The Merry Spinster

A collection of darkly playful stories based on classic folk and fairy tales (but with a feminist spin) that find the sinister in the familiar and the familiar in the alien. F rom Daniel Mallory Ortberg, author of Texts From Jane Eyre. 'Empowering, subversive . . . Daniel Mallory Ortberg twists fairy tales into elegant garrotes . . . There's not a single weak link in the cat's-breath chain of this collection . . . incredible' New York Times Book Review'Dark and dreadful and persistently clever. Ortberg bloodily turns familiar tales inside out' Rainbow Rowell'Daniel Mallory Ortberg has the sloe gin wit of Dorothy Parker and the soul of a Classics nerd . . . An absolute delight' John ScalziFrom Texts from Jane Eyre author Daniel Mallory Ortberg, comes a creepy collection of darkly mischievous stories based on children's classics. Sinister and inviting, familiar and alien all at the same time, The Merry Spinster updates traditional bedtimes stories and fairy tales with elements of psychological horror, emotional clarity and a keen sense of feminist mischief. And reveals the alarming emotional games at play in the stories we tell as we tuck ourselves in for the night.Bed time will never be the same.'A collection of stories delectable, formidable, and nimble . . . Daniel Mallory Ortberg is without peer' Kelly Link 'Dark and dreadful and persistently clever. Ortberg bloodily turns familiar tales inside out.' Rainbow Rowell'A collection of stories delectable, formidable, and nimble. As a fantasist and short story writer, Ortberg is without peer.' Kelly Link'Ortberg has a voracious appetite for poison apples, and a genius for finding the places in fairyland where all the bodies are buried. The Merry Spinster will ruin your most-loved fables, in the best possible way.' Charlie Jane Anders'Ortberg has the sloe gin wit of Dorothy Parker and the soul of a Classics nerd. It's like both of them sat next to each other in The Merry Spinster and gossiped away. The result is an absolute delight.' John Scalzi'Ortberg has created a Frankenstein's monster of familiar narratives . . . [that swings] between Terry Pratchett's satirical jocularity and Angela Carter's sinister, shrewd storytelling, and the result is gorgeous, unsettling, splenic, cruel, and wickedly smart. I've never read anything quite like them, and I bet, Dear Reader, that you haven't either.' Carmen Maria MachadoA collection of darkly mischievous stories based on classic fairy tales. Sinister and inviting, familiar and alien all at the same time, The Merry Spinster updates traditional children's stories and fairy tales with elements of psychological horror, emotional clarity, and a keen sense of feminist mischief.Unfalteringly faithful to its beloved source material, The Merry Spinster also illuminates the unsuspected, and frequently alarming, emotional complexities at play in the stories we tell ourselves and each other as we tuck ourselves in for the night.Bed time will never be the same.