Review: Once Upon A Time

I picked up a copy of "Once Upon A Time: Erotic Fairy Tales for Women", edited by Michael Ford, because it contained a story written by Laura Antoniou. Those of you who have read my series of reviews on her Marketplace series know I am a fan of her work. So I picked this up and am I glad I did!

This remarkable collection of retold fairy tales is aimed towards women but more specifically lesbian or bisexual women. Lesbianism is featured in almost every one of the retold fairy tales. However, I am not a lesbian and I enjoyed each and every story immensely.

In his foreword, Michael Ford tells us why he decided to do this series. Then he sent out requests to many of the female erotica writers he admired, asking them to submit a story. He was genuinely surprised to find very few writers wanting to do the same stories. So am I! And I was amazed to find stories that I had never read the original.

Michael Ford states that the story most requested by the authors as the one they would like to retell was "The Twelve Dancing Princesses". Because of this, he allowed two versions. The two versions selected were written by Red Jordan Arobateau and Robin Podolsky. Both versions are wonderful and both are extremely unique. Red's version involves a BDSM twist, a favorite topic of mine but Robin's version has a spin that you have to read. I highly recommend it.

You may all know I am a fan of Laura Antoniou and her story in the collection is "The Little Urban Maid", her version of "The Little Match Girl". It is such an amazing mix of the city and street people and young people lost that I had to read it again as soon as I finished it. Another version of "The Little Match Girl" is included in the collection. It is a haunting story entitled "The Little Macho Girl" by Kate Bornstein. Of all the stories, I believe this one is my favorite so I will give you a summary of it so you can see why.

The premise of the retelling is about a female executive in a company that sells knives. It is New Year's Eve and she is in the office because she is waiting to close a deal with the Chinese government to supply them with knives for their army. Now the fashionable executive, there was a time when our heroine got her rocks off by cutting herself. Odd that she would end up selling knives for a living. Her sample case sits upon her desk and she is tempted to cut herself one last time. One cut leads to another until she makes the ultimate cut.

Some of you might also remember how I was disappointed with Cecilia Tan's piece in The Best Erotica of 2005. Cecilia is in her wonderful form in this collection, doing her own spin on the fairy tale "The Nightingale". This is an amazing story. Hell, I think every story in this collection is damn good.

It is impossible, really, to pick a favorite. There, in my opinion, is not one dull one in the bunch. Although I am not a lesbian, I recommended this collection a lesbian friend. She loved it so much that she bought copies for all of her friends as Christmas gifts this past season.

I didn't truly find the stories arousing but they surely were erotic. I was amazed that they were all so different and enjoyable. Each one had a unique twist to the story. It is obvious that each of the authors took time and effort to perfect their story before they submitted it.

The book was originally published in 1996 so I do believe it is out of print. It may be difficult to find a copy but I found mine at a used books online site. I am sure you will be able to find one as well. I highly recommend this book for anyone who enjoys erotic tales. I will remind you that the majority of the stories have a lesbian bent but I do not think that should keep the heterosexuals from enjoying them. In fact, it might give hetero men a new insight into the female psyche. And since it is a collection of short stories, it is a great travel book. It is well worth your effort to go out and find a copy. You will be glad you did.