Little Red Riding Hood in the Big Bad City

by Martin H. Greenberg (Editor), Alan Dean Foster (Contributor), Jean Rabe (Contributor)

Classic fairy tales made enchantingly modern by:

* Nini Kiriki Hoffman * Tanya Huff * Jody Lynn Nye * and others

From a young girl who rescues her brother when he's magically trapped in a mall, to a guitarist's who trades his jacket for magical picks, to a talking cat who proves invaluable to his modern family, here are seventeen highly original modern stories sure to cast a spell...

Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories, Anthologies, Fiction, Fairy Tale Retellings, Science Fiction, Fairy Tales

320 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published July 6, 2004

About the author

Martin Harry Greenberg was an American academic and speculative fiction anthologist. In all, he compiled 1,298 anthologies and commissioned over 8,200 original short stories. He founded Tekno Books, a packager of more than 2000 published books. In addition, he was a co-founder of the Sci-Fi Channel.

For the 1950s anthologist and publisher of Gnome Press, see Martin Greenberg.

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Being a fan of several of the authors in this anthology, I read the book and enjoyed the new twists on some very old tales. All in all, I found most of them, ok, but had they been full length I would never have had the patience to read them. Good stories but not earth-shattering. UNTIL, the very last story in the book and not just because it was a romantic story, but because it was a fantastic modern fable that was poignant and sad and beautiful called The Rose Garden by Michelle West. Not my typical read or chosen genre, but the last story made it all worth while.

[Rayniah · Rating 5 out of 5]

100/100

[Tim Glover · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mixed bag (as usual with anthologies): "The Rose Garden" (last one) was for me the real standout.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this way back in 2004, and started reading it then...and got distracted by something else, so I stopped reading.

I am now re-starting it.

Mallificent by Nina Kiriki Hoffman - A bit of a twist on the Sleeping Beauty story...although it also has some Labyrinth mythology to it (i am not sure of the myth that started Labyrinth going though) -- I liked it quite a lot.

The Last Day of the Rest of Her Life by Russell Davis - one of my favorite Hans Christian Anderson tales -- The Little Match Girl -- this one follows along with the older tale, only told in today's world. Still sad, still good.

Jack and the B.S. by Tanya Huff - Yep, its Jack and the Beanstalk, sort of. I thought it was okay.

Panhandler by Alan Dean Foster - NICE...a Peter Pan tale told in this world, I liked it lots.

Trading Fours with the Moldy Figs by Jean Rabe - has several wolves that you will recognize. I thought it was an okay story, nothing too spectacular.

Signs are Hazy, Ask Again Later by Fiona Patton - I don't know what story this retold, but I did enjoy it for the most part. Not one of my favorites of the book though.

Overall, an okay collection of short stories, none of them blew me away, but none of them were stinkers either -- I stopped keeping track of the stories, so this is going to have to end it.

[Caren · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had really high hopes for this collection: urbanized fairy tales are of personal interest these days. I'm trying to write a bit in this genre. So, I chased down this book specifically.
It's a proverbial mixed bag. Some of the stories are really disappointing--great concepts that just fall flat in the execution, somehow, or some twists that wind up feeling cheap for some reason.
There are some stand-outs, though. Pamela Sargent’s "Puss in D.C" is the first story written from the POV of a cat that I've appreciated since Angela Carter’s "Puss in Boots." I really enjoyed reading Bill Willingham’s "Meet Mister Hamlin" and David Niall Wilson’s "If You Only Knew My Name"--both were well-turned little stories. And Michelle West does a really interesting turn on Beauty and the Beast closing out the collection with "The Rose Garden."
Overall, though, I'll stick with "Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet." Co-edited by Kelly Link, this xeroxed magazine publishes some of the most lovely and astounding of the "revised" fairy tale. If you're interested in new work in this weird little genre, order a copy from their website (http://www.lcrw.net).

[Wealhtheow · Rating 1 out of 5]

Some of the worst short stories I've read in a long, long time. Trite, cliched, badly told...ugh. I finally gave up after Russel Davis's "The Last Day of the Rest of her Life." It is a retelling of The Little Matchseller in which the main character is a young girl named Angel, who runs away from her abusive father (who is addicted to "matchsticks," a new drug that look like their namesake but give dreams of happier times). Of course she tries the matchsticks, and of course she freezes to death. "The girl's face, blue and frozen--and should it have been that small?--was marked with faded bruises, but her expression was almost angelic. A faint smile showed on her lips." Her dad finds her, is all, "oh noes! what have I done!" and goes inside and shoots himself. The passing policeman who witnesses all this says to himself, "Whatever troubles they'd had were over and they'd gone to their final home. Maybe it was as close to a fresh start as anyone ever really got." Seriously, a fifteen year old gawth chick could have written this with more style. SO BAD.

[Susan]

♥Mallificent • novelette by Nina Kiriki Hoffman re-read 7/2/2015
♥"Jack and the B.S." Tanya Huff reprinted in Finding Magic and February Thaw reread 3/7/2015

The Last Day of the Rest of Her Life • shortstory by Russell Davis
Panhandler • shortstory by Alan Dean Foster
Trading Fours with the Moldy Figs • shortstory by Jean Rabe
Signs Are Hazy, Ask Again Later • [Marysburgh County] • novelette by Fiona Patton
Puss in D.C. • novelette by Pamela Sargent
A Faust Films Production • shortstory by Janeen Webb
Brownie Points • novelette by ElizaBeth Gilligan
After the Flowering • shortstory by Janet Berliner
Little Red in the 'Hood • shortstory by Irene Radford
Exterminary • shortstory by Patricia Lee Macomber
The Nightingale • shortstory by Dena Bain Taylor
Meet Mr. Hamlin • shortstory by Bill Willingham
If You Only Knew My Name • shortstory by David Niall Wilson
Keeping It Real • shortstory by Jody Lynn Nye
The Rose Garden • novelette by Michelle West

[Amélie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've only read Michelle West short story.

This story is a rewritting of the fairytale Beast and the Beauty but in a modern setting. The curse put on the Beast by a witch has not yet been unmade, but the witch is dead and the spell has weakened, allowing the Beast to leave his castle and to appear mostly human. He has fought in the two World Wars and is now tired. He wants to end this life and so he starts to look for love. His search has not however been successful so far and he has gone back to his first love, the growing of roses. On day however, he finds a young girl stealing one of his rose in his garden…

Despite his human appearance, the Beast is still a Beast, but now it is more in his manners than in his appearance. As for the Beauty, she is the one who is the most changed, since now she is a street urchin who has run from her home and she had to go through the reality of life in the streets.

The story was good and I enjoyed it, but it was not exceptional.

[Diane ~Firefly~ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Modern day take on fairy tales. As with most anthologies some were good and some just ok. The ones that stand out for me are:

The Last Day of the Rest of Her Life by Russell Davis. It was very stark and moving, based on The Little Match Girl.

Signs are Hazy, Ask Again Later by Fiona Patton. Good Ol' Boys with magic and Chihuahuas.

Brownie Points by ElizaBeth Gilligan. Brownies trying to form a union.

[Christine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Most of the stories in the book are okay. My favorite, however, wasMichelle West's retelling of Beauty and the Beast with a good dose of O. Henry. But overall, the collection was disappointing. The stories were either too predictable or too boring. West's one was very good, so go to the library and read that one.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good collection. It didn't serve my purpose of finding some revamped fairy tales to share with my stories, but it was enjoyable. As with all collections, there were some that were better than others. But, overall, a nice and solid group.

[Jenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

A funny (though at times disturbing) collection of fairy tales retold in modern times. Most of them were not blatantly obvious what they were retelling, which was nice.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute collection. Nothing to write home about. Good stories by Nina Kirki Hoffman and Pamela Sargeant, and one by Bill Willingham; I hadn't realized Willingham wrote fiction as well as comics.