Auntie Heroes (Raconteur Press Anthologies)
Edited by Rita Beeman
Paperback / eBook
ISBN: 979-8257583667
Raconteur Press, April 2026, 258 pages

Greetings, readers, and welcome back to another book review! This month we’re diving into an eclectic mix of short stories that span the gamut from knitting circles taking on Eldritch Horrors, a wedding that brings a community together, aliens walking amongst the bean crops, a standoff against a skinwalker, and more; but the common thread they all share is that of older women being badasses—that’s right, it’s Auntie Heroes from Raconteur Press.

Since this is a compilation of short stories, and not a novel, this review will focus more on the overall tenor and feel of the collection rather than any one individual story, but up front, I have to say that all of the authors nailed the concept of “tough old woman does cool stuff, maybe have some respect for your elders once in a while.” Additionally, while the setting of each story changes drastically from one to the next (as I said in the intro, this really does cover quite a few different genres), the stories themselves feel excellently paced and executed, and most are pretty funny as well.

In fact, the story that really stood out to me in Auntie Heroes was the first one, a reimagining of the classic fairy tale “Hansel and Gretel” (with some additions from other Brothers Grimm tales), but told from multiple perspectives as a harried stepmother sending her layabout children into the woods to touch grass (along with the obviously unfairly punished children complaining about how they had to go do something). It had me laughing multiple times at how the different perspectives intertwined and finished on a much more upbeat note than the original. The other stories are no slouches either, and while I can easily see someone reading the collection in stops and starts, the throughline of “competent older women solving problems” had me binging the entire collection at once.

Another thing I really enjoyed about the stories was that “aunties being badasses” wasn’t just “go fight something” (though there is plenty of action in Auntie Heroes), but that it also frequently dealt with emotional strength and the necessity of caring for those around you. About half of the stories actually featured multiple older women coming together to solve a particular issue, which felt incredibly authentic (as someone who has seen the power of older women coming together to fix an issue firsthand), and really speaks to what I felt was the heart of the anthology—the need to care for those around us, even when you’re tired and feel like you’ve done enough already.

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that this book was just flat-out fun to read. None of the stories overstay their welcome, and even those that take obvious inspiration from other properties made sure to add their own twist to keep things fresh and original. Writing short stories can oftentimes be a much tougher task than writing a novel, because you have so much less space in which to operate, but every one of the authors created a slice of a universe that left me satisfied.

Overall, I thought that Auntie Heroes was a lively, entertaining collection of short stories that punched at an emotional weight far higher than what I was expecting, while still containing plenty of humor and life. If you’re a fan of Cohen the Barbarian from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld universe, you’ll definitely be a fan of the aunties in this anthology.