Clockwork Fairy Tales

April 22, 2013
Take a few of the Western world’s best-known fairy tales, toss in a generous helping of gizmos and steam, and you get one of the most inspired mash-ups of the year. Steampunk originator K.W. Jeter offers the gruesome elegance of “La Valse,” in which a fancy ball to celebrate the New Year encloses dancers in apparatuses that automate the dancing. Jay Lake’s “You Will Attend Until Beauty Awakens” gives a neat and surprising twist to the story of Sleeping Beauty. In “The Steampiper, the Stovepiper, and the Pied Piper of New Hamelin, Texas,” Gregory Nicoll concocts a Wild West version of the classic tale, though he never explains why Comanches would want to buy little blond children, or why a girl young enough to be lured by the Piper is old enough to join the hero in a hot tub. There are many thoughtful new spins on old favorites, with plenty of gory encounters between flesh and machines that recall fairy tales’ gruesome pre-Disney days.

September 30, 2013
Mixing fairy tales with a unique genre can produce an entertaining result, and this steampunk anthology certainly delivers in that regard. Borrowing from master storytellers such as Hans Christian Anderson and the Brothers Grimm, this anthology provides a great collection of fairy tales, many of which will be new to the average reader. Much to the benefit of this audio edition, several narrators read these tales—and it’s safe to say that no single narrator could have done the material justice. The deep tones and projections of John Lee and Robertson Dean are balanced by the slight rasp of Kaleo Griffith and the soft but pronounced voice of Anne Flosnik. Lee and Flosnik also project more regal tones, while Dean and Griffith capture the more gritty texts in the anthology. A Roc paperback.