The Fair Folk

What a charming collection of short stories! Each novella is startlingly different from the next and possesses its own voice, but still ties well into this elven-themed collection. My favourite tale of the bunch is "UOUS" by Tanith Lee, which turns the legends of faeries granting mortals three wishes on its head. Its mythic tone suggests that this story is meant to directly mimic the sing-song-y tales of old, and Lee uses this much to her advantage as she develops an enticing (but dangerous) male elf lead and a bumbling (but never stupid) mortal female protagonist.

"Except the Queen" was another favourite, though I am sure that Yolen and Snyder have since written it out into a fuller novel (that I have already read and enjoyed). Not show more that I'm complaining either way!

I must read more of Kim Newman's Diogenes Club faerie tales, as they mix Sherlockian settings with faerie-driven plots. Very intriguing! show less

A collection of six novellas featuring faeries.

For the most part, this is a strong collection featuring some talented authors. I particularly enjoyed the tales by Megan Lindholm and Patricia A. McKillip. I found both stories readable and engaging, written in a pleasing style that invited me in and made me feel right at home. I can't believe I hadn't discovered McKillip yet; I'll certainly be seeking out more of her work.

The collection did have a few hiccups, however. I had a tough time with Tanith Lee's story. While I appreciated the idea behind it, I found her style dense and difficult. Sometimes I delight in unconventional syntax and twisting, turning prose; sometimes I don't. This time, I definitely didn't. I felt like her writing show more shut me out of the story and kept me from becoming fully involved. I recognize, however, that this is entirely a matter of taste. I'm sure others will find the style absolutely wonderful. Ditto for Craig Shaw Gardener's humorous fantasy.

For the most part, though, I really recommend this collection. There's some beautiful writing and some wonderful, memorable stories. If you're at all interested in even one of the contributing authors or in the whole idea of the fair folk, I urge you to check it out. show less

A collection of six long stories - which makes it a bit hard to give an overall rating. Definitely above-average, though, with a few of my favorite authors in the mix!

Tanith Lee - UOUS
Full of elements of disparate fairy tales, but mainly a mix of Cinderella and Tam Lin(?) - maybe. The girl with the nasty stepmother and awful stepsisters is in modern-day Britain, and the fairy lover doesn't do quite what one might expect. I enjoyed this one quite a lot.

Megan Lindholm - Grace Notes
Unusually humorous and uplifting for a Megan Lindholm story. Also set in the modern day, a solitary young man seems to have a brownie or house elf cleaning his house for him. Seems nice - but weird. And the brownie's taste in decor doesn't really suit. Still, show more things don't home to a head until the bill comes due... and then he might need a neighbor's help to extricate himself from the mess.

Kim Newman - The Gypsies in the Wood
This seemed, to me, more like an excerpt from a novel than a short story. I think the main 'investigator' in the story may feature in some of Newman's novels. This tale puts two children lost in the woods and possibly taken by fairies into Victorian-ish times. When the two children seem to re-appear, one is an adult, and no one believes that he might be the same boy who disappeared. His sister, however, looks just as she did. Not bad, but I didn't personally care for it as much as some of the other selections here.

Patricia McKillip - The Kelpie
Oooh, this is definitely one for anyone who loves the Pre-Raphaelites. The characters here are all fictional, but it takes place amidst a group of artists and models clearly modeled after Rossetti & co. A woman artist arrives on the scene, and is delighted to find another female painter who invites her participate in her salon... however, another artist pressures her into modeling for him, and his attentions soon progress to the level of blackmail. It takes an encounter with the titular kelpie to bring things to a head. Lovely, powerful story.

Craig Shaw Gardner - An Embarrassment of Elves
I've read at least one other story featuring the characters in this story. I didn't like it, and I don't like this one either. This is just not my flavor of humor; I'm sure it will suit others.

Jane Yolen & Midori Snyder - Except the Queen
This story reminded me quite a lot of a Charles de Lint story. Through a series of letters between two sisters, we learn that the two elderly women are actually fairies in exile, banished to human realms. They believe the reason for their banishment is a prank they played on the Queen of Faerie, which didn't go over well. But when each encounters a troubled human, they begin to suspect that their tribulations may be for some other reason... show less

This collection of novellas has some brilliant writers in it, including my personal favorite, Patricia A. McKillip. There are only six pieces here, which means there is greater depth than one finds in the usual themed collection, though of course the disadvantage is that less variety means you may not find what you like. Luckily, McKillip is brilliant, so one can pretty much count on her to deliver and she does here. I quite enjoyed 5 of the 6 stories, but I might be biased in my favorites. :)

Very entertaining yet very weird. The fifth story in the collection, published in 2005, "An Embarrassment of Elves", is laugh-out-loud funny. The half-dozen stories, all good, range from dramatic to horrific to hilarious. Good collection.

Excellent so far. I got the first three stories in last night and had to put it down. Farie tales are so much better when the risk of crossing the line of our reality is emphasized. The ending of Tanith Lee's piece left me somewhat flat but the balance was great. Ms Lindhold's piece was a good turn on the "helpful" Brownie, and I will now buy some more Kim Newman. I hardly even look at Book Club stuff anymore although I read a lot of them when I was younger and had "no" money to spare. I was recently reminded that the SFBC put out some fine anthologies - this is looking like one of them.

This book was a collection of short stories from some well-known authors, all centered around the fay: Patricia McKillip, Jane Yolen and Midori Snyder, Tanith Lee, Megan Lindholm, Kim Newman, and Craig Shaw Gardner all contributed. Sound like a winning combination? Actually... it was! A few of the stories were difficult to start - as in the first 3 pages or so were slow going and in some cases, hard to follow as the narrative was rather vague, but that's the way it is with the fay. In all, I thought all the stories were well done, none of them sagged or seemed to cause a 'weak spot' in the collection.