Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall by Bill Willingham. Illustrated by Charles Vess et al This is the just-published prequel to the long-standing Fables series. In the Fables world, the Adversary has been taking over all the fantasy worlds one by one. The characters have been fleeing to our New York City, where they have established an underground community led by Snow White and King Cole. In this book, Snow White is visiting the as-yet-unconquered Arabian Fables world, trying to convince the sultan – yes, that sultan – that he should ally himself with the New York Fables community. Naturally, he refuses to meet formally with an unattended woman, so she is sent to him as a concubine. Instead of sleeping with him, she entertains him with tales of escaping Fables to win him over. Each tale is beautifully illustrated by a different comic book artist, with the incomparable Charles Vess providing the illustrations for the frame story. These are most definitely fairy tales for adults, with familiar fairy tale characters in often horrific situations. But the stories are compelling and the illustrations lush, making this a beautiful introduction to the world of Fables while standing firmly on – or between – its own covers.