In Sleeping Beauty's Bed: Erotic Fairy Tales
"Who can resist the erotic origins of fairy tales, from Little Red to Rapunzel's long braid? Szereto knows her way around the mythic scholarship and the most outrageous sexual deviations in Pandora's Box."—Susie BrightFrom Library JournalLike Rollins (see The Empress's New Lingerie, reviewed above), Szereto explains that the sexual content of most fairy tales was deleted by the likes of the Brothers Grimm to make them more family-friendly. Instead of researching and restoring the original erotic elements of each tale, however, the author chose to work from the clean versions and eroticize them as she saw fit, making the stories her own. The writing is sometimes uneven, as she attempts to maintain an antiquated fairy-tale narration but includes some modern phrases. While some of her rewrites take the obvious route (the above-mentioned shoe fetishism of "Cinderella"), each story contains some surprising new aspects, and none seems clich d or unoriginal. The results, in fact, are sexy and often quite humorous Rapunzel, for example, becomes a "rapstress," enticing a horseman with her rhymes. The tales chosen by Szereto, who has published four volumes of erotica under the pen name M.S. Valentine, are quite diverse, and she includes an introduction explaining the origin and history of each. Enthusiastically recommended. Amanda Glasbrenner, "Library Journal""A deliciously fresh and sexy look at fairy tales. Szereto takes our modern, sanitized versions and gives them an earthy twist."-- Kelley Armstrong, New York Times bestselling author“opens whole new perspectives into the lands and lusts of fairy tales. After reading this enchanting book, you might wish to read bedside tales to adults, rather than mere children…”- Maxim Jakubowski, editor, the Mammoth Book of New EroticaMaking their way into the spotlight again, classic fairy tale characters like Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, just to name a few, are brought back to life in Mitzi Szereto's delightful collection of erotic fairy tales.  Mitzi takes these stories back to their roots and re-creates them with an intriguing mixture of humor, satire and wit.  I particularly like the way she preserved the tale's original disposition, giving a mysterious, Eastern flair to stories like The Goblin of Adachigahara and The Magic Muntr.Deserving a write up all their own, the bonus introductions written for each story were a brilliant touch. Mitzi relates the history of her fairy tales in fascinating detail.  As with her stories, this background information is delivered in Mitzi's clever and humorous, tongue-in-cheek manner, which is a real pleasure to experience.In her Romp Through the Classics, Mitzi Szereto breaths life into even the most ancient tales dating back to a time before recorded history.  Fairy tale lovers will definitely want to add her rousingly fun and entertaining book to their collection.NANCY MADORE,  Bestselling Author of Enchanted; Erotic Bedtime Stories for Women