Red as blood, or, Tales from the Sisters Grimmer

Here are ten devilishly twisted fairy tales as the Brothers Grimm never dares to tell them. With her brilliantly macabre pen, Tanith Lee retells some familiar tales, and concocts some new and unusual ones, as she asks us to consider the possibility that things may not work as our fairy tales have them.... In the title story, Lee shows us a perfectly good stepmother, whose princess stepdaughter reeks of evil. Then there is Ashella, the Cinderella-like girl who "When the Clock Strikes" intends to give her Prince Charming a deadly surprise. In "Wolfland" Lisel takes a trip through the woods to visit her grandmother--who bears little resemblance to the loving old woman we expect. And in "Thorns" you'll find the haunting answer to the question, "What if awakening the Sleeping Beauty turns out to be the mistake of a lifetime--of several lifetimes, in fact?"

Populated with demons and devils, vengeful gods and no-so-innocent young girls, the ten tales of Red as Blood weave a tapestry of chilling visions, spun by the incomparably fiendish imagination of Tanith Lee! (back cover copy)