Grim anthology

Grim anthology
Christine Johnson

In the days when fairy tales were first spun, they weren’t the sweet and cheerful stories we tell today. Back then, fairy tales were terrifying. They were a warning to the listener to stay out of the night, to keep away from the mystical and ignore the mysterious. Prepare to open a treasure box of the unusual and the macabre.Grim features some of today’s best young adult authors sharing their own unique retellings of classic fairy tales from around the world. These talented writers, many of them New York Times bestsellers or award winners, put their own spin on these magical worlds.Ellen HopkinsAmanda HockingJulie KagawaClaudia GrayRachel HawkinsKimberly DertingMyra McEntireMalinda LoSarah Rees BrennanJackson PearceChristine JohnsonJeri Smith-ReadyShaun David HutchinsonSaundra MitchellSonia GenslerTessa GrattonJon Skovron.

Inspired by classic fairy tales, but with a dark and sinister twist, Grim contains short stories from some of the best voices in young adult literature today:

Ellen Hopkins

Amanda Hocking

Julie Kagawa

Claudia Gray

Rachel Hawkins

Kimberly Derting

Myra McEntire

Malinda Lo

Sarah Rees-Brennan

Jackson Pearce

Christine Johnson

Jeri Smith Ready

Shaun David Hutchinson

Saundra Mitchell

Sonia Gensler

Tessa Gratton

Jon Skrovan

Edited by Christine Johnson

www.mirabooks.co.uk (http://www.mirabooks.co.uk)

This is for you.

Table of Contents

The Key (#ub0835894-18c1-5ff8-99a0-388c7e4c99e6) by Rachel Hawkins

Figment (#u75aeb2d3-14de-5ddf-bf61-e597593b0f2c) by Jeri Smith-Ready

The Twelfth Girl (#u243b6b7e-79e3-569e-ad21-ea6a002d7137) by Malinda Lo

The Raven Princess (#u3253aabc-333d-5a99-a0f9-4801911a50ce) by Jon Skovron

Thinner Than Water (#litres_trial_promo) by Saundra Mitchell

Before the Rose Bloomed: A Retelling of The Snow Queen (#litres_trial_promo) by Ellen Hopkins

Beast/Beast (#litres_trial_promo) by Tessa Gratton

The Brothers Piggett (#litres_trial_promo) by Julie Kagawa

Untethered (#litres_trial_promo) by Sonia Gensler

Better (#litres_trial_promo) by Shaun David Hutchinson

Light It Up (#litres_trial_promo) by Kimberly Derting

Sharper Than a Serpent’s Tongue (#litres_trial_promo) by Christine Johnson

A Real Boy (#litres_trial_promo) by Claudia Gray

Skin Trade (#litres_trial_promo) by Myra McEntire

Beauty and the Chad (#litres_trial_promo) by Sarah Rees Brennan

The Pink: A Grimm Story (#litres_trial_promo) by Amanda Hocking

Sell Out (#litres_trial_promo) by Jackson Pearce

About the Authors (#litres_trial_promo)

THE KEY

by Rachel Hawkins

High school is hard enough without having a psychic for a mom.

And no, I don’t mean she has that uniquely Mom-like sixth sense. I mean she’s literally a psychic. Reading your palms, telling you your future, all for the bargain price of fifty bucks a session (a hundred if you want a full hour, but no one ever does).

Momma runs her business out of our trailer. I know there are people who say that trailers can be nice, fancy even.

Those people had never been to our trailer.

It isn’t even a double-wide, which would have at least given us enough space for more than one ratty couch. I think the couch had belonged to my nana at some point. I knew whoever had had it before us had smoked on it, though. It carried the scent of thousands of cigarettes, millions even, deep inside every cabbage rose on its stained and burned cushions.

Momma’s “studio,” as she liked to call it, was in the second bedroom. When she wasn’t reading people’s fortunes, I slept on an air mattress on the floor in there. It was either that or share with Momma, which no, thank you. And like I said, the couch stunk—and was haunted besides—so I made do with the air mattress, no matter how big a pain in the ass it was to pump it up every single night, only to roll it back flat every morning.