THE FAIRY TALE LIVES AGAIN IN THESE FORTY NEW STORIES BY SOME OF THE BIGGEST NAMES IN CONTEMPORY FICTION 'Let's open the door to the green room and peek to see who is waiting. A bevy of beauties . . . an evanescence of sprites . . . an abundance of adversaries . . . a passel of princes . . . Maybe we should have brought that bubbly; but there's something being served here more deeply inebriating than champagne. Hush.' -GREGORY MAGUIRE, from the Foreword Neil Gaiman, Michael Cunningham, Aimee Bender, Kelly Link, Chris Adrian, Lydia Millet, and more than thirty other extraordinary writers celebrate fairy tales in this thrilling volume-the ultimate literary costume party. Spinning houses and talking birds. Whispered secrets and borrowed hope. Here are new stories sewn from old skins, gathered from around the world by visionary editor Kate Bernheimer and inspired by everything from Hans Christian Andersen's 'The Snow Queen' and 'The Little Match Girl' to Charles Perrault's 'Bluebeard' and 'Cinderella' to the Brothers Grimm's 'Hansel and Gretel' and 'Rumpelstiltskin' to fairy tales by Goethe and Calvino. Fairy tales are our oldest literary tradition, and yet they chart the imaginative frontiers of the twenty-first century as powerfully as they evoke our earliest encounters with literature. This exhilarating collection restores their place in the literary canon. 'I cannot remember a time I had more fun reading a book! Many of these contemporary tales rival the originals in creepiness, joy, and impact.' -DARCEY STEINKE, author of EASTER EVERYWHERE