BLACK HEARTS, IVORY BONES. by Datlow, Ellen & Windling, Terri, editors. Tanith Lee, Delia Sherman, Esther Friesner, Russell Blackford, Neil Gaiman, Greg Costikyan, Jane Yolen, Debra Cash, Brian Stableford, Michael Cadnun, Scott Bradfield, Charles De Lint, Leah Cutter, et al - 2000

New York: Avon, 2000. 369 pp, 8vo (8 7/16" H). Book club edition. "(S)howcases twenty beguiling tales for the child-that-was and the adult-that-is, penned by twenty of the most creative artists in contemporary American literature. Here dissected are the darker anatomies of the timeless, seemingly simple stories we have long loved. Here wonder and truth have serious bite. A lovelorn prince seeking his father's blessing concocts a fantastic tale of a witch, a tower, and lustrous long hair - A pair of accursed red boots punishes a beautiful dancer for her pride - A troll-killing, princess-rescuing warrior is compelled to consider events from his adversaries' point of view - In a blistering tell-all memoir, Goldilocks reveals the sordid truth about her brutal foster parent, Papa Bear - . Rich, surprising, funny, exotic, and unsettling, these twenty new yarns and poems offer exceptional new treasures - as they brilliantly reveal lusts and jealousies, foibles, hatreds, and dangerous obsessions, the things that slyly lurk in the midnight interior of oft-told tales." Contents: Introduction; Rapunzel; The Crone; Big Hair; The King with Three Daughters; Boys and Girls Together; And Still She Sleeps; Snow in Summer; Briar Rose and Witch; Chanterelle; Bear It Away; Goldilocks Tells All; My Life as a Bird; The Red Boots; Rosie's Dance; You, Little Match-girl; Dreaming among Men; The Cats of San Martino; The Golem; Our Mortal Span; Mr. Simonelli or the Fairy Widower; Recommended Reading. Minor wrinkling at top/bottom of spine, minor browning to edges of text block. Dust jacket has very minor edge wear, two tiny edge tears, small crease at top edge of rear flap, very soft crease down rear panel.. Hard Cover. Very Good+/Very Good+. Illus. by Thomas Canty, cover art..