“The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories” by Angela Carter (1987, Penguin Books) I like my fantasy and horror to have some basis in reality for me to identify with and balance the fantastic element. The only problem is that Lee, like my other Fantasy fave, Clark Ashton Smith, has a tendency to go full on Fantasy, setting stories in totally made up worlds with exotic names and fanciful creatures. These drew from the fairy tales of my childhood, but reinvented them as quality fantasy tales. It was a massmarket paperback of Tanith Lee’s “Red as Blood”. Then one day I found a book that caught my eye and gave me hope. Unfortunately, most adaptations are nothing more than an excuse to sex them up or to throw some unrelated tale together and name-drop some fairy tale character for name recognition. I always saw potential in there to tell darker tales and looked for stories with the magic of these tales but with more grown up themes. I also love the Victorian authors whose stories for children drew heavily from the genre, like Lewis Carroll or George MacDonald. The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm, Jack Zipes ed.
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