A review by wealhtheow
Hags, Sirens, and Other Bad Girls of Fantasy by Phaedra Weldon, Douglas Smith, Christina F. York, Annie Reed, Allan Rousselle, Nathaniel Poole, Loren L. Coleman, Steven Mohan Jr., Rosemary Edghill, Scott William Carter, Peter Orullian, Jane Toombs, Terry Hayman, C.S. Friedman, Laura Resnick, Denise Little, Greg Beatty, Michael Hiebert, Jean Rabe, Leslie Claire Walker, Lisa Silverthorne

1.0

Out of 20 short stories, only three didn't induce nausea or boredom. Rosemary Edghill's "Bitter Fruit: A Tale of Crownland" was a grown up and viscerally disturbing story about a woman who seeks justice. Scott William Carpenter's "Heart of Stone," in which a calculating Medusa experiments with what permutation of love will set her free of her killing curse. And Michael Hiebert's "Dust" is a slightly trippy look at a tooth-fairy accidentally bound to the will of a vapid human child. The rest are banal, trite and dull re-tellings of all the usual tales. Cinderella's "evil" stepmother tells her tale. A Valkerie falls in love with a mortal soldier and begs Odin to let her live a "real life," which apparently means a wedding and babies. Morgan le Fey's oh so selfless desire to save Britain. On and on and on, one uninspired plodding story after another. These are the worst kind of pseudo-feminist revisionist fantasy.