Mythic Fiction Series Reading Order

This "wondrous" collection of fantasy tales from Neil Gaiman, Patricia A. McKillip, and others "is a treasure chest. Ope… This "wondrous" collection of fantasy tales from Neil Gaiman, Patricia A. McKillip, and others "is a treasure chest. Open it and revel in its riches" ( Kirkus Reviews, starred review). For this enchanting anthology—a World Fantasy Award finalist—editors Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling "asked their contributors to reimagine Fäerie" in the present day, or "search its more dimly lit pathways," and the authors have responded with bountiful imagination. The title piece is a poem by Neil Gaiman, but most of the others are longer pieces, "like shards of stories you want to hear more of." Jeffrey Ford "limns the heartbreaking tale" of fairies who live in sandcastles built by young children; Ellen Steiber's 'Screaming for Fairies' "sketches the lineaments of desire." Bruce Glassco "finds a different voice for Tinkerbell and Captain Hook in 'Never Never.'" Tanith Lee's 'Elvenbrood' tale is eerie and "chilling." Gregory Maguire, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Patricia A. McKillip, and Emma Bull's stories all "enchant" and bewitch. Delia Sherman's 'CATNYP' is "both funny and deeply clever, warming the cockles of anyone who has ever had dealings with a research library, especially New York Public's" ( Kirkus Reviews, starred review). This companion volume to The Green Man: Tales from the Mythic Forest is "a rewarding choice for those who like the traditional with a twist" ( Booklist). read more

Stories of the archetypal Trickster from Michael Cadnum, Charles de Lint, Patricia A. McKillip, Jeffrey Ford, Nina Kirik… Stories of the archetypal Trickster from Michael Cadnum, Charles de Lint, Patricia A. McKillip, Jeffrey Ford, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, and others. World Fantasy Award Finalist The mythic Trickster is both good and bad, wise and witless, sacred and profane. He appears in many different guises in world mythology, taking the form of a god in Greek legend; a coyote, raven, or rabbit in Native American lore; a meddlesome faery in English folktales; a larger-than-life human being in Germany; or the charming, seductive, and deadly kitsune of the Japanese. In true Trickster fashion, this captivating collection of stories will elicit both laughs and gasps. A Louisiana swamp girl makes a wager with a bon à rien who fiddled the devil out of hell in Delia Sherman’s “The Fiddler of Bayou Teche.” World Fantasy Award winner Patricia A. McKillip introduces a pickpocket who tries to predict the future with stolen cards, but for whom fate has something else in store, in “The Fortune-Teller.” And in “The Dreaming Wind” by Jeffrey Ford, a seasonal gale causes havoc among humans and nature—but nothing compares to what happens when it fails to reappear. “The anthology features tricksters of many cultures from all over the world. Along with Coyote, there are stories here of Loki, Legba, Hermes, Raven, the Monkey King of China, and the fox spirits of Japan. . . . Windling and Datlow have done their usual excellent job of selecting quality work.” —Strange Horizons “Sophisticated and well-written.” —Fantasy Literature read more