Once upon a Dyke: New Exploits of Fairy Tale Lesbians - Softcover

Kallmaker, Karin; Szymanski, Therese; Watts, Julia

3.7

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9781931513715: Once upon a Dyke: New Exploits of Fairy Tale Lesbians

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1931513716 ISBN 13: 9781931513715

Publisher: Bella Books, 2004

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In this first installment of a planned annual series of New Exploits of... novellas, authors put a new twist on the classic fairy tales Cinderella, The Little Mermaid, Snow White, and Beauty and the Beast. Fish Out of Water (Kallmaker); Nobody believed the curse that the evil warlock put on Ariel until it came true. On her twenty-first birthday she awoke in a strange bed, next to a mortal woman, in a land that bore no resemblance to her own. She must not speak for a year, no matter the need, or she will never be able to go home again. And home has much to offer: her crown, her magic, and the endless pleasures of the Sidhe Court. The memories of the glorious, wonderfully irresponsible, luxurious days and nights keep her silent... until the love, and lovemaking, of that very mortal woman, leaves her yearning to say just one word: Yes. A Butch in Fairytale Land (Szymanski); Need help? Cody is there. Friends call her misguided. Ex-friends say stalker. Chided on every side for acting before she thinks, Cody is delighted to awaken in a fairy tale world where damsel after damsel not only needs help, but Cody is the only butch around to save the day. Daring deeds and dashing rescues can

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About the Author:

A native of southeastern Kentucky, Julia Watts is the author of the Lambda Literary Award-winning Finding H.F. and many other works including lesbian romance, erotica and young teen paranormal. Watts is a two-time recipient of grants from the Kentucky Foundation for Women and recently completed an M.F.A. in Writing from Spalding University. She lives, writes and teaches in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Foreward:

Why Fairy Tales?

Fairy tales are about sex. Plenty of serious books have been written on the psychosexual aspects of fairy tales. These books enlighten readers about the sexual symbolism of forbidden forests, candy houses, and tempting poisoned apples.

This is not one of those books.

We're here to have fun. We don't want to pin down the butterfly that is the fairy tale so we can dissect it and study it. We do want to play with it, though, and see if it will fly off in a different direction once we set it free.

For contemporary women, and especially for contemporary lesbians, the old fairy tales can be appallingly rigid. Young is beautiful, old is evil, and a woman's worst enemy is another woman. We all grew up with these tales, whether they were the original, grisly stories or Walt Disney's "sanitized for your protection" Cult of the Princess versions. And for those of us who were not destined to grow up to be the heterosexual princess type, these stories raised some serious questions: Why were the heroines always pretty, pure, passive little things who needed rescuing? And even if a girl did need rescuing (as we all do from time to time), why did she have to be rescued by a handsome prince? Why not a handsome princess, or a comely peasant girl, for that matter? What was so charming about Prince Charming anyway?

The short answer to all of these questions is that fairy tales were a product of their time and culture. But the tales in Once Upon a Dyke are a product of our time and culture. Some of the tales will take you back to traditional fairy tale land, but with decidedly non-traditional twists. Others use a fairy tale as inspiration for a story set in a different time and place. There is more than one road to Happily Ever After.

But no matter what approach the authors in this volume take, these are our tales, tailored to adult lesbian tastes, with heroines that are nobody's gender stereotypes and love scenes that don't fade to black after the first kiss. Fairy tales are about sex, and we’re not shy.

Julia Watts & Karin Kallmaker January, 2004

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