Product Description
Everyone thinks they know the real story behind the villains in fairy tales—but the villains themselves beg to differ. In Troll’s-Eye View, you’ll hear from the Giant’s wife (“Jack and the Beanstalk”), Rumpelstiltskin, the oldest of the Twelve Dancing Princesses, and many more. A stellar lineup of authors, including Garth Nix, Jane Yolen, and Nancy Farmer, makes sure that these old stories do new tricks! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Great collection of children's stories that show things from the villains perspective
This is a children's book of 15 short stories by various fantasy writers.Overall it was a decent collection.The stories are very short and there are some poems thrown in between stories.My favorite story of the bunch was Catherynne Valente's "A Delicate Architecture."I also really enjoyed "Skin" by Michael Cadnum and "Troll" by Jane Yolen.My least favorite was "Up the Down Beanstalk" by Peter Beagle.Overall though it was a great group of stories.See below for brief comments on each story.

- "Wizards Apprentice" by Delia Sherman
About an evil wizard's apprentice.Where all is not what it seems to be. This was a pretty funny story. 4/5

- "An Unwelcome Guest" by Garth Nix
In this story Rapunzel is the one harassing the witch.Very cleverly written.4/5

- "Faery Tales" by Wendy Froud
A short poem about what happens to the princesses when they get older. 4/5

- "Rags and Riches" by Nina Kiriki Hoffman
This was a retelling of the goose girl.The story was very detailed and a good read.4/5

- "Up the Down Beanstalk: A Wife Remembers" by Peter S. Beagle
In this story we get a retelling of Jack and the Beanstalk from the Giant's Wife's perspective.My least favorite of the bunch.3/5

- "Shoes That Were Danced To Pieces"by Ellen Kushner
A retelling of the twelve dancing princesses.Loved the story. 4/5

- "Puss in Boots, the Sequel" by Joseph Stanton
What if Puss in Boots didn't stay captured?This poem explores that.4/5

- "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" by Holly Black
How did the wolf in "Little Red Riding Hood" end up at grandma's house?Very clever ending.4/5

- "Troll" by Jane Yolen
Talks about the troll under the bridge; only this on is scared of goats.Very funny little story, I liked it a lot.5/5

- "Castle Othello" by Nancy Farmer
Maybe Bluebeard wasn't the evil one afterall.Interesting take on the tale.4/5

- "'Skin" by Michael Cadnum
A very beautifully and clever retelling of Rumplestilskin.Loved this story. 5/5

- "A Delicate Architecture" by Catherynne M. Valente
How did the witch from Hansel and Gretle end up in that house made of candy in the woods?This story answers all and is writen beautifully.The story had wonderful imagery and was very creative.My favorite of the bunch.5/5

- "Molly" by Midori Snyder
Tells about how Molly tricked the Giant.Maybe the giant wasn't so bad after all?4/5

- "Observing the Formalities" by Neil Gaiman
A poem about sleeping beauty.Well-written.4/5

- "The Cinderella Game" by Kelly Link
When two siblings start playing Cinderella, things get violent.This was an odd story and I wasn't quite sure what had happened when I got to the end.It was well-written.4/5

Trolling For Great Stories
Troll's Eye View: A Book of Villainous Tales edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling is the third in a series of short story collections of fairy tale retellings, following A Wolf at the Door and Swan Sister.

I know I always care more about the contents of a short story collection like this than an actual review since I'm certain to find the book worthwhile for at least a few stories--although more than a few make this one worthshile--so I'm kindly sharing the list with my gentle readers, too. Most of the authors are the usual suspects for a collection edited by Datlow and Windling, so fans should be thrilled and newcomers have a treat in store.

Wizard's Apprentice by Delia Sherman
An Unwelcome Guest by Garth Nix
Faery Tales by Wendy Froud
Rags and Riches by Nina Kiriki Hoffman
Up the Down Beanstalk: A W Remembers by Peter S. Beagle
The Shoes That Were Danced to Pieces by Ellen Kushner
Puss in Boots, the Sequel by Joseph Stanton
The Boy Who Cried Wolf by Holly Black
Troll by Jane Yolen
Castle Othello by Nancy Farmer
`Skin by Michael Cadnum
A Delicate Architecture by Catherynne M. Valente
Molly by Midori Snyder
Observing the Formalities by Neil Gaiman
The Cinderella Game by Kelly Link

There is a mixture of fun and trauma in the stories, ending with Link's chilling "The Cinderella Game." Don't read it at bedtime if you are subject to nightmares.

TOO GOOD FOR KIDS ONLY!
Troll's Eye View edited by Datlow & Windling will delight children. Every kid loves a villain and the dozen stories and three poems in this beautifully designed little book have a hilarious, chilling assortment.

But there's plenty here for anyone of any age. Some of the finest fantasy writers currently working contribute and reading this book I found myself thinking of Saki and Thurber and Mrs. Lovett from Sondheim's Sweeney Todd.

There's not a dud in the bunch but my favorites were Peter S. Beagle speaking as a Giant's Wife, Catherynne M. Valente finding terror and pathos in pastry and Kelly Link playing a very old game in a very modern family.

You may buy this as a gift but you'll read it and you'll keep it so buy at least two copies.
... Read more

Product Description
Convinced that his sister, Polly, is really a changeling whose soul has been stolen and replaced with the spirit of a mountain faery, Charlie must find a way to save her without being dispirited himself. ... Read more

Product Description
Here are original stories that straddle the borderline between "fantasy" and "mainstream" fiction, stories both bright and dark in tone (without straying into the realm of horror fiction). Sometimes set in the contemporary or historical world, sometimes pure fantasy or an imagined "history," these are striking, fresh, finely crafted works that demonstrate the best the short story form has to offer. Among the authors included are Delia Sherman, Peter Beagle, Marly Youmans, Jeffrey Ford, Paul Di Filippo, Greer Gilman, Gregory Maguire, and Lucius Shepard. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Sophisticated fantasy for the sophisticated mind
Salon Fantastique is a collection of fifteen original fantasy stories written by some of the greats in today's fantasy field and edited by esteemed editors Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling. It has an eclectic mix of stories, though most of them take place on our own planet, rather than some other fantasy setting. The styles are varied and the authors have written some very good stuff. The stories seem to fit the title of the anthology (which is always a good thing), as all of them seem a bit more sophisticated than your average fantasy story. I could almost picture these stories being passed among patrons of literary salons everywhere. On the other hand, the sophistication is a strike against some of the stories, as I couldn't make much sense of them. That may be a personal failing, but it did affect my enjoyment of the book.

The best stories in the book come from some of the more familiar names (at least to me), with "Femaville," by Paul Di Filippo being my favorite. In this story, a tsunami hits the east coast of the United States (it's not detailed where exactly), and the survivors are herded into camps until they either voluntarily re-settle or the government forces them out. Parrish Hedges is a cop with a problem; during the disaster, he tried to stop the looting, but the stress of this put him on edge. He was so tense that he ended up accidentally shooting a twelve-year-old boy with a water pistol. Now, he's one of the refugees. He meets up with a young woman and her daughter, and becomes the woman's lover. The daughter, along with most of the other kids in the camp, is creating a city out of mud, dirt, and whatever else they can put together. While the adults look upon this as children at play, being resilient through the worst tragedies, there may be something more to all of this. Will Parrish be able to put his past behind him to take the opportunity presented to him by this girl? This is an excellent story with a wonderful relationship between Parrish and the young girl. He's not of much use right now, so he becomes the guardian of the children as they work diligently, and he begins to believe that there may be something to what they're doing. None of the characterization is that deep (except for Parrish's, of course), but we get enough that none of the events in the story feel forced. The ending is actually a little unpredictable, and not the happiest, which is nice to see.

The rest of the stories are fairly good, though again some of them I had trouble getting through. I hesitate to name them when it could very well be just my thought processes not connecting with what the author is saying. Suffice to say that there's enough variety in here to satisfy almost anyone.

Overall, Salon Fantastique is a quality collection of fantasy stories. Most of them have at least some redeeming characteristics, and there is definitely some strong stuff in there. I listed my favourite story, but you also can't go wrong with stories by Delia Sherman and Lucius Shepard or the interesting weirdness of Lavie Tidhar's "My Travels with Al-Qaeda" (a sort of love story about a man and a woman who unfortunately keep ending up in hot spots in the Middle East at just the wrong times). Give this one a try, and maybe you can fathom some of the stories that I couldn't.

David Roy

Some Great Reads In Here
What a great collection!

The opening story, "La Fée Verte" by Delia Sherman, is worth the price of the book alone. I started reading it in a restaurant and was glued to the booth until I finished it.

I enthusiastically recommend "To Measure The Earth" by Jedidiah Berry, "The Guardian of the Egg" by Christopher Barzac, and "The Night Whiskey" by Jeffery Ford. Fans of Algernon Blackwood, Charles de Lint, and Stephen King will find those tales to their liking, I believe. And I appreciated the wink to Lovecraft fans in "The Mask of '67" by David Prill.

I don't know why they chose to include the stories "My Travels With Al-Qaeda" by Lavie Tidhar and "Nottamun Town" by Gregory MacGuire in the collection. In my layman's opinion, they lacked any fantasy elements (and they were bleak, to boot). I have a great respect for the work of Datlow and Windling; I know their concept of fantasy is more fully formed and sophisticated than mine, so I'm sure I missed something in those stories that their experienced eyes found. However, I didn't enjoy either one, and they seemed out of place.

Oh, and "Down The Hall" by Greer Gilman was a delightful challenge to read. It was almost like trying to read Clockwork Orange without the glossary in the back. Make sure you're in a quiet environment when you work through that story. You have to take your time on that one, but it's worth it.

Congratulations on the award!

Great stuff
A must-read.

Loved every single story.

That's all I can say :)

Salon Fantastique wins World Fantasy Award for Best Anthology of 2006
Salon Fantastique won the World Fantasy Award for Best Anthology of 2006, given out November 4, 2007 at the World Fantasy Convention in Saratoga Springs, NY. ... Read more

Product Description
Here is a splendid selection of horror and fantasy stories by Ramsey Campbell, Jane Yolen, Nancy Kress, Thomas Disch, Gene Wolfe and many more writers. Recommended reading lists and selected poetry complete the volume. ... Read more

Product Description
Word count: 4457. ... Read more

Product Description
Watch out for crease on spine. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

As always, a mixed bag--but it's a BIG bag!
J and I were having a discussion about reading preferences. She likes big thick books, typically, and I profess that I don't, although the books I name as my favorites all tend to be fairly hefty ones (The Gold Bug Variations, Possession, and Stand on Zanzibar, to name three). What I do like, that J has virtually stopped reading except in special cases, is short stories. Thinking about this, what I decided was my attraction in a story was a strong beginning and strong end, something you get a lot more of with short stories (where, in certain cases, are just beginnings and ends), yet can also be found in certain books. It's not that I don't like the middles of stories, but I'm a structuralist, and if a story starts off strong and finds a way to tie it up all together at the end, I've found what I'm looking for. It also explains why I don't tend to like "mainstream" fiction all that much, which is often just about the characters, i.e., the middle, and which the structure of beginning and end matters little.

So the publication of these large volumes of short stories is a regular purchase for me, enabling me to forego the magazines, which--to read in the kind of breadth and width brought to this collection by editors Datlow and Windling--would be ruinously expensive. I tend to like Datlow's picks better than Windling, that is, if the initials on the introductions indicate which woman picked which story for the volume, and I think that's because my tastes have always been more in line with Datlow. While both editors try to break free of the genre for at least a portion of their selections, Windling seems to have a certain stable of writers whom she can't stop from including--Yolen and de Lint come to mind--that I have never found as strong as she does.

The highlights in this volume include Stephen King's "The Man in the Black Suit," a Faulkner-influenced meet the devil tale that benefits from King's ability to write colloquially; Neil Gaiman's "Snow, Glass, Apples" which is like Gregory Maquire's Wicked in its ability to reframe a couple of well-known fairy tales so that the reader discovers that history is written by the winners; William Browning Spencer's "The Ocean and All Its Devices," wherein the Cthulhu mythos is reinvigorated; David Garnett's "A Friend Indeed," one of the best twist-in-the-tail stories that I've read in a while; and "Superman's Diary" by B. Brandon Barker, where Clark Kent finally wins the day. I liked some of the others, which tended to have great beginnings but weren't able to end to my satisfaction, including Bradley Denton's "A Conflagration Artist," Ian McDonald's "Blue Motel" and Jack Womack's "That Old School Tie." While I'm glad the editors include poetry, once again I wasn't impressed with the selections. ... Read more

Product Description
An appealing and eclectic anthology of some of the finest horror and fantasy tales written over the last year includes works by Patricia A. McKillip, Ursula K. Le Guin, Dan Simmons, Jane Yolen, Robert Silverberg, Joyce Carol Oates, and others. Amazon.com Review
The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror annuals are always atreat; read this one and The Year's Best ScienceFiction Sixteenth Annual Collection edited by Gardner Dozoisand you'll have a fairly complete overview of speculative fiction from1998 as well as hours of great reading.

Datlow and Windling,renowned for crossing genre boundaries, gather stories and poems frommainstream magazines, literary journals, and Internet zines. There arevampires, a Lovecraft homage, enchanted birds and animals,shapeshifters, adult fairy tales, ghosts, and even a hunted muse. Thebest are Byatt's sensuous, enchanting "Cold"--about an ice princesswho marries a glass-blowing desert prince--and Straub's novella,"Mr. Clubb and Mr. Cuff" (which won the Stokeraward for Best Long Fiction in 1999), a black comedy of revengegone awry. The reference material includes each editor's review of theyear's best novels, collections and anthologies, magazines, relatednonfiction, children's books, and art. There's also a roundup of1998's film, television, and dramatic offerings by Ed Bryant, a briefessay on comics by Seth Johnson, and obituaries by James Frenkel.

It's an invaluable source of introductions to authors you might nototherwise try, plus thought-provoking observations on fantasy in allits guises. You may not get to a convention this year, but if you'veread Datlow and Windling, you'll know what a good one islike. --Nona Vero ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

A mix of diamonds and duds
I was really impressed with some of the fiction in this book. I really loved the stories Travels with the Snow Queen and Quiting Loup. I also loved Twa Corbies. But some were a little bit to be desired. I really thought that the whole feminist fairy tale theme was a little bit hard to swallow and a tad annoying but overall a good read.

Some Great Stories Make Up For the MANY Duds....
This is actually one of the better "Years Best" that I've read so far. Again, I skimmed right past Windling & Datlow's Summations- They go on waaayyyy too long, as usual. Also as usual, Fantasy Editor Terri Windling monopolizes the bulk of the book with her choices. Horror Editor Ellen Datlow does get some payback, though: One of her choices, Peter Straub's "Mr. Clubb and Mr. Cuff", runs in excess of 50 pages. The titular duo is memorable, but the story goes on too long, and the style it's written in is difficult to stick with. The end is worth it, though.

The book opens with Kelly Link's "Travels With the Snow Queen" which I couldn't even finish; I hated it. Link appears again towards the end of the book with "The Specialist's Hat", an absolutely chilling ghost story with a drop-dead scary ending. I couldn't move on to the next story until the next day, because I was turning Link's story over in my mind all night. It was absolutely one of the spookiest stories I've ever read. Sara Douglass offers up the REAL secret behind those Gargoyles on Church roofs in "The Evil Within", a far-fetched but fun Horror tale, and Lisa Goldstein's "The Fantasma of Q____" is an interesting victorian tale with an neat twist at the end. Stephen King's contribution is pretty good; Not his best, but the end makes it worthwhile. One of the book's better tales is Terry Lamsley's "Suburban Blight", where an abandoned building hides a terrifying secret. "Inside the Cackle Factory", by Dennis Etchison, tells us just what happens to all of those washed-up stars we never see on TV anymore. John Kessel's "Every Angel is Terrifying" is a realistic story of escaped killers that takes a mildly fantastic twist at the end; It's extremely well-written, and creepy as hell. As always, there's a Dracula story (Sort of)- It's Mark W. Tiedmann's "Psyche", and it's a keeper. Drac himself is only peripherally involved, but his influence permeates the entire story. Jane Yolen, Norman Partridge, and Michael Blumlein all contribute interesting stories as well. I couldn't get through Christopher Harman's "Jackdaw Jack"- It was just awful. There's another Charles De Lint Newford story, which is excellent as usual, and Terry Dowling's story, "Jenny Come To Play" is just a nasty read; Although they're nothing alike, it has the same feel as "The Silence of the Lambs". And as usual, Terri Windling monopolizes the end of the book with dud stories that I can't get through. Windling tends to favor feminist fantasy stories that are all too much alike; I was actually offended by Carol Ann Duffy's ode to man-hating, "Mrs. Beast"; The less I say about this trash the better. If a man had written such an anti-female story, he'd be finished.

As I said, there are some GREAT stories here, but they're outweighed by the duds, and when one of these stories are bad, they're BAD. I'll read the other two volumes of "Year's Best" that I own, but I'll pass on buying new ones. Windling & Datlow's selections leave a lot to be desired, and I wish they would get a little more daring.....

The current pulse of nonrealistic fiction.
In their twelfth annual survey, Datlow and Windling have assembled a rewarding collection of genre (and extra-genre) fiction from English language sources of all kinds from 1998, with a little poetry thrown in as well.In a format based on Dozois's science fiction anthologies, Datlow and Windling's series has become an annual "event" for lovers of nonrealistic short fiction.The editors are open to just about anything and everything, as long as it has significant fantasy or horror elements, but they are more likely to reprint material by women writers, or about female characters.As far as biases go, that's not a bad one to have: some of the best fantasists working today are women.

The editors look at mainstream magazines like "The New Yorker" and "Ms." -- both of which had strong stories chosen for this book. From "The New Yorker" they selected Stephen King's "That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is in French," which in 20 tightly-written pages gives the reader the entire life of a woman who may be getting precognitive flashes about the crash of the plane she and her husband are on, or who may simply be fantasizing the crash as a death wish.I knew this woman completely by the end of the story (whose title refers to déjà vu).The "Ms." story was Lisa Goldstein's "The Phantasma of Q-----," with a moment of magic realism passing so quickly it's hard to catch.It is a strength of this series that it covers work in mainstream, genre and academic/small press sources.

A number of British and Australian magazines, anthologies and collections provide selections, with two superior tales well worth reading.The best thing in the book (and saved for last) is the superb modern fairy tale by A. S. Byatt, "Cold" -- sitting in a warm library, I was shivering at the frozen world depicted.A beautifully textured story, the best I've read in several years.It came from Byatt's collection, "Fire and Ice."Christopher Harman's "Jackdaw Jack" (from Ghosts and Scholars, a UK little magazine) is the best shocker in the anthology.Its pieces fall into place like a well-wrought jigsaw, and the end left me numb.

Among the other stories is an unclassifiable gem by Ray Vukcevich, "By the Time We Get to Uranus" (from the anthology, Imagination Fully Dilated). In the story's surreal world, a person's body slowly develops an astronaut's suit from the feet up, and eventually the person floats off into space.When this happens to a man's wife, he's concerned that his suit isn't developing as fast as hers, as they can't leave together. A metaphor for what separates the sexes these days, the story works and then some.

The stories I detailed here are my favorites, but others will find others they like as much or better.Some motifs of the book are hispanic magic realism, foreign fantasy in translation, and stories that are just very strange.I'm not a fast reader, and this long book took me a year and a half to finish.The extensive prefaces (in roman numerals) run over 100 pages before you even get to "page 1."Windling first documents fantasy for 1998; Datlow then does the same for horror, after which we get essays on the media, comics and obituaries for 1998.The prefaces are meant to be references more than essays, and I do use them as a reference, but they are slow going just to read (and some of the info is duplicated by approaching the genres separately).The shortlist of "honorable mention" stories at the end is also useful as a reference.

All in all, a class act by two dedicated anthologists who deeply care about the state of the contemporary nonrealistic story.

Year's Best Fantasy and Horror, Fifth Annual
Standout stories here are Holdstock and Kilworth's chilling "The Ragthorn", Cherryh's "Gwydion and the Dragon" and McGrath's gruesome "The Smell". Also worth mentioning are stories by Koja and Kushner, among others. There's the usual useful overview of the industry, and the usual stock of cutesy (De Lint) and nonsensical stories and bad free verse, but this edition contains more truly good work than many of the others.

An outstanding entry in an excellent series
I am working my way back through all of the Datlow/Windling annuals, and although I love all of them, this collection is definitely outshines some of its colleagues (such as the third edition, which is the least thrilling of the ones I have read so far).Many of the stories will cling to your memory, and the scope of genres is commendable.The editors have found works form many different countries and languages and brought them all together into a very good volume.My favorite entries include "The Ragthorn" a truly frightening story about scholarship, information and resurrection; "Our Lady of the Harbour" Charles de Lint's Newford version of the little Mermaid; "Call Home" a truly scary story about a little girl and the man who doesn't molest her; "At the End of the Day" a disturbing and surreal narrative about endings; "The Poisoned Story" an upside down retelling of Cinderella in Puerto Rico by my compatriot Rosario Ferre; "The Peony Lantern" a Japanese ghost story and "The Witch of Wilton Falls" about human monsters and adapting to unusual circumstances. If you have read other Datlow/Windling anthologies and you want to buy other ones, get this one first.If you have never read these anthologies, this is a great place to start. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

For every young generation, there's always a place to run to . . .
Some years ago, Windling thought up a highly original setting for "urban fantasy" stories -- a city after the return of Faerie to our world, a border region where magic sometimes works, technology is undependable, and runaway kids, both human and elf, are seeking their dreams. It's a little Haight-Ashbury, a little Oz, and a lot of fun for the reader. In this volume (one of several that have been published, plus a couple of novels), seven authors set their stories in Bordertown with varying degrees of success. "Nevernever," by Will Shetterly, an old Borderlands hand, is about Wolfboy, how he came to be what he is, and what he does when the opportunity arises to get even. A very good story. Kara Dalkey's "Night Wail," about banshees and dealing with death, is a bit of a downer but well written. "Alison Gross," by Midori Snyder, is about true love and dark magic. Charles de Lint's "Berlin," one of the two really good ones here, is about dragons and drugs and getting even. "Reynardine," by Michael Korolenko, about shape-changers and other horror tropes, just didn't do much for me. Craig Shaw Gardner's "Light and Shadow," a take-off (sort of) on THE MALTESE FALCON, is just dumb. Bellamy Bach's "Rain and Thunder," also a love story, is kind of the other side of "Berlin," and it's very, very well done. There's also a frame story by Ellen Kushner consisting of unmailed letters home written by a young human runaway, describing her arrival, her time in Oberon's House (not a nice place, and for not very obvious reasons), and how she survives. All in all, it's an above-average volume.

ItAin'tYourFather'sFantasyRags
I have just finished this book for the third time and I still find it to be as fascinating and engaging as I did when I first read it in Junior High School, and again in High School.I am now 26 and though it may be a bit simple to read at this age, it still makes me feel the same as before.Fantasy readers are romantics at heart and so is this book.Underneath its somewhat common subject matter like magical elves and hollywood runaways are universal themes of angst, lonliness, rebelion, and needless to say, love.Does this sound familiar to those of us who were once teenagers?"Alison Gross" still gets me everytime. Honestly, my tag for the longest time has been "Skydeki", which is a half-bite off of one of the Rainbow Godesses in the short story of Alison Gross.Whenever people ask what it means I start on a diatribe about my love for this book, and all of its other great shorts.Please read this book if you're a teenager who enjoys fantasy writings.Even if you're 50, so long as you can remember a time when shirking your responsibilities and running away seemed like a great idea.

A highly enjoyable fantasy trip.
Described as "where Elfland meets rock and roll", this is part of a collection of stories based on the idea of what if the world of magic, fantasy and elves returned to our world. The border is a place where the Elflands and the world meet; where neither magic nor technology reigns supreme.These 9 short stories introduce new characters and expand on some of the old favorites from the bordertown series. They are all very light reads, the kind of book you tote around for reading while you wait. You must have this book if you are a fan of Terri Windling's creation, the Borderlands. ... Read more

Product Description
On the border between the World and Elfland sits Bordertown, a place of half-lit neighborhoods of hidden magic, of flamboyant artists and pagan motorcycle gangs. Bordertown is a hothouse laboratory for the return of magic to the life of the World--and the return of life to magic. It's an attitude and a state of mind. It's where magic meets rock & roll. Original. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Superb Anthology of Urban Fantasy
This is an amazing book.Windling has created a shared universe in which Faery has returned to the modern world.However, it's not all happy elves frolicking with humans.The city/cities where Faery have appeared nolonger support technology really, and the elves can be right bastards. It's gritty, realistic (for fantasy), and the stories tend to be incrediblywell written. This is, in my mind, a classic urban fantasy novel.If youlike Delint, you'll love this. ... Read more

Product Description
This acclaimed series, winner of numerous World Fantasy Awards, continues its tradition of excellence with scores of short stories from such writers as Michael Bishop, Edward Bryant, Angela Carter, Terry Lamsley, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, A.R. Morlan, Robert Silverberg, Michael Swanwick, Jane Yolen, and many others. Supplementing the stories are the editors' invaluable overviews of the year in fantastic fiction, Edward Bryant's witty roundup of the year's fantasy films, and a long list of Honorable Mentions-all of which adds up to an invaluable reference source, and a font of fabulous reading.
Amazon.com Review
The 10th volume of this excellent annual anthology series notonly collects 39 stories and 4 poems in these overlapping genres, butreports on the year's best in books, movies, and other media. Thehorror and dark fantasy tales are by Jay Russell (family ghost),Angela Carter (fairy tale ghost), Edward Bryant (aliens), RobertSilverberg (dark goddess), Yxta Maya Murray (Southwestern folkloreghost), Thomas Ligotti (secret society), Graham Masterton (macabrerecipe book), Douglas Clegg (anguished love), Stephen Dedman (childlamia who knew Lewis Carroll), Terry Lamsley (monster"pet"), Isobelle Carmody (phoenix), Delia Sherman (witchesand wolves), Lisa Russ Spaar (Rapunzel), Neil Gaiman (queen bee),Philip Graham (oppressive angel), Terry Dowling (monomania), DennisEtchison (L.A. paranoia), Kathe Koja and Barry N. Malzberg (ravagingbears), A. R. Morlan (rock 'n' roll sleaze), Michael Marshall Smith(entrapping relationship), and Ron Hansen (magic realism). All thedark tales are high quality, and a few are among the best in theseries so far. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Pretentious and Overblown
Ohhhhh.....Where to begin? I'll start with co-editor Terri Windling. Her opening essay on the year in Fantasy was almost enough to make me hurl down the book in irritation. If she said "Magic Realism" one more time....I lost track at 37. Unbearable. Just unbearable. I have a pretty steadfast rule that, no matter how bad a book may be, I read EVERY SINGLE WORD. Every word. No matter what. I had to skim through Windling's essay, because it was either skim or put my fist through the wall. "Magic Realism. Magic Realism. Magic Realism." Ugh.

Ellen Datlow's essay is slightly more interesting, and the sections on Media and Comic Books were very well done. Now, on to the stories themselves.

I've read a few of the previous Year's Best volumes, and it always bothered me how the book slants towards Fantasy over Horror (Terri Winling is the Fantasy Editor, Ellen Datlow the Horror Editor), but this edition is WAY over the top. Out of 35 stories, Windling's name is on over twenty. Her tastes run towards oblique, overwritten, pretentious tripe, and strange poetry. One of her selections, Gerald Vizenor's Oshkiwiinag: Heartlines on the Trickster Express put me beyond the newfound sacrilige of skimming. I actually had to skip the remainder of the story after five endless, pointless pages. I have never read such strange shizznit in my whole life. I literally had NO idea what he was writing about. Ugh. Another Windling pick (Among The Handlers, by Michael Bishop) is endlessly long, written in an awful hillbilly dialect, and is neither Fantasy or Horror, but IS god-awful. I'll avoid Vizenor and Bishop like the plague, thanks to these stories. We also get other Windling-picked classics like Birthdream, (A poem about childbirth, not Horror or Fantasy, but also awful. If I wanted bad poems, I'd get a poetry book.) Caribe Magico, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (A travelogue. For God's sake, a travelogue! Not Horror, not Fantasy...but as Windling says...MAGIC REALISM! Code for "Pretentious story that makes no sense."), and Beckoning Nightframe by Terry Dowling, about a woman who is scared of her neighbor's open window. FOR 16 PAGES! UGH. Her only decent choice is Little Beauty's Wedding, by Chang Hwang. It's an unforgettable story.

Ellen Datlow fares better in her choices. The Secret Shih Tan (By Graham Masterson), Never Seen By Waking Eyes (By Stephen Dedman), and the grotesque Three Bears pastiche "Ursus Triad, Later" (By Kathe Koja & Barry N. Malzberg) are all incredible, and I'm glad to have discovered writers I wasn't familiar with, but the overall feeling I had when reading the book was one of irritation with the all-encompassing pretentiousness of the package. I'd say the stinky outweighed the good by 90%. I'm VERY sorry that I'vealready purchased the next four volumes....But at least I've learned to skim & skip!

Interesting, But Not Very Horrorific
Interesting collection of writers, some famous and some unknowns, but all in all not a real page turner. Some stories I couldn't even finish I got so bored. Some were so good I got goose pimples. Go figure. ... Read more

Product Description
The four previous volumes in Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling's anthology series of fairly tales retold with a distinctively modern edge have been hailded by reviewers as "brilliant," "provocative," and "disturbing." In this triumphant new collection of original fiction, twenty-one of today's leading writers spin the cherished fables of childhood into glittering gold--offering magical tales for adults, as seductive as they are sophisticated.

A jealous prince plots the destruction of his hated brother's wedding by inventing a "magic" suit of clothing visible only to the pure at heart...
A young girl's strange fairy tale obsession results in a brutal murder...
An embittered mother cares for her dying son who is trapped in a thicket that guards a sleeping beauty...
In a bleak and desolate industrial wasteland, a group of violent outcasts lays the tattered myths of one Millenium to rest, and gives terrifying birth to those of the next.

Erotic, compelling, witty, and altogether extraordinary, these stories lay bare our innermost demons and desires--imaginatively transforming our youthful fantasies into things darker, slyer, and more delightfully subversive.Amazon.com Review
Forget about AndrewLang--Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling argue that fairy tales arenot the pastel fantasies of Victorian children's books but rather aredrawn with primary passions: love, hate, greed, sacrifice, joy, andsorrow. Silver Birch, Blood Moon is their fifth anthology oforiginal stories with fairy tale sources, "reimagined" for adults.

Nancy Kress retells "The Emperor's New Clothes" with a delightfultwist in "Clad in Gossamer"; Harvey Jacobs unleashes laughter with"The Vanishing Virgin," starring an untalented magician, his lovelybut frozen assistant, and "a balding, sullen rabbit" called Pooper;Michael Cadnum and Nalo Hopkinson present equally pointed butdistinctly different takes on the story of two sisters spelled tospeak according to their natures in "Toad Rich" and "Precious"; WendyWheeler reworks "Beauty and the Beast" using Caribbean colors in "SkinSo Green and Fine"; and Richard William Asplund blends the Arabiangenie with the wonder-working rabbi of Hasidic legends to create "TheDybbuk in the Bottle."

The stories here are less gruesome than inthe previous collections, and both sexes claim heroic as well asvillainous characters. So enter imagination's marketplace, and watchthe storytellers at work. It's amazing what they can do with a bit ofold legend. --Nona Vero ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Good and bad
Silver Birch, Blood Moon mixes good re-tellings with horrible ones. It has stories that are funny, evil, good, terrible, brand new, re-told, and many others. I don't feel like I wasted my time reading it but there are better out there. I guess it is the same with all mixed books. I enjoyed a lot of the stories, despised about as many. I loved the re-telling of The Little Mermaid in The Sea Hag, but didn't aprove of The Glass Cofin which was just depressing. It was a good book and was enjoyable. I recomend it.

A sad, sad thing
Somebody made a grave mistake!I was surprised by the lack of good stories in this one as compared to the other dark fairy-tale collections by these editors, all of which were endlessly satisfying to me.This book I bought on a whim before I had read it....what a waste of money!Terribly dissapointing, although there are decent parts in the book, hidden in a nook or cranny if you look enough.Save yourself the money and rent this from the library if you don't believe me...maybe you'll end up agreeing with me.

Angela Carter would be pleased
The FIFTH in the series of altered faery tales, it's a heckuva good time.Evidently a modern fantasy trend, Datlow and Windling can't put these out fast enough; I believe there's at least 2 following this.These tales are good reads in their own right, but add the satisfying pop-pyschology crunch of being able to dissect the original tale through its modern and fractured counterpart and you've got a great read.While again, these are being turned out like organic vegetarian pizzas in Hell-A, I never felt cheated or subjected to a formula.These authors are varied in language and message, even if some themes are awfully similar.The worst that can be said about this particulair series is that it may have a feminist slant at times, being written mostly (16 out of 20) by women, and likely FOR, women, screw it.If you've gota problem with it, go grab something that Mike Whelan drew the cover art for. While some of the themes are a bit heavy, (domestic violence / female oppression in "Kiss Kiss") overall, it's pretty light-hearted, and dang it (can I say it again), it makes you think in an easy, cerebral but not all-encompassing way about the folktales that shaped our imaginations and interesting modifications of them. Pick it up, and the rest, too.I'll warn you if, as is inevitable in fiction trends, it becomes overdone and heavy-handed.

Loved it!
The FIFTH in the series of altered faery tales, it's a heckuva good time.Evidently a modern fantasy trend, Datlow and Windling can't put these out fast enough; I believe there's at least 1 more following this.These tales are good reads in their own right, but add the satisfying pop-pyschology crunch of being able to dissect the original tale through its modern and fractured counterpart and you've got a great read.While again, these are being turned out like organic vegetarian pizzas in Hell-A, I never felt cheated or subjected to a formula.These authors are varied in language and message, even if some themes are awfully similar.The worst that can be said about this particulair series is that it may have a feminist slant at times, being written mostly (16 out of 20) by women, and likely FOR, women, screw it.If you've gota problem with it, go grab something that Mike Whelan drew the cover art for. While some of the themes are a bit heavy, (domestic violence / female oppression in "Kiss Kiss") overall, it's pretty light-hearted, and dang it (can I say it again), it makes you think in an easy, cerebral but not all-encompassing way about the folktales that shaped our imaginations and interesting modifications of them. Pick it up, and the rest, too.I'll warn you if, as is inevitable in fiction trends, it becomes overdone and heavy-handed.

Additional information on this book:
I have just learned that this book has been short-listed for the World Fantasy Award, 2000. Congratulations! ... Read more

Product Description
In the ancient Scottish ballad "Tam Lin," headstrong Janetdefies Tam Lin to walk in her own land of Carterhaugh . . . andthen must battle the Queen of Faery for possession of her lover’sbody and soul. In this version of "Tam Lin," masterfully craftedby Pamela Dean, Janet is a college student, "Carterhaugh" isCarter Hall at the university where her father teaches, and TamLin is a boy named Thomas Lane. Set against the backdrop ofthe early 1970s, imbued with wit, poetry, romance, and magic,Tam Lin has become a cult classic—and once you begin reading,you’ll know why. This reissue features an updated introductionby the book’s original editor, the acclaimed Terri Windling. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (110)

Unusual, captivating
It's been said before: this is probably a book that some will love a lot, and others just won't.(Which book isn't.)

I loved it and am online now seconds after finishing it to buy something else of Pamela Dean's.Tam Lin is incredibly well-controled, tantalizing, atmospheric, mysterious, etc.I think it will appeal most to those who love Shakespeare, Milton, etc and who enjoy a read with lingering and evocative moods and pace.

Fabulous book.(And in my opinion, an even greater read when you don't quite know what you're getting into. Like the movie Happy Accidents.)

Poetic Snoozefest
This book is very peaceful, dreamy, and slow paced with a lot of exposition.It is really a work of literary fiction with a magical subtext running through; not a genre fantasy.While there were many successful elements, such as literary allusions and the evocation of 70s college life, I thought it was extremely boring with minimal plot development and the characters were such geeks they made me want to scream.

The truly Fae...
I acknowledge that some might detest this book. Those who are looking for flamboyant faerie stories are definitely in the wrong place. The story told here is a beautiful interpretation of the ballad of Tam Lin and sets the idea of what it would be like to encounter a fae court hidden in the American Midwest during the 1970s. This book will probably only be the favorites of wordsmiths, wizards (as defined in Diane Duane's 'So you Want to Be A Wizard'), folklorists, and Classics Majors. None the less is it the most wonderful interpretation I have read of any lore since I started reading Shakespeare on my own at 12.

There is literally no story
The cover suggests an actual amount of fantasy involved. All I got was "Diary of an English major". Here's my summation of the plot. Girl goes to college, reads books, gets a boyfriend, reads books, thinks there's something fishy about the Classics department, reads books, time goes on, more reading of the books, excessive disscusion of the reading of the books, girl finds out boyfriend is not for her and breaks up with him, reads more books, more talking about the books, tiresome quoting from the books, develops a mild interest in exboyfriend of aquaintance, reads books, sleeps with him in a practice room, finds out she's pregnant (oh, and he kinda tricked her into getting pregnant), finds out he's the magical slave of the weird head of the Classics department, and finally reenacts a scene from classic literature and saves boyfriend from the evil Classics department. This book was so laden down with books and talking about books and quoting book after book (98% of which I have never heard of) trying to find the actual plot or any amount of action was like an going on an acheological dig. I was so bored I failed to notice at what point any of the fantasy elements started to happen. I still didn't figure out when exactly she fell for the guy or when she discovered this great secret about the Classics department, or even what that secreat was. Did the author forget that actual people were going to read this? I mean other than ones who were English majors in college. I paid a good amount of money for this thing, hoping for a retelling of Tam Lin in modern day. Instead I get a recount of what obviously was the author's college years (or what she wished they had been like.) All I have to say Pamela Dean is that you robbed me, of money and time. Go back to that college you remember so fondly and learn how to be a storyteller again.

Outdated Fairy Tale Retelling at a Liberal Arts College
I feel like this is one of those books that you either lovelovelove or hatehatehate. Those who love it do so because of Pamela Dean's skillful descriptions of life at a liberal arts college in the mid-70s. Those who hate it complain about the fake, pretentious characters, the slow pace, and the too-detailed descriptions and dialogue.

Me, I guess I'm in the second camp. I heard such good things about this book and so ordered it with high hopes. However, I found the characters annoying and unrealistic. I'm attending a liberal arts college now, but no one I know speaks in such a high-fallutin', quote-filled manner. I found myself irritated at the overexuberant descriptions of the campus; must NOTHING be left for me to imagine? Must I know the location of every building, bridge, rock, and tree on Blackstone's campus?

TAM LIN is more a detailed sketch of college life rather than a retelling of a fairy tale. I was disappointed that there was not more fantasy in it--guess I was expecting some. I have a feeling that those who love this book are those who can relate to the liberal arts college student life back in the 70s. It's the 21st century, college is so much different, and I just couldn't get into this book. ... Read more