Once Upon a Galaxy

Lest's see... stories by Gregory Benford, Paul Di Filippo, Stanley Schmidt, Tanya Huff, and 10 others including Wil McCarthy himself. The skew is mainly but not totally toward hard science fiction. Some of the fairy tales are recognizable (even named the same as the original), and some are not. Are they well disguised, or perhaps original? Fine reads in any case. Much better than you usually find in these concept anthologies.McCarthy's introduction is illuminating: "Fairy tales are among our most formative influences, adding a visceral heft and sting to the purely verbal warnings of authority. But fairy tales, without exception, hinge on a supernatural occurrence. And in a way, this seemed to undermine their authority, to relegate them to some other universe where things like that could really happen."Though not quite up to the level of Starlight, this is an excellent collection by some of the best writers in the field.