Red Caps might be a rock band. Or they might be something more sinister, a fey source of sounds that are but the backdrop to thrills and misadventures. These thirteen stories provide readers jaded with the traditional, Old World fairy tales and tempts them with new stories that will engage bored readers from their suburban ennui. Closets are waiting to be explored. Escape from work camp leads to a dangerous encounter on a wet road. That high school year book is magical and might be mocking you...or helping you find love. And isn't love one of the central premises of the fairy tale? These teenage boys and girls need not fear that their love has no worth, because Steve Berman has written for them princesses who love maidens and adorkable students who have wondrous and smart boyfriends. Readers can be assured that, if the tale does not end happy, it ends most memorably. "Stylish and compelling, this will find an audience with many a teen, gay, straight, or those that refuse to be labeled." - Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books "The positivity that runs throughout the book, even in stories that end on gruesome or eerie notes, is the best part: the sense of 'coming out' in many of these pieces is also a sort of coming to life, or a coming into the self. The undercurrent of acceptance despite the odds is pleasant and heart-warming. These are stories about kids finding out what it means to be themselves, and how to be with other people." - Brit Mandelo for Tor.com"Do you know what I love about Steve Berman's young adult stories? His characters always come across as young adults, neither too young nor too old. And, whether his short stories are strictly contemporary, speculative fiction or fairy tales, the core of the queer themes have weight and meaning, and there's always a sense of fun to be found in them--creepy, adventurous, romantic, weird, fun. Their endings vary from the happy to the memorable, to the twisty weird, but as a whole they usually have a positive message." - Impressions of a Reader"There is variety and spice and romance and light and dark in these pages, a most satisfying mélange." - Prism Book Alliance Steve Berman sold his first short story while still a teenager. Since they he has written and sold over a hundred articles, essays, interviews, and reviews--in addition to short stories--in the fields of gaming, the fantastical, and weird. Much of what he written is aimed at young adult readers, including his novel, Vintage: A Ghost Story , which was a finalist for the Andre Norton Award.