Twice Cursed: An Anthology

This is a great collection for readers who want to dip their fantasy toes into stories filled with as much dread as wonder. It is a follow-up to Cursed, filled with 16 stories that explore what happens after curses have been flung. Memorable pieces include Neil Gaiman’s “Snow, Glass, Apples,” telling the Snow White fairy tale from the perspective of the wicked witch, with a reminder that history is written by the victors. “Dark Carousel” by Joe Hill takes youthful hijinks and a haunted merry-go-round and spins them into a curse that follows a man around the world, while “The Tissot Family Circus” by Angela Slatter takes the idea of a haunted circus and transforms it into a story about being saved rather than damned. A wanderer discovers that some sleeping dogs should definitely be left to lie in Joanna Harris’s “The Bell.”