Alison's Wonderland

About the Author

Jacqueline Applebee is a black British woman, who breaks down barriers with smut. Jacqueline’s stories have appeared in various anthologies and on Web sites, including, Clean-sheets, Best Women’s Erotica 2008 and 2009, Ultimate Lesbian Erotica 2008 and 2009, and Best Lesbian Erotica 2008. Jacqueline’s favorite fairy tale is “Three Little Pigs” because she has a thing for adventurous bacon. Jacqueline’s Web site is http://www.writing-in-shadows.co.uk.

Janine Ashbless started her erotica career with her single-author collection of fairy and fantasy stories, Cruel Enchantment, published by Black Lace in 2000. Her follow-up collection, Dark Enchantment, appeared in 2009. In between came three erotic novels and various short stories, including one that made it into Best Women’s Erotica 2009. Her favorite fairy tales are “East of the Sun and West of the Moon” (which she retold as Bearskin in the novella collection Enchanted) and the horribly creepy “Mr. Fox.” She lives in the U.K. and blogs at www.janineashbless.blogspot.com where she enthuses about mythology, Victorian art and minotaurs.

Rachel Kramer Bussel (www.rachelkramerbussel.com) is an author, editor, blogger and reading-series host. She has edited more than twenty anthologies, including Tasting Him, Tasting Her, Spanked, Dirty Girls and Best Sex Writing 2008 and 2009. She is senior editor at Penthouse Variations, writes the “Dating Drama” column for the Frisky, and hosts In The Flesh Reading Series. Her writing has been published in more than a hundred anthologies, including Best American Erotica 2004 and 2006, as well as Cosmopolitan, Fresh Yarn, Huffington Post, Newsday, the New York Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, Time Out New York, the Village Voice and Zink, and she has appeared on NY1, The Berman and Berman Show and The Martha Stewart Show. Her favorite fairy tale is “Cinderella,” with whom she shares a shoe fetish (high heels especially), though she also envies Rapunzel’s long hair.

T. C. Calligari lives in British Columbia, writing in many worlds of what-if. She grew up reading fairy tales and fables from the children’s series My Book House. Her favorite though is “East of the Sun and West of the Moon,” a Norwegian fairy tale based on the Eros and Psyche myth where the woman must rescue her prince. T.C.’s stories have appeared in E Is for Exotic, B Is for Bondage, as well as Open for Business, Naughty or Nice and Guilty Pleasures. “Stocking Stuffers” is featured in the Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica.

Heidi Champa is a typical last-born child. Snarky, attention-seeking and rebellious, she chooses to write dirty stories to keep out of real trouble. Her work appears in Tasting Him and Frenzy. She has also steamed up the pages of Bust magazine. If you prefer your erotica in electronic form, look for her at Clean-Sheets, Ravenous Romance and The Erotic Woman. Despite her latent cynicism, her favorite fairy tale will always be “Beauty and the Beast.” Find her online at heidichampa.blogspot.com.

Portia Da Costa is a British author of romance, erotic romance and romantic fiction, specializing in intense, character-driven contemporary novels, and praised for the vivid emotional depth of her writing. Since 1990, she has had more than twenty titles published, as well as around a hundred short stories, and her work has been translated into many languages including German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Norwegian and Japanese. Always a lover of fantasy and fairy tale, she adores the stories of “Cinderella” and “Sleeping Beauty.” Portia lives in West Yorkshire with her husband and her cats and she enjoys reading and watching television.

Andrea Dale’s stories have appeared in Do Not Disturb: Hotel Sex Stories, Frenzy, the Mammoth Book of the Kama Sutra and Dirty Girls, among many others. With coauthors, she has sold novels to Cheek Books (A Little Night Music, Sarah Dale) and Black Lace Books (Cat Scratch Fever, Sophie Mouette) and even more short stories. In other incarnations she writes SFF and media tie-in. A lover of fantasy, mythology and the fae folk since a young age, her favorite tale is that of Tam Lin, because the heroine rescues the hero for once. For more information, check out her Web site at www.cyvarwydd.com.

Bella Dean is new to the business of dirty stories. She still blushes when she types, but has no plans to give it up. Her work has appeared in Afternoon Delight. She lives with her small family in her small house in her small town. Her favorite fairy tale growing up was “Cinderella.” Even then she had a thing for shoes and hot men.

Once upon a time, a playwright scarred by her first lover’s betrayal and an actor who lost his love in the 9/11 conflagration came together in a shabby off-Broadway theater. Though this is not Erica DeQuaya’s background, it formed the backbone for her critically acclaimed first erotic romance novel, Backstage Affair. Five novels and many short stories later, Erica continues living her own happily-ever-after as she pens erotic and mainstream books (including her well-received hockey romance series) from her middle-class castle in Texas. Erica shares her royal surroundings with her beloved handsome prince and soul mate of more than two decades, a princeling of a son, two loyal, if somewhat neurotic, dogs and a collection of geckos in the backyard.

Benjamin Eliot is a stay-at-home dad and a WWII freak. He has a huge collection of memorabilia and books and has been known to trap unsuspecting people for impromptu historical lectures. He loves his wife, his kids and his old-piece-of-crap car. For the record, he can fix a toilet and even install a faucet. Benjamin was never one for fairy tales, but in college he found he could really get into a good meaty greek myth. Look for more of his work in the future. He’s just getting started with his storytelling.

A. D. R. Forte’s erotic short fiction appears in various anthologies including collections from Black Lace, Cleis Press and Circlet Press. Her favorite fairy tale, of course, is “Beauty and the Beast.” Visit her at www.adrforte.com.

Lana Fox’s erotic stories have appeared in anthologies by Xcite, and she also publishes literary fiction under a different name. She started writing erotica when she gave a reading and members of the audience came up afterward saying, “Your work is all about sex,” when she didn’t think it was! Her favorite fairy tale is “Little Red Riding Hood,” especially when it’s turned on its head and Red has a feisty side.

Shanna Germain’s work has appeared in places like Best American Erotica, Best Bondage Erotica, Best Gay Romance, Frenzy and Luscious. She’s obsessed with the wolf and the girl in the red cloak, and often sings a darker version of “Li’l Red Riding Hood,” by Sam the Sham. Visit her at www.shannagermain.com.

Bryn Haniver, a nature lover and sexy B-movie aficionado, writes fiction from islands and peninsulas whenever possible, and prefers fairy tales with menacing mermaids, like “The Mermaid and the Boy.” Bryn’s work has appeared in Red Hot Erotica and B Is for Bondage.

Georgia E. Jones graduated with an MFA from Mills College. Her stories have appeared in the Santa Barbara Review and the literary magazine Estero. She lives in northern California. Her favorite fairy tale is “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” because the heroine is smart and resourceful.

Tsaurah Litzky is an internationally known writer of erotica whose work has appeared in more than seventy-five publications, including Best American Erotica (eight times), Best International Erotica (twice), X: the Erotic Treasury, Penthouse, the New York Times, Sex For America, K is For Kinky, Got A Minute, The Merry XXXmas Book of Erotica, Politically Inspired, The Urban Bizarre, Dirty Girls, Evergreen Review 12. Simon & Schuster published her erotic novella, The Motion of the Ocean, as part of Three the Hard Way, a series of erotic novellas edited by Susie Bright. Tsaurah Litzky’s groundbreaking erotic writing class, Silk Sheets: Writing Erotica, is now in its eleventh year at the New School in Manhattan. Tsaurah believes that great sex often is inspired by a pair of shoes and that fairy tales do come true.

Kristina Lloyd is the author of three erotic novels, Darker Than Love, Asking for Trouble and Split, all published by Black Lace. Her short stories have appeared in numerous anthologies and magazines in both the U.K. and U.S., and her novels have been translated into German, Dutch and Japanese. She has a master’s degree in twentieth-century literature, and has been described as “a fresh literary talent” who “writes sex with a formidable force.” She lives in Brighton on the south coast of England and her favorite fairy tale is “Little Red Riding Hood” because it’s dark, sinister and short on princesses. For more, visit http://kristinalloyd.wordpress.com.

Nikki Magennis is a Scottish author of erotica and erotic romance. She grew up on fairy tales and has always loved “The Red Shoes.” Lily takes her name from a song on Kate Bush’s Red Shoes album. In folklore, lilies are used to break spells or enchantments. Nikki’s second novel, The New Rakes, is published by Black Lace, and you can find her work in many anthologies. She is currently working on a collection of short stories and could use a spot of lily juice to break her procrastination habit. Read more at: http://nikkimagennis.blogspot.com.

Sommer Marsden writes her naughty fiction from a small town near the Chesapeake Bay. Her work has appeared in dozens of print anthologies and magazines, and her stories haunt many Internet sites on a regular basis. When she was a little girl, she loved the tale of “The Princess and the Pea,” mostly because she is a complainer at heart. You can see what she’s up to at www.SmutGirl.blogspot.com.

N. T. Morley is the author of sixteen published novels of erotic dominance and submission, including The Visitor, The Nightclub, The Appointment and the trilogies The Castle, The Library and The Office. Morley has also edited two anthologies, MASTER and slave, and has contributed to many erotic anthologies, including the Naughty Stories from A to Z series, the Sweet Life series, the Best New Erotica series, and many other anthologies. Morley’s favorite fairy tale is unquestionably Pretty Woman, though there’s something strangely hot about Leaving Las Vegas. That said, there’s lots to love about “Sleeping Beauty,” the Anne Rice version. Visit www.ntmorley.com for more information.

Elspeth Potter’s stories have appeared in The Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica, Periphery: Erotic Lesbian Futures, Best Lesbian Romance 2009, Best Lesbian Erotica and Best Women’s Erotica. Her erotic novel The Duchess, Her Maid, the Groom, and their Lover, by Victoria Janssen, was a 2008 release from Harlequin Spice. The Moonlight Mistress was released in December 2009. Her favorite fairy tale is “The Tinderbox.” Read more at www.victoriajanssen.com.

Thomas S. Roche is the author of more than two hundred published stories that fall into the horror, fantasy, crime, paranormal and erotica genres—frequently all at once. His books include His and Hers, two short-story collections written with Alison Tyler, and Dark Matter, a collection of his own stories, as well as four anthologies of fantasy/horror and three books of erotic crime stories. Roche has always had a love-hate relationship with fairy tales. He hated them as a child because there were rarely any spaceships in them. As an adult, he has adapted dozens of fairy tales for various projects, starting with a rewrite of A Midsummer Night’s Dream he did in the mid-1990s. He’s very fond of “The Little Match Girl,” probably due to his lingering goth damage from the eighties. He blogs about such topics as ghosts, aliens, sex and politics at www.thomasroche.com.

Donna George Storey is the author of Amorous Woman, a semi-autobiographical tale of an American’s steamy love affair with Japan. Her short fiction has been published in over ninety journals and anthologies, including X:The Erotic Treasury, Naughty or Nice, Frenzy, Best Women’s Erotica, and The Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica. Her favorite fairy tale is “The Twelve Dancing Princesses,” not only because she played the role of Angelica in a summer-theater production in high school, but because she can really relate to the story of girls who are perfect ladies by day sneaking off to a magical land every night to dance Freudian holes in their slippers with charming princes. Read more of her work at www.DonnaGeorgeStorey.com.

Sophia Valenti’s erotica has appeared in Afternoon Delight and Playing with Fire. She believes in happily-ever-afters, but thinks that sometimes fate needs a little push in the right direction. Her favorite fairy tale is “The Ugly Duckling” because coming into your own is as important as finding your place. Visit her at www.sophiavalenti.blogspot.com.

Saskia Walker loves to read and write stories where magic and passion are found in unexpected situations. Her favorite fairy tales reflect this, stories like “Cinderella,” and the tales of “Scheherazade” and the “Arabian Nights.” Saskia began writing in 1996 and her fiction has now been published in more than fifty anthologies. Her novel-length work spans from contemporary erotic romance to exotic fantasy. Saskia lives in the north of England on the windswept Yorkshire moors, where she happily spends her days spinning yarns. She has lots more stories to tell, so be sure to visit www.saskiawalker.co.uk.

Allison Wonderland has a B.A. in women’s studies, a weakness for lollipops and a fondness for rubber ducks. Her favorite sound is Fran Drescher’s voice, and her cocktail of choice is a Shirley Temple. On the fairy-tale front, she is quite fond of Jane Yolen’s collection, Not One Damsel in Distress. (She finds the dearth of distressed damsels very refreshing.) Allison has contributed to numerous anthologies, including Island Girls, Hurts So Good, Coming Together: At Last and Visible: A Femmethology. See what she’s up to at http://aisforallison.blogspot.com.

For Sam.

Introduction

Down the rabbit hole I go, in search of fractured fairy tales and manhandled myths, the type that would make Snow White blush Rose Red. Why fables and rhymes and stories of years gone by? Because the familiar cadence of these magical tales clings to us like the fabric of dreams. The once upon a time is already in place—the happily-ever-after is waiting for us. It’s the part in the middle that’s rich with promise, the sticky-sweet candy-colored goodness of a whole new type of “Hansel and Gretel” story.

The truth is that we all love a happy ending (traditional or otherwise), especially when the characters turn out to be kinky. To that end, I’ve compiled twenty-seven brand-spanking-new stories from such popular erotic writers as Thomas S. Roche, Tsaurah Litzky and Shanna Germain.

Many fables are immediately recognizable. Sommer Marsden’s “The Three Billys” is neatly spotted as a modern-day goat story, although the gruffest of the Billys has a far dirtier method of dealing with (Ms.) Troll than in the original tale. Kristina Lloyd’s “David” riffs on “Sleeping Beauty” in a myriad of ways. A surreal vampire yarn, her Beauty not only wakes up to her deep sexual submission, but she awakens her very own handsome prince. Bella Dean’s “Wolff’s Tavern” turns the tale of “Little Red Riding Hood” inside out—this Wolff comes to Ruby’s rescue. Sophia Valenti’s “The Cougar of Cobble Hill” is based firmly on the sole of “The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe,” while Jacqueline Applebee’s “Slutty Cinderella” features the only wannabe princess I know who needs a shave. T. C. Calligari spins the Grimms’ somewhat obscure fable “The Magic Table, the Golden Donkey and the Club in the Sack” into “A Taste for Treasure,” featuring a magical stick, crop and cot.

Several writers approached the same story, but with wickedly different results. “Fool’s Gold” by Shanna Germain retells “Rumpelstiltskin” from the point of view of a woman so tightly bound by her own desires she doesn’t know what she wants. Georgia E. Jones tackles the same fairy tale from more than five hundred years in the past, in the boisterous court of King Edward V. Ms. Jones’s story shows that no matter what the date, love is always in fashion. Nikki Magennis’s darkly beautiful “Red Shoes (Redux)” contrasts deliciously with Tsaurah Litzky’s “Dancing Shoes,” which features an older (but just as intriguing) protagonist, with a little bit of Cinderella for good measure.

Other creations in this collection are magical stories in their own right: Portia Da Costa’s “Unveiling His Muse” reads like a brand-new fairy tale, and Andrea Dale’s “The Broken Fiddle” has the cadence of an old Irish legend. In “The Midas F★ck,” Erica DeQuaya delves into what might happen if a woman’s secret wish came true. A. D. R. Forte’s “Moonset” begs the question “Is that a werewolf in my bed, or are you just happy to see me?” In “Managers and Mermen,” Donna George Storey’s fantasy mermaid lives only in her main character’s mind—or does she? In Lana Fox’s “Always Break the Spines,” a naughty coed learns that fairy tales can hurt. Literally. Her lover punishes her with a leather-bound book.

What ingredients are required to create a modern-day fairy tale? Sometimes all that’s needed is a little magic dust—and a bit of lube. Bryn Haniver’s ever-so-dirty “Mastering Their Dungeons” draws on a familiar game, but not everyone could turn a dorm room into a setting for a modern-day myth. Benjamin Eliot has conjured his own version of Sisyphus, with a protagonist forced to fix the same facility for what appears to be an eternity in “An Uphill Battle.” Rachel Kramer Bussel’s “Let Down Your Libido” features a completely different type of prison for a Rapunzel of the new millennium. And Thomas S. Roche’s “Cupid Has Signed Off” takes us from sex play in the online universe to a sizzling scenario IRL (in real life). My own “Rings on My Fingers” features dusky Los Angeles, a shy bookstore clerk and the universal desire for a happy ending, even with a tattooed prince.

Three wishes are all one girl requires when offered to choose in Saskia Walker’s “Kiss It.” What exactly does the protagonist kiss? Well, he’s definitely not a frog. Janine Ashbless’s “Gold, On Snow” tackles “Snow White” from the queen’s point of view. Allison Wonderland’s “Sleeping with Beauty” delves into the bubblegum-pink universe of two princesses who forgo princes (and frogs) in favor of each other. And what if one of those handsome fairy-tale studs liked men?

Are the endings always happy? That’s for the reader to decide. “The Clean-Shaven Type” by N. T. Morley, is a version of “Beauty and the Beast” with quite unexpected results for the Beast. “After the Happily-Ever-After,” by Heidi Champa, describes what happens to poor Cinderella once the sparkle fades from her fairy-tale wedding. The collection rides off into the sunset with a fairy tale told in a hundred words. If you don’t think that’s possible, check out Elspeth Potter’s “The Princess.”

With a combination of retold tales and brand-new fables, Alison’s Wonderland is the perfect naughty bedtime storybook to share with a partner (or enjoy solo style) for your own X-rated Happily-Ever-After.

XXX,

Alison Tyler

Epigraph

It is only possible to live happily ever after on a day-to-day basis.

—Margaret Bonnano

…don’t forget about what happened to the man who got everything he ever wanted.

He lived happily ever after.

—Roald Dahl

The Red Shoes (Redux)

Nikki Magennis

Lily had walked past the shoe shop a hundred times. On her way to work at the flower shop early every morning, wearing shabby jeans and baseball boots that were worn the same color as the pavement, she’d walk fast and barely glance at the shiny, chichi window display. She didn’t need to see heartbreaker heels and designer bags that would cost her a month’s wages.

For the past six weeks, though, she’d found herself swiveling on her heel and turning to look at a particular display.

The window stretched high above her head, the plate glass polished so bright it reflected her image like a mirror. But Lily wasn’t looking at herself. Her gaze was totally transfixed on the shoes. Glossy, cherry-red, skyscraper-high, patent-leather fuck-me shoes that made her heart beat faster just looking at them. They had deep curves and a dangerous heel and they stood center stage on a podium by themselves, proud, shockingly beautiful and insanely unaffordable. They made Lily’s mouth water. She could almost taste the red of them.

Once, she’d approached the door, got close enough to feel the cool hum of air-conditioned air on her face. And then she’d checked herself. Girls with ratty hair and dirt under their chipped-varnish nails didn’t enter shops like that. Not without a motorcycle helmet and a package under their arm. Not in a million years.

While she was at work, emptying buckets of stinking slime-water and slicing the stems of stargazer lilies, Lily let her imagination wander. In those shoes, she’d be able to walk anywhere—up red carpets and through gilded palaces, across Hollywood Boulevard and down the Champs-Élysées. She’d be a shameless scarlet bombshell, and take no shit from anyone. Her hips would swing and her lips would pout and men would fall at her feet.

And then her boss, Margie, yelled at her for daydreaming, and Lily snapped out of it and got on with the cold, dirty, green-stained work of the day.

It was the first Saturday in May. The city was full of mist that crawled lazily up the streets and muffled the edges of the morning. Dragging herself reluctantly to work, Lily walked past the siren-red shine of the shoes, and drifted to the window to gaze at her unreachable dreams through half an inch of bulletproof glass.

“You like them.”

Lily nearly fell on her ass. A man had appeared, silently, in the shop doorway. He wore a black shirt and trousers the color of champagne. His face was taut and unlined, and his smile barely tweaked the corners of his mouth.

“I was just looking,” Lily said, backing away.

“I see you,” the man continued, fixing her with fathomless gray eyes, “every morning. You look at my shoes like you’re starving.”

“Your shoes?”

“I design them,” he said.

“No shit,” said Lily.

“For women,” he said, “like you.”

“Oh,” Lily said, and looked down at her faded, raggedy Ramones T-shirt.