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Redder Than Blood by Tanith Lee

A vampiric Snow White whose pious stepmother is her only salvation….
A supernatural Cinderella who strikes at midnight, leaving behind a prince mad with desire….
A sleeping beauty never meant to be woken…
In her World Fantasy Award-nominated short story collection, Red as Blood, Tanith Lee deconstructed familiar fairy tales, recapturing their original darkness and horror in haunting new interpretations. Behind gilded words and poised princesses, she exposed a sinister world of violence, madness, and dangerous enchantments.
With Redder than Blood, Lee resumes the tradition of twisting tales. Among its nineteen tales, this volume explores unnerving variations of Beauty and the Beast, The Frog Prince, Snow White, and other classics, including three never-before-published stories.

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Author’s Bio

Tanith Lee was a British writer of science fiction, horror, and fantasy. She was the author of 77 novels, 14 collections, and almost 300 short stories. She also wrote four radio plays broadcast by the BBC and two scripts for the UK, science fiction, cult television series “Blake’s 7.”
Before becoming a full time writer, Lee worked as a file clerk, an assistant librarian, a shop assistant, and a waitress.

Her first short story, “Eustace,” was published in 1968, and her first novel (for children) The Dragon Hoard was published in 1971.

Her career took off in 1975 with the acceptance by Daw Books USA of her adult fantasy epic The Birthgrave for publication as a mass-market paperback, and Lee has since maintained a prolific output in popular genre writing.

Lee twice won the World Fantasy Award: once in 1983 for best short fiction for “The Gorgon” and again in 1984 for best short fiction for “Elle Est Trois (La Mort).” She has been a Guest of Honour at numerous science fiction and fantasy conventions including the Boskone XVIII in Boston, USA in 1981, the 1984 World Fantasy Convention in Ottawa, Canada, and Orbital 2008 the British National Science Fiction convention (Eastercon) held in London, England in March 2008. In 2009 she was awarded the prestigious title of Grand Master of Horror.

Lee was the daughter of two ballroom dancers, Bernard and Hylda Lee. Despite a persistent rumour, she was not the daughter of the actor Bernard Lee who played “M” in the James Bond series of films of the 1960s.

Tanith Lee married author and artist John Kaiine in 1992.

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My Review

4 stars

Tanith Lee has taken nineteen fairytales and twisted them into something closer to their real story and her own twist. This is one of my weaknesses. I am not much of a Disney princess girl and I love when they are revamped into something dark and twisted. Yes, there are some touchy moments that will cause some readers to be hesitant, but I loved most of the stories. Sorry, but I have never found a collection of short stories that I have loved everyone.

You will read about a beastly man that like to collect things. A wolf that meets a woman in a red cloak and gets more than he expected. Cinderella’s mother is not as bad as we first think. And so many more.

Most of these stories have been published before but there are three new ones. I have never read any of Tanith Lee’s work before but this was a great introduction. The stories were well written, dark, and many erotic.

I really enjoyed this book and will be looking for other books by Tanith Lee.

I received Redder Than Blood from Penguin Random House for free. This has in no way influenced by opinion of this book.

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Inside, Part 1 by Kyra Anderson

America is peaceful and back at the top of the world seventy years after the Second Revolutionary War tore through the country and gave birth to Central–the new government. For Lily Sandover the Second Revolution is just another war to learn about in school, until her political father gets promoted into Central and she is taught that everything is not as it appears.

Lily’s family soon gets invited into a branch of Central that acts more like an exclusive club called the Commission of the People, and once you’re in the Commission, you’re in the Commission for life. The Commission of the People is responsible for keeping the peace of America, and Lily soon learns that the peace comes at an extremely high price.

Using her position inside the Commission, and the obsession that the leader of the Commission has for her, she tries to find a way to change the face of America and bring down the Commission of the People.

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Author’s Bio

K.J. Amidon is a born and raised Northern Nevadan with a passion for languages, horses, art, and writing. Always challenging herself with each new project, K.J. is devoted to developing stories in such detail that the readers will live the journey. She has a penchant for creating stories that will engulf you and never let go. K.J. is also no stranger to pushing boundaries. Her novel, Inside (written as Kyra Anderson) shows just how fearless she can be with her writing and just how far she’ll take readers.

K.J. is also a seasoned traveler and has lived abroad in both France and Japan. She is always ready for the next adventure, whether it is to another country or into a new genre for her writing.

K.J. currently has thirteen titles available: Inside (Parts 1-3), the Dimension Guardian Series, The Significant & The Significant Expanded Story, and The Faith. Her fourteenth title, the first of the Roadside Paradise Series, Into Oblivion will become available in May, 2017.

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My Review

5 stars

Years after a Second American Revolution, Central was created. Part of Central was the Commission of the People which is more of an exclusive club than a branch of the new government. Lily Sandover’s father is a politician and has just been invited into Commission and things seem perfect. Lily is happy for her father’s new position but she notices things don’t seem entirely right, especially the other kids her age. Then on a tour she starts seeing the inner workings of Commission. Lily has decided that Commission needs to be taken down and is going to be the one to do it.

I loved this story. It has so much to it that I could see it happening in real life. There are so many things happening from brain washing to experimentation, it was horrible but I couldn’t wait to see what else was going on. But the thing that really got to me was all of this was happening and either the people had no desire to learn the truth or were not really looking for it.

This is a great dystopia young adult story. It does end with one heck of a cliff hanger so I can’t wait to get into the next book. I might as well get the third one too since I’m sure that I will be hopping into that one as soon as I am done with book two.

I received Inside Part 1 from Candid Book Reviews for free. This has in no way influenced my opinion of this book.

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