Nine months later, Arpazia gives birth to a little girl who is white as snow, black as wood, and red as blood, the curse she had conjured thrown back at her.Īs Arpazia loses touch with reality more and more, her daughter Candacis, called Coira, is brought up away from her parents by her uncaring nurse. Draco rapes Arpazia, after which she curses him. Realizing she is going to die if she stays, Arpazia and her maid try to flee, but end up running right into Draco's army. until her father places a knife on the table. Her old nurse tells the girl that her father will give her wings to escape the fighting, which Arpazia doesn't understand. Arpazia is the daughter of a pagan lord who is under attack by the Christian king Draco. She is survived by her husband, the writer and artist John Kaiine, married 1992.So begins a dark retelling of Snow White by British fantasy author Tanith Lee. Lee was named a World Horror Grandmaster in 2009, was presented with the World Fantasy Award for life achievement in 2013, and won the Bram Stoker Award for life achievement in 2015. Some of her short work has been collected in Red as Blood (1983), Dreams of Dark and Light (1986), Night’s Sorceries (1988), The Book of the Damned (1989), Nightshades (1993), Tempting the Gods (2009) Animate Objects (2013), and Space Is Just a Starry Night (2014), among others. Lee was also an adept short fiction writer, who won World Fantasy Awards for stories “The Gorgon” (1982) and “Elle es Trois (La Mort)” (1983). Notable standalone works include YA fantasy Gold Unicorn (1994), SF novel Eva Fairdeath (1994), horror novel Vivia (1995), alternate history Victorian fantasy Reigning Cats and Dogs (1995), contemporary fantasy When the Lights Go Out (1996), historical novel The Gods Are Thirsty (1996), fairytale novel White as Snow (2000), epic fantasy Mortal Suns (2004), and YA Indigara Or, Jet and Otis Conquer the World (2007).

She received the British Fantasy Society’s August Derleth Award in 1980 for Death’s Master (1979).

Her first adult fantasy, The Birthgrave (1975), launched a prolific career in adult fantasy, SF, and horror encompassing numerous series, among them Birthgrave, Blood Opera, Tales from the Flat Earth, Secret Books of Paradys, Unicorn, War of Vis, Claidi Journals, Lionwolf, and children’s series Piratica. Her first published books were children’s fantasies The Dragon Hoard (1971) and Animal Castle (1972). After working for a while as a library assistant in London, she became a freelance writer in 1975. Lee was born Septemin London and studied at Prendergast Grammar School, Catford, London, and at an art college in the city. Author Tanith Lee, 67, died peacefully in her sleep after a long illness.

White as snow by tanith lee