Rags & Bones: New Twists on Timeless Tales

I don't even know how to talk about this book. I loved it, and it was so beautiful it hurt. I admit that I'm prejudiced--it was an anthology of some of my favorite authors, about retellings--one of my favorite things--and folklore--another favorite thing--and it was illustrated by Charles Vess. I don't think it would be physically possible for me not to love this book.And I still loved it more than I expected to. In the interest of balance, I'll mention that the last story left me cold and the organizational structure of the stories didn't make too much sense to me, but enh.I loved it, you should buy it, and this will be going onto the list of some of my favorite books, with an honoured place. I am going to seek out the authors, too; some of the stories really caught my attention. It's well-written, spooky, mournful, romantic, haunting, and still very simple. It crosses genres.Long story short, I can't say enough good things about it. Buy it and see why for yourself.

Some of the stories are a little weaker than others but I really enjoyed most of the stories. I've loaned this book to several people and each enjoyed it as much as I did.

I have mixed feelings about this one. The striking cover and title were what first caught my attention. Since I very much enjoy redone or new fairy tale stories I decided to give it a try. For me, these were a mixed bag. Some I liked a lot and some not so much. I have read and own a lot of fairy tale anthologies that I prefer over this one. It was worth reading once, though, and I'm keeping it for now.

Rags and bones? No way- I'd say "jewels!" Well crafted stories which don't rely on sensationalism, gratuitous violence and incest like so many other contemporary fairy tale collections! Instead they are well written, amusing and unpredictable- at times acquiring mythological status as a good fairytale should!

This ‘book’ only had one story, and then the contents page, and a short blurb by one of the authors about ‘The Monkey’s paw’. Then, a couple of closing pages of the book, and that’s it!Where’s the rest? I’m calling Amazon, as I purchased it in Kindle format!!

Millcara was quite good as was Neil Gaimon's story, but on the whole--forgettable. Made me open up my anthologies of Hans Christian Andersen and H.P. Lovecraft. Despite his origin as a pulp fiction writer, Lovecraft knows how to create an eerie, otherworldly mood. Most of these writers do not, and the stories slid by, in one eye and out the other, as it were. Oh well. The revision of The Monkey Paw was okay, but I was stunned to read that the author had been disappointed in the original. Really? Wow.

Great collection of stories. I wasn't sure what to expect but these twists on old tales are done by writers who truly love and get the old stories. My two favorites are The Sleeper and the Spindle and New Chicago.

Having been made aware of the book in an article, I found myself with some time to spare and started reading.The stories in here are all equally well written.Well worth the money

Love Melissa Marr could read her books all the time.

The title and the design of the front page made me believe it was book by Melissa Marr rather than a collection of short stories including one by Melissa Marr.

Rags & Bones is described as "New Twists on Timeless Tales" and includes the following:That the Machine May Progress Eternally (Inspired by E. M. Forster's The Machine Stops - Carrie Ryan.The King of Elfland's Daughter - Charles Vess.Losing Her Divinity (Inspired by Rudyard Kipling's The Man Who Would be King) - Garth Nix.The Sleeper and the Spindle (Inspired by Sleeping Beauty) - Neil Gamain.Kai Lung's Golden Hours - Charles Vess.The Cold Corner (Inspired by Henry James's The Jolly Corner) - Tim Pratt.Millcara (Inspired by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla) - Holly Black.Figures of Earth - Charles Vess.When First We Were Gods (Inspired by Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Birth-Mark) - Rick Yancey.Sirroco (Inspired by Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto) - Margaret Stohl.The Shaving of Shagpat - Charles Vess.Awakened (Inspired by Kate Chopin's The Awakening) - Melissa Marr.New Chicago (Inspired by W. W. Jacob's The Monkey's Paw) - Kelly Armstrong.The Wood Beyond the World - Charles Vess.The Soul Collector (Inspired by the Brother Grimm's Rumpelstiltskin) - Kami Garcia.Without Faith, Without Law, Without Joy (Inspired by Sir Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene) - Saladin Ahmed.Goblin Market - Charles Vess.Uncaged (Inspired by William B. Seabrook's The Caged White Werewolf of the Saraban) - Gene Wolfe.If that sounds like a huge volume of work you might be surprised to learn the entire book runs to just 372 pages of large print with generous line spacing, author's notes and illustrations (black and white). There's really not that much here considering The King of Elfland's Daughter, Figures of Earth, Kai Lung's Golden Hours, The Shaving of Shagpat, The Wood Beyond the World and Goblin Market run to no more than a quarter/full page in length and serve just as an introduction to the original story. As for the full length tales well; it didn't take me half and hour to read the longest so this is a perfect book if you're looking to fill in short spaces of time.As for the stories themselves well; there's certainly enough imagination and quirky twists gone into their re-telling but they faded from my memory more as less as soon as I put down the book. The original stories will remain for a lifetime and that was always the danger for a compilation of this type. These stories are fighting to be heard against some absolute classics and will probably always suffer in comparison and it's almost impossible not to compare.Nice read, quick read, with some darkly twisted twists and turns and the standard of writing throughout is extremely good. I couldn't give less than 4* because there's a lot of literary class on show.

For me, there are three good reasons to read a collection of stories such as this. Either it's themed, and I enjoy reading about the theme, or it has stories by authors I like, or else I trust the editors to come up with a good selection. For "Rags and Bones" it was mainly the second of these, with stories by Neil Gaiman and Garth Nix, among others. But I was also intrigued by the theme - new takes on classic stories and by the general air of magic and fantasy that pervades the book.Having read it, I'd happily trust a future collection by Marr and Pratt. The stories were individually all very good - mostly four or five stars, with only a couple I'd rate lower - and taken together were thought provoking and diverse. Some are retellings of, or inspired by, traditional fairy tales, others on more recent works - prequels, sequels and alternative versions. Alongside the stories are pictures by Charles Voss, inspired by yet more stories (or bodies of work) and creepily atmospheric. They make this a handsome volume in itself, and coupled with the fact that it provides an introduction to many accomplished modern storytellers, I think it would make it an ideal gift.You don't have to have read the originals - I hadn't read all of them, and had forgotten much of the detail - as each story is complete in itself, and is followed by followed by a postscript from the writer (as are Voss's pictures) explaining a little of what they were trying to achieve.The stories include"That the Machine may progress eternally" (Carrie Ryan) - this follows on from "The Machine Stops" by EM Forster, in which humans live underground in cells, tended and informed by the Machine, a planet spanning infrastructure that provides for all needs so they never have to leave their cocoons. While Forster is mainly interested in what happens when this system breaks down, I always felt one of his triumphs was to imagine the age of social networking, with human contact mediated by electronics, and people forever ensnared by exchanging secondhand ideas. Ryan picks this up in her story of the interaction between those on the surface of the planet and those below - something Forster touches on but does not develop. She's careful to match his tone and the nature of the technology in the original - all buttons and levers - making this a good companion to the original."Losing her Divinity" by Garth Nix is based loosely on Rudyard Kipling's "The Man who would be King", a story I hadn't read. This is an account of a bizarre world where gods and goddesses walk among us, trying to become mortal, and strange knights quest after them. Nix introduces a couple of his regular characters into this world, and I certainly want to read more about them."The Sleeper and the Spindle" by Neil Gaiman is his take on "Sleeping Beauty" - with familiar themes and characters - but overlapping with other fairy tales as well, in a similar way to Sarah Pinborough's recent trilogy. You might think there was little more to do with such an old and well known story, but Gaiman makes it come alive, adds several delicious twists and skilfully undermines the reader's expectations about his characters.In "The Cold Corner" by Tim Pratt, a young chef returns home from California to the Southern US. TJ has some thinking to do, and finds a way to explore other possible lives and other possible TJs. It's a delightful conceit, again based on a similar idea in a story by Henry James."Millcara" by Holly Black is a retelling of Le Fanu's "Carmilla" (as the fairly obvious anagram attests). Le Fanu's story is a classic vampire story, arguably better - more atmospheric, more erotic and just creepier - than "Dracula" - and Black brings similar elements to a story which imagines things much more from the vampire's viewpoint."When First we were Gods" by Rick Yancey is inspried by Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Birth-Mark" and imagines a far future world of dilettantish and arrogant ruling families - with the twist that they're immortal. It asks what that might to love and beauty."Sirocco" by Margaret Stohl echoes Horace Walpole's "Castle of Otranto", a founding story of the gothic tradition even if not much read nowadays. An apparently simple story of a horror film meeting real horror, it manages to preserve the mystery of just what is happening till almost the last word, and for me was one of the best in this volume."Awakened" by Melissa Marr (based on "The Awakening" by Kate Chopin) was another favourite. We don't know at first what or who Eden is, but we fear for her and distrust her would be lover. It's a beautiful and touching metaphor for a life trapped by physical and emotional abuse."New Chicago" by Kelley Armstrong is based on WW Jacobs's "The Monkey's Paw", a classic of horror that, as Armstrong says, is perhaps better seen on screen than read, but it's much more than that. the disaster wrought by the cursed Paw is almost incidental to the wrecked world described here, and indeed one wonders if the immediate and personal harm it causes isn't perhaps only the finale to a great act of destruction on a global scale."The Soul Collector" by Kami Garci loosely echoes "Rumpelstiltskin", bringing out, for me, themes of cruelty and cold-heartedness that are obscured in that story by all the fantastic business of weaving gold. I think it improves on the original."Without Faith, Without Law, Withour Joy" by Saladin Ahmed (based on Spenser's "Faerie Queene" brings a new perspective to what Ahmed points out is very much a (western) proto-Fantasy tale."Uncaged" by Gene Wolfe (inspired by a story by William B Seabrook, who I'd never heard of) brings the collection to a magnificent close, being a very weird story of transformation, blood and desire.Overall, this is a good collection, with something for most readers.

Tim Pratt and Melissa Marr's anthology contains retellings of fairy tales and other classic short stories. Although marketed as YA, it's interesting that the majority of the tales here feature adult characters and some of the source stories are quite obscure. As with any anthology, some stories are stronger than others but on the whole it's an entertaining read that kept me turning the pages.THAT THE MACHINE MAY PROGRESS ETERNALLY by Carrie Ryan is taken from THE MACHINE STOPS by E. M. Forster. It's a slow story about a boy, Tavil, who finds himself in a heavily mechanised world that he's unable and then unwilling to leave. For me it was a little too slow and the shift between Tavil's desire to escape and fear of leaving didn't convince me.LOSING HER DIVINITY by Garth Nix is an entertaining fantasy reimagining of THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING by Rudyard Kipling. The nameless narrator has a great voice and I loved his diversions as he told his tale because they really developed the fantasy world.THE SLEEPER AND THE SPINDLE by Neil Gaiman combines Snow White and Sleeping Beauty but while there are some great lines in it and I loved the dwarves, it's not up to the Gaiman's other short stories and while it's okay it's not great.THE COLD CORNER by Tim Pratt is based on THE JOLLY CORNER by Henry James and is about a man who returns to small town North Carolina for a family gathering after losing his job and his lover. There he discovers that he has alternative personas, giving him opportunities he never thought possible. It's a thought-provoking piece and I enjoyed the themes what could be.MILLCARA by Holly Black is taken from Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu and it's an atmospheric, tense and touching vampire story about a vampire girl and her adoptive vampire mother. The pair look for wealthy marks that they can literally drain but when the girl makes a friend in the daughter of the family they've most recently targeted, she finds that she doesn't want to leave.WHEN FIRST WE WERE GODS by Rick Yancey was my favourite story in the anthology. Inspired by THE BIRTH-MARK by Nathaniel Hawthorne, it's a SF story about immortality and love that had me gripped from beginning to end.SIROCCO by Margaret Stohl is a retelling of THE CASTLE OF OTRANTO by Horace Walpole that does not do justice to the original. I didn't connect with the characters and some of the characters disappear without explanation en route.AWAKENED by Melissa Marr is influenced by THE AWAKENING by Kate Chopin. Drawing on selkie legends, it's a dark and sad tale about abuse and freedom that had me thinking about it long after I finished the book.NEW CHICAGO by Kelly Armstrong is a clever reimagining of THE MONKEY'S PAW y W. W. Jacobs. The original's always been a favourite of mine and I thoroughly enjoyed this retelling, which is set in a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by a virus that makes people violent and which revolves around two brothers who've found refuge in ravaged Chicago.THE SOUL COLLECTER by Kami Garcia is a sad reworking of Rumpelstiltskein that follows a young woman forced into a world of bad choices who makes a bargain with death. It's clever and well written and thoroughly enjoyable.WITHOUT FAITH, WITHOUT LAW, WITHOUT JOY by Saladin Ahmed examines THE FAERIE QUEENE by Sir Edmund Spenser from the point of view of the Saracen brothers Sansfoy, Sansloy and Sansjoy. It's well told and makes a good point about the original's anti-Arabic sentiment.UNCAGED by Gene Wolfe draws on THE CAGED WHITE WEREWOLF OF THE SARABAN by William B. Seabrook in a story about the blindness and powerlessness of love in an okay read.