Liz's book was an immediate hit with the staff! We can't wait to bring her to the store to chat with Kelly about it. Get ready to laugh!

About the Book:
Bawdy, shocking, and hilarious interpretations of classic and rare fairy tales from a beloved TikTok storyteller.

Based on the wildly popular web series, F*cked Up Fairy Tales presents modern retellings of some of the strangest and darkest stories humans had the audacity to invent. Inspired by sources from around the world, “Cosbrarian” Liz Gotauco conjures gossipy animals, homicidal royals, doomed commoners, and shape-shifting beaux—all reckoning with complicated, adult problems that “Disney versions” have sanitized.

F*cked Up Fairy Tales explores timeless themes that have long tickled the human subconscious, from accidental bestiality (“So . . . You Married an Animal”) and catastrophic marriages (“Crappily Ever After”) to the vexed question of what to do with your murderous lindworm child (“F*cked Up Family Trees”). Gotauco highlights the not-so-distressed damsels and overlooked voices of folklore, including heroes like the Philippines’ unlucky-in-love goddess Maria Makiling, India’s clever Princess Kalendrin, and Chile’s no-nonsense Snow White. She also teases and topples fairy tale tropes: for every wicked stepmother there’s a gaslighting sorcerer; for every royal wedding there’s an embarrassingly public breakup; childhood lessons of idleness, innocence, and piety are put on hold for questions about lust, aging, and divine poetic justice. And her deeply researched yet hilarious asides offer insight into the stories’ contested origins and spill deliciously weird details about fairy tale authors like Madame d’Aulnoy and the Brothers Grimm.

Sexy, disturbing, and outrageous, with stylish, distinctive illustrations, F*cked Up Fairy Tales celebrates the astonishing diversity of the oral tradition, reaffirming our universal love for a story that’s messy as f*ck.
About the Author:
Liz Gotauco is a librarian, award-winning cosplayer, TikTok star, and creator of the popular web series F*cked Up Fairy Tales. She lives in Providence, Rhode Island.

About the Moderator:
Kelly is our fearless leader and an omnivore of a reader who will try almost any type of book at least once. She has been an indie bookseller since 1989, came to Fountain in 2000, and took over in 2008. She has served on countless bookseller boards and committees nationally and internationally but recently has scaled back on those activities to spend more time on the bookstore and personal passions like travel, cooking, and being with important people in her life and the cat.