Kelly Link has been on my radar for years. I don't read short stories often. I prefer long character driven novels. I did read her first collection and got hooked. So her and a few other authors, I will read anything they write. She is queen of magical realism and the surreal.

Like any collection of stories by Kelly Link, this one is amazing, full of magic and mysteries, and bouncing between gravity and levity—sometimes in the same sentence—in the easeful way that only Kelly Link can do. The stories are all inspired by fairy tales, but you might not identify the influencing story in some of those immediately, and they aren’t what some would call retellings or reimaginings so much as remixes that feel vibrant and contemporary and strange in the best way possible.

Kelly Link’s captivating new book “White Cat, Black Dog” pushes seven well known tales through a veil of the dark and grim forests of the Brothers Grimm into an instantly engrossing, enchanting, often gruesome, sometimes profane, witty, wildly imaginative contemporary world based on well-known fairy tales, myths, and folklore. From the first story “White Cat’s Divorce” with sons vying for a father’s assets and a cat verbally dispensing wisdom on wanting things best not wanted to the last story “Skinder’s Veil,” each story is unique, yet all flow with the continuity of this writer’s expansive imagination. Corpses are protection in a post-apocalyptic world, a devoted husband walks through Hell to find his spouse, a brother and sister on an alien planet find their own reality unreal. The long accepted “happily ever after” ending and the fairy tale moral stance that goodness and being remarkable mean a long life are dubious. The writer’s empathy for her characters permeates the tales, but she does not shy away from subjecting them to the harsh realities of loneliness, death, hard choices, and selfishness overriding what might be best in the long run. The pervasive classic lines of “Tell me a tale” and “Once upon a time…” in the last tale are a rewarding step circling back to the old literary world, yet through a dark lens. The superb illustrations by Shaun Tan meld beautifully with these adult tales.

Over the years books have been weeded out of my personal collection, but I could never part with Kelly Link’s books “Get in Trouble – Stories” and “Pretty Monsters – Stories.” I have tried to read anything she writes. When I saw that a new short story collection was to be published in 2023 and then I received early access to “White Cat, Black Dog,” I was thrilled. From page one to the last, I was like a character in the last story enthralled “being inside an enchantment.” I still am.

I am grateful to Random House, NetGalley, and Kelly Link for giving me early access to this marvelous, addictive book. This opinion is all my own.

This is my first Kelly Link, but I'm off to explore everything with her name on it now. A disturbing, wide-ranging, fantastic collection of twisted fairy tales. The title story starts this short story collection and invites readers into the dreamlike, horrific world they'll be inhabiting the rest of the collection. But also, Link weaves in such subtle humor that you can't be completely horrified (or at least you're glad to be). Standouts in this collection besides the title story are a retelling of Hansel and Gretel and the Rose Red story which closes the book. The East of the Sun story is the most romantic of the bunch. Although not a linked collection, there are definite connecting ideas here of passion and death, and without death, is there meaning to life?

I adored this, and I highly recommend you pick it up.

In White Cat, Black Dog, Kelly Link has crafted a literally wonder-ful collection of stories for the delectation of lovers of folklore and fairy tales, replete with wit, imagination, and humanity.
Beneath the title of each of the seven stories, Link kindly tells us the name of the fairy tale which each is… Associated with? Inspired by? Linked to? She mostly sticks by the outlines of the traditional versions: a tyrannical king sending his sons out on absurd journeys; lovers separated by a vengeful witch or fairy; a troop of clever creatures outwitting evil ones, and so on. She adroitly adopts the soothing, almost incantatory voice of the storyteller… and then reshapes the story to drop it into a new context. The tyrannical king becomes a greedy and obscenely wealthy businessman and his youngest son finds his aid in a highly-advanced marijuana farm and production facility run by cats. The separated lovers are a gay couple hailing Uber to hit trendy bars, until one disappears; his loyal lover is led on the quest to find him by talking rats and an Icelandic snake (in an island country that has no snakes). The enchanted bride unexpectedly abandons her lover for the oligarch… but dispatches him in a final astutely manipulative stroke. Who could resist the forlorn and beautiful young man in gorgeous coat embroidered with the image of a tragically trapped fox, seeking only a young woman skillful enough to set the fox free and brave enough to hold onto him, no matter what? What seems to be a 19th-century troupe of itinerant actors are actually traversing a post-apocalyptic Tennessee landscape peopled by frightened survivors fending off murderous souls… Bremen town musicians? Really? Just when you think you know where you’re going, there is a disorienting turn, and you smile to yourself and think, Oh! Wait! That’s not what I thought… where is this going now?
It’s a lot of fun to see the spice Link adds to these old recipes, stirring in absurdities, modern ennui, danger, heartbreak, fear, and affection. But then, that’s how these stories work, isn’t it? They are to be borrowed, stolen from, embellished, twisted and tweaked, and passed along from hand to hand to be savored. Angela Carter is a noted practitioner of this art. But Carter can be so lush, so lurid, so overripe as to seep into a surfeit of blood and detail.
Link does not do this. Even in the less successful, overelaborate story “The Game of Smash and Recovery,” the Handmaid servant-creatures who “briskly” (what a perfect adverb here!) tear a vampire to shreds are also tender, clever, and protective. The scavenging cloaked vampires with “jellied skin” and “armies of teeth” also bow their long necks, dance, and “sing propitiatory songs.” They never tip over into sheer blood-and-guts horror grossness.
Link is wry, she is often funny; her characters patronize massage therapists who charge extra for removal of malevolent spirits, struggle over an unfinished dissertation and sexual awkwardness, curse copiously, use a cellphone light to navigate a haunted cavern. And she can turn a beautiful sentence: “[she] watches them go swooping, sail-winged, away and over the horizon beneath Home’s scatter of mismatched moons.” At the end of “The Bremen Town Musicians,” the narrator has escaped a violent death at a terrible cost, to himself and someone he loved dearly. He muses: “Perhaps someone who should not read this letter will read it as I once read Meredith’s letters and the letters of other men and women. But I do not hope. I do not hope but still I hope and do not know what I am hoping for.”
I’m hoping for yet more visiting bears, devoted lovers, embroidered foxes, honorable sons, and evil fairies doing Jazzercise in Hell, under a scatter of mismatched moons.

Creepy stories with a pan’s Labyrinth vibe. Based on fairytales, Link’s latest story collection sings.

Kelly Link is so fun to read! The twisted fairy tale concept is gold. Overall, really liked it but the collection felt a little uneven to me - almost put it away after the girl who did not know fear and skipped the smash and recovery story.

Highly recommended for fans of literary story collections, Kelly Link's latest combines the weird with the elegant, the fantastical with the fairytale.

Inspired by 7 fairytales, some of which were familiar to me, many of which were not, these stories are at times macabre and strange, even a bit unsettling. But each is well-done and thought-provoking. The collection has a lovely, dreamlike quality and is very atmospheric. Some of the endings are left open to interpretation as there are no clear winners or losers and (as in life) no easy answers.

These folklorish tales never drift too far unto the outlandish. Link has a firm grasp of her material, and the stories stick with you.

Wow, this is my first Kelly Link experience and it was wonderful!

Her stories creep under your skin and stay there for awhile. This collection of reimagined fairy tales was so creative and bonkers that they felt like completely new tales. Every story was so atmospheric and I was left wanting more (in a good way)!

Favourites:
- The White Cat’s Divorce: Starts off the collection with a very typically formatted fairy tale (3 sons sent to complete 3 tasks), with a very non-typical ending
- The White Road: A story of a travelling troupe of actors in a dystopia where malevolent creatures can attack at any moment
- Skinder’s Veil: A graduate student finds himself housesitting a very strange house.

Very enjoyable! While the stories followed different styles, there were consistently interesting twists. My favorites were the "The White Cat's Divorce" and "The Lady and the Fox" - the latter was a take on Tam Lin, and I had Steeleye Span's version of "Tam Lin" sing in my head while I read it.

"The Game of Smash and Recovery" (Hansel and Gretel) was more science-fiction-ish, and less fantasy, than most of the stories - the author's ability to change styles is part of what makes the book fun to read. I appreciate authors who are still doing short stories that I can read in chunks of spare time; there's not always time to tackle a 600-page volume of a trilogy, and these short stories are satisfying for those times. Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me the eARC of this book!

Kind of an off-the-wall pick for me, as I don’t normally read/review short story collections, but I was drawn in by the premise of modern-day takes on fairy tales, and it seemed short enough to not overstay its welcome. As with most short story collections, it’s a mixed bag, but I mostly enjoyed my experience. I think the premise of giving fairy tales a modern day spin is stretching it a bit though, as most of the stories here take names and place inspiration, but not much else.

The White Cat’s Divorce (The White Cat) – 3/5, I actually knew a variation of this story from Japan, told there as The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, but I thought this was a nice take. Kinda drug/pot-heavy, but still a nice tale.

Prince Hat Underground (East of the Sun, West of the Moon) – 4/5, I don’t know the source material for this one, but I thought this managed to be both dark and light-hearted at the same time. I appreciate the lengths Gary was willing to go to get his Prince Hat back.

The White Road (The Musicians of Bremen) – 5/5, very little to do with the Musicians of Bremen beyond some names, but still manages to be one of my favorites of the collection. Very dark, creepy, with an expected/unexpected conclusion. Wish more was discussed about what it actually was, but as this is meant as a short story, it’s understandable.

The Girl Who Did Not Know Fear (The Boy Who Did Not Know Fear) – 3/5, There was <i>so much</i> build-up in this one that I was all about, but in the end I’m not entirely sure what the story was about. Unsettling to me, but not much else.

The Game of Smash and Recovery (Hansel and Gretel) – 4/5, Another unsettling one where I’m not sure who won and who lost, but I loved the sci-fi ride. I wasn’t expecting the ending we got, for sure.

The Lady and the Fox (Tam Lin) – 3/5, Cute and warm and fuzzy, very Christmas-y. Kind of felt out of place with the rest of the stories in this collection though, just based on tone. Unanswered questions in this one as well, I think the lack of answers detracts from the story in this one though.

Skinder’s Veil (Snow-White and Rose-Red) – 5/5, woah. Easily the weirdest/creepiest one of the batch. I really enjoyed the atmosphere and the characters. Anything I could say further would spoil the ending, but I wasn’t expecting it.

So overall, an out-of-the-ordinary pick for me, but I actually really enjoyed the experience. They definitely hit the mark as being modern-day fairy tales, but they aren’t super faithful to the originals, which is fine. If you’re looking for authentic retellings, this isn’t your book, but otherwise if the premise sounds interesting, give it a go.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free electronic copy in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this collection so much that I’m tempted to pre-order the book to have a physical copy, even though I am moving and existing in a liminal space for the next few months. My favorite stories were the retelling of Snow White and Rose Red (a Grimm Brothers’ story about two stepsisters not related to that other, more famous, Snow White) about a PhD student housesitting in Vermont in a house with strange rules and unexpected guests and “Prince Hat Underground,” which is a retelling of “East of the Sun and West of the Moon,”a Norwegian fairy tale that I wasn’t familiar with before reading Kelly Link’s version.

In “Prince Hat Underground,” an old couple who love each other very much but have kept many secrets from each other end up having to confront those secrets after one of them, Prince Hat, is abducted by his former fiancée from many decades ago after Agnes spots him at brunch. Prince Hat’s ordinary human husband Gary ends up going on a quest to rescue him and encounters all kinds of trials and tribulations, including, but not limited to: struggling to get help from a random bartender in Reykjavík who can’t speak English, running into immortal beings slut-shaming Prince Hat, and confronting Agnes herself in Hell, which in this world appears as suburbia. “Prince Hat Underground” is on the longer side for a short story, but Link’s precise prose and sense of humor keep it moving quickly. I hope you don’t mind the spoiler that they do end up happily together again at the end.

These stories are brimming with Link’s sense of humor and heart—I laughed out loud many times. If you love fairytales, you will love this collection. If you don’t like fairytales, maybe these stories will show you why they have endured so long.

Thank you PRH, NetGalley, and the author for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

“White Cat, Black Dog” is a short story collection of adaptations of modern fairy tales.

I was surprised to not recognize most of the original fairy tales that this collection adapts. Luckily, each adaptation begins with the title of the fairy tale it retells. I appreciated this choice so I was able to look up the original tale before reading each adaptation.

These retellings are spooky. Not necessarily scary, but they’re vaguely unsettling in a way I can’t quite articulate. Maybe it’s the casual treatment of dark magical realism? The way details are slowly revealed? The vivid, sometimes disgusting imagery? The allegory? The ways some just left me thinking WTF?

Ranking each story:
The White Cat’s Divorce: 3⭐️
Prince Hat Underground: 3⭐️
The White Road: 4⭐️
The Girl Who Did Not Know Fear: 3⭐️
The Game of Smash and Recovery: DNF
The Lady and the Fox: 4⭐️
Skinder’s Veil: 5⭐️

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!!

When I was 18 I read Kelly Link's short story collection Get in Trouble and it set the bar for me for short stories, so you can only imagine my excitement at seeing a release date for White Cat, Black Dog. And then even more excitement when I got an ARC from NetGalley!

I loved this collection of short stories so much, and it's always such a pleasure to read Link's work. I thought this was a very cohesive collection and I thought that the order in which the stories were placed flowed very well. I really liked Link's take on retellings and her ability to seamlessly blend the fantastic with the mundane (like writing your PhD dissertation in a certified Creepy House!) and the vague feeling of an unsettling world in these stories was just excellent. I found each story satisfying and dazzling, though my favorites are probably Prince Hat Underground and Skinder's Veil.

In any case, Kelly Link never disappoints me and this was, to me, a perfect collection.

I'm not convinced Kelly Link lives on the same plane of existence as many of the rest of us--certainly she doesn't think there. Nearly every encounter I have with one of her stories leaves me thinking that hers are unlike other stories... even others of hers. I went into this collection of fairy tale retellings with no idea of what to expect, and I was right!

Link's writing often lives, if it calls any place home for long, at the place where weird fiction and literary fiction meet. This latest collection has seven stories with <i>some</i> connection to fairy tales, and though each begins both with its own title and the title of the tale it draws from in parentheses, the connection is clearer in some cases than others. Her adaptation of Tam Lin is the most straightforwardly identifiable in its relationship to the source material as well as being the most fatasy-esque (also it's utterly lovely). Several, while having a titular connection to one fairy tale, evoke multiple tales at once; East O the Sun, West O the Moon feels like an Orpheus tale as well as several others besides. A few use what seem at first like an altogether unrelated story to bring your attention to elements or dynamics you missed in the story as you were used to thinking of it (The White Cat's Divorce).

A couple tales had connections to their source material that struck me as either tenuous at best or possibly as just having gone entirely over my head; both options seem equally likely. One tale, ostensibly based on the Grimm story about a boy who couldn't feel fear (I half-recall the title in German translating to the Boy Who Couldn't Shudder), was so esoteric that any real link to the original escaped me, although I enjoyed and was unsettled by reading it. The adaptation of Hansel and Gretel is a space science fiction story dedicated to Iain M. Banks that contains a sibling-like relationship and abandonment of said siblings, but otherwise nothing I could see that had any thematic or other ties to Hansel & Gretel. It was a damn good story, though, and I didn't mind it a bit.

A word of caution for anyone who might be thinking that fairy tale-inspired short stories might be suited for kids: these probably aren't. There are references to recreational substance use and sex (I'm happy to report excellent queer rep). Overall, Kelly Link is a wonder, and one kind of had to figure that if she did a collection of stories inspired by fairy tales, they'd be weird stories that get under your skin, never anything predictable. A strange and delightful collection. Thanks to Netgalley and Random House for the ARC--my opinions are entirely my own.

‘White Cat, Black Dog’ contains seven reimagining of classic fairy tales. Those familiar with Link, a MacArthur genius and esteemed short story writer, will not be surprised at the expertise on display in this collection. Each story is thematically linked by its fairy tale origins but offers unique, one of kind characters. The collection is elevated by illustrations by Shaun Tan and the sum of it all may be enough to cement Link's status as the current master of the short story.

Author extraordinaire Kelly Link’s enchanting new collection of original fairy tales, #WhiteCat,BlackDog is one of the most beguiling experiences I’ve had with a book since I learned how to read about 70 years ago. #White Cat, Black Dog is a whole lot cheaper than a trip to Disney World, and by my standards more magical to boot. Enjoy the journey !

The first two stories didn’t do it for me. They were fine, not necessarily anything I’d look to revisit in the future. But then as soon as the third story began, I was captivated, and Link managed to keep me hooked until the last page of the book.

There’s a recurring theme here of not belonging, or being out of place, and I love when a short story collection has that simple common thread tying the whole set into a bow. Link’s characters feel alive in the magical settings she traps them, and you’ll spend the whole story rooting for the character to escape while also hoping they’re stuck forever because the story is just too delicious to end.

This is a collection worthy of occupying my precious shelf space and I look forward to making room for it upon release.

This was an amazing collection of short stories that are twists on folk tales. Some of them follow the folk tale more closely and others I couldn't quite make the connection. There was only one story I didn't like as much as the others. Almost all of them have a mythical and magical feel to them in varying degrees. And some are disturbing. I didn't want this book to end and already placed my pre-order. I want to read more from Link now!

A set of modern fairy tales with an urban twist. Grimm style — brothers on quests, rescue missions to the underworld, etc. — but with more contemporary elements — a talking white cat who manages a Colorado marijuana farm, a faithful and persistent gay lover who tracks his husband to Hell, a post apocalyptic world where corpses provide protection against the terrorizing creepies. Well-written and surprisingly classic in nature. A lot of recent books seem to be modernizing existing fairytales but this one is absolutely adding new items to the Canon.