If the name Charles de Lint sounds familiar to you and yet you haven’t read any of his work it may be for a number of reasons. You may recall in the Terri Windling Friday Favorites that I mentioned that she, along with de Lint, coined the term mythic fiction and were instrumental in bringing this type of fantasy back to popularity. You may have seen the many striking book covers graced by the work of John Jude Palencar as you walk down the fantasy aisles. Or it may be because Charles de Lint has written over 40 novels, has numerous short story collections, writes poetry, and is a Celtic folk musician. Whatever the reason, the name Charles de Lint should be familiar to you. If it is not, I cannot encourage you strongly enough to remedy that situation as quick as possible.
As I mentioned in a previous post, reading the Howard Chaykin/Mike Mignola graphic novel adaptation of Fritz Leiber’s characters Fafhred and the Gray Mouser merely whet my appetite for Leiber’s work without bedding her back down. Thus I found myself purchasing the first book, in the reissued Dark Horse format.
I am not sure when urban fantasy/urban horror was released on the scene but it is safe to say that there are a number of authors whose books would fit within this genre. Laurell K. Hamilton and Charlaine Harris are two that come to mind. Simon R. Green’s Nightside series and Liz Williams’ Snake Agent are two that I have read which are written in a similar vein. Mystery stories featuring a private investigator set in a world where the supernatural is not a myth, but a reality. While the products of good writers tend to spawn derivative works from those looking to cash in on a trend, there are surprises to be found amongst the pretenders. Kat Richardson‘s debut novel, Greywalker, is one of those surprises.
As a child I do not remember having any strong attachment to the story of Alice and her adventures in Wonderland. I am not sure that I was aware of it on any level outside of the Disney version. I do recall, however, a fascination with the idea of a hole in the ground leading to other realms. I remember having daydreams about this idea frequently. Thus I have had a kinship to Alice for years before ever becoming enamored of her story. It wasn’t until Neil Gaiman released the novel Neverwhere that I really started paying attention to Alice in Wonderland and how the ideas in that book are often replicated in other stories. I finally picked up the story when the book The Annotated Alice was published. This book, with its insight into Lewis Carroll’s brilliant use of language and the plethora of Victorian error inside jokes, etc., made my fascination for the stories grow. And the computer game American McGee’s Alice cemented Alice and her cohorts as one of my favorite literary characters. In fact, I have an homage to that world on one wall in my work office:
Neil Gaiman’s latest collection of short stories, Fragile Things, arrived on bookshelves Tuesday, September 26th and I wasted no time in rushing out to purchase my copy. Despite any good intentions I might have had, all books were laid aside while I sat at the feet of the master. Short story collections are something of an enigma. I have read a fair number of short story collections this year, and while some were fantastic from start to finish others contained stories ranging from the very good to the very average. Fragile Things occupies this latter category.
