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Fearie Tales: Books of Horror Paperback – 24 Oct. 2013

by Stephen Jones (Author, Editor), Alan Lee (Illustrator)

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Neil Gaiman, Joanne Harris and other bestsellers re-imagine famous fairy tales in this wonderfully rich, scary anthology, illustrated by Oscar-winning Lord of the Rings artist Alan Lee
Following in the grand tradition of the Brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, some of today's finest writers have created their own brand-new fairy tales - but with a decidedly dark twist. Fearie Tales is a fantastical mix of spellbinding retellings of 'Cinderella', 'Rapunzel', 'Hansel and Gretel' and 'Rumpelstiltskin', amongst others, with unsettling tales inspired by other childhood classics, all interspersed with the sources of their inspiration: the timeless stories first collected by the Brothers Grimm.
Edited by Stephen Jones, Britain's best-known anthologist of dark tales, and illustrated by Oscar-winning artist Alan Lee, who also provided the magnificent cover, with stories by Neil Gaiman; Joanne Harris; Garth Nix; John Ajvide Lindqvist; Markus Heitz; Michael Marshall Smith; Angela Slatter; Robert Shearman; Christopher Fowler; Ramsey Campbell; Peter Crowther; Brian Hodge; Brian Lumley; Reggie Oliver and Tanith Lee.
But be warned: this stunning volume of frightening fables is definitely not suitable for children!

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Review

Fearie Tales has the edge here, mainly because it proved so refreshing and authentic, reflecting the true intention of the original storytellers, after decades of sugarcoated Disney fare. ― The Stylist Book Wars

The best spooky fiction: Close the curtains, pull up a chair, open a book - and prepare to be pleasantly scared ― The Metro

Authentically terrifying . . . The whole is gorgeous, the hardback from paper to font is a treasure to hold, even before we see Alan Lee's magnificent drawings ― ScienceFic

This is one absolutely beautiful collection. A must-have. ― Terror-Tree

Marvellous: each story is great in its own way and together they just work remarkably well to bring thrills and nightmares. All of them are terrifying and mesmerising at the same time. The illustrations by Alan Lee are incredible. Read it if you dare and see if you can keep your lights off during the night. 10 stars! -- Marc Aplin ― Fantasy-Faction

Stephen Jones remains at the top of the tree as one of the world's premier anthologists ― Crime Time

A collection of definitely-not-for-kids fairy tales twisted and retold by an amazing list of authors ― Bibliosanctum

This is an impressive one: horror yarns inspired by the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm. Add in a splendid cover illustration and superb pieces of interior art by Alan Lee and you have the makings of a great anthology ― British Fantasy Society

Moving, shocking, funny, pretty essential ― Concatenation

I've dipped in and out, read half the book in one go, re-read, and mulled over. The stories are tense, creepy, twisted, sad, and horrible in varying proportions ― Andthenireadabook

Takes the retold fairy tale sub-genre, already claimed and used exquisitely in fantasy and dark fantasy fiction, deep into horror territory ― Ellen Datlow, Best Horror of the Year

Satisfyingly creepy and viscerally horrific -- Luna Centifanti ― Times Higher Education, Books Of The Year

This book provides a double dose of delight to fans of fear-fraught fiction. Firstly, there is Alan Lee's captivating and delightfully mordant artwork which adorns the covers, endpapers and interiors, and then there are the stories themselves, which are compelling, intriguing, and unsettling in equal measure . . . Added together with Jo Fletcher Books' impeccable design and production values, and you have a book that you will treasure for years to come. ― Illustrators

With Fearie Tales, noted horror anthologist Stephen Jones sets out to return the form to its roots. Using the original tales collected in the early 19th Century by the Brothers Grimm as inspiration, Jones presents a collection of modern-day fairy tales designed to frighten and unsettle, and written by some of the foremost practitioners of horror and dark fantasy currently working in their respective fields . . . This is a must for horror aficionados everywhere, and doubly so for anyone with a penchant for fairy tales in particular. The usual high production values from Jo Fletcher mean this is a book that you'll want to have displayed on your shelf, and that's just the icing on the cake. Dark, disturbing but most of all: wonderful. -- Matt Craig ― Reader Dad

'For a goosebump-raising story, look no further than the beautifully illustrated Fearie Tales . . . All the time-honoured horror themes are here -- Russell Williams ― Metro

About the Author

Stephen Jones is the multiple-award-winning editor and author of more than 100 books in the film, horror and fantasy genres. A former television director/producer and movie publicist and consultant (including the first three Hellraiser movies with Clive Barker), he has edited the critically acclaimed anthology series Best New Horror for more than 20 years. He lives in Wembley, Middlesex, and travels widely. His website can be found at www.stephenjoneseditor.com.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Jo Fletcher Books
Publication date ‏ : ‎ 24 Oct. 2013
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Print length ‏ : ‎ 430 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1782064702
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1782064701
Item weight ‏ : ‎ 560 g
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 20 x 14 x 4 cm
Best Sellers Rank: 1,894 in Horror Short Stories (Books)
- 3,774 in Horror Anthologies (Books)
- 5,859 in Occult Horror (Books)
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36 ratings

About the authors

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Angela Slatter
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Angela Slatter (also writing as A.G. Slatter) is the author of the gothic fantasy novels All the Murmuring Bones and forthcoming The Path of Thorns (Titan Books), and the supernatural crime novels Vigil, Corpselight and Restoration (Jo Fletcher Books). She’s also written eleven short story collections, including The Girl with No Hands and Other Tales, Sourdough and Other Stories, The Bitterwood Bible and Other Recountings, and A Feast of Sorrows: Stories, and the novellas, Of Sorrow and Such and Ripper.
Vigil was nominated for the Dublin Literary Award in 2018, and Angela has won a World Fantasy Award, a British Fantasy Award, a Ditmar, two Australian Shadows Award and seven Aurealis Awards. All the Murmuring Bones was shortlisted for the Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards’ Book of the Year in 2021.
Angela’s short stories have appeared in Australian, UK and US Best Of anthologies such The Mammoth Book of New Horror, The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror, The Best Horror of the Year, The Year’s Best Australian Fantasy and Horror, and The Year’s Best YA Speculative Fiction. Her work has been translated into Bulgarian, Chinese, Russian, Italian,
Spanish, Japanese, Polish, Hungarian, Czechoslovakian, Turkish, French and Romanian. Film rights have been optioned for her novelette “Finnegan’s Field”.
She has an MA and a PhD in Creative Writing, is a graduate of Clarion South 2009 and the Tin House Summer Writers Workshop 2006, and in 2013 she was awarded one of the inaugural Queensland Writers Fellowships. In 2016 Angela was the Established Writer-in-Residence at the Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers Centre in Perth. She has been awarded career development funding by Arts Queensland, the Copyright Agency and the Australia Council for the Arts.
Awards
2020 Australian Shadows Award for Best Collection: The Heart Is A Mirror for Sinners and Other Stories
2020 Aurealis Award for Best Collection: The Heart Is A Mirror for Sinners and Other Stories
2017 Australian Shadows Award for Best Novel: Corpselight
2016 Aurealis Award for Best Collection: A Feast of Sorrows: Stories
2015 Ditmar Award for Best Novella: Of Sorrow and Such
2014 World Fantasy Award for Best Collection: The Bitterwood Bible and Other Recountings
2014 Aurealis Award for Best Collection: The Female Factory, co-authored with Lisa L. Hannett
2014 Aurealis Award for Best Horror Short Story: “Home and Hearth”
2014 Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Short Story: “St Dymphna’s School for Poison Girls”
2012 British Fantasy Award for Best Short Story: “The Coffin-Maker’s Daughter”
2010 Aurealis Award for Best Collection: The Girl with No Hands and Other Tales
2010 Aurealis Award Best Fantasy Short Story: “The February Dragon”, co-authored with Lisa Hannett
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Stephen Jones
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Mrs. Lauren S. Homan
Dark, macabre and definitely no children's bedtime stories - loved it!!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 17 November 2016
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All your favourite fairy tales with a dark and macabre twist for adult reading, some re-set in modern times. As a bit of a purist with myths, legend and folk tales I wasn't sure whether I would like these but as they are new, horror stories based on original tales and not trying to re-write the originals I actually really liked it. Some are pretty strange and disturbing though!! Definitely not one for children's bedtime stories ...

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Fearie Tales
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 6 November 2014
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I prefer horror anthologies to novels, the last good anthology I read was by Laird Barron, but if I'm honest, I found it a little depressing.
I'm also not into gore and torture-porn type stuff, so I went a little off the genre in recent years, even the usually dependable Best New Horror series. However I had a feeling I'd like this from the description alone, and I was right; I have to say that this is the best I've read in years, if not ever.

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Amazon Customer
Not easy to put down
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 17 October 2017
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Great collection of classic and new stories. Quite gruesome in places. Definitely not one for the kids. I had bought it so that I could read a quick story and then get on with other things but unfortunately the book is not that easy to put down. Alan Lee's pencil drawings are superb (and a little disturbing). Great book.

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Colin
Oh so dark and interesting!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 31 October 2015
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It's good to get the dark side of Faerie Tales to keep some perspective on their purpose and widen the context from simple children's stories told in warm rooms in front of an open fire before bedtime to include the fearful and dark lessons that life visits upon the complacent and unwary.

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Tanith Panic
Nothing could be any sweeter than to find Shock Headed Peter!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 15 February 2016
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Enjoyable, and I like the idea of including the originals too. But the real reason you get five stars is the one based on Shock Headed Peter, ever since I saw the musical I've longed for this story to be retold as horror.

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Amazon Customer
No idea if it was any good but it came quickly and the person was very ...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 31 August 2016
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Bought this as a gift. No idea if it was any good but it came quickly and the person was very happy with it.

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Allie B
Strangely dull - didn't finish
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 March 2018
This book wasn't for me despite the fact I usually enjoy fantasy; I actually only read about 1/5 of the stories before deleting the compilation from my Kindle. I didn't find the tales very engaging (even the Gaiman one which surprised me as I normally like his books) and one was too gory for me. Whilst I enjoy spooky/psychological/disturbing stories I don't like outright horror (i.e. people in *physical* pain) so didn't see the point in struggling on incase there were anymore like that one. I imagine these stories aren't among the authors' best works.

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Siep Kuypers
Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 29 September 2014
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Excellent service - great book!

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