“Polite demons that would open a door for a lady carrying too many parcels- BUT DEMONS NONETHELESS!”

46. Red as Blood or Tales from the Sisters Grimmer – Tanith Lee

It took me a very long time to get through this book. I decided to start reading it as one of my “appointment” books, so I was only reading it while waiting for something. But even only reading it in short bursts did not save me from being a little tired of the sumptuous and luxuriating description. It’s too much for me, and I know I like Tanith Lee’s stories when they just pop up in collections with others’ work, so I’ll have to stick to that.

Snuffy sumptuously luxuriating. She has no problem with it.

“Paid Piper” – Since I’m very scared of rats, their tails, how they like people, and how generally smart they are, I was more than aware it’s not the best idea to worship them. However, I would not tell people that by hypnotizing them with my flute.

“Red as Blood” – Sharp teeth, man, Snow White with sharp teeth. And….Satan. I miss Hecubus.

“Thorns” – This one had slightly less description of sumptuous furnishings for a while at least.

“When the Clock Strikes” – Cinderella…and…Satan. Sorry. I’ll try to stop doing that when Satan stops being a part of the stories. I just really love Hecubus from Kids in the Hall.

Peregrine heard me say “Hecubus,” she and Merricat both appreciated Kids in the Hall like good polite little demons.

“The Golden Rope” – So…guess who shows up in this one? Guess. It’s Jaspre. The annoyingly good looking child stolen by a witch to be sacrificed once she looks all sexy plump and virginal to – Satan!

“The Princess and her Future” – This one as a bit more interesting to me because I wasn’t familiar with it already and it didn’t exactly involve Satan. Some other kind of demon imprisoned in water, who wasn’t Satan, so, a nice change of pace. The princess was a little bit of an idiot, but what completely sheltered rich kid isn’t?

“Wolfland” – Case in point about those sheltered rich kids. Getting lycanthropy through eating flowers is a new one for me. And the girl’s grandmother really reminded me of Dracula in Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The girl’s grandmother easily could’ve been sporting the same hairstyle that Gary Oldman had when Jonathan Harker showed up. Plus the young girl was pretty ridiculous in her reactions to everything. Although maybe my expectations of young girls staying calm are a result of me more often freezing and waiting to react to bizarre situations than screaming hysterically or getting fresh with the servants. This was my favorite story in the collection.

Ozma’s ready to get fresh with whomever.

“Black as Ink” – Someone is in the business of taking waifs off the street, teaching them some tricks, and turning them into swans. I think it’s Satan, but they weren’t explicit this time.

“Beauty” – Lee went futuristic in this one and that was a pretty intriguing choice. She got to add future technology to her overly involved descriptions and cat people. Sort of. No Satan though, in this one I was disappointed by that. A young woman has to reckon with her alien overlords and how she doesn’t fit in with her annoyingly skilled family members and she doesn’t interact with Satan? What the hell?

Murderface and Pickles ask, No really, how was Satan not involved in the last two stories and swans and cat people are?