Guest Post: Short Fiction Starter Pack — Ursula Vernon

[helloladies]

Ursula Vernon is one of my all-time favorite fantasy writers, and it’s criminal that her work isn't better known. Her stories are thoroughly engrossing and often laugh-out-loud funny. I love the wise women, determined girls, talking animals, and deep sense of practicality found throughout her work. Fairy tales and folktales take a prize place in her work, and I've included several retellings among my recommendations.

Ursula Vernon also writes as T. Kingfisher, and the stories I share here are written under both names. For her longer work, T. Kingfisher usually denotes adult fiction compared to her work for children, but her short stories tend to vary in tone, whether or not they're written under the name "Ursula Vernon." She’s one of my go-to authors for lighter, happier stories, but she’s got a few darker ones as well. The stories below are some of my favorite by her, and they span the gamut of her work, from light-hearted fairy tale retellings to a couple of stories with a darker edge. I hope you love them as much as I do!

"Jackalope Wives" — If you’re going to read just one story by Ursula Vernon, it should be this Nebula-winning tale of Grandma Harken and her fool of a grandson who tries to catch himself a Jackalope wife. Grandma Harken might not be exactly a witch, but she’s got more than a touch of magic about her and heaps of common sense, which is lucky because she’s left cleaning up her grandson’s mess.

"Bluebeard's Wife" – This has to be my favorite version of the "Bluebeard" fairy tale I've ever read. When the protagonist marries Bluebeard and he gives her a key to a room at the top of his tower, telling her never to go up there, she respects privacy far too much to go against his wishes. It takes her twenty years to learn the truth.

"Sun, Moon, Dust" – Allpa is a potato farmer, and he's entirely happy farming potatoes and carrying for goats. This is slightly unfortunate, as his grandmother left him a magic sword with three warrior spirits determined to train him in fighting. This story is ridiculously cute, and it's worth noting that it stars queer characters!

"The Dryad's Shoe" – This story was pitched to me as "aroace Cinderella," so it’s no surprise I love it so much! Hannah couldn’t care less about balls definitely doesn’t want to marry a prince. But she loves gardening and would like to get a look at that greenhouse she’s heard about...

"The Dark Birds" – Of all the stories on the list, this one’s the heaviest. The narrator's family always has three daughters: Baby, Susan, and Ruth. When a new daughter is born, the eldest is devoured by their father, the monster living in the basement.

Sarah Waites has been reading science fiction and fantasy for as long as she can remember. Her book blog, The Illustrated Page, covers SFF books through a queer feminist lens. You can follow her on Twitter at coolcurrybooks.

Comments

[krait]

I always tell myself that I'm going to read more Ursula Vernon, because I love Digger and Jackalope Wives, and then it gets shuffled onto my enormous to-be-read pile and I get no forrarder on it.

This is a good place to start; thanks for the links!

[cgbookcat1]

As a follow-up to Jackalope Wives, check out The Tomato Thief. It's one of my favorites.

https://www.apex-magazine.com/the-tomato-thief/

[aoftheis]

I think I may actually have read every single one of Ursula Vernon's short stories -- I have both her collections -- and this is an excellent handpicked bunch!

For anyone who gets along with these stories, her novels as T. Kingfisher and/or Ursula Vernon have a very similar no-nonsense hilarity to them. <3

[kore]

Thank you, this is great! //here from a link