Kindle Edition Download to your Nook (eBook) Untreed Reads Untreed Reads Category:  Mystery/Suspense Publisher: Untreed Reads Pages: 150 Copyright: Dec 19, 2011 Mistreated fairy tales for e-readers from some of the top names in online crime fiction, all based on classic fairy tales.   Grimm Tales is a collection of stories by some of the top names in online crime fiction, all based on classic fairy tales. As novelist Ken Bruen writes in his introduction, "Ever imagined what would have come down the dark pike if The Brothers Grimm were more Brothers Coen and wrote mystery?" The collection is edited by John Kenyon, editor of Grift magazine, and contains 17 stories by Patricia Abbott, Absolutely*Kate, Jack Bates, Eric Beetner, Nigel Bird, Loren Eaton, Kaye George, Blu Gilliand, Seana Graham, Eirik Gumeny, R.L. Kelstrom, John Kenyon, BV Lawson, Evan Lewis, B. Nagel, Sean Patrick Reardon and Sandra Seamans.  Excerpt From the Editor: This anthology is the result of considerable work by many talented writers who ran with an idea I got while reading to my son. When he grabbed his collection of illustrated (and sweetened) fairy tales for the umpteenth bedtime, I discovered a valuable skill: I could read these tales with one part of my brain and think about something completely different with another. While recounting the exploits of Puss in Boots, I began to wonder about how the story could be recast as crime fiction. With that idea in mind, I started to dabble with an idea or two, but found I needed motivation to push me through the process. I decided a writing challenge was in order. I put out the call on my blog, Things I’d Rather Be Doing, asking my fellow crime writers to adapt a fairy tale as a crime fiction story. Sixteen fellow writers answered the call, and as I read compelling story after compelling story, I realized that it would be a shame for these stories to languish alone on blogs scattered across the Web. They deserved to be together and to be read. That’s where the kind folks at Untreed Reads got involved. They agreed that these stories deserved a wider audience and we began to assemble this collection.

Grimm Tales
What if you took a classic fairy tale and rewrote it for modern day? This anthology has 17 authors who did just that.

This is a great collection! The stories are short, so you can fit them in whenever you have time to read. Maybe not at a red light, but just about any other time. I enjoyed all but one story. I’m not going to say which one because it just happened to be written in a style I don’t like, so the story may be perfectly fine for most everyone else. If it’s really bugging you and you gotta know which one, just think about Star Trek: The Next Generation. Do you recall what Capt. Picard’s favorite holodeck program is? Not a Star Trek fan? Oh, well. You’ll just have to guess. You have 17 tries to get it right. *grins*

*The publisher provided a copy of this book to me for review. Please see disclaimer page on my blog.
Date Added: 06/25/2012 by Carol Conley

Not the Disney Version
By A. J. Hayes
Format:Kindle Edition
Amid the schmaltzy music, happy endings and cutesy-poo renderings of fairy tales so prevalent in our sanitized, germ-free, oh-so-politically-correct society today we forget that at the core of most time-honored "children's tales" was a heart of darkness. Dancing tea pots, really? How about Cinderella's step sisters cutting off their toes and heels with a butcher knife trying to fit their feet in the silver slipper? The stories in Grimm Tales reflect the forgotten horror of the dark metaphors of the fabled brothers a whole lot more accurately than Disney ever did.

This book is a cavalcade of: a drug addled, scheming top candidate for the world's worst mom; a jive talkin' down at the heels pie-eyed piper hot on the trail of a con man called Big Daddy and his harem of 'ammys; a hapless sad sack who thinks a magic trunk can save him in the end; a hot kid uncertainly on his way up a deadly ladder of crime led astray by a girl called Bobby who finds out it all ends in fire; a blackbirder who meets the wrath of Mother Africa; sunlight, bone fishing and a bloody flounder; long pig and gingerbread men; a PI who by his name alone should have known how it was going to work out; a guy named Gato who defines work boots perfectly; a deadly Pidgeon; thigh high boots, pole dancing and a cool cat; a serenade to stained couches and bacon; hackers, elves and a man named Skyler; a perambulator of death; tattoos, muriatic acid; a pissed off spinner of gold and, finally, a man named Soldier who has a set of rules.

Each tale in this collection is a dark rendition of the way life can go when it all goes wrong -- but buried in each story is a little, shiny treasure called hope. I think the Brothers Grimm would love this anthology. I'll bet you do too.

Criminal Grimm at its Best
By Jennifer Moss
Format:Kindle Edition
I loved this novel of short stories! It was great to read some of the classic Grimm stories updated and crime riddled. For me, I think the most interesting stories were the ones based on Hansel and Gretel. I mean, who can't resist a tale of two small children, cannibalism and one nasty wicked witch? "Joseph and Jasmine" was brilliant. A druggie mom who loses custody of her children and the steps she takes to get them back falls short of kidnapping, but barely. Okay, not quite, but I'm sure if given the chance and a drug-free brain, that would have been her next step. The part that Monopoly money plays in this story is pure genius! And sounds very much like something only a small child would contrive. Jasmine obviously didn't get her brains from her mom.

Most of the authors that starred in this novel were new to me. I think it's the first time I've read a compilation where I was unfamiliar with everyone and still highly entertained by 95% of the stories. In a compilation, I tend to find myself skipping more than one story. In Grimm Tales I only skipped through one. "You Dirty Rats" was very noir, and seemed like the least likely story to be in this book. I realize it had all the characteristics it was supposed to (based on a Grimm tale, criminal aspect and updated timeline) but unfortunately it did nothing for me except irritate me with its speech patterns. I found it very difficult to follow and ended up skipping pages about halfway through.

I'll be looking for more stories by these authors. I would have loved to have written reviews on all the stories in here, however, I'm thinking I need to leave something to the reader's imagination. It wouldn't have been difficult to find excellent raves for these stories. Grimm Tales were always a favorite growing up, but something tells me I was treated to the cleaner versions. Someday, should I have children and they start to grow up. I may just read them a few of the tales in this particular book myself.