DATLOW & WINDLING'S FAIRY TALE ANTHOLOGIES

On my birthday last Friday, I began a reread of my favorite anthology series of all time. It's the fairy tale series edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling. There are six books in the series, spanning from 1993-2000.

I am not going to do normal reviews for these. Just know that they have pretty much the highest possible recommendation that I can give, as long as you're someone who loves fairy tales.

Instead, I'm going to list the six books off and mention my favorite stories from each. I've been very picky when compiling this list. I mean, don't get me wrong, there are definitely dud stories in these books. There are ones I flipped right past, because I remembered not liking them during my past rereads, and there are several poems, which I will never rate as high as a prose tale. But anyway, the majority of the stories are still great, so these are my best of the best.

SNOW WHITE, BLOOD RED (1993):
-Like a Red, Red Rose
-A Sound, Like Angels Singing (one of my faves from the whole series)

BLACK THORN, WHITE ROSE (1995):
-Stronger Than Time
-The Goose Girl
-Godson

RUBY SLIPPERS, GOLDEN TEARS (1996):
-Roach in Loafers (excellent comedy)
-The Fox Wife (this one's long, but good)

BLACK SWAN, WHITE RAVEN (1997):
-No Bigger Than My Thumb
-Rapunzel
-The Reverend's Wife (another good comedy...darker comedy, but still comedy)

SILVER BIRCH, BLOOD MOON (1999):
If I had to pick a single one to recommend, this would be it. This one has the most strong stories.
-The Price (love this)
-The Sea Hag (my favorite mermaid story ever...better than The Little Mermaid in any other form)
-The Shell Box
-Arabian Phoenix (love)
-Skin So Green and Fine

BLACK HEART, IVORY BONES (2000):
-Rapunzel
-And Still She Sleeps (very unusual, I love it)
-The Cats of San Martino (very, very good)

My top three would be A Sound, Like Angels Singing, The Sea Hag and The Cats of San Martino.