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Fantasy Reads – Jennie

Every December I like to recommend a Children’s Classic. With a new kitten in the house, the obvious choice seems to be Paul Gallico’s Jennie. This is the story of a boy who is transformed into a cat and adopted by a streetwise older cat called Jennie. First published in 1950 I don’t think Jennie… Continue reading

Fantasy Reads – `Ink and Bone’

This week I’m recommending `Ink and Bone’, a riveting Fantasy novel by Rachel Caine. I have never been tempted to try Caine’s Morganville Vampires or Weather Warden series but I was attracted to this book because it was described as `Volume One of The Great Library’. I am a sucker for stories which feature libraries… Continue reading

Fantasy Reads – In the Forests of Serre

This week I’m recommending something by American author, Patricia A.McKillip. Over a long career, McKillip has produced many brilliant Fantasy novels, so it was hard to decide which one to write about. From among my favourites I’ve picked `In the Forests of Serre’ because, like last week’s choice (`The Brides of Rollrock Island’),  it is… Continue reading

Fantasy Reads – The Ghost Stories of M.R.James

This week I’m recommending something suitably scary for Halloween – a collection of old-fashioned but far from cosy ghost stories. When I was student at King’s College, Cambridge it was a privilege to eat in the splendid Gothick hall but there was one portrait hanging in the hall that I didn’t like. If I sat… Continue reading

Fantasy Reads – The Prince of Morning Bells

This week I’m recommending `The Prince of Morning Bells’ by Nancy Kress, which was first published in 1981. Over the years I’ve seen  many dedicated Fantasy readers go misty-eyed when they mentioned this out of print novel. None of them would lend me their own cherished copies and I never came across one for sale.… Continue reading

Fantasy Reads – The School For Good And Evil

This week I’m recommending a recently published Young Adult novel – Soman Chainani’s `The School for Good and Evil’, which is announced as the first volume of a trilogy.  In some countries it is only available in hardback or as a rather expensive audio download. In others, such as Britain, you can already get it… Continue reading

Fantasy Reads – Scholar

This week I’m recommending a novel, `Scholar’, by an author I’ve previously avoided – L.E.Modesitt Jnr. Because Modesitt has written so many different Science Fiction and Fantasy series, I assumed that he was just churning them out to a formula. I was attracted to `Scholar’ by the title and found it to be a much… Continue reading

Fantasy Reads – The Crane Wife

This week I’d like to recommend  `The Crane Wife’  by Patrick Ness, a book that Fantasy readers may have missed because it was promoted as a literary novel. In Britain, `The Crane Wife’  is available in paperback, ebook or audio forms. I’m afraid that there isn’t an American printed edition until 2014, but you can… Continue reading

Fantasy Reads – The Undrowned Child

This week I’m recommending a novel set in a city I thought I hated – Venice. `The Undrowned Child’ by Michelle Lovric was published in 2009 and it’s easy to find in paperback. You can also get the text on most e-readers but that wouldn’t seem quite right for a novel which starts in `an… Continue reading

Fantasy Reads: The Dying Earth

This week’s recommendation is a tribute to Jack Vance, who died last month at the age of 96. `The Dying Earth’ , which came out in 1950, was his first book. Vance is a writer who makes the distinction between Fantasy and Science Fiction meaningless. This book is set very far in the future when… Continue reading

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