The third installment in a popular series presents contemporary retellings of such fairy tales as "Hansel and Gretel," "Beauty and the Beast," and "The Little Match Girl" by such authors as Joyce Carol Oates, Gahan Wilson, and Jane Yolen. 10,000 first printing. From Roberta Lanne's upscale retelling of "The Shoemaker and the Elves," in which an ambitious cockroach lends his entrepreneurial talents to a Manhattan tailor ("Roach in Loafers"), to Ellen Steiber's moody tribute to Japanese folklore ("The Fox Wife"), the 22 original stories and poems in this collection bring a modern twist to classic and sometimes obscure fairy tales. Like its predecessors Black Thorn, White Rose (AvoNova: Morrow, 1994) and Snow White, Blood Red (Morrow, 1992), this volume explores new interpretations of old themes. It offers a fresh look at tales no longer for children only. Suitable for most libraries' fantasy or short story collections. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. In this editorial team's third anthology of original short fantasies based on traditional fairy tales, the writing is consistently of very high quality. Indeed, so high that it constitutes justification for the book all by itself. Readers should skip the introduction, though, in which Datlow and Windling grind their pet axes, and be aware that the stories are best read in small doses, for literate though they are, far too many of them struggle to make old tales fit the procrustean beds of modern psychology. The stories that avoid this, most notably Nancy Collins' "Billy Fearless," are substantially more readable. But the whole volume still will reward connoisseurs of superior literary fantasy prepared to slog through psychobabble and political agendas. Roland Green Used Book in Good Condition