Six-Gun Snow White by Catherynne M. Valente

Six-Gun Snow White by Catherynne M. Valente was released February 28th. And the beautiful cover which sells the book so well is by Charles Vess. I don't have it yet so I can only say the hype is great for it.

I haven't read it yet, but it is joining a very small subgenre of fairy tale retellings--westerns! Wouldn't Puss in Boots be a perfect tale for a western? I guess the film sort of did that, very loosely, but it played even more loosely with the tale, so we won't count it. Rapunzel's Revenge we will add with its steampunky western goodness, yes? Can anyone name more?

And back to the book with a description:

From New York Times bestselling author Catherynne M. Valente comes a brilliant reinvention of one the best known fairy tales of all time. In the novella Six-Gun Snow White, Valente transports the title s heroine to a masterfully evoked Old West where Coyote is just as likely to be found as the seven dwarves.

A plain-spoken, appealing narrator relates the history of her parents--a Nevada silver baron who forced the Crow people to give up one of their most beautiful daughters, Gun That Sings, in marriage to him. With her mother s death in childbirth, so begins a heroine s tale equal parts heartbreak and strength. This girl has been born into a world with no place for a half-native, half-white child. After being hidden for years, a very wicked stepmother finally gifts her with the name Snow White, referring to the pale skin she will never have. Filled with fascinating glimpses through the fabled looking glass and a close-up look at hard living in the gritty gun-slinging West, readers will be enchanted by this story at once familiar and entirely new.

You can read an excerpt of the book on the Tor site.

There is also a great post about the book at Something to Read for the Train.