{Put This One on Your TBR List}
Review Toad Words and Other Stories by T. Kingfisher/Ursula
Vernon
by Karen S. Wiesner
Beware: May contain unintended spoilers! T. Kingfisher (the pen name of Ursula Vernon) is a versatile author, illustrator, and artist. She has a page on her Red Wombat website labeled "Short Stories" that includes links to her short stories, poems, articles, and essays, some of which are included in a variety of different anthologies. In this collection, she's assembled a bunch of them, some that I've already reviewed. I'll include my previous reviews here just so you don't have to keep jumping around on the blog to find them. Note that the author also did the lovely artwork contained on and in this volume. Before she begins with the stories, she includes some fun potpourri. There are a few reviews offered for one of her other books that the author hilariously comments on herself. The introduction to the collection is must-read for the wit and wisdom included in it. Finally, there's a wonderful little poem about the magic and mayhem of fairy tales.
In "Toad Words", there are two sisters. One begets gold and gems whenever she speaks. The other produces toads and frogs. A fairy godmother--who intends to retire and devote herself to long sea cruises--explains that it's a curse that may or may not have a gold-lining. The message of this unexpectedly fun story is: Use your gifts, even if they don't initially seem useful.
"The Wolf and the Woodman" is one of the most unique retellings of Little Red Riding Hood I've ever encountered. Let's just say that this twist went so far around the bend, it turned into an upside-down roller-coast ride--something that I'd normally avoid like the plague, but I really loved it in this crazy little ditty.
"Bluebeard's Wife" focuses on Pirate Bluebeard's notorious, bloodthirsty reputation with women and the fact that it doesn't faze Althea. She believes the best of her new husband and no one can speak a bad word about him in her presence. I won't ruin it completely, beyond saying, sometimes rumors have a basis in truth. I enjoyed the story written very vividly in Althea's point of view--with her rose-colored glasses on…until they're rudely knocked clean off her face.
"Loathly" started out with a good premise of a curse that turns a woman into a bear but, for me, this story got repetitious and long (despite only being ten pages in length), seemingly stuck in a loop that came out in a surprising end that actually made a bit of sense when you consider human nature.
"The Sea Witch Sets the Record Straight" isn't really a story. It's Ursula the Sea Witch from The Little Mermaid defending her actions in stealing Ariel's voice. Apparently, Ariel is a dumb bunny, and Ursula is either a lot more altruistic than we ever knew or she's lying. The truth is probably somewhere in-between. Oh, the mind of Kingfisher! There's none other like it.
"Never" is the behind-the-scenes companion to Peter Pan's story, only in this perspective, Peter is painted as a selfish villain who keeps everyone a starved prisoner until he can no longer prevent them from growing up. As I've never cared for the original novel, it wasn't like there were any favorite characters here that were besmirched for me.
"Bait" seems to be a poem inspired by T. Kingfisher's The Raven and the Reindeer story, which I've reviewed on this blog in the past.
"Night" left me confused. I couldn't figure out what it was or was intended to be. I must have missed something.
"Boar & Apples" is a retelling of the Snow White fairytale and surprised me a great deal, as the author's novel Hemlock & Silver was just released in August 2025, and it's also a Snow White reimagining containing a character named Snow. I think "Boar & Apples" might be the prequel to that, though I don't know that for sure, as it's not really reported anywhere as such. That doesn't surprise me, since authors and publishers can't be relied on these days to provide connections between stories. If this is a prequel, cool! Here, the Wicked Queen is Snow's witchy mother, the mirror is possessed by a demon, and Snow's path leads her to boars instead of dwarves. Kingfisher really makes the story her own with a plucky heroine, a dashing huntsman who could be a hero, and a handful of winsome swine. I really, really have to get hold of Hemlock & Silver--and soon!
"Odd Season" is another not-sure-what-to-make-of-this inclusion.
~*~
Although there are a lot of random things that defy description packed into this collection, most of them are well-worth your time and money. My favorites were "Boar & Apples" and "The Wolf and the Woodsman". As I've said before of this author, nearly all the heroines in this collection of stories are, I believe, the author herself in various fictional settings.
Karen Wiesner is an
award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.
Visit her website and blog
here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/
and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog
Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/
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