#BookReview ‘Cursed’ edited by Marie O’Regan and Paul Kane

About the book…

Cursed: An Anthology of Dark Fairy Tales...an anthology of unique twists on the fairy tale conceit of the curse, from the traditional to the modern, giving us brand new mythologies as well as new approaches to well-loved fables. Twenty curses, old and new.

ALL THE BETTER TO READ YOU WITH. It’s a prick of blood, the bite of an apple, the evil eye, a wedding ring or a pair of red shoes. Curses come in all shapes and sizes, and they can happen to anyone, not just those of us with unpopular stepparents…

Here you’ll find unique twists on curses, from fairy tale classics to brand-new hexes of the modern world…expect new monsters and mythologies as well as twists on well-loved fables. Stories to shock and stories of warning, stories of monsters and stories of magic. Some might shock you, some might make you laugh, but they will all impress you with their originality.

TWENTY TIMELESS FOLKTALES, NEW AND OLD.

I would like to thank myself for having the good sense to pick up the latest O’Regan/Kane collab, well done to me, as ‘Cursed‘ is chockfull of wicked delights.

As with most anthologies, there is a mix of the old and the new, getting off to a great start with a Snow White/Bluebeard riff , ‘As Red As Blood, As White As Snow‘  by Christina Henry, ending on generational horror tale, ‘The Girl From Hell’ by Margo Lanagan. The stories are encased in a thorny embrace by a poem from Jane Yolen, which both appetizes, and then finishes the preceding dishes off neatly as after dinner treat.

There is always one or two which doesn’t quite land, each reader will take away what they will from this as they would with a compilation album. The concept is a neat one-what is a curse and is it always something negative? What would be life ending to some can be life affirming to others, and with so many folklores and tales to explore, this a sandbox with infinite possibilities to play in.

And in doing so, fresh and new twists can be created to stand alongside modern takes on old tales. For what are the fairy tales but oral traditions, morality tales to beware of so that you always keep on the right path. Unless you want to be eaten by that wolf, led astray or trapped in the consequences of your actions, that is…

I found this collection to be entrancing, I genuinely couldn’t put it down as it takes twists and turns around one of my favourite genres-always ready to read an alternative take on established lores, or new ones!-and whilst there were a couple I wans’t overly fond of, or perhaps didn’t get (not a great fan of Neil Gaiman and his troll under the bridge , his story left me cold)but that, as I previously said, is on me as a reader and how I relate to the book as a whole.

What I wanted was to be swept away, to be moved and find myself in other worlds. In the -paraphrased-words of Stephen King, if a book can take you away from the insanity of modern life, for a few minutes, or a few hours, then that is a gift. And as editors, Marie and Paul make instinctive picks, create a running order that keeps you on your toes, and teases the best out of writers who push the envelope on modern, speculative fiction. And when I can get myself a copy, I look forward to diving into the sequel to this volume, ‘Twice Cursed’, which is available now, from all good bookshops!

About the editors…

Paul Kane (born 1973 in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England) began his professional writing career in 1996, providing articles and reviews for news-stand publications, and started producing dark fantasy and science fiction stories in 1998.

Twitter @PaulKaneShadow

Links-http://shadow-writer.co.uk/

Marie O’Regan is an British Fantasy Award-nominated writer and editor of horror and dark fantasy fiction.

Her anthologies include Mirror Mere, Hellbound Hearts, The Mammoth Book of Body Horror, Carnivale: Dark Tales From the Fairground and The Mammoth Book of Ghost Stories by Women. She is Co-Chair of the UK chapter of the Horror Writers’ Association.

Twitter @Marie_O_Regan

Links-http://marieoregan.net/