Small press publishing can be a lonely business. How can we compete for readers' attention amid the chaos of so many books being released each week? And yet, readers do find our books. Hundreds of readers every month, sometimes even thousands. If you've ever bought a World Weaver Press book, or left a review, or retweeted one of our announcements, THANK YOU! This lonely business is a whole lot less lonely because of each and every one of you.

Below, you'll find our bestseller list for the first half of 2019. Find a new favorite, or celebrate your favorites that made the list! Want to see how it stacks up to last year? See the June 2018 bestseller list here, and the December 2018 bestseller list here. 

A few notes on these rankings:

• This list takes into account all vendors (Amazon, iTunes, convention tables, etc.), from all countries, in both ebook and paperback.
• Vendors may not report sales to us for one to three months after the actual sale, so even though I'm calling this list "first half of 2019," it contains numbers mostly ranging from October 2018 to March 2018, depending on vendor reports.
• Some of these are books that (understandably) sell quite well during Fall and Winter, and less during other times of the year. See above.

By Bascomb James.

It all started with a letter…

Yes, that letter. The letter from Elizabeth Bear. The one published in Clarkesworld Issue 68 (May 2012), which we’ve reprinted in this anthology. Her open letter to Speculative Fiction.

After reading her letter, we could have applauded like many others and blithely wandered off with our hands in our pockets. Instead, we decided to do something. This is the result—a new anthology that is fun to read and embodies many of the elements found in classic, Grand Tradition science fiction. In short, we decided to put our money where our heart is.

So what is Grand Tradition science fiction? I am not going to give you the Wikipedia answer, I am giving my answer. Your mileage may vary.

Grand Tradition stories were full of ideas, optimism, inspiration and respect for science. Grand Tradition SF showed us that science was cool. Like many others, I chose a career in science because it was the most exciting thing in my universe. The wonder of discovery; the satisfaction that comes from building new things; and the knowledge that you can make a difference through intellect (or cleverness), hard work and perseverance are heady experiences. There are no magic wands, fairy godpeople, or Miracle Max creations. Grand Tradition stories inspired many of our current technologies and they continue to help scientists understand how these technologies might interact with the real world.

Grand Tradition stories were fun to read. In her open letter to SF, Elizabeth Bear asks why “[SF seems] to think that nothing fun can have value.” I obviously agree with her sentiments. I am sorry to say that a derisive public wrote off Grand Tradition SF as mere escapism—as if escapism was something unsavory. This escapist “dreck” taught me about Dyson Spheres, red-shift, general relativity, and put entire cultures and belief systems under the intellectual microscope. Not too bad for escapist literature.

Grand Tradition stories embodied a sense of adventure and expectation. I realize that adventure is a relative term. One man’s adventure may be a normal day to another. Communicating this sense of adventure is the important thing. Readers of Grand Tradition stories have a gleeful expectation that interesting things are about to happen; that “normal” events will not remain that way for long.

And finally, the best Grand Tradition stories had a strong human element. Great SF is not just about gizmos and spaceships, it’s about us and how we are shaped by, and relate to our environment. Human elements are the Velcro that makes stories stick in our brain. They make them enjoyable, approachable, and memorable.

The stories in this volume embody one or more of these elements.

Far Orbit is truly a labor of love, but no matter how much I express my ardor, it’s all about the stories. We endeavored to provide a broad mix of SF stories by established, award-wining authors and newly emerging authors. Their stories embody a variety of SF motifs including those from 1940s pulp-fiction, realistic hard SF, noir fiction, spaceship fiction, alien encounters, and action-adventure. The range of subjects is astonishing and includes slimy alien babysitters, an angry sentient bear, walking plants, alien bunnies, and a barbecue. If that is not enough to pique your interest, the anthology also features a cello-playing assassin, high-stakes poker emancipation, space ship crashes/rescues, alien artifacts, and fights with space pirates. We hope every SF fan can find a favorite within these pages.

THE CASSANDRA COMPLEX is out into the world! I was thrilled to be able to work with World Weaver Press on this novella. A lot goes into writing a book, and today, I'd like to give you a glimpse "behind the curtain," so to speak and share with you ten things you (probably) didn't know about this third installment of the Place in Time series!
 
#10 – I wrote the first draft of this novella in January 2017, which was the month before I submitted THE CONTINUUM to World Weaver Press.
 
#9 – There's a character in this novella who shares a surname with one of my critique partners. This wasn't intentional, but after I realized it, I decided to stick with it.
 
#8 – Cass, the protagonist in this book, was born on April 14, 2115 – exactly 203 years after the Titanic disaster and 3 years after the Continuum disaster.
 
#7 – Cass owns a "Save the Pigeons" t-shirt, which I imagine includes a picture of one of Mo Willem's drawings.
 
#6 – Cass's parents named her after her maternal grandmother; but I named her after a Trojan princess from Greek mythology. (Check out John Scalzi's blog on May 10 for more on that!). During the early draft stages, I'd originally called her Poppy.

#5 – In order to come up with names for the other girls that Cass meets in this book, I looked up the most popular names of babies born in the 1890s.  Other popular girls' names that didn't make the cut: Ethel, Edna, Mabel, and Myrtle.
 
#4 – In this story, Cass uses her mother's surname, Argent, which is the French word for "silver" – a reference to Juliet Silver, another character of mine whom I've written about in a series of steampunk stories.
 
#3 – The working title for this story as I was drafting it was THE COMPOSSIBILITY THEORY, but as I was working on it, the story took such a different turn that the title didn't fit anymore.

#2 – One incident that did not make its way into this story is the June 12, 1914 Bagdad Train Wreck, in which the eastbound Santa Fe California Limited train struck a freight train on a siding outside of Los Angeles, killing 4 passengers and injuring 20. It wasn't until after I'd completed my story that I discovered this little bit of history and realized that Cass could have been on that train that day.

​And the #1 thing you (probably) didn't know about THE CASSANDRA COMPLEX:

​This is not the final book in the series! I've been busy working on book four, entitled THE CAUSALITY LOOP, which takes place a year after the events of book three. I'm looking forward to sharing more about it with you all soon!
 
Follow me online @wendynikel or subscribe to my newsletter at www.wendynikel.com for updates!

Wendy Nikel is a speculative fiction author with a degree in elementary education, a fondness for road trips, and a terrible habit of forgetting where she's left her cup of tea. Her short fiction has been published by Daily Science Fiction, Nature: Futures, and is forthcoming from Analog and Beneath Ceaseless Skies. For more info, visit wendynikel.com

Cass is a 22nd century university student who – like most young adults – has always believed her parents were a bit stuck in the past. But on her eighteenth birthday she learns exactly how true this is: not only are her parents time travelers, living in an era different than either was born in, but now, to ensure that history plays out as it's supposed to, she must travel to the year 1914 to live out her adult life.
 
Cass isn't the type, though, to just sit back and watch while all the tragic events she's learned about in her history courses play out in front of her. Not when she's the only one in the world with the foreknowledge – and determination – to change it.

THE CASSANDRA COMPLEX by Wendy Nikel is out in ebook and paperback today, May 7, 2019! THE CASSANDRA COMPLEX is the third in the Place in Time series, following THE CONTINUUM and THE GRANDMOTHER PARADOX.

​Wendy Nikel is a speculative fiction author with a degree in elementary education, a fondness for road trips, and a terrible habit of forgetting where she's left her cup of tea. Her short fiction has been published by Daily Science Fiction, Nature: Futures, and is forthcoming from Analog and Beneath Ceaseless Skies. For more info, visit wendynikel.com

Dieselpunk and decopunk are alternative history re-imaginings of (roughly) the WWI and WWII eras. These are tales with the grit of roaring bombers, rumbling tanks, of 'We Can Do It', the Great Depression and old time gangsters, or with the glamour of flappers, Hollywood starlets, smoky jazz, elegant cars and Radio City Music Hall. Plus fairy tales.

Two young women defy the devil with the power of friendship. The pilot of a talking plane discovers a woman who transforms into a swan every night and is pulled into a much more personal conflict than the war he’s already fighting. A pair of twins with special powers find themselves in Eva Braun’s custody and wrapped up in a nefarious plan. A team of female special agents must destroy a secret weapon–the spindle–before it can be deployed. Retellings of The Little Mermaid, Hansel and Gretel, Rapunzel, Cinderella, The Monkey King, Swan Lake, Pinocchio and more are all showcased alongside some original fairy tale-like stories. 

GRIMM, GRIT, AND GASOLINE: Dieselpunk and Decopunk Fairy Tales will be available in ebook and paperback September 3, 2019. We're pleased to share the Table of Contents with you today!

“Circles and Salt” by Sara Cleto
“Salvage” by A.A. Medina
“The Loch” by Zannier Alejandra
“Evening Chorus” by Lizz Donnelly
“To Go West” by Laura VanArendonk Baugh
“Bonne Chance Confidential” by Jack Bates
“늑대 - The Neugdae” by Juliet Harper
“The Rescue of Tresses Malone” by Alena Van Arendonk
“Daughters of Earth and Air” by Robert E. Vardeman
“Easy as Eating Pie” by Amanda C. Davis
“Accidents are Not Possible” by Sarah Van Goethem
“A Princess, a Spy, and a Dwarf Walked into a Bar Full of Nazis” by Patrick Bollivar
“Steel Dragons of a Luminous Sky” by Brian Trent
“Ramps and Rocket” by Alicia K Anderson
“As The Spindle Burns” by Nellie K. Neves
“Make This Water No Deeper” by Blake Jessop
“One Hundred Years” by Jennifer R. Donohue
“Things Forgotten on the Cliffs of Avevig” by Wendy Nikel

Dr. Sara Cleto is a folklorist, author, and teacher. She recently completed her PhD in English and Folklore, and she is a co-founder of The Carterhaugh School of Folklore and the Fantastic where she teaches courses on fairy tales, creative writing, mythic adaptation, and more. Her poetry and fiction can be found in Uncanny Magazine, Faerie Magazine, Liminality, Mythic Delirium, Goblin Fruit, and others. Her story in this collection, “Circles and Salt,” is a response to the gruesome but fascinating Grimms’ fairy tale “The Girl Without Hands.” She lives in liminal space with her husband and their cats. She can be found at saracleto.com and carterhaughschool.com.
 
A. A. Medina is the co-owner and editor of Aphotic Realm Magazine and author of the transgressive-horror novella, Siphon. When he is not melting in the Arizona sun or rewriting the same three chapters of his next book, Medina writes short stories. One in particular may be inspired by the first World War’s nine martyr villages of Verdun and his favorite childhood tale about a magical boy named Pinocchio.
 
Zannier Alejandra grew up in Cochabamba, Bolivia, land of coffee and eternal sunshine. After university, she set out to travel the world and ended up living in London, where both coffee and sun seem to be in short supply. In a past life, Zannier was a credit analyst at an international bank, but traded in her spreadsheets for more creative pursuits. Nowadays, she spends most of her time writing short fiction, watching movies and analyzing TV. She even gets paid for two out of those things on a regular basis. Her story, "The Loch," was inspired by the ballet Swan Lake.
 
Lizz Donnelly is a writer, knitter, cat lady and baking enthusiast. She spent several years as a cocktail waitress in a four star resort; a job which lent some inspiration to her retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Nightingale.” Her writing has recently appeared in Speculative City, Non Binary Review and Drabble Harvest, among others. You can find her on Twitter @LizzDonnelly and on Patreon, where she writes a monthly Science Fiction blog series called Canon Blast!   
 
Laura VanArendonk Baugh loves writing with all kinds of folklore and so appreciated the chance to engage with the world’s best-known folk tale (if less familiar in the Americas), of the Monkey King and the Journey to the West. Bringing it to the Dust Bowl was a play on the westward journey she thinks Xuanzang/Tripitaka and his friends might have appreciated. She can often be found writing tales of youkai or weaving epic fantasy or eating dark chocolate. You can find more of her award-winning folklore-based and original fiction at www.LauraVAB.com.
 
Jack Bates is a three-time finalist for a Derringer Award from the Short Mystery Fiction Society. In 2007 he co-wrote WHITE OUT, a horror screenplay that had its option picked up twice by Triboro Films in New York. His stories have appeared at crime sites such as Near to the Knuckle, Shotgun Honey, Beat to a Pulp and many others. He has also appeared twice before in Mystery Weekly. Most recently his short, ‘The Fakahatchee Goonch’ was included in the Bouchercon 2018 anthology, FLORIDA HAPPENS.
          Drawing on his experience as an educator, Bates sets his Cinderella based story in the Hudson Bay region of New York. The homage to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is not accidental. After deconstructing both stories, certain tropes and themes align. Re-inventing self is major component of each story. Both characters yearn to be free of their poverty level lives. One takes matters into his own hands while the other has a chance encounter. Either way, fate has a way of putting a twist on the final outcome.
 
Juliet Harper is a queer witch and horror writer who hails from well off the path through the forest, residing among the wolves and flowers. Her love for all things wild, transcendental, and horrific often inspires her writing, resulting in such other stories as "To See the Light," published in Mad Scientist Journal, and "Beast," published on the Mills College art museum blog. She enjoys exploring the odder side of mundane, bringing horror, or magic, to the everyday, seeking to paint the ultimate gory but delicious scene for her readers. 
          Harper possesses a B.S. in Forensic Psychology and is currently working toward attaining her Masters in Creative Writing at Mills College in Oakland, CA. 
 
Alena Van Arendonk inhabits a virtual creative pentathalon, shuffling the hats of writer, actor, artist, seamstress, and costume designer. Her hair is long enough that she has received her fair share of Rapunzel jokes, but she insists that in no way influenced her choice of fairy tale.
 
Writing is a lonely profession, as Robert E. Vardeman knows well after more than 40 years at it. The sense of otherness and pain and rejection in “The Little Mermaid” speaks volumes to him. But his crazy optimism offsets even such sorrow. There should be hope in the world, and his current short short story takes that tale a little farther to soar into a realm above loss and the guns of The Great War.
 
Amanda C. Davis likes fancy baking almost as much as she likes fairy-tale retellings, so Hansel and Gretel was a perfect choice. Her other dark, funny takes on fairy tales have appeared in InterGalactic Medicine Show, Daily Science Fiction, Mirror Dance, and others; in 2013 they were collected with pieces by her sister Megan Engelhardt in Wolves and Witches: A Fairy Tale Collection. You can read more on her website at http://www.amandacdavis.com or follow her tweets at @davisac1.
 
Sarah Van Goethem is a Canadian author who resides in southwestern Ontario. She spent lazy childhood summers on the farm, reading on the old tire swing beneath the maple tree, believing in fairytales. Her first YA novel was in PitchWars (2016), her second novel was longlisted for the Bath Children’s Novel Award (2018), and she’s busy working on her third. She’s also won various awards for her short stories. Sarah is a nature lover, a wanderer of dark forests, and a gatherer of vintage. You can find her at auctions, thrift stores, and trespassing at abandoned Gingerbread houses. But don’t worry, she always leaves herself a breadcrumb (or pebble?) trail to find her way home.
 
Patrick Bollivar has always enjoyed fairy tales involving princesses, especially the ones where heroes fight their way to the top of a tower.  When not indulging his fantasies, Patrick works at the top of a tower at Vancouver Airport while his princess works from home, managing their two little dwarfs.  You can read more of his short stories in Pulp Literature Magazine, Tesseracts Nineteen: Superheroes Universe, and Alice Unbound: Beyond Wonderland.       
 
Brian Trent is the author of the sci-fi-novel Ten Thousand Thunders (published in 2018 by Flame Tree Press), and the Rahotep dark fantasy series. His contribution to Grimm, Grit and Gasoline is an original tale that explores dieselpunk in a deliberately non-western setting, mixing in fairy tale elements from ancient Chinese and Japanese traditions. His short fiction regularly appears in the world’s top markets, including Analog, Fantasy & Science Fiction, Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show, Terraform, Daily Science Fiction, The Year’s Best Military and Adventure SF, Escape Pod, Pseudopod, Galaxy’s Edge, Nature, and more. A Writers of the Future winner and contributing author to Baen Books anthologies, Trent lives in a foggy mountaintop town in New England. His website is www.briantrent.com.
 
On nights and weekends, Alicia K. Anderson squeezes creative writing between the assignments for a Ph.D. program in Mythological Studies. During the weekday, she is a freelance SEO consultant–which is a form of wizardry in its own right. Sometimes she wishes she were locked in a tower with only occasional headaches from visiting loved ones. Alas, her husband and stepson don’t have to ask her to let her hair down to gain entry to her lair. At best, they sometimes knock. 
 
A self-proclaimed California country girl, Nellie K Neves is an independent author, contributes to RAC Magazine, and spends most weekends crafting culinary delights. As depicted by her Lindy Johnson series, Nellie has a penchant for writing about strong female characters caught in the midst of adversity with plots known for exacting twists and turns. That is what drew her to the Brother’s Grimm tale, “The Twelve Huntsmen”. The story depicts a woman separated from her love, but she remains close to him as part of a twelve woman royal guard with a cunning plan to reunite with her prince. In her version, “As the Spindle Burns”, Nellie pairs elements of the original fairytale with her interest in famous women throughout history, specifically female spies like Mati Hari. But it’s best to remember,  nothing is ever as it seems, especially not in love and war. 
 
Blake Jessop is a Canadian author of science fiction, fantasy and horror stories with a master’s degree in creative writing from the University of Adelaide. You can read another one of his original fairy tales in “Terra! Tara! Terror!” from Third Flatiron Anthologies, or follow him on Twitter @everydayjisei.
 
Jennifer R. Donohue is from the Jersey Shore and now lives in central New York with her husband and her Doberman, where she works at her local library and facilitates a writing workshop. She grew up with pierogies and her grandmother’s Polish lullabies. Inspiration from this story came from the legend of the sleeping knights, who would one day gallop out from under the mountain and fight for Poland once more. Her work has appeared in Escape Pod, Mythic Delirium, Truancy, and elsewhere. Her novella Run With the Hunted is available in paperback and on most digital platforms. She blogs at Authorized Musings, where she shares fiction and the tribulations of the writing life, and tweets @AuthorizedMusin
 
Wendy Nikel is a speculative fiction author who enjoys sitting out on her back porch with a cup of coffee and watching the birds (though, no, she hasn’t seen Hugin and Munin, the mythological ravens featured in this story, yet -- probably because Utah is too far from Scandinavia). Her short fiction has been published by Daily Science Fiction, Nature: Futures, and is forthcoming from Analog and Beneath Ceaseless Skies. Her time travel novella series, beginning with The Continuum, is available from World Weaver Press. For more info, visit wendynikel.com

Rhonda Parrish is the editor of more than a dozen anthologies including, most recently, Fire: Demons, Dragons and Djinns and Tesseracts: Nevertheless.

In addition, Rhonda’s written work has been in publications such as Tesseracts 17: Speculating Canada from Coast to Coast and Imaginarium: The Best Canadian Speculative Writing (2012 & 2015). Her YA Thriller, Hollow, is forthcoming (March 2020) and her website, updated regularly, is at http://www.rhondaparrish.com

Guest Post by K. Bird Lincoln

We’ve probably all experienced post-series depression after finishing a book or TV series. I actually went to bed and cried at the death of Showtime’s Robin Hood) And don’t even get me started on how I lived through the dark, dark times after finishing Robin McKinley’s Sunshine and realized she wasn’t a sequel-writing author.

We throw our hands in the air and cry out “How can I be this upset over a fictional character!”

There is a ton of research out there related to how reading forces us to create mental models of how other people think and act in order to predict actions. This can teach us empathy and whether the characters are Robin Hood, a 900-year-old Vampire, or Barack Obama—none of whom I’ve met in real life—if I spend time and mental effort imagining a person through a book or show, then I’ve created an emotional and cognitive bond with him or her. See Jason Tougaw’s handy article about The Reading Brain for a quick summary of three popular scientists studying cognitive load, mirror-neuron empathy, and how representations of art help us predict social relations.

The post-series—postwritum—depression or hangover is worse when you’re an author. Based on a time metric alone, who in the world has spent more time with Constantine from Sunshine? A fan or Robin McKinley? Okay, maybe that’s not the best example because Sunshine is one of the few books I’ll reread and I’m pretty sure McKinley has moved on. As authors, we think about our characters for a long time before pen ever touches paper, or fingers ever touch a keyboard. There’s the rewrites and copy editing. And then there’s forgetting what color the parents’ eyes were so we have to go back and reread the first book for nitpicky details.

​When that all ends and the last novel of the trilogy is finally toddling its way out into the world, the poor author’s brain is left with a void where, in the case of The Portland Hafu, Koi Pierce, Ken Fujiwara, and Kwaskwi used to be. The gang have lived in my brain since 2009. Strangely enough, the characters from the new work in progress didn’t move into that Portland Hafu space. It still feels empty.

I came across an article by Jeanne Kisacky in Writer Unboxed that suggests recharacterizing post-project or “postwritum” depression as post-project recovery. As soon as I read her story of walking a line between drifting and deadlines, picking up old hobbies like knitting and hiking, I realized that authors and fans should stop judging ourselves for having feelings. For caring. Mourning is a natural process.
​
Now I refer myself back to the mental health all-stars poster when I feel that sadness. I just don’t use writing as one of my coping mechanism. Instead I do yoga, bake chocolate cookies with marshmallows, and go on more walks with my coffee buddies. It helps to think of it as recovery because not only does it give me permission to have those empty feelings, but also frames it as something temporary instead of permanent loss. I’m sure at some point, but not now, I’ll crack open Last Dream of Her Mortal Soul and revisit those folks again. Meanwhile, you’ll have to excuse me, I have some downward dog and a Lavender Latte waiting for me.

​K. Bird Lincoln is an ESL professional and writer living on the windswept Minnesota Prairie sustained by family and frou-frou coffee. Also dark chocolate-- without which, the world is a howling void. Originally from Cleveland, she has spent a couple decades living on the fringes of the Pacific Ocean. Her speculative short stories are published in various online & paper publications such as Strange Horizons. Her medieval Japanese fantasy series, Tiger Lily, is available from Amazon. Her multi-cultural fantasy set in Portland, Oregon begins with the book Dream Eater. She also writes tasty speculative fiction reviews on Amazon and Goodreads. Check her out on Facebook, join her newsletter for chocolate and free stories, or stalk her online at kblincoln.wordpress.com

Even a dream eater can’t escape the final sleep…
 
After her trip to Japan, the Head of Portland Kind calls Koi home to help solve a murder. The body of a powerful magical being was found in the witch’s hut in Forest Park, along with a strange, haunting quotation about dreams and death written in blood. Can Koi discover who seems to be calling out a Baku before others from her new-found family die?

LAST DREAM OF HER MORTAL SOUL, the conclusion to K. Bird Lincoln's Portland Hafu trilogy, is out today, March 19, 2019, in ebook and paperback!

​K. Bird Lincoln is an ESL professional and writer living on the windswept Minnesota Prairie sustained by family and frou-frou coffee. Also dark chocolate-- without which, the world is a howling void. Originally from Cleveland, she has spent a couple decades living on the fringes of the Pacific Ocean. Her speculative short stories are published in various online & paper publications such as Strange Horizons. Her medieval Japanese fantasy series, Tiger Lily, is available from Amazon. Her multi-cultural fantasy set in Portland, Oregon begins with the book Dream Eater. She also writes tasty speculative fiction reviews on Amazon and Goodreads. Check her out on Facebook, join her newsletter for chocolate and free stories, or stalk her online at kblincoln.wordpress.com

Wendy Nikel's Place in Time novellas have been a real treat to publish—last year we started with THE CONTINUUM, a time travel adventure that jumped between 1912, 2012, and 2112, showing how history really can repeat itself. THE GRANDMOTHER PARADOX takes us back to the World's Fair of 1893, tangling the timeline with some wonderful surprises. Now, the Place in Time Travel Agency's wormhole device will drop us near the start of the first World War, with a character from the 22nd century who is determined not to let the atrocities she learned about in history class play out before her eyes.

THE CASSANDRA COMPLEX will be available in ebook and paperback on May 7, 2019. Preorder your copy now!

Wendy Nikel is a speculative fiction author with a degree in elementary education, a fondness for road trips, and a terrible habit of forgetting where she's left her cup of tea. Her short fiction has been published by Daily Science Fiction, Nature: Futures, and is forthcoming from Analog and Beneath Ceaseless Skies. For more info, visit wendynikel.com

​Jessamy Corob Cook is an actress, writer and Londoner. She recently won first place in Writing Magazine’s adult fairy tale competition and second place in Caterpillar Magazine’s children’s story competition.

Guest Blog by Lissa Sloan

Depending on the fairy tale, Vasilisa may be a priest’s daughter, a despised stepsister, or even a frog princess.  She may be Vasilisa the Fair--or the Brave--or the Wise. But there’s another thing she is, no matter the story.  She is Vasilisa the Young.
 
For fairy tales are the domain of the young, aren’t they? There are exceptions, but most of the characters climbing beanstalks, riding white bears, questing after firebirds, or taking cake and wine to their grandmothers fall somewhere between child and young adult.  Their stories are about finding themselves and their place in the world.
 
In the story where she meets the baba yaga, Vasilisa does exactly that. She enters the wood a girl: beautiful, blessed, and a bit passive. But by the time she leaves it, she is a woman to be reckoned with. She very shortly dispatches her abusive step-family, finds a loving mother figure, and proves her worth to the tsar, ending up a queen in the bargain. 
 
But before I wrote my Vasilisa story, A Tale Soon Told, I had a good long think about what happens next for Vasilisa the Young. You know this one: Happily Ever After, of course.  But for how long? That’s my question. The reason I love fairy tales is that, despite their fantastic elements, they still feel so true.  But only until the end.  Happy, I can believe.  But Ever After is the fantasy.  That’s not the way life works. 

Yes, we go into the wood. We face witches, ogres, and wolves. We achieve independence; we find true love. We come out of the woods sadder and wiser than before. We get that job, that house, that baby, that whatever we are after. We win.
 
But only for a while.
 
Nothing is permanent. Children grow up, true love is not true after all, we move or change jobs, loved ones die. We lose. And then? Then we must go back to the wood and find ourselves all over again. Because fairy tales are for all of us, even those who are not so young as we used to be. 

So every now and then we must wrap our sore ankles and find a stout walking stick. We must pick up the basket or sharpen the sword. We must put on the iron shoes. And so must Vasilisa the Not-So-Young. We must all go back to the hut that runs on chicken’s legs, back to face the red-eyed witch with iron teeth. Our tale may be soon told, but it is not over yet.

Lissa Sloan’s poems and short stories are published in Enchanted Conversation, Krampusnacht: Twelve Nights of Krampus, and Frozen Fairy Tales. “Death in Winter,” Lissa’s contribution to Frozen Fairy Tales, was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Visit her at her website, lissasloan.com, or on Twitter: @LissaSloan.