Trenchcoats, Towers, and Trolls (ebook)
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Anthology edited by Rhonda Parrish.
Series: Punked Up Fairy Tales
Science Fiction / Short Story Anthology
Release Date: January 11, 2022
Trade Paperback
ISBN-13: 978-1734054552
Anthology: Approx. 70,000 words / 240 pages
Also available as a trade paperback
Find it Online:
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Books-A-Million
Goodreads
Independent Bookstores
iTunes/Apple iBooks
Kobo
Wholesale: Ingram or direct: World Weaver Press.
Series: Punked Up Fairy Tales
Science Fiction / Short Story Anthology
Release Date: January 11, 2022
Trade Paperback
ISBN-13: 978-1734054552
Anthology: Approx. 70,000 words / 240 pages
Also available as a trade paperback
Find it Online:
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Books-A-Million
Goodreads
Independent Bookstores
iTunes/Apple iBooks
Kobo
Wholesale: Ingram or direct: World Weaver Press.
DescriptionWhat do you get when you take the high tech/low life settings of cyberpunk and sprinkle them with the magic and possibilities of fairy tales? Trolls under teleportation bridges, masquerades held in virtual reality, princely avatars, giants and dwarves alongside hackers and androids. From retellings of traditional tales such as Rumpelstiltskin, in which a young woman is tasked with writing code instead of spinning gold, to original tales like the changeling-inspired story of a formless machine intelligence that hijacks human bodies, these cyberpunk fairy tales form a unique collection that is sure to satisfy connoisseurs of both genres.
Original stories from Thomas Badlan, Suzanne Church, Beth Goder, Sarah Van Goethem, Nicola Kapron, V.F. LeSann, Angus McIntyre, Wendy Nikel, Ana Sun, Michael Teasdale, Alena Van Arendonk and Laura VanArendonk Baugh. Table of Contents"A Beautiful Nightmare" by Sarah Van Goethem
"Firewalls and Firewort" by Wendy Nikel "The Rabbit in the Moon" by Ana Sun "Stiltskin" by Michael Teasdale "Three" by Nicola Kapron "Cumulus" by Thomas Badlan "Drift-Skip" by Suzanne Church "Make Your Own Happily Ever After" by Beth Goder "***********SK.IN" by Alena Van Arendonk "C4T & MOU5E" by V.F. LeSann "In the Belly of the Whale" by Angus McIntyre "Neon Green in D Minor" by Laura VanArendonk Baugh ExcerptsFrom “Stiltskin” by Michael Teasdale
I peeped him outside the Golden Needle, a forgotten ink-den, tucked away among the rain-soaked sidewalks and winding walkways that formed Kowloon’s grimy underbelly. Unmistakable, even when observed through the steam-fused haze that erupted from all manner of back-alley street-food vendors. He sat, legs dangling from the stool, picked out by the neon flicker of a nearby porno-joint. As my boots splashed through the foul-smelling puddles, I scanned his wizened features, illuminated as a grimly alternating rainbow in the gloom, first flashing pale green then jaundiced yellow amid the incandescent glow. The steel dome that partially crowned his head glistened from the raindrops that dripped from the tattered awning above him, pooling among the cracks in his face. I sat down and tried to make eye contact, a difficult task while he remained consumed by his meal, sucking thick ramen noodles through a beard as forgotten and tangled as the snaking telephone wires that coiled overhead. “Stiltskin?” Petra had scolded me, scrunched up her face and beat at me with the flats of her hands when told I’d arranged the meet. “It is madness to deal with dwarves!” Perhaps she was right, but love makes you do crazy things and now here I was, soaked to the skin, despite my coat, and huddling under the tarp of the soba-stall with a member of exactly the race that Petra so feared. From "A Beautiful Nightmare" by Sarah Van Goethem The Future Belongs to the Curious. This is the saying I repeat in my head and the reason it’s me who sees the new girl first; I’m always watching. First one up in the pale dawn light, prowling, hungry, always looking for answers. I’m nibbling on my breakfast—a Belgian waffle minus the syrup—on the chemin de ronde, the walkway that circles the high walls of the castle, when I happen to see a splotch of black. Something that doesn’t belong. Something that gives me an odd sense of déjà vu. I don’t say anything at first; I suck in a breath, letting my fingernails scratch against the old stones. No one new has come in such a long time. We’ve been abandoned by the staff, forgotten. The five of us left to rot (maybe rot is the wrong word) on this lovely island. But now—someone new. I shut my eyes. Count to three. Open them again against the too-blue sky. She’s still there. I finally find my voice and call for the others. “Bones! Shade! Night!” I tear my eyes away from the girl and run, hoping someone will hear me. “Beauty, come quick!” Down the stairs I go, my heart thudding in my chest like a wild hopeful thing. Will she remember? None of us do. Sure, a faint whiff here or there, a smidgen of our memories that leaks through, but mostly—nothing. Just a dark space, holes in our minds of how we came to be here on this rock of an island. Of how we exist at all. “Nova, what is it?” It’s Shade, bursting through the heavy wooden door as if it weighs nothing at all. Besides me, he roams the castle the most. Repeats the same actions a hundred times a day. Pumps iron until he sweats buckets, his way of escaping our beautiful nightmare. I don’t answer; he’ll see soon enough. And there she is—a slim figure shrouded in the mist by the shore. The girl. Relief washes over me; part of me expected her to disappear, to float away like the ghosts Night sometimes sees. Shade sees her now too. We take off across the drawbridge and reach her at the same time. Her clothes are sopping wet, as if she just crawled out of the ocean, some dark sea creature flailing on land. She wraps her arms around herself and shivers in the frigid November air. Ice is already forming on the tips of her jagged chin-length hair, her lips frost-blue. She backs away from our advances like a caged animal. I catch Shade’s eye and know he’s thinking the same thing; her clothes. So different than our own loose and flowy linens. Black on black on black, all matching her hair. Tight cropped black top exposing her midriff, black cargo pants with too many pockets to count and—I just know this will be her nickname already—Boots. Black, with a row of tiny silver bullets embedded from the toe to the heel. Mid-calf. Shiny buckles. There’s something about them that pokes at my mind, elbowing into that empty spot. “Where did you come from?” I ask, and I try to keep my voice level. “How did you get here?” Do I sound desperate? I must. But aren’t we all? Being trapped here with no memory definitely equals desperation. About the AnthologistLike a magpie, Rhonda Parrish is constantly distracted by shiny things. She’s the editor of many anthologies and author of plenty of books, stories and poems. She lives with her husband and three cats in Edmonton, Alberta, and she can often be found there playing Dungeons and Dragons, bingeing crime dramas or cheering on the Oilers.
Her website, updated regularly, is at http://www.rhondaparrish.com and her Patreon, updated even more regularly, is at https://www.patreon.com/RhondaParrish. |
Praise"The charm of these stories lies in the way their authors work hard science incongruously into scenarios from high fantasy, making them appealing for fans of both types of writing. The resulting genre mash-ups offer plenty to enjoy."
--Publisher's Weekly "Although these stories take place in dystopias, they are hopeful. Not hope as in wishful thinking. Rather, a hope born out of the real struggles of living in a corrupt world designed to crush your soul. That’s not just hope, it’s radical hope, and it’s the most important kind of hope we have." --Solarpunk Magazine "If you are a fan of retellings and sci-fi and/or cyberpunk, 'Trenchcoats, Towers, and Trolls,' is a good one for you." --Reader Views "Parrish may have been liberal in the definition of how much cyberpunk and how much fairy tale goes into each story, but it brings the reader on a very enjoyable journey through different universes…I’ll never look at a keyboard or a bridge without a glimpse of these stories sparking in the back of my mind." --Cindy Marie Jenkins "The use of fairy tales and other cultural artifacts provides a deeper resonance to the stories. In many cases, the writers leverage parallels to the original stories to create humor. In all of the stories, however, the writers use their world-building skills to weave tales that are engrossing of their own accord. Whether you’re a cyberpunk fan or new to the genre, Trenchcoats, Towers, and Trolls is well worth a look." --The Future Fire |