Slashed and Mashed: Seven Gayly Subverted Stories Anthology, LGBT, Short Stories, Fairytale Fiction
NineStar Press
November 11, 2019
353
What really happened when Theseus met the Minotaur? How did demon-slaying Momotarō come to be raised by two daddies? Will Scheherazade's hapless Ma'aruf ever find love and prosperity after his freeloading boyfriend kicks him out on the street? Classic lore gets a bold remodeling with stories from light-hearted and absurd, earnestly romantic, daring and adventurous, to darkly surreal.
The collection includes: Theseus and the Minotaur, Károly, Who Kept a Secret, The Peach Boy, The Vain Prince, The Jaguar of the Backward Glance, Ma'aruf the Street Vendor, and A Rabbit Grows in Brooklyn.
Award-winning fantasy author Andrew J. Peters (The City of Seven Gods) takes on classical mythology, Hungarian folklore, Japanese legend, The Arabian Nights, and more, in a collection of gayly subverted stories from around the world.
Available at Amazon.
Reviewed by Madison Davis
Member of the Paranormal Romance Guild Review Team
I’m not the biggest fan of short-story-or novelette-collections. It’s not because I don’t think they can be great entertaining stories, but I love to dive into a book and story and dwell. However, Andrew J. Peters’ Slashed & Mashed book is a wild fairy tale mix of stories that go from mythology to Grimm’s tales, to the Japanese saga of ‘The Peach Boy.’ Another fairy tale story was ‘The Vain Prince,’ which I found a bit odd, and it was on the bottom of my favorite list, but still, there was sensitive darkness to it, the way Andrew Peters used the characters and mixed them up with something new, goth-like. I didn’t love it, but I was still fascinated.
The Jaguar of Backward Glance was another story that took me in and held my full attention. I enjoyed the story, even though I admit, I had to read several passages more than once. The play with words, the descriptions, It was, once again, an intriguing mix of fascination and horror.
‘Ma’aruf the Street Vendor’ was another story that held my fascination, but that one, only for a while. The story of a refugee from Africa in New York caught me at first, but then, for some reason, my interest ceased. That has nothing to do with the author; his writing was as virtuous as it was at the beginning. Maybe I have a particular dislike for the character.
My second favorite was definitely ‘Karoly, who held a secret,’ a well-written fairy tale, set up in the old Magyar country (Hungary), where a poor boy finds his way to wealth and happiness.
And, without a doubt, my favorite story, Andrew Peters’ interpretation of Theseus and the Minotaur, a fresh, exciting, thrilling version of the old saga.
Andrew Peters’ quill we owe an enjoyable, impressive, and magnificent collection of stories, fairy tales, and sagas, new interpreted, re-written, and skillfully interwoven with the gay love-interests of the respective protagonists of each story. The author delivered a masterful demonstration of his craftsmanship.