Coming Aug 1, 2025
Magic, Murder, & Machines is a collection of fifteen fairy tale retellings and original fairy tales written by Alicia K. Anderson. This collection includes five stories that were included in other anthologies previously, nine stories that have never before been seen, and a cyberpunk Scheherazade frame tale.
Folklore was intended to be retold. Oral stories had the ability to be updated, to change with their audiences, tellers, and occasions. Since folktales and fairy tales have been written down, we tend to get stuck in older versions of the stories. Which means we might also get stuck in older versions of ourselves.
This collection of fairy tale retellings ask the questions “why?” and “why not?” of our favorite stories.
Stories that have been imagined anew in this volume include the story of Scheherazade, the Snow Queen, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, Beauty and the Beast, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, the Princess and the Pea, Allerleirauh, the Princess who became a Goose Girl, and the Goose Girl Annie, Cinderella, Fitcher’s Bird, Unicorns, Hamlet, Merlin, and of course, Baba Yaga. Set in worlds ranging from a cyberpunk future to steampunk alternate universes and beyond, these tales defy space and time. Several of the stories feature LGBTQIA+ characters, and like all fairy tales, a few have unsettling themes.
Cover art is drawn by the amazing Katherine Beirman.
Currently available for pre-order in eBook and paperback formats from major retailers. (Hint: Subscribers to the $9 and $12 tiers of my Patreon will be receiving their copies a month early at no additional cost!)
bookshop.org – ebook, paperback
barnes and noble – ebook, paperback
(I am learning how I might make this into an audiobook format as well. As ever, this is a learning curve!)