books tagged “fantasy”

YOUNG XING XING IS BOUND. Bound to her father's second wife and daughter after Xing Xing's father has passed away. Bound to a life of servitude as a young girl in ancient China, where the life of a woman is valued less than that of livestock. Bound to be alone and unmarried, with no parents to arrange for a suitable husband. Dubbed "Lazy One" by her stepmother, Xing Xing spends her days taking care of her half sister, Wei Ping, who cannot walk because of her foot bindings, the painful but compulsory tradition for girls who are fit to be married. Even so, Xing Xing is content, for now, to practice her gift for poetry and calligraphy, to tend to the mysterious but beautiful carp in her garden, and to dream of a life unbound by the laws of family and society. But all of this is about to change as the time for the village's annual festival draws near, and Stepmother, who has spent nearly all of the family's money, grows desperate to find a husband for Wei Ping. Xing Xing soon realizes that this greed and desperation may threaten not only her memories of the past, but also her dreams for the future. In this searing story, Donna Jo Napoli, acclaimed author of "Beast and Breath," delves into the roots of the Cinderella myth and unearths a tale as powerful as it is familiar. [via]

On a spring day in April--sometime in the waning years of the 14th century--29 travelers set out for Canterbury on a pilgrimage to the shrine of Saint Thomas Beckett. Among them is a knight, a monk, a prioress, a plowman, a miller, a merchant, a clerk, and an oft-widowed wife from Bath. Travel is arduous and wearing; to maintain their spirits, this band of pilgrims entertains each other with a series of tall tales that span the spectrum of literary genres. Five hundred years later, people are still reading Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. If you haven't yet made the acquaintance of the Franklin, the Pardoner, or the Squire because you never learned Middle English, take heart: this edition of the Tales has been translated into modern idiom.

From the heroic romance of "The Knight's Tale" to the low farce embodied in the stories of the Miller, the Reeve, and the Merchant, Chaucer treated such universal subjects as love, sex, and death in poetry that is simultaneously witty, insightful, and poignant. The Canterbury Tales is a grand tour of 14th-century English mores and morals--one that modern-day readers will enjoy. [via]

Ivy Carson belonged to the notorious Carson family which lived, from time to time, in a rundown house on the outskirts of Rosewood, California - moving out whenever the police or the debt-collectors got too close. But Ivy wasn't like the other Carsons. Martha Abbott, who came from a well-run, affectionate home, was frightened by a great many things when she was small, and the Carsons frightened he more than most; but Ivy didn't scare her a bit. Ivy was different. "I'm really a changeling," Ivy said, quite casually. A changeling, according to Ivy, was the child of magic creatures - a witch's baby, or maybe a troll's - exchanged for a human baby during the first hours of life. Martha was fascinated by the idea, and watching Ivy slide down their tree-rope, spinning in and out of shadow and sunlight, she didn't doubt it for a moment. That first meeting took place when Ivy and Martha were still small, and in spite of the Abbott family's disapproval, in spite of the way the Carsons disappeared for years at a time, their friendship was to last right through, from eight to fifteen and beyond. The times when Ivy was around were special for Martha, exciting and alive despite the trouble their friendship sometimes brought - for Rosewood wasn't a good place top be different in. What they gave her was worth any amount of sniping. [via]

Jess Mastriani -- dubbed "Lightning Girl" by the press when, after a huge storm, she developed a psychic ability to find missing children -- has lost her miraculous powers. Or has she? She would like the media and the government to think so. All Jess wants is to be left alone, by everyone except sexy Rob Wilkins -- who still hasn't called, by the way....

But it doesn't look like Jess is going to get her wish -- especially not while she's stuck working at a summer camp for musically gifted kids. Then the father of a missing girl shows up to beg Jess to find his daughter. Jess can't say no, but now the feds are on her trail again, as is one ornery stepdad, who'd like to see Lightning Girl...well, dead. [via]

In 1923, when Cicely Mary Barker created the first of the Flower Fairies books, Flower Fairies of the Spring, this unassuming artist could have had little idea of the immense popularity that the Flower Fairies series would enjoy. Now, more than twenty years after her death, Barker [via]

1984 Amaranth Press / Octopus Books; Treasury of World Masterpieces: The Complete Tales of Mystery and Imagination / The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym / The Raven and Other Poems [via]

Holly Cathers and her twin cousins have just graduated from high school, and they're moving on toward their first semester of college. But no matter where they go, they will never be entirely free of their past. The three are descendants of a powerful coven of witches -- in constant danger from a rival clan.

Holly learns from a vision that Jer is still alive. As leader of the coven, she resolves to rescue him despite the fact that he is a member of the Deveraux clan and therefore her enemy. But her efforts are thwarted when her aunt reveals the nature of an ancient curse visited upon all Cathers witches. It becomes clear to Holly that the death of her parents was no accident, and a similar plague is sure to fall on anyone she grows close to. As her power strengthens, can Holly escape her destiny? And if her destiny includes Jer, does she want to? [via]

ANGEL VS. SPIKE

Sulking around the Slayer in Sunnydale, the vampire Spike has often run into demons intent on punishing him for throwing in with the White Hats. But when there are hints of a more organized campaign dedicated to vanquishing the vampire with a chip in his head, Spike sets off on the trail of whoever's put a hit out on him.

Meanwhile, in the City of Angels, the vampire with a soul finds that the search for a mystical object is tied to his days as the vicious Angelus. Then Spike -- his former partner in carnage -- arrives in L.A. Each nursing a grudge, and with the specter of Buffy in both of their (cold, dead) hearts, the two vampires reluctantly work together...until their torturous past catches up with them! [via]

You've gotta love to hate the 1977 movie Damnation Alley, a cheese-filled classic from sci-fi's cinematic canon. But there's at least one good thing you can say about this otherwise awful flick: it's prevented the movie's far superior source material from being forgotten. Roger Zelazny's post-apocalypse novel predates the George Peppard-Jan-Michael Vincent vehicle by about a decade and represents the fine storytelling talents of one of science fiction and fantasy's most daring writers (likely best remembered for his imaginative Amber series).

Speaking of vehicles: the coolest part of the movie--and likely, thankfully, the only part most people remember--turns out to be even cooler in the book: the flame-spewing, .50-caliber-bullet-belching, grenade-throwing, gigantic all-terrain vehicle that's responsible for getting a crucial antiserum shipment from Los Angeles to Boston to stop a deadly plague. The driver, a despicable lowlife named Hell Tanner, has been given a not-so-difficult choice. He can either get the drugs to the East Coast intact, save humanity, and receive a full pardon for his crimes, or he can refuse and spend the rest of his life in a "zebra suit." So what's the catch? Thanks to World War III, Middle America is now an electrical-storm-torn, heavily irradiated playground for dino-sized Gila monsters, "freak spiders," humongous bats "that eat off the mutie fruit trees down Mexico way," and 120-foot-long snakes as big around as garbage cans. And the native humans still scrambling around the wasteland aren't much less dangerous.

Damnation Alley might not be Zelazny's best, but for reading on, say, a road trip, you can't do much better. Throw in some '60s-style, freak-out closing riffs, and a trip down the Alley becomes pretty hard to pass up. --Paul Hughes [via]

This is the fourth in the series BIO OF A SPACE TYRANT, featuring the stages in the life of Hope Hubris, the Tyrant of Jupiter, and his beloved sister Spirit. [via]

Eye features the startlingly original collaboration "The Road to Dune," a walking tour of Arakeen narrated by Frank Herbert and illustrated by acclaimed British artist Jim Burns. Also included is an introduction by Herbert describing his personal feelings about the filming of David Lynch's movie version of Dune; Herbert's own favorite short story, "Seed Stock"; and tales from throughout his career, some never before collected. [via]

Green Spain, as Northern Spain is often known, offers the visitor a great variety of landscapes: lush forests, deep-green valleys, soaring high mountain scenery, and exquisite beaches. For those looking for more than sun and sand, cultural highlights such as Santiago de Compostela, and the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao are contrasted with the wonderful national parks that can be found in the Central and Eastern Pyrenees. But the best beaches and most charming villages are not neglected. Everything is depicted in the glorious visual style for which Eyewitness Travel Guides are known. [via]

The Tony Award-winning musical,

now adapted into a lavishly illustrated book

"Into the Woods" is the imaginative account of what happens when the lives of new and old fairy-tale characters dramatically and humorously come together. Cinderella, Jack (of bean-stalk fame), Little Red Ridinghood, and the Baker and his Wife set out for the forest on a quest to find "happily ever after." Along the way they meet Rapunzel, a Wicked Witch, a lascivious Wolf, vengeful Giants, a couple of charming Princes, and their own destiny. With wit and wisdom, the authors have given us a parable about the loss of innocence, the joys and sorrows of adulthood, and the price paid for getting the things you really want. [via]

In the realm of Faerie, the time has come for Roiben's coronation. Uneasy in the midst of the malevolent Unseelie Court, pixie Kaye is sure of only one thing -- her love for Roiben. But when Kaye, drunk on faerie wine, declares herself to Roiben, he sends her on a seemingly impossible quest. Now Kaye can't see or speak to Roiben unless she can find the one thing she knows doesn't exist: a faerie who can tell a lie.

Miserable and convinced she belongs nowhere, Kaye decides to tell her mother the truth -- that she is a changeling left in place of the human daughter stolen long ago. Her mother's shock and horror sends Kaye back to the world of Faerie to find her human counterpart and return her to Ironside. But once back in the faerie courts, Kaye finds herself a pawn in the games of Silarial, queen of the Seelie Court. Silarial wants Roiben's throne, and she will use Kaye, and any means necessary, to get it. In this game of wits and weapons, can a pixie outplay a queen?

Holly Black spins a seductive tale at once achingly real and chillingly enchanted, set in a dangerous world where pleasure mingles with pain and nothing is exactly as it appears.

[via]

Ryunosuke Akutagawa (1892-1927) is known primarily as the author whose books formed the basis of Kurosawa's Rashomon. Originally published in 1927, Kappa was published just before he committed suicide, at the age of 35. Patient No. 23 tells his story to anyone in the asylum who will listen. On his way home through a valley, he falls into a deep abyss while chasing a nimble creature with a face like a tiger and a sharp beak. The creature was a Kappa, and when he awoke he was in Kappaland. One man's initiation into the rites of this parallel world becomes the vehicle for a savage and funny critique of contemporary Japanese life and customs. [via]

It started with fireballs raining down from the sky and crashing into the oceans' deeps. Then ships began sinking mysteriously and later 'sea tanks' emerged from the deeps to claim people. For journalists Mike and Phyllis Watson, what at first appears to be a curiosity becomes a global calamity. Helpless, they watch as humanity struggles to survive now that water - one of the compounds upon which life depends - is turned against them. Finally, sea levels begin their inexorable rise. "The Kraken Wakes" is a brilliant novel of how humankind responds to the threat of its own extinction and, ultimately, asks what we are prepared to do in order to survive. [via]

This title concludes a three-volume crossover series which uses characters and settings from both Buffy and Angel. Buffy and Angel are stuck in an alternate reality where dragons and monsters rule. In the homeworld chaos is rife, Buffy and Angel must find a way home before it's too late. [via]

Motherless Olivia and Nellie go to live with their elderly Great-Aunt Minty, who knows little about children, but a lot about her overgrown garden. Then one day, Olivia finds an old teacup in a flowerbed-and, later, an old story about eight children transformed into flowers. Only the person who finds their teacups can bring them back. Now the two sisters know what they must do. [via]

"You never know until you're tested." -- Doyle, "Hero"

Since he arrived in Los Angeles, Angel's mission has been to help the helpless. He has saved countless innocents in his city. However, one escaped his grasp: Doyle, the half-demon who came to Angel on a vision quest. Doyle sacrificed himself and in turn reconciled his internal conflict toward his own demonic heritage, leaving Angel and Cordelia to carry on with the good fight. And fight they do.

But as the group squares off against evil in the City of Angels, little do they know that back in Sunnydale, trouble is brewing. A shakedown of snitches yields info: Someone other than Buffy has been slaying -- and whoever it is, he or she is strictly after half-breeds, going so far as to lie in wait to attack. It doesn't add up, and the Scoobies are stumped.

But back in L.A. the picture becomes clearer when Angel Investigations is visited by an unexpected guest.... [via]

Giles (to Buffy): "What did you sing about?"

Buffy: "I, uh...don't remember. But it seemed perfectly normal."

Xander: "But disturbing. And not the natural order of things and do you think it'll happen again? 'Cause I'm for the natural order of things."

Since she's been brought back from the dead (for the second time), Buffy the Vampire Slayer hasn't quite been feeling her calling. Sure, she still gives the underworld a run for its money, but her heart just isn't in the job. Luckily, she's been able to keep her lack of enthusiasm a somewhat secret.

Until now. When someone accidentally summons a music-making demon named Sweet, Buffy finds herself belting out her most private emotions. And she's not the only one -- before the battle is done, each of the Scoobies will have uncovered -- through song and dance, for better or for worse, each others' most guarded thoughts -- prompting the question, "where do we go from here?"

Here, in one volume, find complete, uncut dialogue, song lyrics, sheet music, and a full-color photo insert. For the true fan, a complete, authorized guide to the smash hit musical episode! [via]

Renowned for its superior productions, BBC radio may have outdone itself by adapting Stephen King's Pet Sematary to audio. A clamorous cacophony of talking, whining, whistling, and howling, Pet Sematary is a quick, entertaining earful for those who don't have other auditory distractions to contend with, such as a car full of talking whining, whistling, howling children. However, the melodramatic prose marries well with the acting; such is the case when one reader--whose voice bears an uncanny resemblance to Kramer's from Seinfeld--tells another about the effects of the Pet Sematary: "Heroin makes junkies feel good when they put it in their arms, but all the time it's poisoning their mind and body--this place can be like that and don't you ever forget it!" (Running time: three hours, two cassettes) [via]

This is the first in the series BIO OF A SPACE TYRANT, featuring the stages in the life of Hope Hubris, the Tyrant of Jupiter, and his beloved sister Spirit. [via]

If you think Jonathan Livingston Seagull is unclassifiable, wait until you see Richard Bach's latest, Rescue Ferrets at Sea. It's a fable that's simple as a children's book, but packing a message about spiritual self-empowerment. Rescue ferrets are, of course, the animal kingdom's answer to the Coast Guard, daredevils responsible for the safety of all nonhumans at sea. Our heroine, Captain Bethany Ferret, brings a reporter aboard the J-boat Resolute as she races to save calico cats, ships' rats, and the odd Indonesian parrot from imminent shipwreck near the Strait of Juan de Fuca (near the island where author Bach lives). The reporter, Miss Chloe, also happens to be a rock star--surely you've heard of Zsa Zsa and the Show Ferrets? But Chloe ("Call me Clo, please") is no spoiled, shallow celeb. She's got her paws on the ground (except when she's on a boat), and she's philosophical about showbiz. "If celebrity's magic, it's a screen, and I'm forever outside," says Clo. "I wish sometimes somebody would see me and not some... some mirror flash they want to be me." After 32 years as a bestselling author and human-potential pundit, Bach knows a bit about celebrity and its illusions.

Mostly, this is a straight-ahead action fable about ferret heroism and self-rescue. It has more characters than it can develop (and runelike passages in secret ferret language), because Bach has in mind about 60 more books in the Ferret Chronicles. Second in the series: Air Ferrets Aloft. --Tim Appelo [via]

Sixteen-year-old Jessica Mastriani knew she wasn't going to be able to hide her psychic powers from the U.S. government -- interested in utilizing her special skills for their own devices -- forever. But she never thought that she and Cyrus Krantz, the special agent brought in to "convince" Jess to join his elite team of "specially-gifted" crime solvers, would turn out to have something in common.

But when a local boy's disappearance is attributed to a backwoods militai group, Jess's goal -- to find the missing child -- and Dr. Krantz's -- to stop a group of madmen before they kill again -- turn out to be one and the same. Suddenly Jess finds herself working with one enemy in order to stop a far worse one. In an atmosphere of hate and fear, can Jess and Dr. Krantz -- not to mention Jess's would-be boyfriend Rob -- work together to unite a community and save a life...without losing their own? [via]

Sixteen-year-old Jessica Mastriani knew she wasn't going to be able to hide her psychic powers from the U.S. government -- interested in utilizing her special skills for their own devices -- forever. But she never thought that she and Cyrus Krantz, the special agent brought in to "convince" Jess to join his elite team of "specially gifted" crime solvers, would turn out to have something in common.

But when a local boy's disappearance is attributed to a backwoods militia group, Jess's goal -- to find the missing child -- and Dr. Krantz's -- to stop a group of madmen before they kill again -- turn out to be one and the same. Suddenly Jess finds herself working with one enemy in order to stop a far worse one. In an atmosphere of hate and fear, can Jess and Dr. Krantz -- not to mention Jess's would-be boyfriend, Rob -- work together to unite a community and save a life...without losing their own? [via]

One crow sorrow,

Two crows mirth,

Three crows a wedding,

Four crows a birth,

Five crows silver,

Six crows gold,

Seven crows a secret,

Which must never be told....

In a sleepy little town on the border between Arizona and Mexico, Agent Riley Finn and his operative wife, Sam, have tracked down an international smuggling ring involving vampires. Surprisingly the call for reinforcements is answered by Buffy Summers and the atoning vampire Angel.

Now tempers are flaring in the heat of the day -- and night -- as people are dying and locals are turning a blind eye to the deadly events. Bodies are turning up in the surrounding desert, some drained of blood, some having succumbed to another, fast-moving death. Riley Finn is noticing the arrival of more and more crows to this area, ominous portents of the events ahead. But even Mr. Secret Agent Man is distracted from his job when his wife goes undercover with Angel.... [via]

Even if it takes an eternity, he will make amends....

"Soul Survivor"

Of any creature to walk the earth, Angel understands -- perhaps better than most -- the fragility of the soul. For others, the soul is the essence of humanity. But for Angel, his propels him toward the acts of humanity that may ultimately be his salvation.

He never thought people would pay for a soul.

In Los Angeles, where everything's for sale, Doyle, Cordelia, and Angel discover a young girl whose soul has been literally taken from her, and they realize that the soul trade has hit the black market. A soul is now a commodity among the gamblers, junkies, and gangsters of the underworld, and the soul of an innocent child is the hottest item in town. That is, until Angel appears on the scene, and the inside traders realize that there's a soul out there even more unique than they had ever dared to dream....

[via]

Settle down to enjoy a rousing good ghost story with Diane Setterfield's debut novel, The Thirteenth Tale. Setterfield has rejuvenated the genre with this closely plotted, clever foray into a world of secrets, confused identities, lies, and half-truths. She never cheats by pulling a rabbit out of a hat; this atmospheric story hangs together perfectly.

There are two heroines here: Vida Winter, a famous author, whose life story is coming to an end, and Margaret Lea, a young, unworldly, bookish girl who is a bookseller in her father's shop. Vida has been confounding her biographers and fans for years by giving everybody a different version of her life, each time swearing it's the truth. Because of a biography that Margaret has written about brothers, Vida chooses Margaret to tell her story, all of it, for the first time. At their initial meeting, the conversation begins:

"You have given nineteen different versions of your life story to journalists in the last two years alone."

She [Vida] shrugged. "It's my profession. I'm a storyteller."

"I am a biographer, I work with facts."

The game is afoot and Margaret must spend some time sorting out whether or not Vida is actually ready to tell the whole truth. There is more here of Margaret discovering than of Vida cooperating wholeheartedly, but that is part of Vida's plan. The transformative power of truth informs the lives of both women by story's end, and The Thirteenth Tale is finally and convincingly told. --Valerie Ryan [via]

The Three Musketeers (French: Les Trois Mousquetaires) is a novel by Alexandre Dumas, père, first serialized in MarchJuly 1844. Set in the 17th century, it recounts the adventures of a young man named d'Artagnan after he leaves home to become a guard of the musketeers. D'Artagnan is not one of the musketeers of the title; those are his friends Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, inseparable friends who live by the motto "all for one, one for all" ("tous pour un, un pour tous"). [via]

Just because her best friend wants to exercise, Jessica Mastriani agrees to walk the two miles home from their high school. Straight into a huge Indiana thunderstorm -- and straight into trouble.

Not that Jess has never been in trouble before. Her extracurricular activities, instead of cheerleading or 4-H, include fistfights with the football team and monthlong stints in detention -- luckily, sitting right next to Rob, the sexiest senior around. But this trouble is serious.

Because somehow on that long walk home, Jessica acquired a newfound talent. An amazing power that can be used for good...or for evil. [via]

Mysterious events in the Bermuda Triangle propel Wonder Woman on a desperate search for the truth behind the disappearance of a diver near Themyscira, home of the legendary Amazons. But her discovery of a mirror island - one populated entirely by men - sets events in motion that ultimately cause the Justice League to come into conflict with a figure from Wonder Woman's own mythological past. But is she powerful enough to save them? [via]

Odyssey, The: The World's Great Classics, by Homer; tr. by S.H. Butcher and Andrew Lang [via]