title: Red Caps: New Fairy Tales for Out of the Ordinary Readers
author:  Steve Berman 
description: ''Eschewing the cliched coming-out and coming-of-age stories in favour of fresher tales, whether cleaving to a quirky realism in 'Movember' or springboarding into the fantastic with 'Only Lost Boys Are Found,' by turns playful and poignant, delightful and disturbing, Berman offers a wonderful range of cracking good strange fiction for the queer YA reader.'' --Hal Duncan, author of <i>Vellum</i> and <i>Ink</i><br /><br />''The positivity that runs throughout the book, even in stories that end on gruesome or eerie notes, is the best part: the sense of 'coming out' in many of these pieces is also a sort of coming to life, or a coming into the self. The undercurrent of acceptance despite the odds is pleasant and heart-warming. These are stories about kids finding out what it means to be themselves, and how to be with other people. That's good stuff...'' --Brit Mandelo for <i>Queering SFF</i> at Tor.com<br /><br />''In most of these stories, the same-sex relationships are either wholly accepted or at the very least tolerated. This grants most of the characters the freedom to see the fantastic as it materializes around them. Whether facing literal Red Caps or figurative, Berman's boys and girls mostly have the benefit of being able to express their love, jealousy, lust, and temptations publicly, with far less fear than they exhibit facing ghosts, vampires, and magic books.'' --Anthony Cardno for <i>Strange Horizons</i>
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  # Acknowledgments
  
  
  
  
  
  There aren’t unicorns, there is no Alice Island, and A. J. Fikry’s tastes are
  not always my own.
  
  
  
  
  
  Lambiase and the first Ms. Fikry speak variations on the phrase, “A town isn’t
  a town without a bookstore.” Surely, they both must have read _American Gods_
  by Neil Gaiman.
  
  
  
  
  
  Kathy Pories edited this book in such a generous and precise way that she
  somehow managed to improve my whole life. This is the power of a good editor.
  Thank you to all at Algonquin, especially Craig Popelars, Emma Boyer, Anne
  Winslow, Brunson Hoole, Debra Linn, Lauren Moseley, Elisabeth Scharlatt, Ina
  Stern, and Jude Grant.
  
  
  
  
  
  Douglas Stewart, my agent, is a fine poker player and occasionally a magician.
  These skills were put to use on _A. J. Fikry_ ’s behalf. Thanks also to his
  colleagues Madeleine Clark, Kirsten Hartz, and particularly Szilvia Molnar.
  For a variety of reasons, I am also indebted to Clare Smith, Tamsyn Berryman,
  Jean Feiwel, Stuart Gelwarg, Angus Killick, Kim Hi