the Hard Way, a series of erotic novellas edited by Susie Bright. Tsaurah Litzky’s groundbreaking erotic writing class, Silk Sheets: Writing Erotica, is now in its eleventh year at the New School in Manhattan. Tsaurah believes that great sex often is inspired by a pair of shoes and that fairy tales do come true.
Kristina Lloyd is the author of three erotic novels, Darker Than Love, Asking for Trouble and Split, all published by Black Lace. Her short stories have appeared in numerous anthologies and magazines in both the U.K. and U.S., and her novels have been translated into German, Dutch and Japanese. She has a master’s degree in twentieth-century literature, and has been described as “a fresh literary talent” who “writes sex with a formidable force.” She lives in Brighton on the south coast of England and her favorite fairy tale is “Little Red Riding Hood” because it’s dark, sinister and short on princesses. For more, visit http://kristinalloyd.wordpress.com.
Nikki Magennis is a Scottish author of erotica and erotic romance. She grew up on fairy tales and has always loved “The Red Shoes.” Lily takes her name from a song on Kate Bush’s Red Shoes album. In folklore, lilies are used to break spells or enchantments. Nikki’s second novel, The New Rakes, is published by Black Lace, and you can find her work in many anthologies. She is currently working on a collection of short stories and could use a spot of lily juice to break her procrastination habit. Read more at: http://nikkimagennis.blogspot.com.
Sommer Marsden writes her naughty fiction from a small town near the Chesapeake Bay. Her work has appeared in dozens of print anthologies and magazines, and her stories haunt many Internet sites on a regular basis. When she was a little girl, she loved the tale of “The Princess and the Pea,” mostly because she is a complainer at heart. You can see what she’s up to at www.SmutGirl.blogspot.com.
N. T. Morley is the author of sixteen published novels of erotic dominance and submission, including The Visitor, The Nightclub, The Appointment and the trilogies The Castle, The Library and The Office. Morley has also edited two anthologies, MASTER and slave, and has contributed to many erotic anthologies, including the Naughty Stories from A to Z series, the Sweet Life series, the Best New Erotica series, and many other anthologies. Morley’s favorite fairy tale is unquestionably Pretty Woman, though there’s something strangely hot about Leaving Las Vegas. That said, there’s lots to love about “Sleeping Beauty,” the Anne Rice version. Visit www.ntmorley.com for more information.
Elspeth Potter’s stories have appeared in The Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica, Periphery: Erotic Lesbian Futures, Best Lesbian Romance 2009, Best Lesbian Erotica and Best Women’s Erotica. Her erotic novel The Duchess, Her Maid, the Groom, and their Lover, by Victoria Janssen, was a 2008 release from Harlequin Spice. The Moonlight Mistress was released in December 2009. Her favorite fairy tale is “The Tinderbox.” Read more at www.victoriajanssen.com.
Thomas S. Roche is the author of more than two hundred published stories that fall into the horror, fantasy, crime, paranormal and erotica genres—frequently all at once. His books include His and Hers, two short-story collections written with Alison Tyler, and Dark Matter, a collection of his own stories, as well as four anthologies of fantasy/horror and three books of erotic crime stories. Roche has always had a love-hate relationship with fairy tales. He hated them as a child because there were rarely any spaceships in them. As an adult, he has adapted dozens of fairy tales for various projects, starting with a rewrite of A Midsummer Night’s Dream he did in the mid-1990s. He’s very fond of “The Little Match Girl,” probably due to his lingering goth damage from the eighties. He blogs about such topics as ghosts, aliens, sex and politics at www.thomasroche.com.
Donna George Storey is the author of Amorous Woman, a semi-autobiographical tale of an American’s steamy love affair with Japan. Her short fiction has been published in over ninety journals and anthologies, including X:The Erotic Treasury, Naughty or Nice, Frenzy, Best Women’s Erotica, and The Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica. Her favorite fairy tale is “The Twelve Dancing Princesses,” not only because she played the role of Angelica in a summer-theater production in high school, but because she can really relate to the story of girls who are perfect ladies by day sneaking off to a magical land every night to dance Freudian holes in their slippers with charming princes. Read more of her work at www.DonnaGeorgeStorey.com.
Sophia Valenti’s erotica has appeared in Afternoon Delight and Playing with Fire. She believes in happily-ever-afters, but thinks that sometimes fate needs a little push in the right direction. Her favorite fairy tale is “The Ugly Duckling” because coming into your own is as important as finding your place. Visit her at www.sophiavalenti.blogspot.com.
Saskia Walker loves to read and write stories where magic and passion are found in unexpected situations. Her favorite fairy tales reflect this, stories like “Cinderella,” and the tales of “Scheherazade” and the “Arabian Nights.” Saskia began writing in 1996 and her fiction has now been published in more than fifty anthologies. Her novel-length work spans from contemporary erotic romance to exotic fantasy. Saskia lives in the north of England on the windswept Yorkshire moors, where she happily spends her days spinning yarns. She has lots more stories to tell, so be sure to visit www.saskiawalker.co.uk.
Allison Wonderland has a B.A. in women’s studies, a weakness for lollipops and a fondness for rubber ducks. Her favorite sound is Fran Drescher’s voice, and her cocktail of choice is a Shirley Temple. On the fairy-tale front, she is quite fond of Jane Yolen’s collection, Not One Damsel in Distress. (She finds the dearth of distressed damsels very refreshing.) Allison has contributed to numerous anthologies, including Island Girls, Hurts So Good, Coming Together: At Last and Visible: A Femmethology. See what she’s up to at http://aisforallison.blogspot.com.
For Sam.
Introduction
Down the rabbit hole I go, in search of fractured fairy tales and manhandled myths, the type that would make Snow White blush Rose Red. Why fables and rhymes and stories of years gone by? Because the familiar cadence of these magical tales clings to us like the fabric of dreams. The once upon a time is already in place—the happily-ever-after is waiting for us. It’s the part in the middle that’s rich with promise, the sticky-sweet candy-colored goodness of a whole new type of “Hansel and Gretel” story.
The truth is that we all love a happy ending (traditional or otherwise), especially when the characters turn out to be kinky. To that end, I’ve compiled twenty-seven brand-spanking-new stories from such popular erotic writers as Thomas S. Roche, Tsaurah Litzky and Shanna Germain.
Many fables are immediately recognizable. Sommer Marsden’s “The Three Billys” is neatly spotted as a modern-day goat story, although the gruffest of the Billys has a far dirtier method of dealing with (Ms.) Troll than in the original tale. Kristina Lloyd’s “David” riffs on “Sleeping Beauty” in a myriad of ways. A surreal vampire yarn, her Beauty not only wakes up to her deep sexual submission, but she awakens her very own handsome prince. Bella Dean’s “Wolff’s Tavern” turns the tale of “Little Red Riding Hood” inside out—this Wolff comes to Ruby’s rescue. Sophia Valenti’s “The Cougar of Cobble Hill” is based firmly on the sole of “The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe,” while Jacqueline Applebee’s “Slutty Cinderella” features the only wannabe princess I know who needs a shave. T. C. Calligari spins the Grimms’ somewhat obscure fable “The Magic Table, the Golden Donkey and the Club in the Sack” into “A Taste for Treasure,” featuring a magical stick, crop and cot.
Several writers approached the same story, but with wickedly different results. “Fool’s Gold” by Shanna Germain retells “Rumpelstiltskin” from the point of view of a woman so tightly bound by her own desires she doesn’t know what she wants. Georgia E. Jones tackles the same fairy tale from more than five hundred years in the past, in the boisterous court of King Edward V. Ms. Jones’s story shows that no matter what the date, love is always in fashion.