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Yasmine Galenorn

Alethea Kontis

Once Upon A Curse: 17 Dark Faerie Tales Paperback – June 22, 2016

by Yasmine Galenorn (Author)

874 ratings

Book 1 of 6: Once Upon Series

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Seventeen magical stories from NY Times and USA Today bestsellers and award-winning authors that will entice you to the darker side of faerie tales. More Grimm than Disney, in this collection you’ll find twists on Snow White, Hansel & Gretel, Rumpelstiltskin, The Snow Queen, Cinderella, The Pied Piper, Alice in Wonderland, and Red Riding Hood, plus new tales paying homage to the old traditions. Shadows cannot exist without light, however, and you’ll find enough happily-ever-afters to lift your spirits in this anthology full of adventure, dark powers, and ultimately the enduring power of true love. YARROW, STURDY AND BRIGHT by Devon Monk – Sweet music cannot hide a wicked heart… FAE HORSE by Anthea Sharp – Faerie bargains can grant any desire, but be careful what you wish for. THE QUEEN OF FROST AND DARKNESS by Christine Pope - Her heart is the only thing colder than a Russian winter…. BONES by Yasmine Galenorn - Sometimes, your most cherished dream can turn out to be a nightmare. MAGIC AFTER MIDNIGHT by C. Gockel – The Wicked Stepmother is about to meet her match… DANCE WITH THE DEVIL by Donna Augustine - When the devil makes a deal with a dancer, he gets more than he bargained for. NO GIFT OF WORDS by Annie Bellet - Never steal from a witch... THE GRIM BROTHER by Audrey Faye – Not all walks in the wood end well… BEAST INSIDE BEAUTY by Danielle Monsch - Happily Ever After ain't guaranteed when Once Upon a Time is here. FAESCORNED by Jenna Elizabeth Johnson - The Morrigan, Celtic goddess of war and strife, must relive a painful memory that reminds her of what she can never have. DRAWN TO THE BRINK by Tara Maya - Sajiana's job is to hunt down monsters brought alive from paintings. She never expected to meet one so handsome... or to need his help. THE VARIANCE COURT by Alexia Purdy - Anna, a struggling college student, discovers a mysterious ring that turns her quiet life chaotic when the ring's magic doesn't do what it's told. THE MORRIGAN by Phaedra Weldon – A young man discovers he has leprechaun blood – and is wanted by dark faerie forces. ALICE by Julia Crane - A twisted tale of Alice and Wonderland. Facing madness and an ominous prophecy, Alice chooses to follow her heart despite knowing her world is about to change forever. STILL RED by Sabrina Locke – When the Hunters come, can there be any escape? THE FINAL STRAW by Jennifer Blackstream - To banish a gold-spinning demon, first you must guess his name... THE UNICORN HUNTER by Alethea Kontis – Only Snow White knows what really happened in the forest…

Print length

414 pages
Language

English
Publication date

June 22, 2016
Dimensions

5.25 x 1.04 x 8 inches
ISBN-10

1680130889
ISBN-13

978-1680130881
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Fiddlehead Press (June 22, 2016)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 414 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1680130889
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1680130881
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.04 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.25 x 1.04 x 8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,681,447 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #3,636 in Fantasy Anthologies
- #13,216 in Dark Fantasy

Customer Reviews:
874 ratings

About the author

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Yasmine Galenorn

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New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly bestselling author Yasmine Galenorn writes urban fantasy and paranormal romance.

She is the author of the:

The Moonshadow Bay Series

The Wild Hunt Series

The Whisper Hollow Series

The Fury Unbound Series

The Bewitching Bedlam Series

The Indigo Court Series

The Chintz & China Series

The Bath and Body Series

The Otherworld Series

The nonfiction Shamanic Witchcraft Series

With over seventy-five books on the shelves, she wrote in traditional publishing for twenty years and now indie publishing since 2016. Make sure you don't miss any releases by signing up for her newsletter at http://galenorn.com/newsletter/ (copy and paste link into another browser)

Yasmine lives in the Seattle WA area with her husband and is the mother of four cats.

Because so many people ask, you pronounce her name this way: Yaz-mihn (NOT Jasmine--it's a "Y", not a "J"). Last name is pronounced: Gal-eh-norn The accent is on the first syllable.

Customer reviews

5 star		55%
4 star		23%
3 star		13%
2 star		6%
1 star		3%

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Top reviews from the United States

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J. Davis

A Mixed Bag

Reviewed in the United States on August 18, 2016

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I was looking forward to reading this, and for the first few stories I was pretty happy with my purchase. However, it soon became clear that not all stories were of the same quality level, and, worse, a number of them are either teasers or opening chapters to longer works (some not yet published), meaning that these "stories" have no end, and really no discernible plot.

For example, "Beauty Inside Beast" (which is 10 chapters but I think under 30 pages.. the first chapter is one sentence long) sets up a few interesting characters and some mysterious murders and teases.. .what? I'm not sure, because it ended with no resolution to anything, really not even a START on the murders, but it did have an ad for the author's other work.

"The Morrigan" is probably the longest story, but I stopped reading after a few chapters. It's like the author didn't re-read it to check for inconsistencies.. After getting beaten senseless, the main character wakes up, dazed, and looks at the ceiling. He thinks it looks like the ceiling of his uncle's trailer.. hey, it IS the ceiling of his uncle's trailer! And there's his uncle, yep. Then a minute later he notes that he hasn't seen his uncle since he was about 10 years old (but apparently has perfect recall of what the ceiling looks like). Then he remembers a mug his uncle has and what he likes to drink. Then he notes that he "barely remembers" his uncle. And so on. Lots of "I must be going insane.. this magic stuff can't be real!" type of thing, which always drives me nuts if it goes on for more than about 5 seconds of the person's life. And if you're told that a group of men in black hoodies are beating people who fit your description with iron pipes at night, and ten minutes later you get attacked at night by a group of men in black hoodies wielding iron pipes, you should probably figure out PRETTY QUICKLY what's going to happen next.

Anyway, like I said, a mixed bag. Some good short stories, and a lot of what might as well be free Kindle previews of other work.

78 people found this helpful

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DannyJane

You Are Buying One Big ADVERTISEMENT

Reviewed in the United States on August 23, 2020

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Well some of the stories are pretty dark., so I suppose the title isn't a total lie.
However, most of the writing is highly amateurish, and even the editing lacks professionalism.

The stories themselves are all "rewrites" or "darkenings" of familiar fairy tales, most of which were far better served by the Brothers Grimm, Hand Christian Andersen, and Andrew Lang or else they are "retellings" of ancient myths--which were also a lot better in their original forms.

However, the most egregious sin is that none of the "stories" in this book are COMPLETE! They're all actually samples, first chapters, or "teasers" for larger works written by each writer. What you're holding is actually one big ADVERTISEMENT that you had to pay for.

If you like the novelists then go ahead and read their books, don't waste your time and money on what is actually only a big sales pitch.

13 people found this helpful

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Truly grim and twisted fairy tales

Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2021

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Seventeen magical stories twisted by bestseller and award-winning authors that will entice you to the darker side — more Grimm than Disney — of faerie tales.

The Series
"Drawn to the Brink" (Painted World)

The Stories
Devon Monk's "Yarrow, Sturdy and Bright" is a treat with the unexpected strength of women determined on a goal based on the Pied Piper. It follows the concept of the original tale but with a grimmer goal on the part of the piper.

Anthea Sharp's "Fae Horse" is a sad tale of sacrifice with a woman denounced as a witch by the fearful and yet she'll struggle to save her love's life.

Christine Pope's "The Queen of Frost and Darkness" is a tale I've heard before of young love stolen, suppressed but where sacrifice can bring him back. A chilly tale.

Yasmine Galenorn's "Bones" is not one of my favorites here. Probably because it has such a grim ending that comes to such a stop.

C. Gockel's "Magic After Midnight" is a modern twist on Cinderella. Even more of a twist was Joshua. It's a boy's name, but Gockel kept referring to him as if he/her were a girl. I have nothing against a transgender choice, but it was confusing. Other than that, this was a crack-up of a story that turned this story's selfish Cinderella over and out, lol.

Donna Augustine's "Dance with the Devil" is the standard tale of selling one's soul to the devil. Throughout the story, I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop...or should I say ballet slipper? It's that ending that surprised the heck out of me. Who knew such compassion could exist?

Annie Bellet's "No Gift of Words" is about bullying and the lengths to which this meanness can push a person. Like so much of what happens in our own world, when a person snaps from it, the results are not pretty. Well, in most cases, Afua does become beautiful but the angry witch curses her twice over. It's a hard case, but she does learn.

Audrey Faye's "The Grim Brother" is truly wicked with a brother who fears to speak out and reveal the truth of that day. Even as he watches her destroy life after life. A horror of a good story and quite the twist on Hansel and Gretel!

Danielle Monsch's "Beast Inside Beauty" is a modern tale of a police detective devoted to her work and forced to play politics due to her new reputation as a beauty for a charity calendar.

Jenna Elizabeth Johnson's "Faescorned" is a Morrigan tale and truly grim with a struggle between mother and son as well as a cursed struggle with betrayal, a geis, and power.

Tara Maya's "Drawn to the Brink" is a fascinating tale of drawing your own world, and Maya's title is quite literal as Sajiana's ability to draw, does indeed draw her to the brink, a creature of a picture. It's a chase, a kidnapping, a battle, and a release that will have you sighing. I do wish Maya had been clearer in defining a "brink".

Alexia Purdy's "The Variance Court" is an interesting tale of a Snow White who lost her father and is all alone while on another plane of existence is a college student frustrated with failing her exam. It's a family split by strife although the girls have no idea. It's a cute concept but...ehhh...I wasn't excited.

Phaedra Weldon's "The Morrigan" isn't a twist on a fairy tale so much as a twist on the tale of Tam Lin with Janet Bostwick making an appearance and the Morrigan being the Queen of Faery. It's power she seeks that can only come from Tam's hidden secret.

Julia Crane's "Alice" is a nasty, nasty twist on Alice in Wonderland! In this tale, Alice is a nasty, venomous tyrant who's in love with an unsuitable man. It's really only part of the story with Crane "promising" a continuation in "Down the Rabbit Hole". I hate it when authors do this. I have no idea what the prophecy is about.

Sabrina Locke's "Still Red" is a twist on Little Red Riding Hood from the perspective of a little old lady...Red. Still Red, no matter what that bossy activity director says. This was truly nasty and grim with Red being kidnapped, abused, and "imprisoned". I do wish Locke had included an explanation about the "feral trial attorneys". It certainly left me confused about the time period. I don't know if this was supposed to be metaphor or what??

Jennifer Blackstream's "The Final Straw" twists on Rumpelstiltskin and the bargain he made with the miller's daughter. Blackstream has me truly confused as to what world we're in when she talks about kingdoms, vampires, King Midas, and Midgard.

Alethea Kontis's "The Unicorn Hunter" is definitely topsy-turvy in this twist on Snow White that includes a demon and three unicorns. The twist comes with the happy-go-lucky, tra-la-la princess who is so incredibly clueless about evil. It takes a demon to point it out...

The Cover and Title
The cover is a black and white of snow and hazy trees with a sparkling silver title superimposed on top of the lone blonde woman wearing a red hooded cloak, a long train in front of her. At the top are the authors in white with a red marker separating the names. At the bottom is a bit of information in red informing us of the number of short stories within.

The title twists those fairy tales with a curse, for when it's Once Upon A Curse, who knows where that twist will take you.

One person found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

I liked some of these shorts a lot more than others

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 16, 2018

Verified Purchase

As is often the case with anthologies, I liked some of these shorts a lot more than others. I don't know how this is usually handled with anthologies, but it didn't feel like the whole book was edited by one editor. I'd really enjoy one story, and then the next one would have spelling mistakes, missing words, and other grammar issues. Given that the whole book was advertised as having been written by bestselling authors, I was disappointed with the quality.

Some shorts ended in surprising ways, while others didn't feel finished. There were a couple which ended so abruptly it felt more like the author had contributed a couple of chapters from her book but hadn't adjusted them to work as a short story, while others only felt partly concluded with the main enemy still undefeated. And then two were so much longer than the others I almost forgot I was reading an anthology.

I recognised most of the originals behind the short stories which I always love, especially when new twists are introduced. I grew up with fairy tales and didn't realise until last year how much I enjoy a good retelling!

My favourites were Yarrow, Sturdy and Bright; Dance with the Devil; No Gift of Words; The Grim Brother; and Still Red. The rest fell flat for me unfortunately.

I'd recommend this if you're curious about anthologies or love dark fairy tale re-tellings. And if you find your new favourite author in this book, you'll be thrilled to find details of other releases at the end of each story.

One person found this helpful

Mark Leney

Fantastic Tales

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 14, 2018

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I loved every single one of these 17 faerie tales and would definitely like to see more from the majority of the authors. I even bought a novel written by one of the featured authors (the one that wrote the Alice in Wonderland tale) because I wanted to read more about what happened to Alice in this author's re-imagining of the old classic.
Definitely made me realise that I'm actually a bit of a sucker for a good romantic tale... especially if there's a hint of dark fantasy involved... Great stuff!

Tatiana / @TCLinrow

A fantastic collection

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 12, 2019

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There was a brilliant variety of stories in this collection - some better than others, but that was to be expected. I liked how some spun well known (and some lesser known) tales into something new, and how some took familiar fairytale elements and create something new and interesting.

I look forward to reading the other collections in the series.

Kindle Customer

🤔

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 2, 2021

Verified Purchase

17 short stories, not all so dark faerie tales. Two stood out to me and are the reason for the 3* rating, Still Red and Alice. A few were to be continued if you chose to purchase the writers books, which is fine and a good way to get more sales etc if they are good enough to go that far and purchase.

Vocalistuk

Deliciously Dark

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 25, 2019

Verified Purchase

I downloaded Once Upon A Curse: 17 Dark Faerie Tales (Once Upon Series Book 1) along with a bundle of other free ebooks to keep on my devices. I used to be a heavy reader and sadly unable to spend time or have the concentration for much reading now but these stories were short enough to dip in and out of and are deliciously dark, well written and many with unexpected twists and endings. Definitely worth a read if you like dark tales!

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