#The Unicorn Anthology

[quirkycatsfatstacks]

Review: The Unicorn Anthology

Editors: Peter S. Beagle, Jacob WeismanAuthors: Marina Fitch, Dave Smeds, Nancy Springer, Carlos Hernandez, Karen Joy Fowler, Sara A. Meuller, David D. Levine, Carrie Vaughn, Jack C. Haldeman II, Margo Lanagan, Caitlin R. Kiernan, A.C. WisePublisher: Tachyon PublicationsReleased: April 19, 2017Received: NetGalleyFind it on Goodreads | More Anthologies Book Summary: Did you grow up on fairy…

[the-modern-typewriter]

Hi!

My best friend's short story collection just came out!! (It's here on Goodreads).

Ancient British myths reimagined According to stories, we share our world with a menagerie of mysterious creatures. What happens when those creatures appear in the modern world? Do fairies still like traditional offerings of herbs and spices? Do unicorns still live in forests? Do sea serpents still yearn to eat innocent maidens? This collection of stories brings myths from across the UK to a modern world with offices, cities and fast food restaurants. The consequences are often comedic, sometimes horrific and always surprising.

I haven't written my proper goodreads review for it yet (it's on the agenda) but as a huge queer fairytale fan I loved it!

The style is just delightfully cosy and funny compared to anything I could ever come up with. I also really like that at the end she talks about all of the original versions of the myths, so if you're interested in local folklore from the UK it's also great for that.

Give it a go if you fancy reading about Jack Frost falling in love with the Green Man, goblins running amok in the office printer, ghost dogs and more!

You can talk to her on Twitter or whatever it's called @ficcaholic.

[andrewmcdowellauthor]

Check out my fantasy book series and fantasy and horror anthologies featuring my work, courtesy of @faecorpspublishing!

[ink-flavored]

Urban Fantasy Animals

I couldn't resist adding a small zoo of magical animals to this WIP, most of which are specifically for the joy of having a little magical pet. Here I have outlined the favorites of mine that I'll be including in the various anthology stories! You can find this and more world-building details on my Neocities site! Unnamed Urban Fantasy Anthology Taglist (Check out my Google Form to get added): @foxys-fantasy-tales @auroblaze @thelaughingstag @auntdarth @damageinkorporated

Dragon

European and Eastern type, drakes, wyverns, wyrms, etc.

Can be as small as a ferret, or the size of a Great Dane

Are kept as pets regularly

Depending on the species, dragon behaviors can vary from "lazy cat" to "purebred working border collie", so it's very important to research the kind of dragon that's right for the home

Griffon

Originally a lion and an eagle, but can be any combination of cat and bird after years of selective breeding and the influence of magic in different regions

The larger species’ are big enough for an adult to ride comfortably, but there are also smaller breeds kept as pets

Unicorn

Can be any horse with a horn glued on it

Are particularly picky about who they allow to ride them

Basically just a magic horse, so it's used for transportation, sports, pets, animal therapy, etc.

Pegasus

Can be any horse with wings glued on it

Incredibly skittish, even compared to a standard horse

Basically just a horse with wings, so it's used for transportation, sports, pets, animal therapy, etc.

Hippocampus

The upper body of any horse with the lower body of various fish

Used in water rescues, sports, and short-distance water transportation and recreation (think of them like living motorboats or jet skis)

Mimic

Modern day mimics can copy standard mimic objects (chests, rocks, etc.), but also modern-day objects, like music boxes, safes, microwaves, etc.

Most of them are wild animals, but can be kept as exotic pets

As they grow, they mimic bigger and bigger things, with the treasure chest size being the biggest. Technically, they never stop growing, but as they age, growth and mimicry become a larger and larger burden. Nearly every mimic dies of old age before it can even begin to mimic something bigger than a chest.

Imagine a venus flytrap crossed with a hermit crab

Gargoyle

Carved from a special magic rock that comes alive when crafted

Behave like magic pigeons, flying down from buildings to beg for pebbles

Are also kept as pets. Some are even specially commissioned!

Basilisk

Created by a chicken hatching a reptile egg

Giant serpentine creature with chicken features, poison breath, leaves a trail of venom wherever it slithers, and is able to kill with a glance

Often confused with a cockatrice

Cockatrice

Created by a reptile hatching a chicken egg

A giant chicken with serpentine features, with similar powers to the basilisk, including being able to kill by glancing at its targets

Often confused with a basilisk

Phoenix

Classic phoenix, the bird that dies and comes back to life from its own ashes

Although it appears to be "coming back to life" it's actually how the phoenix reproduces in stressful situations—the new baby bird is a genetic clone, not the same animal

A well cared for phoenix should NOT be regularly bursting into flames

Jackalope

Bunny with antlers <3

Often kept as pets

Wolpertinger

“The most widespread description portrays the Wolpertinger as having the head of a rabbit, the body of a squirrel, the antlers of a deer, and the wings and occasionally the legs of a pheasant.” (thanks Wikipedia)

Often kept as pets, but are much more temperamental than a jackalope.

Will-o-the-Wisp

Little blips of magical essence where intense spells have left remnants

Familiar

Can be any animal or combo of animals

Soul-spirit created through magical willpower that calls the latent magic around you into a fully realized form, bonded to your soul and devoted to helping you

Looks like an animal (standard or magical)

Follows you around like a wisp—you can barely see it out of the corner of your eye, but it lights up and becomes more immediately visible when you’re in need of magical aid

Created by a magic user in an intense emotional state, most often completely by accident. You can attempt to call a familiar on purpose, but it’s not common

Can also be created from two or more people having an intense emotional/magical experience together/when their spells interact. The resulting familiar will be loyal to all parties involved

In the event a familiar has to help more than one bonded individual at once, it can fracture into less powerful mirrors of itself, and snap back together once aid is no longer required

When not in helper mode, the familiar will remain in a quantum state, everywhere and nowhere at once, until one of its soul-bound partners needs its assistance

[versegm]

If you read indie books play indie games listen to indie musik or generally appreciate any form of art by lesser-known people my challenge for you is to comment on this post with at least one recommendation for a work you wish was better-known. The more obscure it is the better.

For now here are some of mine:

Love Letter - 18+ Trans-Gay Zine. It's all in the title, a short zine on being a trans dude who loves other dudes.

Inuit Uppirijatuqangit - ᐃᓄᐃᑦ ᐅᑉᐱᕆᔭᑐᖃᖏᑦ. "A hidden object game in which users explore 4 unique areas in and around an Inuit community." Short game to learn native myths & sayings.

Longsummer Night, an anthology of monster romances. It's got like fifteen stories there's got to be SOMETHING you'll like in here (personally I would have paid full price for "Labris" alone this shit blew my tits off)

Player Two is Unprepared, a one-page satyrical RPG making fun of ya boy Ready Player One. It's fucking hilarious I was giggling the entire time I read this.

The Unicorn's Beard, a short story about a doctor being hired to take care of the queen's unicorn.

Pine Sap, a poetry collection. "That's just the heart talking, you can never trust those. pick a more stable organ to listen to, like the spleen, or the gallbladder” lives rent-free in my head.

A Strip of Velvet, a 18+ monster romance featuring hunters and old gods.

Fire and Wolf, the book I won't shut the fuck up about, YA sci-fi/fantasy about kids accidentally pulling an NPC out of a VR videogame.

Btw if yourself dabble in creative endeavors you can self promote on this post too go wild.

[shirecorn]

Have you ever read/watched The Last Unicorn?

I watched that religiously as a young child! Later on I read it and the epilogue/sequel, Two Hearts, which is in a shorts anthology The Line Between by the author, Peter S. Beagle. It was worth reading, but the other shorts were actually much better, especially Salt Wine. The last unicorn is sososososo important to me and who I became.

The Last Unicorn taught me and my siblings how to peel potatoes. It's very important

I've researched documentaries, interviews, and articles about the last unicorn, I wrote essays about it for school, and I ended up obsessing over all things unicorns for several years. I got really into medieval tapestries from The Hunt of the Unicorn, and then jumped around from series to series consuming all the unicorn media I could find. Of course I read The unicorns of Balinor, though I always had a problem with black unicorns with red eyes being evil. they sounded cool and goth to me. Red eyed black unicorn for president.

There was another series that I can't find for the life of me, but it had the most beautiful illustrations. I remember unicorns could go between our world and theirs, but when they came here they would remove their horn and could play it like a flute. The problem in the unicorn world was crystals growing over all the unicorn eyes, rendering them blind, but they were healed in the end by rubbing melted gold in their eyes. It might have been The Unicorn Chronicles but I can't find anything about the parts I remember, nor the illustrations.

Thanks to people in the replies, it was The Unicorn Sonata, also by peter s beagle. My man can write!

There was this one book I read over and over again that was an anthology of unicorn stories and book excerpts, including the last book of Narnia, which got me hyped up but in the end Jewel's screentime was disappointing. One of the stories had unicorn horns ground up to create medicine, another dancing among glowing flowers at night. The illustrations for that book were so important.

I dearly love unicorns, always have. I even convinced my "unicorns are magic and magic is evil" mom to stop cutting the horns off our unicorn toys by telling her that ancient tapestries and medieval bestiaries created unicorns as a representation of Jesus (how true that is is up for debate) which I learned from walking to the library and spending all day there in a pile of unicorn books.

It's been so many years since I have seen The Last Unicorn. It feels sacred, like I don't dare look at it. Not because I could break it, but because it might break me. Watching Molly Grue from the comfort of childhood shields you from "Where were you when I was new?"

When I am this.

I don't know about you but I think my heart would break

[copperbadge]

Did you ever read the Dragon Riders of Pern books?

I did, yes! When I was eleven or twelve, in the early 90s, I came into possession of a stash of vintage 70s Anne McCaffrey books -- the first three Dragonriders books (Flight, Quest, and White Dragon) plus the Harper books (Song, Singer, Drums) and Get Off The Unicorn, and I think Ship Who Sang and possibly Crystal Singer, most of them in the original pulp paperback. At the time she was still publishing fairly frequently so once I tore through those I started reading the rest, to the point where, when The Girl Who Heard Dragons came out when I was in my middle teens, I was caught up and super eager for the new anthology (which I adored). We didn't have a lot of money then and almost none for books I could as easily get out of the library, so getting the hardbound version with all the gorgeous Michael Whelan illustrations as a gift was a real treat.

Anne McCaffrey was essentially my introduction to adult SFF, along with Terry Pratchett beginning about a year later. She was certainly my introduction to written erotica. And her writing was a huge influence on mine structurally -- she has a pretty specific way of structuring sentences and paragraphs and when I re-read her books I can see where a lot of my prose style came from even today.

I was aware at the time that there were, shall we say, some issues with her writing, particularly surrounding consent (she acknowledges as much in Get Off The Unicorn, not that she ends up doing anything about it, ever) and I'm aware of her extremely weird and problematic statements about homosexuality. Not to mention she was one of the authors who not only didn't like fanfic but flip-flopped a bit about whether she would "allow" it to be circulated. It's a mixed legacy in general, and certainly for me. But the dragonriders books and especially Dragonsong and Dragonsinger hold a specific and special place in my heart, as does The Ship Who Searched.

[lipeg]

If you ask what rubbish this is, well I'll explain.

RWBY Volume 9: Beyond, also known as RWBY Beyond, is an animated series that premiered on April 13th, 2024 on Rooster Teeth for free. It is a storybook-style anthology series focusing on stories happening in Remnant during and after Volume 9. The series will consist of four episodes.

Despite the announcement of the closure of Rooster Teeth Productions in early 2024, Kerry Shawcross ( The idiot won't be present hallelujah! ) revealed that RWBY Volume 9: Beyond and other of their shows will still release as planned.

Cause you didn't want to lose ( But there is something better to waste your precious time studying or playing Unicorn Overlord )

The first episode called Jr. Detectives or Two Idiots retards who are acting like children.

Sun Wukong and Neptune Vasilias, acting as Junior Detectives, investigate the disappearance of Team RWBY and Jaune Arc. The two act out various interrogations, with Neptune playing the roles of Lie Ren, Qrow Branwen, and Nora Valkyrie, who each have no idea of Team RWBY's whereabouts.

You'll be dumb in the house of hell.

In conclusion, it doesn't add anything to the story (which is already rubbish) just show how idiots they are, My God.

When the next one comes out I'm going to vomit and play Hades.

Cheap production.

They are so stupid. My God! How would let this out!

[moniquill]

Without telling you what panels I’m pitching for, these are my pitches

I am indigenous (Seaconke Wampanoag) and intend to be alive in the future; I'd like to talk about #Landback and the expectations vs realities of indigenous soverignty - consider https://www.tumblr.com/moniquill/746982334875729920?source=share

I've written many, many essays about this:

https://moniquill.tumblr.com/post/165881710831/so-today-i-read-a-book-called-sister-raven

https://moniquill.tumblr.com/post/616835845035589632/im-going-to-talk-about-greedfall-fight-me

https://moniquill.tumblr.com/tagged/cultural%20appropriation

and also I want to talk about the existence of this book by beloved author Susan Cooper: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17170557-ghost-hawk and Rowling's Ilvermorny.

I want to talk about indigenous land management systems, particularly in the Northeast US, and settlers 'first contact' with those environments.

I want to talk about Colonialism as a villain.

I just want to talk about the insustainability of non-biodegradable fibers, and how laundry sheds microplastics.

I wrote https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/706010/to-shape-a-dragons-breath-by-moniquill-blackgoose/

I want to talk about colonialism as a feature of sci-fi in the past and present.

I'd really like to talk about the rise of 'puriteens' and 'antis' in fandom spaces online, as well as Porn Purges in places like FF.Net and Wattpad.

I'd like to talk about AU conventions and the existence of the Alpha/Beta/Omega shared universe (for example) - shared conventions of fanfiction spaces that cross fandoms.

I want to talk about antivaxxers, flat earthers, Facebook Mom groups, and 'alternate archeology'

My entire conception of Fantasy as a kid was shaped by Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal, Willow, The Neverending Story, The Last Unicorn, Flight of Dragons, the Rankin-bass versions of The Hobbit and LOTR, The Secret of Nimh, Return to Oz, etc

I want to talk about what constitutes 'tech' at all; about degrowth in solarpunk futures - it's not just AI that might force us to abandon some aspects of tech, there's also sustainability to think about. Also I was alive in the 90's before 'smart' anything existed and didn't get my first smartphone until after college.

I want to talk about the idea that Dystopia is when things that are currently happening to marginalized people happen to dominant populations.

I'd like to talk about Dangerous Visions and Again, Dangerous Visions as well as the Young X series of anthologies edited by Asimov - https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/2089882 , https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1499362.Young_Ghosts etc

I want to talk about https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_Tongue_(Elgin_novel) and the presumptions made by it; https://moniquill.tumblr.com/post/187857039061/so-i-read-the-second-book-in-the-native-tongue#notes

And about Robin Wall Kimmer's reflections on The Language of Animacy: https://orionmagazine.org/article/robin-wall-kimmerer-language-animacy/

I'm especially interested in the ethics portion here and want to draw parallels between terraforming and indigenous land management practices.

Interested in weighing in as a human with a presumably functional womb that I've actively chosen not to use

[roseverie]

do you have any poetry/anthology book recommendations? 🤍

- Les Fleurs du Mal (The Flowers of Evil) by Charles Baudelaire

- Ariel by Sylvia Plath

- Poems 1962-2012 by Louise Glück

- Averno by Louise Glück

- Certain Magical Acts by Alice Notely

- The Carrying: Poems by Ada Limon

- Selected Poems 1: 1965-1975 by Margaret Atwood

- Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson

- The Complete Poems of Anna Akhmatova

- The Moon Is Always Female: Poems by Marge Piercy

- Extracting the Stone of Madness by Alejandra Pizarnik

- Cherry Blossom Epiphany: the poetry and philosophy of a flowering tree by Robin D. Gill

- I Always Carry My Bones by Felicia Zamora

- Howling at the Moon by Darshana Suresh

- The Black Unicorn: Poems by Audre Lorde

- Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair by Pablo Neruda

- Haruko: Love Poems by June Jordan

- The Ink Dark Moon: Love Poems by Ono no Komachi and Izumi Shikibu

- Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver

- Orpheus & Eurydice: A Lyric Sequence by Gregory Orr

- Crush by Richard Siken

- Rose by Li-Young Lee

- A Red Cherry on a White-tiled Floor: Selected Poems by Maram al-Massri

[sixofravens-reads]

*some of these continue well into the 21st century, but they at least started then.

[ceilidho]

i once read a book called zombies vs unicorns or something to that effect and it was like a published book with short stories from lots of authors either abt zombies or unicorns (like split half and half) and i dont remember much from it but honestly? top tier

lmaoooooo i've heard of that book before actually!!! omg thats such a throwback.

but yeah man, i just think it'd be cool to write an original anthology with the other cod writers idk. i'm honestly too shy to plan something like that (and stupid. like logistically idk how the hell that works), but it would be cool!

i think writing with other people from time to time is just a smart thing to do also - it pushes you a bit as a writer, it makes the actual "writing a book" thing SO much easier (i wrote dead ringer with a friend and it took like no time at all because of that), it's good networking, it widens your audience (someone who reads my friend's fics and not mine is now introduced to my work, and vice versa), and also i just love. being friends with other writers.

[balaenabooks]

As somebody who loved Bruce Coville's middle grade unicorn anthologies, checking out a unicorn anthology for adults with Peter S. Beagle as an editor was a no-brainer.

[transbookoftheday]

The Out Side: Trans & Nonbinary Comics by The Kao, David Daneman and Min Christensen

In this vibrant and affirming comics anthology, 29 trans & nonbinary comic artists share their personal journeys of self-discovery and acceptance.

Featuring the work of Sage Coffey, Kyla Aiko, and Coco Ouwerkerk, The Out Side: Trans & Nonbinary Comics includes 29 creators' tales of self-love and affirmation and detailing their experiences with gender and identity. Originally published as a successful Kickstarter campaign, this expanded edition includes comics by Dana Simpson (bestselling author of Phoebe and Her Unicorn), Aidyn Huynh (Snailords), Wren Chavers, and more.

Equal parts encouraging, comforting, and life-affirming, The Out Side is a love letter to the trans and nonbinary community, designed to inspire anyone who may be struggling with their own identity and to help educate those who seek greater understanding. As artist Julia Kaye writes in the book's introduction: "I’m so glad this book exists. It’s a loud proclamation of our existence in the face of a culture that has for too long ignored our experiences."

[haveyoureadthistransbook]

The Out Side: Trans & Nonbinary Comics edited by The Kao, David Daneman and Min Christensen

goodreads

In this vibrant and affirming comics anthology, 29 trans & nonbinary comic artists share their personal journeys of self-discovery and acceptance. Featuring the work of Sage Coffey, Kyla Aiko, and Coco Ouwerkerk, The Out Trans & Nonbinary Comics includes 29 creators' tales of self-love and affirmation and detailing their experiences with gender and identity. Originally published as a successful Kickstarter campaign, this expanded edition includes comics by Dana Simpson (bestselling author of Phoebe and Her Unicorn ), Aidyn Huynh (Snailords), Wren Chavers, and more. Equal parts encouraging, comforting, and life-affirming, The Out Side is a love letter to the trans and nonbinary community, designed to inspire anyone who may be struggling with their own identity and to help educate those who seek greater understanding. As artist Julia Kaye writes in the book's "I’m so glad this book exists. It’s a loud proclamation of our existence in the face of a culture that has for too long ignored our experiences."

Mod opinion: I haven't heard of this anthology before, but it sounds interesting.

[crazylittlejester]

Returning with your regularly scheduled LU EAH AU brainrot. 👍 I apologize in advance for the disjointed ADHD trains of thought.

Time is going to be one of those kids that was whisked away by the fae and raised in the Lost Woods. I'm not completely sure how I want to do that, but if he's kidnapped and replaced, then I think Hyrule would make a decent changeling. The major problem with this being that uh... they're supposed to be different ages, and I'd probably need to fudge things with some kind of time-related magic.

Hyrule could easily be a normal person, half fae, or full fae. I kind of like the parallels that could be made between him and Time if I go with the changeling idea, but I also really like the idea of him being some random guy who just so happens to be super popular with the fae for some reason.

I feel like anything Time did in Termina could easily be shoe-horned into Wonderland. I haven't played Majora's Mask, but from what I've heard it sounds like it could potentially fit with the sheer bizarreness of it all.

Speaking of the fae, I have a desperate need to include little gardens for attracting fairies like hummingbirds.

A problem that I just thought of is the fact that every Zelda is from the same lineage. If I had a few more of them "The 12 Dancing Princesses" could have been an option. Alas. For now I need to figure out if I'm going to make them related or not, and how that's supposed to work. Aurora and Flora would probably end up being sisters, but beyond that I have no idea what to do with them.

In the EAH books they make a big deal out of having animal companions to the point that there was an entire short story anthology for it, so I think I can use that for part of Twilight's role. I have the book(s) on hand, so I'm going to double check. At the very least it could be a good way to explain why Sheerow exists.

I think Sun would make a good unicorn of Lady of the Lake (from King Arthur) but neither really feels like a good fit, so I'm going to keep looking for options.

YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH, im grabbing a blanket and a drink to sit down and read :3

TERMINA AND WONDERLAND. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!!!

Oh my god please little gardens… I’m begging you…. small fairy gardens 🥺🥺🥺

ANIMAL COMPANIONS!!

oh my god i fucking love arthurian legends and shit

I LOVE THIS ALL AS ALWAYS, AND I KNOW LITERALLY NOTHING ABOUT EAH BUT IM SO EXCITED TO SEE WHAT YOU DO WITH THIS NEXT!!