From the fun of the fair to the depths of hell, experience sixteen more curses in this sequel to the bestselling Cursed: An Anthology. A blend of traditional and reimagined curses from fairy-tales to Snow White, from some of the best names in fantasy.
BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR
Take a trip to a terrifying carnival and uncover the secrets within, solve a mysterious puzzle box and await your reward, join a travelling circus and witness the strangest ventriloquist act you’ve ever seen.
In this follow-up to the bestselling Cursed: An Anthology, you’ll unearth curses old and new. From a very different take on Snow White, to a new interpretation of The Red Shoes, the best in fantasy spin straw into gold, and invite you into the labyrinth.
Just don’t forget to leave your trail of breadcrumbs…
Featuring stories from: Neil Gaiman, Joe Hill, Sarah Pinborough, Angela Slatter, M.R. Carey, Laura Purcell, Helen Grant, Mark Chadbourn, L.L. McKinney, A.K. Benedict, Christina Henry, A.C. Wise, Kelley Armstrong, Katherine Arden, Joanne Harris and Adam LG Nevill.

Sixteen stories about curses, the cursed and those who curse, told in a wide variety of styles. Some of the best revisit fairytales, showing them for the nightmare warnings they were before they were sanitised and made child-safe. A few are in classic horror locations: a carnival, a circus, a Music Hall theatre, where the line between illusion and magic can be crossed unnoticed.

Five of the stories stood out for me: Neil Gaiman’s take on Snow White from the (allegedly) evil queen’s point of view; Angela Slatter’s travelling circus with a covert agenda. Mark Chadbourn’s reflection on the hate and rage needed to sustain a curse; Joe Hill’s story of drunken teenagers dooming themselves at a carousel that is more than it seems to be and A. C. Wise’s blood-soaked take on the Red Shoes and the women who wear them. 

I’ve commented on each story below in the order they appear in the collection.

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THE BELL by Joanne Harris ★★★

A classic ‘fairy tale as a warning to the young’ story. The moral seems to be – don’t trust the rich – they’re not like you and me. A timely lesson I think.

SNOW, GLASS, APPLES by Neil Gaiman ★★★★★

A dark but deeply plausible retelling of Snow White, told from the “evil” queen’s point of view. This is not the Snow White of Disney but it’s one the Brothers Grimm would have nodded at I think. The dispassionate tone of the queen’s voice makes the story even darker when you understand how it’s going to end. It also has the creepiest Prince Charming I’ve ever encountered. I don’t think Pixar will be buying the screen rights.

THE TISSOT FAMILY CIRCUS by Angela Slatter ★★★★

An original ‘Creepy Carnival’ story that didn’t go where I expected it to. The idea behind the Tissot Family Circus is very powerful. The need for its existence is horrifying but what it does brings hope. I loved the slow reveal. The more I learned, the more steeped in sorrow the story became. The shepherd’s decision provided the perfect ending.

MR THIRTEEN by M. R. Carey ★★

This was disappointing. An original take on curses and the cursed. The potential for something tense and terrifying. Yet all that energy drained away into nothing, earthed by an I’m-not-taking-this-seriously-except-as-a-thought-experiment that left me feeling I’d wasted my time reading the story.

THE CONFESSOR’S TALE by Sarah Pinborough ★★

I couldn’t connect with this. It was strange and as hard to ignore as a bad smell but it felt pointless to me. The concept of boy whose tongue has been taken becoming a confessor who is also a catalyst for evil was powerful. The storytelling style was as distant as a Norse saga. The evil was graphic but mundane. And the boy himself was a void. I didn’t get the point of this or perhaps I was expecting a point the author felt no need to impose.

THE OLD STORIES HIDE SECRETS DEEP INSIDE THEM by Mark Chadbourn ★★★★

Hard-hitting andsurprising, this captured perfectly the hate, rage and malice at the heart of ancient curses. Setting the story in modern day academia showed that misogyny hasn’t changed or lost its power over the centuries. Which led to the satisfying idea that maybe the power women once used to protect themselves can still be tapped into. I loved the mix of mystery, malice, misogyny and a whisper of magic.

AWAKE by Laura Purcell ★★★

A novel rwit on Snow White’s happily eerafter, where the ever after goes on for ever and the happily part never shows up. I liked the tone, the pace and stoic resignation of the main character.

PRETTY MAIDS ALL IN A ROW by Christina Henry ★★★

I liked the dissonance between the mundane tone of the story and the menace of the content. I wasn’t sure if the curse and its effects were all in the old woman’s head or whether they were real. Then I thought that what mattered was that the woman thought they were real. All of which distracted from thinking about the origin of the curse until the old woman finally had to confront it.

THE VIRAL VOYAGE OF BIRD MAN by Katherine Arden ★★★

The cursed sailor from Coleridge’s ‘RIme of the Ancient Mariner’, survives to the present day, telling his tale again and again until, one day, a video of his recounting goes viral. I liked how his humanity eroded over centuries as he resigned himself to his curse of being unable to die but living only to be endlessly compelled to give his warninging “Heed me or become me’. The narration was well done. The emotion was strong. Having the mariner become a walking warning for Extinction Rebellion didn’t quite work,

THE ANGELS OF LONDON by Adam L. G. Nevill ★★★

A grim little tale that unfolds slowly and mercilessly. It’s a little static in the telling perhaps but the desperation behind the central idea and the nature of the main character’s final choice make up for that. I wondered if Nevill saw this a metaphor for what capitalism does to those who have no capital? Was the real curse here being poor?

A CURSE IS A CURSE by Helen Grant ★★★

I liked the voice of the main character: straightforward, intelligent but with little knowledge of the world beyond her village. Not that that stops her from knowing what she wants and how to get it. The fable of the curse is nicely told. It has the feel of something passed down as part of an oral tradion. The phrases are a smooth a river-worn stones and as static. It sparked all kinds of speculation as to what really happened. The point, of course, is in the title, it doesn’t matter exactly what happened or how what happened it labelled – a curse is a curse.

DARK CAROUSEL by Joe Hill ★★★★

The form and the tone of this story are compelling. It’s classic horror: a slasher dynamic with a carousel nightmare twist. The imagery is vivid, the violence is palpable, and the outcome is grim. There’s a gossamer-thin veil of ambiguity that substitutes mental illness for malevolent magic, suggesting that they may be indistinguishable. But it felt emotionally muted. I couldn’t connect with the characters. Having this first-person account from a native of Maine delivered in an English accent, however well performed, added a distancing dissonance.

SHOES AS RED AS BLOOD by A. C. Wise ★★★★★

This was wonderful: complex, measured, truthful and engaging. It strips the glamour from fairytales, most of which are designed as warnings that girls who want more than they’ve been given will be punished. I liked how it showed that curses masquerade as promises, delivering punishment and pain as the price of happily ever after. It wasn’t strident or overtly didactic. It nurtured suspicion into anger and anger into rage.

I want more of A. C. Wise’s writing so I’ve downloaded her short story collection ‘The Kissing Booth Girl and Other Stories‘

JUST YOUR STANDARD HAUNTED DOLL DRAMA by Kelley Armstrong – DNF

I abandoned this as soon as I saw that it was about the two characters from Kelley Armstrong’s ‘Cursed Luck’ series. ‘Cursed Luck‘ (2021) is the only Kelley Armstrong book I’ve ever set aside. It’s paranormal romance pap. I didn’t want to spend any more time in the company of Kennedy and Aiden both of whom raise my hackles just by existing.

ST DIABLO’S TRAVELLING MUSIC SHOW by A. K. Benedict ★★★

This is a tale of revenge. It’s dark, original and quietly gleeful at the harm done to those who deserve it. This is a wishfulfillment story for any woman who has ever been abused by a man.

THE MUSIC BOX by L. L. McKinney★★★

I saw the ending of this story coming but that didn’t lessen it’s impact. It’s an extrapolation of the idea that those old women who preach to young aspiring ballerinas that “Beauty is grace and beauty is pain” are predators hiding in plain sight.