From the bestselling authors of the award-winning Once Upon Anthology Series - revisit your favorite faerie tales, told here with dark and spooky twists. Push open the creaky cellar door and prepare for chilling re-imaginings of Sleeping Beauty, Goldilocks, Rapunzel, and Bloody Mary. Or breathe a sigh of relief with brighter takes on The Little Match Girl, Hansel & Gretel, and The Bremen Town Musicians. Either way, prepare to see your favorite fairytales in a whole new light!

Once Upon a Ghost by Melissa Marr, Alethea Kontis and more!

From the bestselling authors of the award-winning Once Upon Anthology Series - revisit your favorite faerie tales, told here with dark and spooky twists. Push open the creaky cellar door and prepare for chilling re-imaginings of Sleeping Beauty, Goldilocks, Rapunzel, and Bloody Mary. Or breathe a sigh of relief with brighter takes on The Little Match Girl, Hansel & Gretel, and The Bremen Town Musicians. Either way, prepare to see your favorite fairytales in a whole new light!

A HUNTER’S MEMORY OF WINTER by Annie Bellet - Hugo-nominated author
HAUNTED by Kay McSpadden
FAERIE SONG by Anthea Sharp - USA Today Bestselling Author
FORGIVEN: A Djinn Wars Story by Christine Pope - USA Today Bestselling Author
WHAT MAGIC LIES BENEATH by Shawntelle Madison - NYT Bestselling Author
THE GHOST OF BEILSTEIN CASTLE by Alethea Kontis - NYT Bestselling Author
SNOW WHITE BETWEEN TIME by Julia Crane
QUEEN JOANNA.by Kate Danley - USA Today Bestselling Author
RAPUNZEL DREAMING by Yasmine Galenorn - NYT Bestselling Author
WHAT TALES SPECTERS TELL by Kasey Mackenzie
THE DEVIL’S DUE by Melissa Marr - NYT Bestselling Author
THE BREMEN SHIFTER BAND by Debra Dunbar
THE BANSHEE OF LIATH WOOD by Jenna Elizabeth Johnson
THE GHOST QUEEN by Nikki Jefford
IMMORTAL PORTRAIT by Colleen Gleason - NYT Bestselling Author
TO BE REMEMBERED by Jamie Ferguson
THE SOUL CAGES by Phaedra Weldon
ELLA AND THE HAUNTED HOUSE by Sarra Cannon
THE THORN KING by Alexia Purdy - USA Today Bestselling Author
LITTLE FLAME by Devon Monk - USA Today Bestselling Author

CURATOR'S NOTE

I had the pleasure of putting together this anthology, the sixth in the Once Upon series of themed fairytale retellings. Once a year, a group of bestselling authors decides what to base the next fairytale anthology around. We've done curses, kisses, wishes, vampires, quests, and even a SF retelling (recently featured in a different StoryBundle, in fact!) – Anthea Sharp

 

REVIEWS

  • "This is a fun and imaginative collection of reimagined fairy tales and folklore. Looking forward to reading the rest of the series."

    – 5 star review, J. Brown on Amazon

  • "5.0 out of 5 stars This a great dark & twisted fairytale anthology!"

    – Jackie B on Amazon

  • "From ghost to shifters, pirates to witches, there is something for all your paranormal reading needs. It amazes me that versions of stories that I very much enjoyed as a youngster, I can enjoy just as much with a different twist as an adult."

    – D.J. Potter, on Amazon
 

BOOK PREVIEW

Excerpt

The music came drifting every black of the moon, winding like smoke through the dank alleyways of Hamelin's old town. Come, it whispered, the haunting melody compelling the vermin of the streets. Come away.

They did: the skittering roaches, the fluttering moths whose grubs ruined stored grain, the rats who infested the slums.

And the children.

Orphans, mostly, and those cast out, unwanted, one too many mouths to feed—or caught pilfering, and given the choice of the crowded prison or the call of the street.

Nobody knew precisely what happened to them, after.

Just that they were gone, those pests that caused trouble for the already strained resources of Hamelin. Better not to look too closely at the walled stronghold of the Strigosa Conservatory, whose magic kept the city clean.

Only those children trapped behind the walls knew what fate awaited. For most, it was a short life of hard drudgery. Those girls and boys fortunate enough to be graced with fair faces were quietly sent to serve in the houses of the barons and magistrates of the city. The less-pretty children were set to work in the conservatory, either toiling without pay in the workshops or tending to the everyday needs of the Pipers and their students.

For students there were—lucky, or unlucky, depending on who was doing the asking.

Every child pulled through the imposing gates of the Strigosa Conservatory was tested for musical ability. Those that showed aptitude were assigned to one of the Pipers, those forbidding men and women that guarded the secret of the Calling. It was not an easy apprenticeship, no matter what the servant children thought. The Pipers meted out harsh discipline for any infraction. Whether a student misbehaved or simply missed a note, the punishment was the same.

Linnet Sheeran leaned forward from her vantage point atop the roof of the dining hall and winced as the coarse cloth of her robe scraped the welts on her back. That afternoon, she had botched the fingering on a difficult passage of notes, and suffered five lashings as a result.

The beating was supposed to keep her meek and obedient, and in the past it had done so.

But not tonight.