perish completely
in this story based on an ancient Russian folk legend.
SF/F/DALKEY
Dalkey, Kara - The
Nightingale - 1991,
221p.
As in Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale of
the same name, an Emperor is enchanted by lovely music while
sinister forces seek to replace the good musician with
a counterfeit.
F/DARLING
Darling, Diana - The
Painted Alphabet - 1992,
209p.
This story is an updating of an epic Balinese poem about
a man's quest to become an ascetic.
SF/F/DEAN
Dean, Pamela - Tam
Lin - 1991, 460p.
In this tale, based on
a Scottish folk ballad, Janet must win her lover in a battle
with the Queen of Faerie on the
campus of a small college in Minnesota.
SF/F/DELINT
De Lint, Charles - Jack
the Giant Killer - 1987, 202p.
The
story of Jack And The Beanstalk with "Jacky," a
young woman in present day Ottawa, becoming involved with
the other world after her lover leaves her because she
is so boring and predictable. Jacky continues her adventures
in Drink Down the Moon.
F/GARDNER
Gardner, John - Grendel - 1971, 174p.
A new twist on the old
story of Beowulf and Grendel. This time we hear it from
the point of view of the surprisingly
introspective monster, as he wreaks havoc on the world
around him.
F/GRUNDY
Grundy, Stephan - Rhinegold - 1994, 721p.
Retelling of the
Northern European epic of Siegfried, the treasure of gold
buried under the Rhine, and the ring
that brings to those who possess it nothing but grief.
SF/F/KUSHNER
Kushner, Ellen - Thomas
the Rhymer - 1990,
247p.
Based on an old English folk song about a young man
kidnapped by the Queen of Elfland. He is cursed with
an inability
to lie, even a little, when he unwillingly returns from
her world to earth.
SF/F/LACKEY
Lackey, Mercedes - The
Fire Rose - 1995,
433p.
Rosalind Hawkins goes to San Francisco as the "governess" of
a wealthy man whose amateur dabbling in magic has resulted
in his accidentally becoming a werewolf. A rival adept/alchemist
wants Rosalind to betray her employer's secret. The
year is 1905.
F/LLYWELYN
Llywelyn, Morgan - Finn
Mac Cool - 1994,
400p.
Finn Mac Cool, a hero of Irish mythology, is a famous
warrior who writes poetry and tells his men (and anyone
else who's
listening) fantastic tales (not necessarily true) about
his life, although the truth of his life and loves needs
no embellishment.
F/MAGUIRE
Maguire, Gregory - Wicked:
The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West - 1995, 406p.
If someone dropped
a house on your sister, wouldn't
you expect them, at the very least, to return her magic
slippers? Read the Wicked Witch of the West's version
of the happenings in Oz before, when, and after Dorothy
arrived.
SF/F/SCARBOROUGH
Scarborough, Elizabeth Ann - The
Godmother - 1994, 294p.
Characters
from the Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales get together in a present
day fable set in Seattle.
F/SYNGE
Synge, Ursula - Swan's Wing - 1981,
156p.
A tragic continuation of Hans Christian Andersen's
tale The Wild Swans, following one of the eleven brothers
who were turned into swans. It is told by an orphan who
became a sculptor and is complete with a goose girl and
a wicked snow duchess.
SF/F/TEPPER
Tepper, Sheri S. - Beauty - 1991, 412p.
Sleeping Beauty tells
the real story of her enchantment (with asides from Carabosse,
the fairy who placed the spell
on Beauty).
F/WELTY
Welty, Eudora - The
Robber Bridegroom - 1942,
134p.
A fairy tale about a young girl with a wicked stepmother
and a bandit lover who lived long ago in the American South.
SF/F/WILLIAMS
Williams, Tad - Caliban's Hour - 1994,
201p.
A wild man has one hour to explain to a woman he once
loved that he must kill her to avenge the havoc her magician
father wreaked on his life.
F/WILSON
Wilson, David Henry - The
Coachman Rat - 1989,
171p.
Imagine one day you're just an ordinary rat. And
then you're changed into a coachman for
a magical night. And then you're a rat again. But
now you can talk! And then...
SF/F/WREDE
Wrede, Patricia C. - Snow
White and Rose Red - 1989, 273p.
The
daughters of a woman rumored to be a witch in a small Elizabethan
village take pity on an enchanted bear and
help him to break the spell accidentally cast upon him
by a pair of inept and careless practitioners of magic.
SF/F/YOLEN
Yolen, Jane - Briar
Rose - 1992, 190p.
In this recreation
of Sleeping Beauty, a fifteen-year-old girl learns the
story of her grandmother's experiences
in a German concentration camp during World War II.
SF/F/ZELAZNY
Zelazny, Roger and Robert Sheckley - Bring
Me the Head of Prince Charming - 1991, 279p.
As the millennium approaches,
the powers of evil plot to seize power for the next thousand
years by manipulating
the tale of Sleeping Beauty and Prince Charming.
Prepared by Carol Yarmolich, April 1997 |
