Here's a sneak peek at Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling's forthcoming YA anthology The Beastly Bride: Tales of the Animal People which is due out next spring -- with its gorgeous Charles Vess cover (and some lovely black and white interior art). I have a short story in the anthology, "The Monkey Girl" which is an adaptation of a Sudanese tale (from the Kordofan people). And oh, what an amazing collection of writers are here! From very talented new writers (Shweta Narayan), unexpected choices (Lucuis Shepard was a surprise for me!), international writers (Hiromi Goto and Johanna Sinisalo), terrific poets (Jane Yolen, Nan Fry, and Jeanine Hall Gailey) and just some of the best writers in fantasy literature (Ellen Kushner, Delia Sherman, Gregory Frost, and Marley Youmans.) I feel really lucky to be in such solid company -- and kudos to Terri and Ellen for what promises to be another fabulous anthology.
If you are at all curious, I have written elsewhere about my admiration for the tale of "The Monkey Girl" in an essay for Kate Bernheimer's anthology Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: Women Writers Explore Their Favorite Fairy Tales. You can find it online here, at the Journal of Mythic Arts.
