Blood and Bone Doorways

Anya and Lisbet, daughters of a distant merchant and a strange mother, are left in the care of a cruel stepmother after their mother vanishes, leaving only a bloodstain and a bone dagger. Locked away and abandoned, Anya hears a voice from the bloodstain, promising escape through a magical door—if blood is given. Anya, terrified of her own blood, tricks Lisbet into sacrificing hers, opening a door to a twisted, dead world. Lisbet dies, and Anya, wracked with guilt, wanders a blighted mirror of her home, unable to die or return. Guided by the voice, she receives gifts from a tree grown from Lisbet's grave: a dress, slippers, and a stone that lets her see the living world. She lures her half-brother into repeating the blood ritual, trading his life for her own return, and enacts a cold revenge on her father's new wife, leaving the family forever haunted by the dead world she escaped.

Moonlit Lineage Unveiled

Hansa, forbidden from seeing the night by her grandmother, learns from the Moon that her mother is a Star, her father a sailor, and her destiny is to rescue her mother from the jealous Tide at the world's rim. Armed with three tears from the Moon, Hansa bargains for magical items and passage on a ship. Betrayed and cast into the sea, she swallows a Moon's tear and transforms into a mermaid, surviving attacks and seeking the Tides' help. Guided by sea wolves, she reaches the world's edge, but the journey ages her into an old woman. She frees her mother by severing her hand, but is left alone, her years lost. The Moon grants her a new form among the stars, and Hansa becomes a constellation, forever traversing sea and sky.

Clockwork Hearts and Promises

A mysterious toymaker's shop entrances a poor girl, Eleanor, and her brother, Thomas. Lured by a magical hare and soldier, they enter the shop at night, where toys come alive, feeding on children's dreams. When Thomas is trapped in endless sleep, Eleanor bargains her future child to the toymaker for his release. Years later, her daughter Arden receives inexplicable clockwork gifts each birthday, growing increasingly distant from her mother. On her sixteenth birthday, Arden is lured away by her final gift—a hare and soldier—into a castle of her own dreams and nightmares. The toymaker claims her as his bride, but Arden, now more clockwork than human, leads a rebellion of toys, destroys her would-be master, and becomes queen of her own uncanny court.

Rotten Core, Night Women

Jenny, born from a rotted apple blossom, is spoiled and cruel. When her parents finally deny her, she seeks revenge, guided by a mysterious girl in the woods who teaches her a ritual to summon the Night Women. Jenny pricks her parents' heels, buries a bloodied stone, and invites supernatural forces into her home. Her parents become hollow, obsessive, and monstrous, showering her with gifts and affection that turn suffocating and deadly. Jenny's own rot is mirrored in her family's transformation, culminating in her mother's monstrous rebirth and Jenny's own destruction, as the Night Women claim her and her mother joins their ranks.

Skinned Maiden's Revenge

A prince, obsessed with a golden-haired maiden who transforms from bear to woman, steals and burns her bearskin, then her human skin, forcing her into marriage. The skinned maiden, now skinned and exposed, becomes a silent, haunting presence in the castle, seeking her lost skin. She learns to wear others' skins—servant, witch, king—enacting a bloody revenge on her captors. When her own skin is finally returned, damaged and incomplete, she patches it with the prince's, reclaiming her wildness and returning to the woods, forever changed.

Ice-Bound Bastard Princess

Alice, the illegitimate daughter of a queen and a man from the ice caves, grows in unnatural leaps, feared and shunned by her family. When the king becomes obsessed with her, the queen arranges a deadly contest for her hand: only the suitor who brings ice from the world's end may marry her. Two brothers succeed, but Alice, swallowing the ice, becomes a frozen, deadly force, killing her captors and wandering the land, sowing death and cold. The queen, haunted by her daughter's power, realizes too late the cost of her own choices.

Under the Stairwell's Curse

Three sisters seek visions of their future husbands by bleeding onto a grave. The eldest, Isobel, is lured into a dream world beneath the stairwell, where she is promised to a monstrous suitor. As her sisters' dreams come true, Isobel's life is haunted by supernatural threats and omens. On her wedding day, the suitor and his fox-bride minions massacre the guests. Isobel, aided by the ghost of the Wicked Wife, uses her own blood to awaken the spirits of past brides, who take revenge. She sews her loved ones' heads back on, reviving them, and marries her true love, forever marked by the ordeal.

Ilsa's Bargain with Death

Ilsa, the overlooked daughter in a family plagued by loss, is the only one who can see Death. As her brothers die one by one, she tries to outwit and confront Death, eventually spending a night as his companion, witnessing the taking of souls. Death grants her the power to see life-lights, but the gift becomes a curse, driving her to steal lives herself. Seeking Death's attention, she becomes a rival, but is ultimately punished—her own death is taken from her, leaving her a hollow, wandering figure, forever barred from Death's kingdom.

House of Whispering Brides

Alba's sister is married off to the mysterious house by the sea, traded for her family's fortune. Years later, Alba volunteers as a bride to uncover the house's secrets. She bargains away her shadow, reflection, and voice for answers, discovering the house is the sea itself, and its brides become sirens. Alba joins them, transformed and voiceless, another lost daughter claimed by the depths.

Twice-Killed Katherine

Katherine, the illegitimate daughter of an immortal enchanter, is twice brought back from death, each time stealing life from others. Her power grows, but so does her curse—she cannot die, and her magic is tainted. After suffering violence and loss, she returns to her father's house, unleashing her raven familiar to consume the lives of all within. She confronts her father, discovering that immortality is a prison, and enacts a final, bloody justice, becoming a hunter of those who abuse magic.

The Mother and the Dagger

A queen, desperate for a child, bargains with a witch, faking the required sacrifice. She gives birth to a living doll, kept alive by her blood. When the king discovers the deception, the queen is banished. In exile, she creates life with her magic dagger, but her love turns possessive and deadly. She kills her adopted sons, stringing their bones as wind chimes, becoming the feared Mother of the woods, luring children to their doom.

Death's Daughter's Choice

A princess, born from her mother's grief and a thorn tree, is courted by Death's son. She flees to the woods, aided by her otherworldly mother, but is eventually lured into the land of the dead. With the help of a magical cat—her true mother in disguise—she outwits Death and his son, refusing to become a bride of the underworld. She chooses her own path, descending into deeper mysteries, neither living nor dead.

Characters

Anya

Anya is the elder daughter whose desperation and fear lead her to sacrifice her sister for escape. Her journey is marked by guilt, self-preservation, and a gradual hardening of heart. She manipulates others to survive, ultimately becoming a liminal figure—neither fully alive nor dead—her actions echoing through her family's fate.

Hansa

Hansa's longing for freedom and truth propels her on a mythic quest. Her identity is shaped by her celestial heritage and her refusal to accept imposed limits. Her journey is both literal and existential, culminating in transformation and transcendence, but at the cost of her mortal years.

Eleanor / Arden

Eleanor's yearning for magic and escape leads to a fateful bargain, binding her daughter Arden to a legacy of otherness. Arden, shaped by gifts and isolation, becomes both victim and liberator, her heart transformed into something mechanical, her destiny entwined with rebellion and self-creation.

Jenny

Jenny embodies the consequences of unchecked desire and parental indulgence. Her actions, driven by spite and a need for control, unleash supernatural retribution that consumes her and her family. She is both victim and perpetrator, her story a cautionary tale of corruption and consequence.

The Skinned Maiden

The skinned maiden's journey from hunted to hunter explores themes of bodily autonomy, trauma, and revenge. Her silence and persistence mask a deep will to survive and reclaim selfhood, culminating in a violent, transformative return to the wild.

Alice

Alice's unnatural growth and icy detachment make her both feared and desired. She is a catalyst for destruction, her presence unraveling familial and societal bonds. Her story interrogates the dangers of otherness and the costs of survival in a hostile world.

Isobel

Isobel's pragmatism and skepticism set her apart from her sisters. Her journey through dream and nightmare, and her ultimate act of resurrection, reveal a capacity for sacrifice and leadership, as well as the scars left by supernatural bargains.

Ilsa

Ilsa's ability to see Death isolates her, driving her to both resist and emulate him. Her psychological arc is one of loss, obsession, and the search for meaning in suffering. Ultimately, she is left hollow, her humanity eroded by the very power she sought to master.

Alba

Alba's loyalty to her sister and her willingness to pay any price for truth define her. Her journey is one of gradual self-erasure, as she trades away pieces of herself for knowledge, ultimately losing her voice and identity to the sea's embrace.

Katherine

Katherine's repeated deaths and resurrections leave her both powerful and cursed. Her relationship with her father is fraught with manipulation and betrayal, and her eventual rebellion is both personal and cosmic, as she becomes a force of retribution against those who abuse life and magic.

Plot Devices

Fairy Tale Subversion and Intertextuality

Albert's stories draw on familiar fairy tale structures—lost children, magical bargains, monstrous brides—but subvert expectations with moral ambiguity, psychological depth, and often brutal consequences. The tales are self-aware, referencing and inverting the tropes of their genre to explore agency, trauma, and the cost of desire.

Blood Magic and Sacrifice

Blood, both literal and symbolic, is a recurring currency for transformation and escape. Whether opening doors, sealing bargains, or enacting revenge, blood magic underscores the stories' themes of sacrifice, guilt, and the inescapable consequences of violence.

Liminal Spaces and Doubling

Characters frequently cross boundaries—between life and death, childhood and adulthood, human and other. These liminal spaces (mirrored worlds, underworlds, dreamlands) serve as both settings and metaphors for psychological transition, loss of innocence, and the search for self.

Bargains and Consequences

Supernatural bargains drive many plots, with characters trading parts of themselves—voices, reflections, future children—for power or escape. These deals often have unforeseen consequences, exploring themes of desire, desperation, and the true cost of one's wishes.

Last updated: May 20, 2025