Short Fairy Tales For Adults

At just 18 years old, Arthur is on the verge of being crushed under the weight of his great destiny. The mighty castle at Tintagel has fallen. King Uther Pendragon lies dead. The mad King Vortigern sits upon the throne with a dragon at his command. And Merlin, having turned traitor, stands at the new king's side. Now Arthur, with the help of the mysterious sword in the stone and his loyal mentors, Gawain and Percival, embarks on a daring mission to retake the crown.

The best writers of our generation retell the classics. Literature is filled with sexy, deadly, and downright twisted tales. In this collection, award-winning and best-selling authors reimagine their favorite classic stories, ones that have inspired, awed, and enraged them; ones that have become ingrained in modern culture; and ones that have been too long overlooked. They take these stories and boil them down to their bones, and then reassemble them for a new generation of listeners.

Testi originali, insieme a testi rielaborati, ossia variazioni sul tema (spesso come adattamenti ai tempi moderni) dei motivi classici che hanno riempito la nostra infanzia e popolato la nostra fantasia di bambini. Perché non è mai troppo tardi per sentirsi bambini.

After being banished from her coven five years ago, Sarah vowed to stay away from black magic forever and instead tried to embrace the life of a white witch. However, now a family death has brought her back to her hometown of Raven's Cove, and the good little witch is in line to inherit a powerful gift.

On the night before her Choosing, there were whispers of war in the air. After binding herself to Clarent, Opal is given a grim prophecy of her future. Alone and ostracized from her clan, she finds an unlikely ally in the sorceresses' leader, Joan. Joan is the reason the Sorceress clan wants to attack. She's prophesied to pull Excalibur from its stone. But her clan wants its powers for a darker purpose. They have to band together to stop the Sorceress clan's invasion. Excalibur is on their side, but they’re outnumbered five to one. Can Opal escape this war unscathed?

A collection of original Christmas short stories and three retellings.

Verona is a bottom feeder. She is the one mer in her clan who is considered the ugliest and least intelligent. Growing up with constant bullying and abuse wasn't the worst of what her kind had in store for her. At 17 years old, she must now endure The Reckoning. The scales will measure her worth to her clan. Will she endure 30 days as a land-walker to gather information and knowledge to appease her clan and return a valued member?

Arriving in the rural Catskill Mountains (where legend has it there resides a spectral headless horseman who hunts the night on a black steed), the eccentric Ichabod Crane vies for the love of the beautiful Katrina Van Tassel. The bully, Brom Bones, also has his eyes on Katrina and devises a wicked plan to rid himself of his hated rival.

In a kingdom long ago, a young handsome prince travels the countryside incognito taking the census. His travels are filled with adventure, colorful characters and mystery as he falls into a deceitful plot by a neighboring Lord. Deep within the dark woods he stumbles upon a country girl with deep secrets to hide. A beautiful lady trying to win his heart. A noble knight in search of dragons to slay and a Chinese tailor with a special talent that could change a kingdom and the prince's heart.

Meet Syrenka, a little mermaid who must convince her father the Sea King, not to start a war against the humans. Except she had become the very thing he despised...she is secretly living on land as a human. A fairy tale fantasy adventure prequel! This short story takes place after the events in Hans Christian Andersen’s Little Mermaid and before Roy Mauritsen’s epic Shards of the Glass Slipper series.

A ship burns, sinking into the dark sea. There is only one survivor - a child hunted for the magic of her song. Hidden away on an isolated island, Lilette buries her magic deep, convinced it caused the deaths of those she loves. But she can’t run from who she is. And when her secret is revealed, the only thing that can save her is her song. It’s time to rise up and become what she was always meant to be. The most powerful witch ever born.

Eco-Fables is a collection of eco-friendly "green" tales, which center around a magical forest full of wonderful things. The often ironic, satirical short stories offer up lessons for living and pack big ideas into small doses suitable for children and adults. Volume One (the first of the three volume set) offers 11 "green fables", including "The Man Who Went to Town", "The Caterpillars", and "The Monkeys and the Mushrooms".

Ku-aya led a joyful life with her parents and her three younger brothers. Her days were spent tending to the fields of wheat, watching over the herd of sheep, and dancing along the banks of the salt river that ran through the center of her beautiful, sprawling village. Every dawn brought new blessings from the Sky Father above.

A toy giant and a clockwork unicorn star in this retelling of Aesop's fable "The Lion and the Mouse" in a steampunk fantasy setting.

This is a selection from The Jungle Book, in which a mongoose saves the day.

This is a selection from Kipling's The Second Jungle Book.

When a young John Lambton skips church to go fishing, he catches something unnatural. Fearful of his father's reaction to both skipping church and bringing such a foul creature to the house - he it throws in the well. Years later, after fighting in the Crusades, John returns home to an unpleasant surprise.

This is the first story of The Jungle Book, in which the reader is introduced to Mowgli, the jungle boy, and his animal friends.

Jonathan ist 10 und ein Junge, der nicht weiter auffällt. Dennoch ist er voller Wissensdurst, da er glaubt, dass es da noch eine andere Wahrheit gibt, als die, die ihm seine Eltern nicht müde werden, aufs Brot zu schmieren. Und so macht sich Jordan auf die Suche nach Antworten... bis er eines Tages den Mut aufbringt, den Mann zu besuchen, der am Ende ihrer Straße wohnt; von dem aber so gut wie niemand etwas weiß. Und diese Begegnung ist es, die Jonathans Leben nachhaltig verändert.

This story, one of Harte's most anthologized, first appeared in The Luck of Roading Camp and Other Stories.