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{{Short description|Short story by Neil Gaiman}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox short story <!--See [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Novels]]-->
| name              = Snow, Glass, Apples
| image             = 
| caption           = 
| author            = [[Neil Gaiman]]
| country           = [[United Kingdom]]
| genre             = [[Short story]]
| published_in      = 
| publication_type  = 
| publisher         = 
| media_type        = 
| pub_date          = 1994
| wikisource        = 
}}
"'''Snow, Glass, Apples'''" is a 1994 [[short story]] by the English author [[Neil Gaiman]]. It was originally released as a benefit book for the [[Comic Book Legal Defense Fund]] and was reprinted in the anthology ''Love in Vein II'', edited by [[Poppy Z. Brite]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Gaiman|first=Neil|title=Smoke and Mirrors|year=1999|publisher=Headline Book Publishing|location=London|isbn=978-0-7553-2283-1|pages=32}}</ref>
It is a retelling of the [[Brothers Grimm]] fairy tale [[Snow White]], but from her [[Evil Queen|stepmother]]'s point of view.

==Plot==
The short story begins with a [[Magician (fantasy)|magical woman]] telling the reader that had she been [[Wisdom|wise]], she would have killed herself instead of meeting her husband and [[Stepchild|stepdaughter]], who killed her own mother during [[Maternal death|childbirth]].

Eight years prior, the narrator meets the [[widow]]ed [[king]] of the [[Realm|land]] after sixteen years of [[Precognition|dreaming of their first encounter]]. The king and the narrator fall in love, with him visiting her regularly until he takes her to his [[palace]] and [[Marriage|marries]] her. The king has a six-year-old [[Snow White|white-skinned, black-haired, and red-lipped]] daughter the [[Queen consort|queen]] becomes [[stepmother]] to. The queen, however, is scared of her husband's child, who never dines with them.

One night in winter, the queen is sewing in her chambers when the [[princess]] enters asking for some food. The queen gives the princess an [[apple]], observing her bite into the fruit with unusually sharp teeth. Briefly losing her fear, the queen caresses the princess's cheek with her right hand, only for the child to bite into her stepmother's thumb and [[Vampire|drink the blood]]. The queen is horrified by her stepdaughter's actions, and when the girl has finished, her stepmother's wound instantly heals and [[scar]]s. Fearing for her life, the queen has the [[blacksmith]] forge [[Iron in folklore|iron bars]] for her windows and nightly locks herself in her chambers.

As time passes, the king himself also falls prey to his own daughter. Every night, the princess bites her father and drinks his blood, leaving his entire body covered in scars similar to his wife's. The king eventually succumbs to his daughter's vampirism, leaving his widow to [[Queen regnant|rule the kingdom as queen]]. After her husband's [[funeral]] and her own [[coronation]], the queen has her [[Hunting|huntsmen]] take the princess to the [[forest]] and cut out her [[heart]], which continues to beat even days after being removed. The queen ties her stepdaughter's heart with [[Rowan|rowan berries]] and [[Garlic|garlic bulbs]] before hanging it in her private chambers and having the iron bars removed from her windows.

For six years, the queen's reign over her kingdom is mostly peaceful, with the people respecting her authority and looking forward to the annual spring fair. With each succeeding spring fair, however, a number of [[travel]]ers and [[merchant]]s disappear, depriving the people of their livelihood and driving them into poverty. To solve the mystery, the queen looks into her [[Magic Mirror (Snow White)|mirror]] and sees the culprit: the undead princess killing a pedophilic monk before feasting on his blood. To save the kingdom from her monstrous stepdaughter, the queen uses magic and her own blood to create three enchanted apples which she brings to the princess, who has been living in a [[cave]] with [[Seven Dwarfs|dwarfs]].

The queen flees but knows that the princess has eaten one of the apples when the girl's heart finally stops beating. Come the next spring fair, the people are able to trade in business again. Although the queen is displeased to see the dwarfs buying pieces of [[glass]], she does not respond due to her stepdaughter's heart being silent, thus ensuring the safety of the kingdom.

Two years after poisoning her stepdaughter, the queen is visited by a [[Prince Charming|prince]] and she plans to marry him and unite their kingdoms. However, the queen is unable to sexually satisfy the prince, who is clearly a necrophiliac, and he leaves. On his way home, he encounters the princess's corpse encased in glass and being guarded by the dwarfs. Indulging his necrophilia, the prince rapes the princess and unwittingly dislodges the piece of apple stuck in her throat, resurrecting her.

Back in her chambers, the queen awakes to her scarred right thumb aching and to blood dripping from her stepdaughter's heart which has begun to beat again. The prince and the princess barge into the queen's chambers and have her arrested on the charge of [[witchcraft]]. The princess then reinserts her heart into her chest, and she and the prince announce their plans to marry and unite the kingdoms.

The prince and the princess have the queen imprisoned throughout the autumn, turning the people against her by [[Evil Queen|vilifying her]] with lies that would morph into the famous [[fairy tale]] of Snow White.

Come midwinter, the prince and the princess have their wedding, the queen is incinerated in a [[kiln]], and the story is revealed to be her final thoughts as she begins to burn to death.

==Publication==
''Snow, Glass, Apples'' was written in 1994, and was first published by [[Dreamhaven Press]] as benefit book for the [[Comic Book Legal Defense Fund]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gaiman |first1=Neil |title=Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fictions and Illusions |date=1998 |page=43 |url=https://www.harpercollins.com/9780380789023/smoke-and-mirrors/|accessdate=19 October 2019}}</ref> It was included in Gaiman's short story collection ''[[Smoke and Mirrors (Gaiman book)|Smoke and Mirrors]]'' (1998).

The story  was adapted by the author into an [[audio drama]], which was produced by Seeing Ear Theatre in 2001, starring [[Bebe Neuwirth]]. This was the second of two collaborations between Gaiman and Seeing Ear Theatre, following ''[[Murder Mysteries]]'', and the two adaptations have been released together on CD under the title ''[[Two Plays for Voices]]''. In 2012 it was adapted into a play by the [[Bedlam Theatre|Edinburgh University Theatre Company]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bedlamtheatre.co.uk/shows/snow-glass-apples-2012/|title=Snow, Glass, Apples - Bedlam Theatre}}</ref>

In 2019 it was adapted by [[Colleen Doran]] into a graphic novel published by [[Dark Horse Comics]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Snow, Glass, Apples HC :: Profile :: Dark Horse Comics |url=https://www.darkhorse.com/Books/3001-414/Snow-Glass-Apples-HC |website=www.darkhorse.com |publisher=Dark Horse Comics |accessdate=19 October 2019}}</ref> The adaptation won the 2020 [[Eisner Award]] for [[Eisner Award for Best Adaptation from Another Medium|Best Adaptation from Another Medium]].<ref>{{cite web |authorlink1=San Diego Comic-Con |title=Eisner Awards Current Info |url=https://www.comic-con.org/awards/eisner-awards-current-info |website=Comic-Con International: San Diego |publisher=San Diego Comic Convention |accessdate=31 July 2020 |date=24 July 2020 |archive-date=7 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170607093909/https://www.comic-con.org/awards/eisner-awards-current-info |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |authorlink1=San Diego Comic-Con |title=32nd Annual Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSUgRvQPdj0 |website=YouTube |publisher=San Diego Comic Convention |accessdate=31 July 2020 |date=24 July 2020}}</ref> The Horror Writers Association also presented the "Snow, Glass, Apples" graphic novel with the [[Bram Stoker Award for Best Graphic Novel|Bram Stoker Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel Award]].<ref>{{cite web|title=2019 Bram Stoker Awards Winners|url=http://www.thebramstokerawards.com/uncategorized/winners-nominees/|website=[[Bram Stoker Awards]] |accessdate=June 5, 2020}}</ref>

==See also==
* ''[[Red as Blood, or Tales from the Sisters Grimmer]]''

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{isfdb title|id=40561|title=Snow, Glass, Apples|short=yes}}

{{Neil Gaiman}}
{{Snow White}}

[[Category:1994 short stories]]
[[Category:Works based on Snow White]]
[[Category:Fantasy short stories]]
[[Category:Short stories based on fairy tales]]
[[Category:Short stories by Neil Gaiman]]
[[Category:Short stories about witches and witchcraft]]
[[Category:Horror short stories]]
[[Category:Short stories about vampires]]
[[Category:Literature about pedophilia]]
[[Category:Fiction about incest]]
[[Category:Dark Horse Comics graphic novels]]