ellen_datlow was recently offering books for free to people willing to blog about them; I got a copy of the fairytale anthology Black Thorn, White Rose, edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling.

Overall, it's a good anthology. Good -- but not great.

Part of the reason for my not finding it great, I think, is that stories deconstructing fairytales or approaching them from new angles are not new to me. Catherynne M. Valente's Orphan's Tales duology (particularly the first half of volume 1) is the strongest example that comes to mind, but I've read others. Stories that merely approach a fairytale from a new angle do not surprise or enthuse me unless they do it in a particularly interesting way; the new approach itself is not necessarily enough. Thus "Stronger than Time" by Patricia C. Wrede, which tells the Sleeping Beauty story with a slightly different ending, didn't do much for me; neither did "Granny Rumple", which transplants Rumpelstiltskin to a Ukrainian town and makes some of the characters Jewish. "Somnus' Fair Maid" by Ann Downer, however, which shifts the Sleeping Beauty tale to a Regency setting, is more entertaining; it also departs more from the original, which is perhaps key.

I rather liked "Tattercoats" by Midori Snyder, which is about a wife finding the courage to invigorate her failing marriage. It was fun and a little bit sexy. "The Sawing Boys" by Harold Waldrop is another fun story, about a group of musicians who play the saw, and about a group of criminals looking to fix their car and pull off a job; it's all set in the US South, with some great dialect. (It's the Scot in me; I love dialects done well.) "The Black Swan" by Susan Wade was a good story in a different way: it criticises society's obsession with "perfect" looks. It's sad that 14 years after this story was published, its message is still relevant. "Ashputtle" by Peter Straub is another story that looks critically at people in society, in a less straightforward manner to "The Black Swan"; it is a difficult story about unhappiness and missing children and a kindergarten teacher. On reflection I rate it as the anthology's best.

Black Thorn, White Rose offers a mixture of stories, from the ones already mentioned, to others including "Journeybread Recipe" by Lawrence Schimel, which is a brief recipe for an unpleasant fairytale scenario (given my love for non-conventional narrative techniques, it's unsurprising that I liked this one a lot); and "Sweet Bruising Skin", which uses the idea behind "The Princess and the Pea" (and which included a brilliant character who would normally be painted 'villain').

The mix of stories helps keep the anthology varied; it's likely that most readers will like some of them. While I can't recommend it as strongly as, say, the Best of LCRW anthology or the Paper Cities anthology, it's nonetheless a good collection of stories.

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