The four previous volumes in Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling's anthology series of fairly tales retold with a distinctively modern edge have been hailded by reviewers as "brilliant", "provocative," and "disturbing". In this triumphant new collection of original fiction, 21 of today's leading writers spin the cherished fables of childhood into glittering gold-offering magical tales for adults, as seductive as they are sophisticated.

A jealous prince plots the destruction of his hated brother's wedding by inventing a "magic" suit of clothing visible only to the pure at heart.... A young girl's strange fairy-tale obsession results in a brutal murder.... An embittered mother cares for her dying son, who is trapped in a thicket that guards a sleeping beauty.... In a bleak and desolate industrial wasteland, a group of violent outcasts lays the tattered myths of one millennium to rest and gives terrifying birth to those of the next.

Erotic, compelling, witty, and altogether extraordinary, these stories lay bare our innermost demons and desires, imaginatively transforming our youthful fantasies into things darker, slyer, and more delightfully subversive.

"The Shell Box" copyright 1999 by Karawynn Long; "Ivory Bones" copyright 1999 by Susan Wade; "The Wild Heart" copyright 1999 by Anne Bishop; "You Wandered Off Like a Foolish Child to Break Your Heart and Mine" copyright 1999 by Pat York; "Arabian Phoenix" copyright 1999 by India Edghill; "Toad-Rich" copyright 1999 by Michael Cadnum; "Skin So Green and Fine" copyright 1999 by Wendy Wheeler; "The Willful Child, the Black Dog, and the Beanstalk" copyright 1999 by Melanie Tem; "Locks" copyright 1999 by Neil Gaiman; "Marsh-Magic" copyright 1999 by Robin Mckinley; "Toad" copyright 1999 by Patricia A. Mckillip.