NESFA Press is one of my favorite small publishers. They’ve done some of the most essential collections of the past few decades, including From These Ashes: The Complete Short SF of Fredric Brown, the massive six-volume Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny, the two-volume Complete Science Fiction of William Tenn, the magnificent Major Ingredients: The Selected Short Stories of Eric Frank Russell, Transfinite: The Essential A. E. Van Vogt, and dozens more. They’ve been relatively quiet recently (except for releasing a new volume in The Collected Short Works of Poul Anderson every year or so, which admittedly is enough to keep anyone busy), and I admit that I was growing concerned that the once tireless NESFA machine was perhaps not as tireless as most of us thought.

So I was very pleased to see the release of The Grimm Future last month, an anthology collecting reimagined Grimm fairy tales by Garth Nix, Max Gladstone, Carlos Hernandez, Jeffrey Ford, Peadar Ó Guillín, John Langan, Seanan McGuire, and many others.

Blending fresh new science fiction with a futuristic dash of magic, The Grimm Future is a unique anthology of reimagined Grimm fairy tales from some of today’s most exciting authors — along with the original stories that inspired them. The Grimm Future examines our humanity and what that term might come to mean through the eyes of future generations as society advances into an age when technology consumes nearly every aspect of our lives or has ultimately changed life as we know it. How might these timeless stories evolve? Given the relentless onrush of technology, there is even greater need for fairy tales and Grimm magic in our future. Read on!

All the stories are new.

The Grimm Future was released in hardcover at Boskone 53 in February. The cover art is by Richard Anderson, who also did the marvelous cover for A.M. Dellamonica’s story “The Glass Galago” at Tor.com. Click the image at right for a bigger version.

Here’s a peek at the complete dust jacket:

And here’s the complete Table of Contents.

“Introduction” by Erin Underwood
“Pair of Ugly Stepsisters, Three of a Kind” by Garth Nix
based upon multiple Grimm fairy tales, including Little Brother and Little Sister, Rapunzel, Little Red-Cap, and Cinderella
“The Iron Man” by Max Gladstone
based upon Iron John
“Zel and Grets” by Maura McHugh
based upon Hansel & Gretel
“For Want of a NAIL” by Sandra McDonald & Stephen D. Covey
based upon The Nail
“The Shroud” by Dan Wells
based upon The Shroud
“Long-Term Employment” by Mike Resnick
based upon Death’s Messengers
“Swan Dive” by Nancy Holder
based upon The Six Swans
“The White Rat” by Dana Cameron
based upon The White Snake
“Origins” by Carlos Hernandez
based upon The Star-Talers
“Angie Taylor in: Peril Beneath the Earth’s Crust” by John Langan
based upon The Brave Little Tailor
“The Three Snake-Leaves” by Jeffrey Ford
based upon The Three Snake-Leaves
“The Madman’s Ungrateful Child” by Peadar Ó Guillín
based upon The Bremen Town-Musicians
“Stories of the Trees, Stories of the Birds, Stories of the Bones” by Kat Howard
based upon The Juniper Tree
“Be Still, and Listen” by Seanan McGuire
based upon Little Briar-Rose

Our previous coverage of NESFA Press titles includes:

On the Other Hand–Amen: The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny. Volume One: Threshold; Volume Two: Power and Light by James Enge
The Good, the Brown, and the Kornbluth by James Enge

The Grimm Future was published by NESFA Press on February 19, 2016. It is 272 pages, priced at $35 in hardcover. There is no digital edition. The cover is by Richard Anderson. See more details at the Boskone blog here.

See all of our recent coverage of the best in new fantasy here.