Unbound

Ancient myths, fairy tales, and folklore are reimagined through stories of girls and women transformed by magic, danger, desire, and their own emerging power.

In Unbound: Mythic Stories of Women Transformed, award-winning author Janet Fox reimagines ancient myths, fairy tales, folklore, and archetypes through the lives of girls and women confronting desire, danger, identity, sexuality, motherhood, power—and transformation.

Across eight stories spanning past, present, and an unsettling near future, the fantastic collides with the familiar. A young athlete calls upon the power of Diana when a boyfriend refuses to take no for an answer. A teenage girl discovers something impossible hidden in her own blood. A desperate Scottish girl longs to become a selkie and escape the life chosen for her. Ancient magic takes shape in a witch's watch. And a woman facing a world transformed by a mysterious infection discovers the monster—or goddess—awakening inside her.

Some transformations are magical. Some are physical. Some are choices. All ask the same question:

Who might a woman become when she claims the power to transform herself?

Blending mythology, fantasy, magical realism, fairy tales, folklore, and contemporary women's stories, Unbound explores the darker and more powerful possibilities hidden inside familiar tales—and gives girls and women the freedom to write their own endings.

This collection includes previously unpublished stories connected to The Charmed Children of Rookskill Castle and The Artifact Hunters.