Metal Like Blood in the Dark
T Kingfisher
Mecha-Hansel and Gretel
Metal Like Blood in the Dark is a short story by T. Kingfisher published in Uncanny Magazine in October 2020. T. Kingfisher is of course "the vaguely absurd pen-name of children's author Ursula Vernon," that she uses "when writing for grown-ups." Metal Like Blood in the Dark won the 2021 Hugo Award for best short story.
Like many of Kingfisher's works, it is a fairy-tale retelling. It is based, very loosely, on Hansel and Gretel.
Although recognizably a variation of Hansel and Gretel, Metal Like Blood has quite a different feel. The most obvious difference is that Metal Like Blood takes place in a science fiction setting. The children are machines, and many of the detailed plot beats of the original story are missing or changed. But the biggest difference, to my mind, is that Kingfisher writes it as a story about the loss of innocence, in a creative and unusual way.
At 7400 words it's a quick read, definitely worth the twenty minutes or so it'll take you to read.