StarOpal writes:
Okay, here’s the deal, there’s a movie called Snow White: A Tale of Terror. For those who haven’t seen it, it’s a dark adaptation of the Grimm story with the stepmother being more crazy than evil, and “Snow White” chooses an outlaw type over “Prince Charming.” Every time I see it I think to myself ‘Man I wish that was based off a book so I could read it’ or ‘Man I’d like to read a good Snow White retelling.’ But I never know where to start looking for this particular idea (it doesn’t seem to be as popular as, say, Beauty and the Beast or Sleeping Beauty) and just give up in frustration.
So I saw the movie again a couple days ago and thought I’d put out the call here. It doesn’t have to have the same exact plot points, but if you gals could turn me on to a good Snow White retelling I’d really appreciate it.
I’m a sucker for fairy tale retellings, and since Snow White is more obvious than most about the purity themes working through the narrative, it would seem ripe for romance adaptation. Anyone have any ideas?
That movie’s pretty cool. If anyone’s up for some retellings of Snow White, I totally have some recommendations, although most of them are not romances, per se, and most of them are at least as dark as the above-mentioned film. Neil Gaiman has a short story called “Snow, Glass, Apples” and Tanith Lee has a short story called “Red as Blood” in her anthology Red as Blood or Tales from the Sisters Grimmer, which, as you might suppose contains a bunch of fairy tale retellings. Lee also has a novel-length retelling called White as Snow, which also mixes the Snow White story with the Persephone myth. Angela Carter’s “The Bloody Chamber” also has a Snow White retelling in there. Additionally, there’s a series of short story anthologies by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling that are all fairy tale based stories. I really recommend the series (there are six books, and they all have titles like “Black Swan, White Raven,” “Black Heart, Ivory Bones,” etc. Some of them might be out of print, but they are SO worth looking for). Also, if you like reading comics, there’s a comic book series by Bill Willingham called Fables that tells a totally new story using a lot of characters from fairy tales, nursery rhymes, myths, etc. Snow White plays a huge role in it, and also is one half of the series’ biggest romance. Also, if you like fairy tale retellings in general, check out Donna Jo Napoli. I don’t think she’s taken a whack at Snow White yet, but Spinners, her Rumpelstiltskin, and Zel, her take on Rapunzel, are especially good.
The only book I can think of is “Mirror Mirror” by Geoffry Maguire. The evil stepmother figure is Lucrezia Borgia.
There is also the short story “Snow, Glass, Apples” by Neil Gaiman. If you haven’t read this one, definitely give it a read.
I wrote one once where the wicked stepmother was a vampire and she bit Snow White. The Prince had to give her blood instead of kissing her. I was about sixteen at the time. : you could call it a sign of things to come.
It’s always seemed to be a story ripe for erotica: a virgin moves in with seven men? Wheee!
Adele Geras wrote an excellent YA trilogy based on Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White. Set in England in the 1960s, quite magical. The Snow White- inspired book is called ‘Pictures of the Night’ and the heroine runs away to be a jazz singer.
runswithscissors
If you want twisted re-tellings of fairytales and don’t mind comics, then i highly recommend Ludwig Kakumei. I’m not usually a fan of Japanese manga, but this is an exception. The Snow white story is particularly shocking but the Rapunzel one is very good as well.
“The Bloody Chamber” by Angela Carter’s a good bet if you’re after a somewhat more, er, erotic re-telling of your old bedtime favourites. Some of them might make your eyes water tho’, although they never get to Anais Nin level of total filth.
Mercedes Lackey did several fairy tale adaptions. Some didn’t work very well but the Snow White version – The Serpent’s Shadow was excellent. I highly recommend it. Also her version of Beauty & the Beast, The Fire Rose, is wonderful too.
Kelly B.
Robin McKinley has several adaptations of fairy tales to her name, and her writing is wonderful.
“Enchanted: Erotic Bedtime Stories for Women” has a Snow White story, although frankly I didn’t think the anthology was that great. The stories were interesting retellings of fairy tales, but none of them really grabbed me.
Anne Rice anyone? I haven’t read them but I heard her Sleeping Beauty trilogy is really erotic and shocking (at least for the time they were published)
I’m focusing on folktales and fairy tales in my major, and retellings are where its’s at! The greatest I’ve read so far are all collections: “The Bloody Chamber” by Angela Carter and “Kissing the Witch” by Emma Donoghue (both short story collections) and “Transformations” by Anne Sexton (poetry). All three of those include Snow White retellings, and they’re all so wonderful. I’m glad people have mentioned Angela Carter!
Oh, and I’m writing a fairy tale retelling collection myself, so I might be a little biased.
I’m putting in a second for Mercedes Lackey. I love her versions. I consider them fantasy (a world with magic) with a healthy side of romance. Of all of them I think The Fire Rose (Beauty & the Beast) is my favorite.
The Fire Rose
Gates of Sleep
The Serpent’s Shadow
Phoenyx And Ashes
Wizard of London
Totally agree that of Lackey’s fairytales, “Fire Rose” is the best. The Serpent’s Shadow is great too.
I adore Robin Mckinley’s fairy tale adaptations, especially her 2 versions of Beauty and the Beast.
For those who like a further twist, there is an amazing version of Beauty and the Beast by a non-published (till now) author in livejournal under the name “jeanauvray”. The twist is that Beauty is also a guy. So those who like gay romance or would like to try something different should definitely give that one a try. And it is free! You might need to friend her though.
-anin
I knew I came to the right place!
So far The Bloody Chamber is the only one I’ve already read, so this is becoming a great list for me to work me through.
Thanks and keep ‘em coming!
The Godmother by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough includes the story of a neglected girl named Snohomish (the daughter of a famous rock star who imarried a real witch, so to speak) and seven Vietnam vets Sno meets in the woods.
I love Mercedes Lackey, too. Reserved for the Cat (a riff on Puss in Boots) is one of my favorites.
I haven’t read it, but Tanith Lee’s White as Snow looks really interesting.
I’m going to second anything by Lackey and McKinley. McKinley doesn’t have a sleeping beauty /snow white retelling I don’t believe, but everything she writes seems to be wonderful.
A lot of public libraries have subscriptions to the NoveList database. NoveList lets you plug in an author, book title, even theme or genre, and generate lists of “similar” novels.
Of course, you won’t get the same quality of opinion as bitchery members, but its worth a shot.
And I’m a librarian. We’re like drug dealers, always pushin’ the product. Have you had a little library today? Takes the edge off, man.
Back in the Eighties, TOR books published a whole series of Faerie Tale re-imaginings by known fantasy authors. They included Tam Lin, Snow White and Rose Red, Thomas the Rhymer, and several others. Snow White and the Seven Dwarves may have been one of them.
There’s an adaptation of ‘Snow, Glass, Apples’ with Bebe Neuwirth as the Queen, too. Kind of cool …
I second the recommendation of Bill Willingham’s Fables for anyone who likes comics/graphic novels. A great take on Snow White as well as other fairy tale characters.
If you like YA fiction there’s also “Waking” by A. Harvey-Fitzhenry (Sleeping Beauty) and “Broken”. A. Harvey-Fitzhenry (Cinderella)
I read an online read by Bettie Sharpe last year, called Ember, and absolutely loved every word of it. It’s a dark re-telling of the Cinderella story. And she still has it on her website, for free, at bettiesharpe.com.
It is well worth a read.
One of the books on my To Buy list is Fairest by Gail Carson Levine based on my love of her Ella Enchanted book. It’ll be loosely based on Snow White.
I now have to overcome the temptation to buy it now. Resisting. Resisting.
Failed. Amazon.co.uk, here we come.
Smart Bitches, Trashy Books: using the power of Luuuuurve™ to help me find a million ways to spend too much of my student loan.
I don’t believe the Fairy Tales series of retellings (edited by Terri Windling, initially for Ace and later for Tor) did get to Snow White, though as noted there was a very good version of Snow White, Rose Red by Patricia Wrede.
I’ll endorse Scarborough’s The Godmother as well; it isn’t precisely a retelling, but covers its ground particularly well. The Mercedes Lackey retellings are—the best word I can use is odd, I think. There are two series—the “Elemental Masters” books (mostly for DAW, although Fire Rose from Baen is almost certainly part of its continuity), and the “Five Hundred Kingdoms” books from Luna; the earliest of each are IMO the best, and Firebird from Tor is better than both. My main issue with Lackey’s series are her protagonists, who start to look a lot like “Mary Sue” characters after awhile.
More interesting by a mile is a brand new book by Jim C. Hines called The Stepsister Scheme. This is also not a retelling, but rather a slantwise sequel to “Cinderella”, in which the Cinderella character is teamed with Snow White (a mirror sorceress) and Sleeping Beauty (called Talia, a martial arts master) when her happily-ever-after is rudely spoiled by a kidnapping. It isn’t structurally or thematically a romance, but it’s very, very good, both highly amusing and well characterized. At least three sequels are forthcoming, but the book works effectively as a standalone.
And a completely different recommendation in a similar revisionist-fairy-tale vein: this post links to a scratch recording of “Wicked Girls Saving Ourselves” by incipient fantasy novelist Seanan McGuire (and if you like that one, she’s got three excellent CDs available).
StarOpal, run, do not walk, to get a copy of Tanith Lee’s White as Snow. As so-meta said, it’s a combination of Snow White and the Persephone myth retold into a new story. It is AMAZING—and definitely dark. (And now I totally need to go re-read it.) It was originally published as part of the Terri Windling-edited Fairy Tale series, which others have mentioned.
so-meta, I think we must have a lot of the same books. 🙂 I love re-did fairy tales.
I double-triple-quadruple the Bettie Sharpe Ember recommendation. A dark, perfectly-turned-on-its-head retelling of Cinderella with razor-sharp writing—go read it right NOW!
You should give “Beauty” by Sheri S. Tepper a try – I’m pretty sure the snow white story makes an appearance at some point, and besides, it’s a great read!
I have to third the mention of Wrede’s “Snow White and Rose Red”. I really, really, really liked that one.
I’m positive I’ve read a snow white adaption in which she is a vampire. I think it was in a collection by Neil Gaimon. It was good, but I’m a wimp for horror and it was also pretty freaky.
Well, I believe the Fairy Tale series (ed. by Windling) was initially at ACE and then moved to Tor. I have read all of the originals, and if you can find them you should.
They are:
Nightingale by Kara Dalkey
The Sun the Moon and the Stars by Steven Brust (retelling of a Hungarian tale with art students)
Tam Lin by Pamela Dean (retelling of Thomas the Rhymer at a midwestern college. so good. recently reissued by Firebird)
Jack the Giant Killer by Charles DeLint (Jack and the Beanstalk in Canada with faeries and motorcycles! This may be unavailable on its own, but was released packaged with its sequel Drink Down the Moon as Jack of Kinrowan)
Briar Rose by Jane Yolen (Sleeping Beauty as told intertwined with the holocaust.)
Snow White Rose Red by Pat Wrede (recently reissued by Firebird)
the newer titles are
White as Snow by Tanith Lee (this was previously mentioned in this thread. It is a Snow White retelling)
Fitcher’s Brides by Gregory Frost (Bluebeard)
seriously, if you can track those down, they’re all really good. As well as the Windling & Datlow retellings ss anthologies, there is also a collection that is somewhat hard to find that’s worth a search:
The Armless Maiden: And Other Tales for Childhood’s Survivors again edited by Terri Windling
It’s a collection of prose and poetry retellings of fairy tales involving child abuse. There are some powerful wonderful works in there.
Also, I concur with the recommendation of Anne Sexton’s Transformations. Holy Cow.
Oh, Robin McKinley also has a retelling of donkeyskin called Deerskin. It’s a bit older than her other fantasy retellings. I’m not sure if you have to have discovered it at the age of 15 or so to really love that book, but it might be true.
And one of the books on this year’s Printz Honor list from the ALA is a very dark reworking of the snow white rose red tale, Margo Lanagan’s Tender Morsels. It’s a wonder of world building that starts with sexual awakening and then leads to incest and forced abortion in the first chapter. It may not be for the faint of heart, but it’s beautifully written.
Oh, a thread for meeee! I love, love, LOVE fairytale retellings.
Big yes on most of the things listed above, especially Dean’s Tam Lin, McKinley (all of them, but perhaps Deerskin most) and Yolen’s Briar Rose. Windling’s Armless Maiden collection is excellent, so is the Gaiman short story. Whew, what a list! I missed the Tanith Lee; I will be looking for that now, along with Ember and the Gail Carson Levine—I used to teach Ella Enchanted in a lit class for pre-service English teachers, and it was wonderful.
I have Maguire’s Mirror, Mirror in my huge f-off TBR pile. Loaned it out before I had even read it, just got it back. From my own kid, thanks.
Light but enjoyable, I third or fourth the recommendation for Scarborough’s GODMOTHER books. Sno and the veterans are my favorites. And last (post too long) but not least, a big thumbs up for Jim C. Hines’ The Stepsister Scheme, which reminds me of a non-musical version of the second act of Into the Woods, all about what “happily ever after” really means.
Ball of Fire [Howard Hawks, 1941] is a sort of ‘Snow White in Reverse’. With Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck
There is also ‘Snow White’ by Donald Barthelme [1967]…
Theresa Medeiros wrote three “fractured fairy tale” romances.
Charming the Prince is the first, which I think may be Snow White.
The other two are The Bride and the Beast, based on Beauty and the Beast obviously, and A Kiss to Remember based on Sleeping Beauty, with the hero being the beauty.
I just want to emphatically second everything so-meta mentioned in her first post, Patricia Wrede’s Snow White, Rose Red, and to say that if you like dark retellings of fairytales, Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series is amazing and has a lot of those themes, and includes an awesome sub-theme about “boy” vs. “girl” stories which is especially apparent in “A Game of You”. I recommend it at every opportunity. The series has been complete for years now, and the graphic novels have never gone out of print, your local library should have it.
A book I forgot and shouldn’t have—Kim Wilkins’ The Autumn Castle, a sometimes-very-creepy but extremely worthwhile novel that is in significant part a holder-up-of-mirrors to the Grimm fairy tales. Not a part of the Windling-edited “Fairy Tales” line, but with much of the same sensibility and approach.
Awesome thread. I love these kinds of books. I echo all the Robin McKinley suggestions and also recommend the free read “Ember” over on Bettie Sharpe’s site.
SonomaLass, you don’t have to look for Ember—just click here. As Lesley Kelly said, it’s available free on Bettie Sharpe’s website. There’s no excuse for anyone not to read it right away! You won’t regret it.