Six-Gun Snow White by Catherynne M. Valente ★★★★★

"Everything in this world requires a heart in trade.  There’s no such thing as a good bargain." 

Possibly the best fabulist novella you’ll ever read. A retelling to remember.

Catherynne Valente’s words are beautiful knives. You will be beguiled as you bleed out. 

When Mrs. H said I was not human, she meant I was not white. She was wrong about the reason but not about the thing. I wasn’t human. I was a small device who knew only how to shoot a gun, play the slots, and dress up in fancy clothes to please a rich man. Nobody ever loved me proper, and if there’s a boring story in this world, that’s it... but I am here to tell you: A stepmother is like a bullet you can’t dig out. She fires true and she fires hot and she fires so quick that metal hits your body before you even know there’s a fight on. I didn’t even know what white was.