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In XO Orpheus (Penguin), 50 leading writers retell myths from around the world in the dazzling follow-up to My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me. These stories herald a new beginning for one of the world's oldest literary traditions. Joining editor Kate Bernheimer will be contributors Gina Ochsner, author of The Necessary Grace to Fall, and Willy Vlautin, author of Lean on Pete.
Neil Gaiman! Aimee Bender! Kelly Link! Michael Cunningham! It's impossible to list the contributors to this book without using exclamation points. This wickedly entertaining collection reclaims fairy tales from the children's library and reaffirms their literary value for all time. Recommended by Rhonda, Powells.com
Review-A-Day
"A pedant might object to the subtitle of My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me, since most of the selections in this anthology edited by Fairy Tale Review founder and editor Kate Bernheimer are in fact retellings of tales, and the couple that are new draw heavily on existing tales. However, our hypothetical pedant would be missing that the magic of fairy tales is in how the story becomes new again with each telling, and the forty authors assembled here certainly bring all kinds of newness to their tales. Rudy Dornemann, Rain Taxi (Read the entire Rain Taxi review)
Synopses & Reviews
Publisher Comments:
The fairy tale lives again in this book of forty new stories by some of the biggest names in contemporary fiction.
Michael Cunningham, Francine Prose, Aimee Bender, Kelly Link, Jim Shepard, and more than thirty other extraordinary writers celebrate fairy tales in this thrilling new volume. Inspire 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 and from China, Japan, Vietnam, Russia, Norway, and Mexico, here are stories that soar into boundless realms, filled with mischief and mystery and magic, and renewed by the lifeblood of invention. Although rooted in hundreds of years of tradition, they chart the imaginative frontiers of the twenty-first century as powerfully as they evoke our earliest encounters with literature.
Review:
"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
Review:
"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
Review:
"This is a book of brilliant dreams and dazzling nightmares: perfect fare for imaginative readers of any age." Seth Lerer, author of Children's Literature: A Reader's History from Aesop to Harry Potter and dean of arts and humanities at the University of California, San Diego
Synopsis:
The fairy tale lives again in this book of 40 new stories by some of the biggest names in contemporary fiction — Michael Cunningham, Francine Prose, Aimee Bender, Kelly Link, Jim Shepard, and more than 30 other extraordinary writers.
Synopsis:
Fifty leading writers retell myths from around the world in this dazzling follow-up to the bestselling My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me
Icarus flies once more. Aztec jaguar gods again stalk the earth. An American soldier designs a new kind of Trojan horse—his cremains in a bullet. Here, in compelling guise, are your favorite mythological figures—Narcissus and Echo, Orpheus and Eurydice, Pygmalion and Galatea, even Argos, Odysseuss faithful dog—alongside characters from Indian, Punjabi, Inuit, and other traditions. Featuring talkative goats, a cat lady, a bird woman, a beer-drinking ogre, and a squid who falls in love with the sun, these are stories of boundless wonder and invention.
If “xo” signals a goodbye, then xo Orpheus is a goodbye to an old way of mythmaking, a book that boldly heralds a new beginning for one of the worlds oldest literary traditions.
Synopsis:
The fairy tale lives again in this book of forty new stories by some of the biggest names in contemporary fiction.
Michael Cunningham, Francine Prose, Aimee Bender, Kelly Link, Jim Shepard, and more than thirty other extraordinary writers celebrate fairy tales in this thrilling new volume. Inspire 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 and from China, Japan, Vietnam, Russia, Norway, and Mexico, here are stories that soar into boundless realms, filled with mischief and mystery and magic, and renewed by the lifeblood of invention. Although rooted in hundreds of years of tradition, they chart the imaginative frontiers of the twenty-first century as powerfully as they evoke our earliest encounters with literature.
Kate Bernheimer is the founder of the literary journal Fairy Tale Review, as well as the author of two novels and a children's book and the editor of two other anthologies of original short fiction. She lives in Tucson, Arizona.
Gregory Maguire is the bestselling author of Wicked, the basis for the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical of the same name. He lives in Boston, Massachusetts.
Jennifer Starkman, January 6, 2013 (view all comments by Jennifer Starkman)
What an unexpected treasure this was! Kate Bernheimer has selected an extraordinary mix of stories inspired by traditional fairy tales. The styles range broadly, from very traditional, to modern takes on familiar themes, to very unique approaches. There's something for everyone here, all of it beautifully written and thought provoking.
Jennifer Starkman, August 4, 2012 (view all comments by Jennifer Starkman)
What an extraordinary collection of stories this is! Kate Bernheimer has accomplished something truly special, gathering amazing stories--some by authors we know and love, others by lesser-known writers--inspired by the fairytales that enchanted us as children, but taking them in unique and clever new directions. There is something here for everyone, some stories written in the classic fairytale mode, others modern and more subtly magical, all of them riveting reads. I've been reading a lot of short stories lately, but "My Mother She Killed Me" is by far one of the most special books I've encountered in a long, long time.
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No (1 of 2 readers found this comment helpful)
Ayse, April 15, 2011 (view all comments by Ayse)
Kevin Brockmeier's Rumpelstiltskin story alone is worth the price. If you are someone who sees the world as a strange and wondrous place, these tales are for you.
Neil Gaiman! Aimee Bender! Kelly Link! Michael Cunningham! It's impossible to list the contributors to this book without using exclamation points. This wickedly entertaining collection reclaims fairy tales from the children's library and reaffirms their literary value for all time.
by Rhonda
"Review A Day"
by Rudy Dornemann, Rain Taxi,
"A pedant might object to the subtitle of My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me, since most of the selections in this anthology edited by Fairy Tale Review founder and editor Kate Bernheimer are in fact retellings of tales, and the couple that are new draw heavily on existing tales. However, our hypothetical pedant would be missing that the magic of fairy tales is in how the story becomes new again with each telling, and the forty authors assembled here certainly bring all kinds of newness to their tales. (Read the entire Rain Taxi review)
"Review"
by Darcey Steinke, author of Easter Everywhere,
"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."
"Review"
by Gregory Maguire, from the Foreword,
"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."
"Review"
by ,
"This is a book of brilliant dreams and dazzling nightmares: perfect fare for imaginative readers of any age." Seth Lerer, author of Children's Literature: A Reader's History from Aesop to Harry Potter and dean of arts and humanities at the University of California, San Diego
"Synopsis"
by Ingram,
The fairy tale lives again in this book of 40 new stories by some of the biggest names in contemporary fiction — Michael Cunningham, Francine Prose, Aimee Bender, Kelly Link, Jim Shepard, and more than 30 other extraordinary writers.
"Synopsis"
by Penguin,
Fifty leading writers retell myths from around the world in this dazzling follow-up to the bestselling My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me
Icarus flies once more. Aztec jaguar gods again stalk the earth. An American soldier designs a new kind of Trojan horse—his cremains in a bullet. Here, in compelling guise, are your favorite mythological figures—Narcissus and Echo, Orpheus and Eurydice, Pygmalion and Galatea, even Argos, Odysseuss faithful dog—alongside characters from Indian, Punjabi, Inuit, and other traditions. Featuring talkative goats, a cat lady, a bird woman, a beer-drinking ogre, and a squid who falls in love with the sun, these are stories of boundless wonder and invention.
If “xo” signals a goodbye, then xo Orpheus is a goodbye to an old way of mythmaking, a book that boldly heralds a new beginning for one of the worlds oldest literary traditions.
"Synopsis"
by Penguin,
The fairy tale lives again in this book of forty new stories by some of the biggest names in contemporary fiction.
Michael Cunningham, Francine Prose, Aimee Bender, Kelly Link, Jim Shepard, and more than thirty other extraordinary writers celebrate fairy tales in this thrilling new volume. Inspire 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 and from China, Japan, Vietnam, Russia, Norway, and Mexico, here are stories that soar into boundless realms, filled with mischief and mystery and magic, and renewed by the lifeblood of invention. Although rooted in hundreds of years of tradition, they chart the imaginative frontiers of the twenty-first century as powerfully as they evoke our earliest encounters with literature.
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