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About The Book

Not the Tales You Were Told

Once upon a time, Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories—fantastical yarns of wondrous creatures in faraway places—bewitched children across the world. But times change. Today, Kipling’s writing tells us a different tale; of a love of Empire, and the troubling legacy of British colonialism.

In Not So Stories, writers of colour from around the world reclaim these stories and remake them into something new. Something different. Something that belongs to us all.

Including stories by Adiwijaya Iskandar, Joseph Elliott-Coleman, Raymond Gates, Stewart Hotston, Zina Hutton, Georgina Kamsika, Cassandra Khaw, Paul Krueger, Tauriq Moosa, Jeannette Ng, Ali Nouraei, Wayne Santos, Zedeck Siew and Achala Upendran, with illustrations by Woodrow Phoenix and a foreword by Nikesh Shukla.

About The Authors

Joseph Elliott-Coleman has been writing and telling stories since he was a child, with science fiction being his wheelhouse. Enduring and overcoming countless barriers, his work first saw print in the Not So Stories anthology. He lives in Croydon, London.

Back when they were a child, Zina Hutton once jumped out of a window to escape dance class in the Virgin Islands. Now they're a speculative fiction writer who tends to leap headfirst into new stories and worlds the second that inspiration strikes. Zina lives in hot and humid South Florida where they're never far away from a notebook and/or an iguana. Zina currently works as a freelance editor and writer with publication credits in Teen Vogue, Fireside Fiction, The Mary Sue, Strange Horizons, ComicsAlliance, Polygon and The Verge. You can find the majority of their work at their digital arts and culture publication Stitch's Media Mix and on Twitter as @stitchmediamix

Cassandra Khaw writes many things. Mostly these days, she writes horror and video games and occasional flirtations with chick-lit. Her work can be found in venues like Clarkesworld, Fireside Fiction, Uncanny, Lightspeed, Nightmare, and more. A Song for Quiet was her latest novella from Tor.com, a piece of Lovecraftian Southern Gothic that she worries will confuse those who purchased Bearly a Lady, her frothy paranormal romantic comedy.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Abaddon (January 21, 2020)
  • Length: 368 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781781087800

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Raves and Reviews

"There is a lot to enjoy here. A book whose time has come..."

– Suroor Alikhan, Talking About Books

"For any adult who was charmed by Kipling as a child."

– Starburst Magazine

"Whether you love or can't stand Kipling, this is a terrific book."

– The B&N Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog

“Funny, touching, and often profound.”

– Tor.com

“Fantastical fables about why things are the way they are, like Just So Stories… but without all the British Colonialism.” -- Alex Wells, Bookriot

– Alex Wells, Book Riot

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