The best writers of our generation retell classic tales. From Sir Edmund Spenser's "The Faerie Queene" to E. M. Forster's "The Machine Stops", literature is filled with sexy, deadly, and downright twisted tales. In this collection, today's most acclaimed award-winning and bestselling authors reimagine their favorite classic stories and use their own unique styles to rebuild these timeless stories, the ones that have inspired, awed, and enraged them, the ones that have become ingrained in modern culture, and the ones that have been too long overlooked. They take these twelve stories and boil them down to their bones, and reassemble them for a new generation of readers. Written from a twenty-first century perspective and set within the realms of science fiction, dystopian fiction, fantasy, and realistic fiction, these short stories are as moving and thought provoking as their originators. They pay homage to groundbreaking literary achievements of the past while celebrating each author's unique perception and innovative style. Contents: Introduction: Rags & Bones: New Twists on Timeless Tales (2013) • essay by Tim Pratt and Melissa Marr That the Machine May Progress Eternally (2013) / shortfiction by Carrie Ryan, inspired by E.M. Forster's The Machine Stops The King of Elfland's Daughter (2013) • interior artwork by Charles Vess Losing Her Divinity [Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz] (2013) / shortfiction by Garth Nix, inspired by The Man Who Would Be King The Sleeper and the Spindle (2013) / novelette by Neil Gaiman, inspired by Sleeping Beauty Kai Lung's Golden Hours (2013) • interior artwork by Charles Vess The Cold Corner (2013) / shortfiction by Tim Pratt, inspired by Henry James' The Jolly Corner Millcara (2013) / shortfiction by Holly Black, inspired by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla Figures of Earth (2013) • interior artwork by Charles Vess When First We Were Gods (2013) / shortfiction by Rick Yancey, inspired by Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Birthmark Sirocco (2013) / shortfiction by Margaret Stohl, inspired by Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto The Shaving of Shagpat (2013) • interior artwork by Charles Vess Awakened (2013) / shortfiction by Melissa Marr, inspired by Kate Chopin's The Awakening New Chicago (2013) / shortfiction by Kelley Armstrong, inspired by W. W. Jacob's The Monkey's Paw The Wood Beyond the World (2013) • interior artwork by Charles Vess The Soul Collector (2013) / shortfiction by Kami Garcia, inspired by the Brothers Grimm's Rumpelstiltskin Without Faith, Without Law, Without Joy (2013) / shortfiction by Saladin Ahmed, inspired by Sir Edmund Spenser's Faerie Queene Goblin Market (2013) • interior artwork by Charles Vess Uncaged (2013) / shortfiction by Gene Wolf, inspired by William Seabrook's The Caged White Werewolf. .

Publication Year: 2013