Who Came From the Woods
I liked this one, although I feel there may be references to other fairy tales or legends I'm not getting. I don't really know what Martinmas/St. Martin's day entails, it mentions martinmas birds at the end. I think in some places here kids sing St. Maarten songs door, but not really in the region I'm in.
Anyway, that's tangent that I don't think is too relevant.
I really liked the imagery of the witch slowly picking at her husband to grown her child. Especially that first line how it starts of sweet and normal and becomes clear halfway through.
I made a child for myself,
handsome, sweet, out of his
hair and kisses
and teeth
and blood.
Also, this is a nice opening line too.
The witch lives
in the woods and
waits for children,
they say; I got tired
of waiting, and moved
to town.
I'm not so sure how sweet it really is though.
Coup
I kept waiting for the whine of the bitter usurper to have a twist, but I don't think it had one.
Blood We Cannot Wash Away
I liked this one too, I guess I don't visualize things as much so the imagery didn't bother me too much and I was able to 'enjoy', well not enjoy, but I can't think of a word, those parts fine.
If you can get over it I think it's worth giving a shot. Not that it's super amazing, but it's not bad.
I was thinking red riding hood's grandma if she actually was a wolf, but that was just stupid, the witch from Hansel and Gretel made way more sense.
I think it was the "the people inside me" comment that just made me think about the people to wolf ate being able to be cut out of her stomach that made me think of the wolf of red riding hood rather than the witch from H&G.
Another one where I think if I reread Hansel and Gretel I'd get some more subtle reference, but I liked it.
Broken Blue
Yeah, mundane, human story with a sf/f twist at the end does seem to be a big thing I guess. It was nice, but not as nice as the other, I had some issues getting into it, but did like it once I did.
Was the magical fairy element that necessary? If so was she there to help with the relationship with the kids, just to look out for the dog, if not why was she tied to the dog, not sure.