Once upon a time, in a world of googles and gaslights, gears and gizmos, there lived a princess…or a talking cat, or handsome prince, or horrible monster, or elegant dancer, or wicked stepmother! This collection of fairy tales takes some of the classics and transforms them into steampunk delights, filled with airships and mechanical beasts as well as the classic figures from the old Grimm tales.
As a collection, Gaslight & Grimm is an absolute delight. There isn’t a single story in this that falls flat, and the mix of genres and themes, tales and characters, makes for a wonderfully varied and interesting anthology. There are stories ranging from the classics with Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, to Baba Yaga and The Nightingale.
The anthology starts with In Wolf’s Clothing, a turn-of-the-century tale mixing practicality with magic, love and courtship with the legend. When Morris Garvey escorts his sweetheart to see her grandmother, he doesn’t expect to be caught up in a fairytale – and certainly not one with such a personal outcome…
The next three stories were possibly some of my favourites in the anthology, if forced to pick! Sibling rivalries are explored in the martial, action-packed When Pigs Fly; the house materials are very cleverly brought in, and the story itself is tense and gripping. From The Horse’s Mouth is an unsettling and amazing retelling on The Goose Girl, and is one of the best short stories I’ve read for a while. The story doesn’t have many steampunk elements but is brilliantly re-imagined, mixing past and present, and bringing in tantalising hints of the wider story and other secrets. It also has a darker edge that balances out the lighter stories in the collection, the next of which is The Steamy Tale of Cinderella – possibly the complete opposite of From The Horse’s Mouth, but just as good a short story! It’s a light-hearted and enchanting retelling of Cinderella, featuring selkies, boilers, princes, afternoon tea, yatch design and very practical glass slippers as well as the classic prince, step-mother and godmother. I loved the premise and the characters, and loved the LGBT element that’s brought in; the entire story is imaginative and delightful.
Another delightful tale is A Cat Among The Gears – it’s the classic Puss In Boots plot, but with a fun steampunk twist and a witty, amusing first-person take from Puss’ perspective that made me smile. The Patented Troll is as delightful, but with a sweeter edge; it’s a nice touch to see more from the troll’s perspective, and I liked the mix of humans and mechanimal characters in the story. In the same vein, The Walking House is a take on Baba Yaga, with some wonderful worldbuilding that I’d love to see explored further, and a sweet plot.
All For Beauty and Youth is an interesting adaption of Hansel & Gretel, and provides another darker note to the anthology; the story explores what people will do to gain youth, and the darker side of the fairytales. The Hair Ladder also explores the darker elements of human nature, but has an almost modern feel; what if Rapunzel’s family didn’t want her – or wanted something else more than their child? The play of emotions has a soap-opera feel to it, and for once it’s an unusual character who’s the Nasty One. The Clockwork Nightingale is a tale of love and longing, and the power of dreams and emotions. While the second half was a little too long, the first half of the story is excellent with a tense and exciting duel where human and machine face off against each other! The Steampowered Dragon is based on The Dragon and His Grandmother, and is an interesting retelling that brings in colonial elements and a mechanical monster to the traditional story.
My (fourth?) favourite story is The Giant Killer, both for the imaginative take on the giants and the most excellent main character! Mix that with gadgets and mechanical monsters, nice slice of Victorian Boston that includes steampunk and some alt history, and a character who’s great fun – and it’s a brilliantly rip-roaring story with a dose of practical sensibility, and a world – and main character – I’d love to read more of.
The final story in the anthology is the fairly lengthy The Perfect Shoes, based on the story of The Red Shoes with an added dose of steampowered mechanical help in 19th century France. The message about the power of dreams and desire mixes with the problems of getting what you want…and mechanicals gone wrong!
Every story in this anthology is a gem; you’re never sure what you’re going to get next, but they’re all delightful. For fans of steampunk and fairy tales, and anyone who loves a good short story.
© Kate Coe, July 2016
Gaslight and Grimm by Danielle McPhail (ed)
Published May 29th 2016
www.especbooks.com
Review copy courtesy of the publisher
252 pages
Thank you very much, we are delighted that you enjoyed the collection.
Thrilled to find out about this book.
However, it is extremely frustrating to read a book review with obvious grammatical errors in the first few paragraphs. Book lovers typically love language. This is not the audience that you want if you plan on be lazy when you post your work.
Paragraph on: “This collect…” Seriously. It’s in the first paragraph. Spellcheck alone should not be your editor. You should have gone with “This collection…”
Second paragraph: “There’s stories ranging ….” The rule for contractions says that you use the one that replaces the words you would have used without it. Would you have said “There is stories …”???? I don’t think so. You probably wanted to use There’re stories … “. But why not just spell it out and sound a bit more polished? “There are stories …”
Our apologies for the mishaps. They have been corrected. Our all-volunteer staff do their best, but a few typos invariably get through. Thanks for bringing our attention to them. 🙂