This book was a lot of fun to read. All the different sorts of Punk were interesting, as I hadn't been aware of so many options !!

I like that a lot of the stories are retellings of fairy tales, but quirky. ( i love quirky!) There are some LGBTQIA, as well.

I found this very enjoyable, and well arranged. I would definitely read more with Rhonda Parrish as the editor, and now I have some new authors to look for !

This book of punked up fairy tales was a very interesting read! I loved the creativity the authors used to alter well known and little known fairy tales. I'm not usually one for war stories, but there were many in here that I enjoyed. The anthology features lots of strong women, Nazi fighting, and hope. I also liked that not all the stories were based on Western-world tales. As usual, Parrish has put together an anthology with stories that are varied and diverse, so there will be at least one or two that any reader will enjoy.

As a fan of fantasy short stories AND WWI/WWII, this collection is a treat! I liked some better than others, which is always true of any group of stories, but recommend it as well worth the read!

Take the Brothers Grimm, drop in diesel-punk, add in fairy tales from around the world and a few noir settings, turn on the blender, and puree. A nice collection of short stories that blend a wide variety of fairy tales with World War - World War II settings . My favorite tales from this collection are "A Princess, A Spy, and a Dwarf Walk into A Bar Full of Nazis," " Steel Dragons of a Luminous Sky," and "As the Spindle Burns" with "Accidents are Not Possible" a close contender. if you like fairy tales retold in imaginative ways, pick up this collection and enjoy!

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read this!

My Review

This book is a real treat!  I didn't realise from the call for submissions it was just 'retell a fairy tale in a wildly different setting' although that's pretty much what the call said.  How far does one have to go to avoid plagiarism?

As it turns out, reimagining fairy tales is not plagiarism, and you can use exactly the same names if you like.  Just put them in a completely different setting, with some imaginative twists, so that the reader almost knows what's coming, but it's enjoyably different. And since I'm a bit hazy on some of the fairy tales included, I didn't actually know what was likely to happen anyway.

I can honestly say that I loved nearly all the stories.  It just got a tiny bit tedious towards the end.  Maybe three fewer stories in the anthology would have worked better for me. 

The editor confesses she included two that weren't exactly on theme, but I'm glad she included them, because they were brilliant. They may have been my favourites.  But I was ready to say that after each of the first five.  They were all excellent.

Grimm, Grit and Gasoline is an absolute gem, and a great book for picking up and putting down again a short while later. Or just continuing to the next one if you're not short of time. Look out for more!

Dear Contributors,

I was intrigued by the premise of this anthology – fairy and folk tale re-imaginings in a dieselpunk or decopunk setting and decided to pick up the ebook for review knowing little more than that.

As the blurb tells readers: “Dieselpunk and decopunk are alternative history re-imaginings of (roughly) the WWI and WWII eras: tales with the grit of roaring bombers and rumbling tanks, of ‘We Can Do It’ and old time gangsters, or with the glamour of flappers and Hollywood starlets, smoky jazz and speakeasies.”

The 16 stories in the anthology cover the span of alternative time from WWI to WWII, sometimes skirting (or stepping over altogether) the strict definitions of the genre and are of varying length, ranging from 3 or so pages to 30. There was a spareness to the stories I read; a lack of deep characterisation which would bother me in a novel but which I expect in a fairy tale.

It’s like nothing I’ve read before but I trusted that there would be at least some happy endings to the fairy tales in the book. I didn’t know how much romance would be there but references to Cinderella and Swan Lake and Rapunzel in the book’s description suggested that there would be some. Um? Not so much, really. *cries forever*

If one goes into the anthology looking for something other than what I did, I think it would work a lot better but I was hoping for more romance. I didn’t end up finishing the book. I read about half of it. One story in particular kind of broke me. After that, I tried to continue but I became a little scared of what might be coming and instead I made excuse after excuse to read something else instead. After a month, I called it and admitted to myself I wasn’t going back.

I’m not saying this is a DNF in the usual sense, even though I didn’t finish. The stories aren’t bad and neither is the book. But it’s not the kind of book I want to read and I’ve got to the point where life’s too short to read what doesn’t do it for me.

Rather than list my thoughts on the stories I did read – I hope it gives DA readers the flavour of the book – who knows it might just be for you. Just don’t go in expecting or hoping for any kind of romance or an abundance of happy endings or you’ll be destined for disappointment.

Circles and Salt by Sara Cleto

This one is a take on the Grimm fairytale “The Girl Without Hands” (to be honest I didn’t even look up what the original story was because the title was quite enough and I know some of those original stories are extremely dark). While there is, strictly speaking, no romance in it, I’d like to think there’s the beginnings of a f/f romance happening between Elodie, a girl who has to keep constantly moving or stay still only in a chalk circle so the devil doesn’t get her and June, the girl who helps her. (Both girls have hands at the end).

Salvage by A.A. Medina

A very (very!) short take on Pinnochio. It was too short to really go anywhere for me. The writing was good but I’d have liked more exposition.

The Loch by Zannier Alejandra

Inspired by Swan Lake, this was one of the longer tales in the book. I had mixed feelings about it. The “swans” are escapees from Auschwitz, having been magically transformed by a “Romani witch”. The hero is “Sig” a WWII pilot who has a talking plane called Reggie. I loved the concept of the talking plane and would have liked more about it – while Sig and his swan had a complete tale, the broader story feels untold. What happened to Reggie? Will he and Betsy be a thing? Some of the characterisations were a little off-putting, some were subversive and others never turned. In the end, the concept of this one worked better for me than the actuality. I’d really like more about Reggie though.

Evening Chorus by Lizz Donnelly

A retelling of The Nightingale in the speakeasy age. Something about the story put me in mind of The Greatest Showman and when I looked up the original fairy tale on Wikipedia I found out that it was apparently inspired by Jenny Lind and Hans Christian Anderson’s unrequited love for her. Jenny Lind must have been something.

To Go West by Laura VanArendonk Baugh
Based on The Monkey King. There were some similes I didn’t understand. I’m unfamiliar with the original story so that didn’t help. It didn’t feel like either dieselpunk or decopunk – to me it had the vibe of the old wild west but with supernatural creatures.

The Neugdae by Juliet Harper
Red Riding Hood set in Korea during the war. Oh god. Super violent. Did not like.

CW rape, murder.

I did give it points for the villain being an American which felt unusual and perhaps even brave but I did not like the rest of the story at all and found it quite distressing. This was the story that broke me. It was far too dark for me. I’d rate myself in the average range or even a little on the low side on the “sensitivity to violence scale” in books but this one blew threw every limit in a very short page count. I guess it’s well written? It’s certainly been haunting me ever since I read it. My indelible memory of this anthology is this story, notwithstanding that it is immediately followed by a much happier story I liked very much. The more I thought about The Neugdae (and I couldn’t help but do this) the more it bothered me and the less I wanted to read on in case I struck another story of similar darkness. I feel kind of bad about not attempting the other stories. Who knows. Maybe they’re all fabulous and happy and uplifting but I just couldn’t.

The Rescue of Tresses Malone by Alena VanArendonk
Rapunzel! Fun rescue story set in the 20s with rival gangsters. No romance exactly but I have hope of what happens after the final scene. I liked this one a lot. The sense of place was very strong, the characters drawn well and the pacing was fast. The whole concept here was entertaining and interesting. This story was my favourite of all the ones I read.

Daughters of Earth and Air by Robert E. Vardeman

A take on The Little Mermaid. Bittersweet, it’s fairly faithful to the original actually but set in WWI (or possibly WWII – it wasn’t clear to me and didn’t really matter to the story either way). It’s not exactly a happy ending but it’s not entirely terrible either. Nothing fun for romance lovers however. I knew some of these fairy tales were dark but honestly, I prefer the Disney versions.



I’m not going to grade this anthology. I didn’t read all of it for one thing but the main issue for me is that it wasn’t what I thought it was going to be and that’s not the book’s fault. For readers who are into dark and unhappy folk tales and don’t mind reading at least some confronting violence in amongst the stories, it might be just the thing. Me? I’m heading back into my romance comfort zone where I feel safe and happy.

Regards,
Kaetrin

Please note that I did not rate this book at Dear Author. I've only rated it here because I can't leave the stars blank to give feedback. I'm not sure what rating to give. I didn't like the book but that's mostly on me.

Another fascinating story by this talented writer. First book for me by this author but definitely not my last. Definitely a lot of action.

I really enjoyed these stories based on after steampunk type steampunk tales, there was some really deep ones and enjoyed the depth given to characters in all. The writers were able to cover diversity without effort in a refreshing way I was delighted to also find in another book I just finished it was neither contrived forced or artificial or forced which is something I find annoying. Definitely a great book to pick up and go through

Beautiful collection of rapturous, illuminating tales that truly capture the era. I've never taken an interest in Decopunk or Dieselpunk, but the stories were evocatively spun and I now want to explore this genre further.

A fun collection of fairy and folk tales with a DIeselpunk spin, I really enjoyed this collection of stories collected together by Rhonda Parrish. I had never heard of this genre before, but I was immediately drawn to the cover, and once I read the explanatory introduction I knew that I would enjoy this book.. To explain, Dieselpunk is a little like Steampunk, but set at a later date, instead of the Victorian era associated with steampunk, these stories are largely set in the era of the first and second world wars, and the period in between. A talented group of writers have embraced the challenge and written their own versions of stories such as Rapunzel, Pinocchio and Sleeping Beauty, where mechanics and oil lend a helping hand to the magic and mythology. It is rare that I enjoy all the stories in an anthology collection, but I have to say that I could not find any weakness in this collection, all of the stories were enjoyable. Of course I did have favourites, most notably As The Spindle Burns by Nellie K Neves, Salvage by A.A. Medina and The Rescue of Tresses Malone by Alena Van Arendonk. I loved that several of the stories featured Queer characters and /or were written by Queer authors, Overall a book filled with as much grit as glamour and one I enjoyed immensely
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own

I have begun to look forward to each offering from editor Rhonda Parrish and World Weaver Press, as their compilations of short stories have yet to disappoint. “Grimm, Grit, and Gasoline,” a mixture of Dieselpunk, Decopunk, and fairy tales, is no exception.

There are nineteen stories from different authors, and none of them disappointed. Yes, there are some I enjoyed more than others, but I never experienced the feeling that a tale was lacking and that I would be better served to skip to the next one. There were more fairy tale adaptations than I expected, though I found them to be creative and not entirely dependent upon the original story.

Some of my favorites included “The Rescue of Tresses Malone,” a detective/gangster setting mixed with a fairy tale brought to life by Alena Van Arendonk. Nellie K. Neves combined wartime adventurers and dieselpunk with a fairy tale, “As the Spindle Burns.” I also enjoyed the twists and turns in Jack Bates’ mystery story, “Bonne Chance Confidential.” And how could anyone resist the enticing title from Patrick Bollivar, “A Princess, a Spy, and a Dwarf Walked into a Bar Full of Nazis.”

This book is chockful of strong, heroic women who are given interesting plots to wind their way through. Creative ideas will keep readers turning the pages all the way to the end. Five stars.

My thanks to NetGalley and Kobo Writing Life for an advance electronic copy of this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
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I really enjoyed this compilation. The decopunk and steampunj genres are some of my favourites and the very idea of fairytale adaptations in these genres was enough to request an ARC of this.

The stories are unique and feature some of the most well-known characters as well as lesser known fairytales.

Each author has their own distinct style and I enjoyed reading all of them.

Overall rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of 5 stars

this was a great anthology, each story was done great and you could tell each author's writing was different but still felt like a cohesive collection.

Had I known this wasn't available to read on my Kindle, I wouldn't have asked for it. I won't be able to read and review it in this format. Thank you anyway!

These authors take us to a different world with a set of alternative history stories. Retellings and new stories give readers much to play with...now that I’ve checked out the digital copy, I want a paperback to share! Fun reading.