Book picks similar to
Wolf Skin by Mary McMyne


poetry
fantasy
genre_fantasy
literature

First Frost


Liz DeJesus - 2012
    She knows the items in the glass display cases are fakes because, of course, magic doesn’t really exist.She’s about to find out how wrong she is.

We Are Not Prey


Taki Drake - 2016
    This science fiction adventure blends magic and technology with the adventures of Ruth, a normal human, pushed into extraordinary situations. Ruth’s transformation takes her from Earth to worlds and situations of which she never dreamed.

A Wild Swan: And Other Tales


Michael Cunningham - 2015
    A poisoned apple and a monkey's paw with the power to change fate; a girl whose extraordinarily long hair causes catastrophe; a man with one human arm and one swan's wing; and a house deep in the forest, constructed of gumdrops and gingerbread, vanilla frosting and boiled sugar. In A Wild Swan and Other Tales, the people and the talismans of lands far, far away, the mythic figures of our childhoods and the source of so much of our wonder are transformed by Michael Cunningham into stories of sublime revelation. Here are the moments that our fairy tales forgot or deliberately concealed: the years after a spell is broken, the rapturous instant of a miracle unexpectedly realized, or the fate of a prince only half cured of a curse. The Beast stands ahead of you in line at the convenience store, buying smokes and a Slim Jim, his devouring smile aimed at the cashier. A malformed little man with a knack for minor acts of wizardry goes to disastrous lengths to procure a child. A loutish and lazy Jack prefers living in his mother's basement to getting a job, until the day he trades a cow for a handful of magic beans. Re-imagined by one of the most gifted storytellers of his generation, and exquisitely illustrated by Yuko Shimizu, rarely have our bedtime stories been this dark, this perverse, or this true.

The Changeling


Joy Williams - 1978
               When we first meet Pearl—young in years but advanced in her drinking—she’s on the lam, sitting at a hotel bar in Florida, throwing back gin and tonics with her infant son cradled in the crook of her arm. But her escape is brief, and the relief she feels at having fled her abusive husband, and the Northeastern island his family calls home, doesn’t last for long. Soon she’s being shepherded back. The island, for Pearl, is a place of madness and pain, and her round-the-clock drinking spurs on the former even if it dulls the latter. And through this lens—Pearl’s fragile consciousness—readers encounter the horror and triumph of both childhood and motherhood in a new light.            With language that flits between exuberance and elegy, the plainspoken and the poetic, Joy Williams has blended, as Rick Moody writes, “the arresting improbabilities of magic realism, with the surrealism of the folkloric revival . . . and with the modernist foreboding of Under the Volcano,” and created something entirely original and entirely consuming.

The Dollmaker


Nina Allan - 2019
    Like him, they are diminutive but graceful, unique, and with surprising depths. Perhaps that's why he answers the enigmatic personal ad in his collector's magazine.Letter by letter, Bramber Winters reveals more of her strange, sheltered life in an institution on Bodmin Moor, and the terrible events that put her there as a child. Andrew knows what it is to be trapped, and as they knit closer together, he weaves a curious plan to rescue her.On his journey through the old towns of England, he reads the fairy tales of Ewa Chaplin--potent, eldritch stories which, like her lifelike dolls, pluck at the edges of reality and thread their way into his mind. When Andrew and Bramber meet at last, they will have a choice--to break free and, unlike their dolls, come to life.A love story of two very real, unusual people, The Dollmaker is also a novel rich with wonders: Andrew's quest and Bramber's letters unspool around the dark fables that give our familiar world an uncanny edge. It is this touch of magic that, like the blink of a doll's eyes, tricks our own.

Eating the Honey of Words: New and Selected Poems


Robert Bly - 1999
    He is a chronicler and mentor of young poets, was a leader of the antiwar movement, founded the men's movement, and wrote the bestselling book Iron John, which brought the men's movement to the attention of the world. Throughout these activities, Bly has continued to deepen his own poetry, a vigorous voice in a period of more academic wordsmiths. Here he presents his favorite poems of the last decades-timeless classics from Silence in the Snowy Fields, The Man in the Black Coat Turns, and Loving a Woman in Two Worlds. A complete section of marvelous new poems rounds out this collection, which offers a chance to reread, in a fresh setting, a lifetime of work dedicated to fresh perspectives.

Beasts and Maidens


M.E. Timmons - 2012
    Forced to live in the forest, their only hope of becoming human again is an annual ceremony.Going into the forest is forbidden, but Selene doesn't always follow the rules. After befriending a beast, she knows very well that they're just like everyone else on the inside.Selene uses her powers as a witch to do everything she can to free the beasts from their fate, but the curse isn't easy to break, and no matter what she tries, it might not be enough.

If the Shoe Fits


Laurie LeClair - 2013
    All she wants is her late father's dream to come true by making his beloved King's Department Store thrive again. However, her stepmother has other ideas. Charlie agrees to help her stepmother find grooms for her sheltered stepsisters. In exchange, the stepmother will release her stronghold on the store's budget. After all, one good deed deserves another, right? But, Charlie has no idea what her heart's in for when... Alexander (Alex) Royale, dubbed by society newspapers as Prince Charming, arrives for dinner to meet the all-female King family. His ailing grandparents yearn for his marriage and then the baby carriage. Well, that and running the family company. Having unsuccessfully searched for months, Alex doesn't hold out any hope in finding his future bride among the King sisters. However, all his expectations, including his idea of a business-like marriage of convenience, vanish the moment Charlie crashes into him. When Alex sets out out to win over Charlotte, he has no idea he has to bargain with the stepmother, secretly buy the store, court Charlotte after the wedding, and, oh yeah, be featured in Charlie's new fairy tale ad campaign, The Charmings, based on them. Can a guy ever get a break? The couple never factored in falling in love with each other. Now, faced with losing all their families ever wanted, Charlie and Alex must choose: Do they live their families' dreams or do they finally live their own?

Who Killed the Murderer?


Moitrayee Bhaduri - 2019
    Chetan’s family suspects that he is being framed and requests private detective Mili Ray to investigate. As Mili and her lawyer-associate Gatha start work, Chetan is released on bail. Soon after, Shagun’s mother is killed! Is Chetan responsible for these murders? Mili probes deeper and unravels shocking secrets buried beneath Shagun’s world of glitz that leave her baffled. An insecure boyfriend, an estranged husband, an opportunist colleague, a cunning TV producer – Shagun was surrounded by Haters. Even her twelve-year-old son didn't want to see her alive. Why did everyone hate Shagun? While meandering through dysfunctional family upheavals and dark showbiz sagas, ex-super cop Mili Ray also struggles to tame her own internal demons. Will she be able to solve her second case as private detective or succumb to pressure and hang up her boots? "Who killed the murderer?" is a gripping psychological thriller that will hook you right from the first page.

A Twisted Fairy Tale Boxed Set, #1-3


Holly Hook - 2016
     Thread and Spool: Cursed with the ability to weave thread into gold, Brie has learned to trust no one. Her parents keep her around so they can gamble their money away and now her boyfriend's only staying because he's got a collection of game systems to grow. When Brie grabs the attention of Stilt, the new guy in town, it changes everything. Brie is a Legend—a character in a fairytale—and she belongs in a realm of magic called Fable. But when she crosses over to the new world with Stilt, she soon learns that the cruel ruler of the realm has taken an interest in her ability-and it could cost Brie her life. Stilt promises that he can help her escape, but in return, he asks for something that she might not be able to give. Can Brie put her trust in Stilt or will she die at the hands of greed? Wolves and Paths: Sometimes there's more to the fairy tales than you think... Red has only ever known a life under her oppressive grandmother's thumb and she's struggled all her life to break her fear of rebellion. But when her boyfriend, Tate, wants to take her to Disney World (forbidden by her grandmother) she can't help but break the rules. But maybe her grandmother was right to warn her against the place, because the park is a gateway to another dimension: Fable, where fairy tales are real and things go bump in the night. And now her grandmother has been taken captive by an evil magician named Alric. Red turns out to be the central character in a very scary story, a tale she will have no choice but to act out in order to save her grandmother. Worse, Alric is determined to rule Fable by making all the famous fairy tales fall—and Red is his first target. Red, along with Tate, must venture into almost certain death and learn to break the chains of her fear. But on her journey, Red will learn that even the most famous fairy tales are not always what they seem... Frogs and Princes: Candice hates being the rich girl in town and the fact that the most irritating guy in school, Shorty, has a huge crush on her. That, and she can hear frogs talking, something she's always had to hide. But when a frog begs her to save him from dissection, she steps in, starting a chain of events that land her and Shorty in Fable, a world where the fairy tales are real. It turns out she's a princess, and the frog she rescued is meant to be her prince. But he's far from a happily ever after. He's a huge jerk, and if she doesn't free him from his curse and agree to be his bride, her kingdom will turn dark and fall into the hands of the most powerful dark wizard in Fable. Candice must face her identity and make an impossible decision. It also turns out Shorty's got secrets of his own, secrets which might destroy them all. These are the first three books in what will be a seven-book young adult fairy tale retelling series. A new volume releases each month on the 15th. All seven books will be available by November 15, 2016. Books will include retellings of Rumpelstiltskin, Little Red Riding Hood, The Frog King, Rapunzel, Snow White and more.

The Mermaid of Black Conch


Monique Roffey - 2020
    But David attracts a sea-dweller that he never expected - Aycayia, an innocent young woman cursed by jealous wives to live as a mermaid.When American tourists capture Aycayia, David rescues her and vows to win her trust. Slowly, painfully, she transforms into a woman again. Yet as their love grows, they discover that the world around them is changing - and they cannot escape the curse for ever...

The Snake Report II


Jake Montesi - 2019
    Flames of Chaos spread, swallowing up all they can with horrific hunger, bringing pain and madness to all they cross. Across the ocean, the lands have long since begun to die. The Empire of mankind struggles to maintain against the pressing weight of drought, famine, and the long-standing dangers of the Eastern Mountains, where ancient Dwarven [Constructs] and monsters roam. The people whisper of a coming doom, and some say even the Emperor's own Seers claim the end has begun... But none of these things have anything to do with a Tiny Snake. Not in the slightest. ------ From the online web-serial, comes a story of reincarnation, comedy, and the winding path towards existential redemption: All Hail The Tiny Snake God!

Flyaway


Kathleen Jennings - 2020
    In a small Western Queensland town, a reserved young woman receives a note from one of her vanished brothers—a note that makes question her memories of their disappearance and her father’s departure.A beguiling story that proves that gothic delights and uncanny family horror can live—and even thrive—under a burning sun, Flyaway introduces readers to Bettina Scott, whose search for the truth throws her into tales of eerie dogs, vanished schools, cursed monsters, and enchanted bottles.In these pages Jennings assures you that gothic delights, uncanny family horror, and strange, unsettling prose can live—and even thrive—under a burning sun.Holly Black describes as “half mystery, half fairy tale, all exquisitely rendered and full of teeth.” Flyaway enchants you with the sly, beautiful darkness of Karen Russell and a world utterly its own.

Little Black Book of Stories


A.S. Byatt - 2003
    S. Byatt knows that fairy tales are for grownups. And in this ravishing collection she breathes new life into the form.Little Black Book of Stories offers shivers along with magical thrills. Leaves rustle underfoot in a dark wood: two middle-aged women, childhood friends reunited by chance, venture into a dark forest where once, many years before, they saw–or thought they saw–something unspeakable. Another woman, recently bereaved, finds herself slowly but surely turning into stone. A coolly rational ob-gyn has his world pushed off-axis by a waiflike art student with her own ideas about the uses of the body. Spellbinding, witty, lovely, terrifying, the Little Black Book of Stories is Byatt at the height of her craft.

Wondrous Strange


Lesley Livingston - 2008
    But when she meets the handsome Sonny Flannery, Kelley has to face the shocking truth that the world of Faeries is all too real - and that she is an unwitting part of it. Sonny warns Kelley that she is no mere mortal, and that she is being haunted by powerful forces from the Faerie realm. Now, Kelley must come to terms with her heritage - and her growing feelings for Sonny - if she wants to save not only herself, but also the human world that she holds dear.