F is for Fairy

by Rhonda Parrish (Editor), Pete Aldin, Steve Bornstein

“Anyone who believes that faeries are wee, golden-haired creatures with dragon-fly wings and sweet intentions has never met a real faerie.” –Suzanne Willis, “A Silver Thread Between Worlds”

Retellings of familiar favourites from new perspectives, and brand new stories share the pages of this fairy-themed collection. Within these offerings you’ll find fairy music and food, contracts (making and breaking them), changelings, circles and curses–these stories deliver all the things you already love about fairies and a few new tricks as well.

A dusting of dragons, shapeshifters and ogres accompany these tales which include feminist fairies overcoming trauma, Norse fairies breaking the rules to interfere in human affairs, intergalactic fairies hitching a ride to a new home, political satire featuring an idiot king and talking animals, a new Robin Archer story, fairy run nightclubs and so, so much more.

Altogether this anthology includes twenty-six brand new tales–one for each letter of the alphabet–from contributors Pete Aldin, Steve Bornstein, Andrew Bourelle, Stephanie A. Cain, Beth Cato, Sara Cleto, Cory Cone, Danielle Davis, Megan Engelhardt, Michael Fosburg, Joseph Halden, Lynn Hardaker, L.S. Johnson, Michael M. Jones, Jeanne Kramer-Smyth, Samantha Kymmell-Harvey, C.S. MacCath, Jonathan C. Parrish, Alexandra Seidel, Michael B. Tager, Rachel M. Thompson, Laura VanArendonk Baugh, Brittany Warman, Lilah Wild, Suzanne J. Willis and BD Wilson.

Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories, Anthologies, Magic, Fairies

440 pages, Paperback

First published May 7, 2019

About the author

Rhonda Parrish has the attention span of a magpie. Not only can she not focus on a single project at a time, but she also fails at sticking to one genre or even one type of writing (she does manage to stay true to one hockey team, though – Let’s go Oilers!). Perhaps best known for her work as an anthology editor – the Ottawa Review of Books called her “Canada’s best-known and most prolific speculative fiction anthologist” – Rhonda also works as a short story writer, novelist, game writer and a poet.

She has been honoured to be included in a handful of ‘Best of’ anthologies, earn a coveted starred review from Publisher’s Weekly and be shortlisted for several awards including the Rhysling Award, the Aurora Award, the Dwarf Stars Award, Next Generation Indie Book Awards and Alberta Book Publishing Awards.

In 2025 she was the Edmonton Public Library's Writer in Residence and in 2026 her novel Silversong won the CANREADS award for best fantasy novel.

In an effort to impose some order in her chaos, most of her short fiction and poetry is published directly through her Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/RhondaParrish). More information about her, updates and calls for submission are posted on her website http://www.rhondaparrish.com/home/.

Reviews

[Don Gerstein]

As with any compilation, there are stories and then there are stories that shine. In this collection, all of the stories are good and well-written, and some of them are standouts.

My favorites? L.S. Johnson sets the pace with an opening story that mixed a familiar childhood tale with an intriguing twist, and C.S. MacCath followed by filling in the unknown pieces in an actual event that happened centuries ago. Andrew Bourelle’s story blended the fairy world with a touch of horror and dread. BD Wilson’s tale borrowed from many sources to create something that could only be cast as an apocalyptical world where the laws of the Fae reign supreme, twisting everything and allowing the nightmares to creep in and take root.

As always, editor Rhonda Parrish does an outstanding job. The 26 story headings (one for each letter of the alphabet) served as a fun game (I kept trying to guess what word she would assign to each letter when revealed at the end of the stories). Whether intended or not, the mixture of stories was quite good. Even when a story struck me as okay but not outstanding, I knew the next one or the one after that would catch me unawares with either a surprise ending or a masterful recital of a tale that the author would not allow to become mundane. Extremely entertaining, highly recommended. Four-and-a-half stars.

[Riley]

E is for Entertaining. This wonderful anthology of fairy stories will surely have something for everyone as all the stories are well written, full of creative twists and turns, yet naturally differ in style and subject matter. In addition to enjoying the book, it was also a pleasure to get to sample writings from so many new-to-me authors

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Anthony]

F Is For Fairy continues Rhonda Parrish's greatly enjoyable "alphabet anthology" series with 26 stories ranging from flash fiction to almost novella length. Of course, not every story will work for every reader. But the majority of these worked for me.

The authors give us a wide variety of types of faeries, from the high fantasy/Tolkeinesque to tiny troublemakers of the Disney variety. The very first story treats us to a tweak of the Sleeping Beauty myth while another brings Irish pixies to colonial Australia. Yet another gives us warrior elves of the Gaelic/Nordic variety.

There are a few comedic stories centered around the idea of elves loving to make deals. There are several urban fantasy tales that feel like they're part of ongoing series. And there are a few stories, notably those by Jeanne Kramer-Smyth and Beth Cato, that being fairies into the science fiction realm.

I highly recommend this anthology. Notice I'm not sharing story titles: part of the fun of Parrish's anthologies is figuring out what word the author is centering the story on with the letter they were assigned.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Beth Cato]

Not a review. Includes my story for the letter Z.

[Danielle Palmer]

As always, another unique collection anthologized by Rhonda Parrish
A is for Apple - an interesting faerie story based loosely on maleficent
B is for burned - a well told tale of an ill half human child, woven around a real fact from history
C is for contract - a short humorous one, where the working of a contract can make or break an agreement
D is for diplomacy - space aliens transporting fairy cargo
E is for elf shot - a bit overly long, but interesting story of little people getting angry and taking revenge
F is for family - a longer story, about a displaced far trying to get home with unlikely help
G is for gentry - a fairy doesn’t know she’s a fairy and is living in the human world and chooses to continue
H is for heart keeper - a mortal has her emotional heart stolen, then goes on to do the same to others
I is for imputation - ⭐️ - one star, did not enjoy. Political commentary in an irritating format
J is for jaberwocky - another one of my less liked stories. It was well written, but the monster lusting after his descendants was too much for me
K is for kin - a story about changelings and murder and possibly a crazy lady
L is for leaving - another story that just didn’t set well with me. The main character is in an unfulfilling relationship, was sexually abused as a child, and yet when given the chance to live happily in fairyland, turns it down so she can go back and tell her story
M is for maturity - This seems like one you could find in an old fairytale book, where the kind owl is actually a prince
N is for neverland - tinkerbell not really knowing why she sticks with Peter Pan, but doing it anyways
O is for oasis - girl on girl action at a nightclub
P is for promised one - a funky one where the chosen one turns down his status
Q is for quiet - a babysitter deliberately disobeys instructions and the child on her care is swapped for a changeling
R is for rusalka- a watery tale of sisterly competition and revenge
S is for savior - a fairy decides to rescue a human she doesn’t know hardly at all, and risks not being able to stay in a safe enchanted place due to it
T is for titania - a retelling of a midsummer night’s dream
U is for unseelie court - upset faeries destroy a botanical garden and kill a worker and are then released into the wild and may continue this behavior, as they did this at their last location
V is for verisimilitude- this was a very unique story, a future dystopian setting where the leader of an expedition will do anything necessary to keep her crew and charges believing in faeries
W is for wear wigs - a well written but overly long tale of two unlikely partners working together to bust a crime ring where children are unwilling hair donors
X is for Xanadu- more girl on girl action at a nightclub
Y is for your song - an ogre takes the remains of a deceased girl and turns them into a harp. The harp then tells the story of how she came to die
Z is for Zamboni - a collector of human paraphernalia obtains a Zamboni and a human is rescued from a post apocalyptic earth to tell them about it

[Jennifer]

This is the sixth Alphabet Anthology book, where each story is titled with a word starting with each subsequent letter of the alphabet. I wouldn't mind finding the first few (though they have different themes, so I don't feel like I missed anything). Overall this was a fun read, and I truly enjoyed trying to figure out what word each story was representing. Most of the time I was wrong ;)

The stories span genres--you'll find traditional fairy tales reminiscent of A Midsummer Night's Dream, urban fantasy, light horror, even a fae story taking place on a spaceship. Stories that stood out for me: a tale of Nordic fae by C.S. MacCath; Stephanie A. Cain's story of unusual ancestry; Rachel M. Thompson's royal romance; Megan Engelhardt's World War I tale; Michael M Jones' story of a club where love can be lost, and found; the reveal of a most unexpected facet of an ogre by Michael Fosburg; and the completely unexpected juxtaposition of hockey and imminent apocalypse by Beth Cato (the author who informed me of this anthology's existence).

Not a problem, just an observation: some of the stories are *very* short. It was a surprise when I tapped through the book on my iPad and suddenly a story was done. More power to authors who can tell a complete story in few words. As with any anthology, be prepared for swings in author style, which can be jarring.

If you like short stories with fantastical bents, this anthology is for you.

I received this book as a complimentary e-ARC from Booksprout in exchange for an honest review.

[Robbie]

I picked this up because it was part of a Story Bundle and seemed like it might be a light diversion that would see me through a bad mood I was in. Then I read the first story and literally cried for quite a bit afterward. This has a really good blend of stories in it, running the gambit from high-ish fantasy to urban fantasy, drama to pure silliness. A few weren't particularly memorable, but a number of them were truly excellent and there weren't any that weren't at least an ok read. Most of them poked around in some aspect of being human and were pretty effective at it. A good number of them play off of well-known fairy tales and quite a few others play off of some of the standard tropes of the genre, inverting the story to give a different perspective and maybe provoke a few thoughts.

I started off making little notes about each story so that I could check out the authors later, but didn't keep up with it. I'll need to go through sometime this week and see if I can't remember which ones I liked the most so that I can see what else those authors have written. I don't read short stories often, but I'll probably check out a few of the other anthologies in the series, especially since the first one seems to be free.

[Iseult Murphy]

This is the 6th book in the alphabet anthology series, edited by Rhonda Parrish. As the title says, this time around contains 26 stories that explore everything fairy - every form of fairy imaginable is contained within this volume, from fairy tale reimaginings to urban fantasy to Norse elfs to some that were totally unexpected.
I found all the stories to be of very high caliber, but like any anthology, some I liked better than others. Particular standouts for me were D by Jeanne Kramer-Smyth. I would say more, but I don’t want to spoil the story. E by Pete Aldin, which had a lovely blend of new and old worlds with fairies in Australia. G by Stephanie A. Cain, which is a lovely urban fantasy with werewolves and fairy Gentry, but still manages to stay fresh. I by Joseph Halden, which is very humorous and has a fairy dogmother (although she’s not quite what she sounds). Z by Beth Cato, which is a lovely snippet of what goes on in the fae realm.
I thoroughly enjoyed this collection and recommend any fantasy lover to give it a try. I’m going to try out the previous anthologies. D is for dinosaur is calling to me.

I received a free copy of this book via Book sprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Topsues]

Rhonda Parrish has produced a great anthology. She has picked a great variety of stories, making us realise that not all fairies are cute with little wings, they can indeed be deadly or anything in between. This book opens us up to many different worlds and great new storylines. It is can also be a quick read, as the most of the stories are novella sized with the advantage that you can pick it up and re-start it at any time with a new story. I’m sure there are stories in here that will suit anybody’s curiosity and enjoyment. I however enjoyed them all. The same goes for the authors Rhonda Parrish has so brilliantly catalogued as they all compliment each other greatly. I can definitely recommend anyone who likes these genre’s to delve into the imaginations of these authors and let them entertain and make reality disappear for a while.

[Krissy]

I loved this book! The way the characters flowed and how they changed within themselves. Great insight to emotions and how Apple changed depending on her circumstance. I loved it. I Thoroughly enjoyed it!

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Audrey]

26 exceptional short stories of the Fae and their kind to keep you riveted to your seat. Each story more entertaining than the last, I'd be hard pressed to pick a favorite amongst them. Especially a good choice of book for any who enjoy fairy tales but maybe don't have a lot of time to dedicate to one story.

*I received a copy of this book for free. The review is my own, honest and unsolicited.

[Lori]

I received this as an ARC through Booksprout in return for my honest review. This was a very well written book. Once I started it I finished it in one sitting. I would definitely recommend this read.

[Covadonga]

I am grateful to have won a copy of “F is for Fairy” of the “alphabet anthology” edited by Rhonda (the sixth so far, the others being Apocalypse, B for Broken, C for Chimera, D for Dinosaur, E for Evil), through LibraryThings Early Reviewers, in exchange for a honest review.
But I specifically requested this one because I have always liked fairies (in fact I collect objects, etc., with that thematic).

Warning: don’t read what follows if you want to play a little game: first the author is stated, then comes the story, and then a word beginning again with each letter of the alphabet: Try to guess which word it will be.
if you don’t mind little spoilers, here it goes:
Of course some stories are better than others, but none bad: But I have to chose three, for example, I would chose the first two ones:

A is for Apple, Who is Love. No, it’s not Snow White’s Apple, but a twist on the Sleeping Beauty and Maleficent story, my favourite fairy tale.

And B is for Burned, a historical true fact, sad but beautifully told, in the times of fairies and witches, in the Nordic countries.…

C is for Contract would be a little twist on the very known tale of Rumplestiltskin

D is for Diplomacy mixes effectively fairies and space travel/science fiction.

E is for Elfshot takes us to Australia and imported Irish Fairy Traditions in the 19th century.

F is for Family mixes Fairies, Dragons, forgiveness…

G is for Gentry… Werewolves, and fairy royalty… and humans too.

H is for Heartkeeper is just beautiful and a bit sad, kind of a new fairy twist.

I is for Imputation, a quite funny rending of theEmperor’s New Clothes.

J is for Jabberwocky is obviously Carroll’s creature but in another setting and very different.

K is for Kin treats the theme of the Changelings, and it’s quite a hard one.

L is for Leaving. Would you chose beautiful fairyland or your human world?

M is for maturity: A princess learns what she wants: a lovely and kind fairy owl prince.

N is for Neverland. Short and to the point, one of my favourites because Tinkerbell is probably my favourity fairy since I was a child.

O is for Oasis: Based on A Summer’s Night Dream, and not the only one in the book. Not bad but I prefer the others.

P is for Promised One but should have been for Portal. A remiss ordinary human in fairyland.

Q is for Quiet: a second short but effective variation on the theme of the changeling.

R is for the Russian legend of Russalka (water nymph), but should have been S for Sisters.

S is for Savior. Fairies, magic lands and a soldier in the trenches in the First World War.

T is for Titania. And Oberon, again of a Summer’s Night Dream.

U is for Unseelie Court, the most frightening one for me, a fairy infestation with an unquieting end.

V is for Verosimilitude. A bit of science fiction and post-apocalypse mixed with fairies… or not.

W is for Wear Wigs. The funniest one for me. Old Robin Goodfellow/Puck and an unlikely criminal.

X is for Xanadu. A love story with trials in the middle of the court of the Fairy Queen again.

Y is for Your Song. My other favourite. A very sensitive ogre and music. He’s not the bad guy.

Z is for Zamboni. An unlikely(and timely) job offer from the fairies.

I didn’t know any of the authors, or the editor Rhonda Parrish, but it’s always nice to meet new talents.

[Stephanie]

F is for Fairy is an alphabet anthology of short stories that incorporate fairies or the world of fae in some way. Each story has a letter that it is themed around and a different author that offers a wide variety of writing styles and well as takes on what a fairy is. Like any anthology or collection, there were some stories that I liked better than others.

Many of the stories that I was drawn to included fairy re-imaginings of stories I already knew or included fairies from popular stories such as Sleeping Beauty, Peter Pan and A Midsummer Night's Dream. One of my very favorites was A, a story that seems very familiar as it examines how fairies come into existence and find their purpose as the fairy Apple goes through many different emotions to find out who she is. M was another story with a familiar twist as a princess decides for herself whom to spend the rest of her life with. W was a very different story, taking the vibe of a comedic mystery with some unlikely heroes from Midsummer's Night. Y was also a story with a different tone and an ogre that offered a redeeming and sweet song. Overall, a good and varied collection of stories for any fairy or fantasy lover.


This book was received for free in return for an honest review.

[Confuzzled Shannon]

This is Poise And Pen Publishing’s 6th book in the Alphabet Anthologies series. This one is 26 different stories about fairies. Each story is influenced by a letter of the alphabet, A-Z. What the word is not shown until the end of each tale.

Of course I gravitate towards this collection because ...fairies duh...they are only my favorite magical beings. Many of the stories were retellings of well-known fairy tales. Including the first story which is a retelling of Sleeping Beauty and later a new take on The Emperor’s New Clothes.

I enjoyed the few retellings but the newer stories were not as memorable. I found many of the stories hard to concentrate on and lost interest many times. Maybe this is because I read as an ebook. I find ebooks harder to stay interested in.

I would definitely try another of the Alphabet Anthologies. I found them clever and many times trying to guess the word the stories were based on were surprising and never the word I would first guess.

[Dwight]

This is an excellent anthology of short “fairy tales” if you are quite interested in fae worlds, and is a quite good collection of short stories if, like me, you are only tangentially interested. I found that the stories told by this diverse bunch of authors are very interesting, often surprising, and usually very enjoyable because of, in spite of, or not at all affected by the overall theme of the book: the worlds of fairies, or other fae creatures.
I highly recommend it.

(I had totally forgotten that I had started the book until my son asked me if I had stopped reading anything that I had been enjoying, and I recalled starting this one. I cannot recall why I stopped reading it; I think life intruded, or I just got busy. Anyway, I am very glad to have gone back to it, and to have finished it.)

[Ana Cordoba]

I'm going to start off by saying I don't particularly enjoy fantasy works that are based on middle earth esque environments. I used to when I was a kid in elementary school, but now as a adult in my twenties those types of stories are stale and repetitive to me.

With that said, I did like the originality and familiarity of fairy concepts that came up in this anthology. While plots of some stories were not my cup of tea, I was still entertained by the variety of characters that I was introduced to, especially the ones that showed up in the more modern technology based realities. If some of the stories like Xanadu and Zamboni were expanded on and had more depth I would most definitely read them.

[Cat Bowser]

I received a free copy for review and Ann leaving my thoughts voluntarily.

Another excellent collection centered on the topic of fairies. You really don’t realize how much variety there is but this book serves to remind you.

We get stories inspired by lots of different cultures. This means you’ll see some where the fairies are good, some where they’re evil and a lot where they’re somewhere in the middle. This means no matter what your preference, you’ll find a story that tickles your fancy.

Be prepared for lots of different cultural influences, fun and unexpected twists and remember fairy can mean so many things.

I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Georgia]

A great collection of 26 interesting short stories. 26 stories one for each letter of the alphabet by different authors using Fairy as the theme. I have not made it through all of them yet, but the ones I have read have been well written. Since these are short stories, you will never lose interest in this book. It was fun seeing familiar names and not so familiar names as well. I had to stop to give a quick review, now I am going back to reading this amazing book!

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[David Lahner]

"F is for Fairy" is an anthology of 26 short stories about fairies. Each story is linked to a word that starts with one letter of the alphabet.

The stories offer a wide selection of different aspects from an alternate view on classics such as Sleeping Beauty or The Midsummer Night's Dream, to a post apocalyptic setting where the myths of fairies are still present, and everything in between.

I greatly enjoyed this anthology and can wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who wants to read a good book.

[Ann]

I’ve read a number of anthologies edited by Rhonda Parrish and this is another great one. There are 26 stories, one for each letter in the alphabet. Each one is titled at the end with a thematic name. The collection features stories with Fairies and Fairy-like creatures. The tone skews a little on the darker side, but there are also a number of lighter stories with happy endings.

Some of my favourites include G - about a woman who finds out about her fae heritage, M - about a Princess whose suitors are competing to marry her and S - about a fae who rescues a soldier.

[Jay C]

Finished this anthology today. Not my normal subject matter, but picked it up since a few authors I know or have read before were among the contributors. Favorite stories included: "A is for Apple" by L.S. Johnson, "E is for Elfshot" by Pete Aldin, "J is for Jabberwocky" by Alexandra Seidel, "N is for Neverland" by Brittany Warman, "S is for Savior" by Samantha Kymmell-Harvey, and maybe my favorite of them all, 'Y is for Your Song" by Michael Fosburg. More Ogre stories, please! :-)

[Michelle Shemon]

F is for Fairy
Alphabet Anthologies Book 6
Rhonda Parrish

This was a great collection of fairy stories. One for each letter of the alphabet by different authors. I loved the different types that were included. There were characters of all types and varieties - Something for everyone. I loved them!

[Kerry Henderson]

A collection of stories about fairies using each letter of the alphabet.

This was an interesting anthology, some of the stories were really good, others were too short to really understand the story properly. I loved the alphabet link to the stories. I enjoyed trying to guess what the word might be. My favourite story was G is for Gentry.

[Pat Eroh]

A series of short stories that are sure to delight readers. There is something for everyone among these tales.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Siyka]

It was entertaining to read the different styles and works of those authors.
I liked the various takes on fairy tales and enjoyed the experience!

I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Miss E R Duncan]

What a fantastic set and such great value. You get 26 stories inside this book ranging from very quick reads to longer length stories

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Janice Drake]

Wonderful collection of stories revolving around fairies. Some are retellings of old stories and some have lots of twists and modern takes on old themes. I loved the book. I never realized there were so many different fairies!

[Nan]

F is for Fairy has something for every fairy fanatic out there. Some are based on old tales and some take new turns. The best part is being able to read stories from so many different authors. I received an advance copy of this book and voluntarily left my review.

[Teri Ruscak]

F is for Fairy
Rhonda Parrish
The latest book in the alphabet Anthology is f is for fairy. I really enjoyed the book!

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.