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
After last month’s ghost stories I’m continuing the afterlife theme by recommending The Library of the Unwritten by American author A.J. Hackwith. This novel opens in an area of Hell known as the Unwritten Wing and takes its characters on a journey through the afterlife worlds of several ancient religions. The Library of the Unwritten… Continue reading
Every October, in the run up to Hallowe’en, I like to recommend ghost stories. This year I’m featuring the work of British author E.F.Benson (1867-1940). He is best known for his humorous `Mapp and Lucia’ novels but he was also a prolific and versatile writer of short stories with supernatural elements. Benson himself called these… Continue reading
When I say that this month’s Fantasy Reads recommendation is the first in a fifteen-book series of mystery novels about an elderly coroner working in Communist Laos in the 1970s you will probably think, `What has that got to do with Fantasy fiction?’ Bear with me because The Coroner’s Lunch (2004) by Colin Cotterill is… Continue reading
This month’s recommended read is Faerie Fruit by Charlotte E. English. Published in 2016 you can get this as an ebook or as a paperback with a charming fruit-adorned cover. English is a prolific writer who has brought out a wide range of linked Fantasy novels including the Malykant Mysteries, the Tales of Aylfenhame and… Continue reading
This month, in a first for Fantasy Reads, I’m recommending a work by a French Fantasy writer. A Winter’s Promise by Christelle Dabos is the first book in her series called The Mirror Visitor (2018). It has been elegantly translated into English by Hildegarde Serle and has a captivating cover illustration by Laurent Gapaillard. Books… Continue reading
This month I’m recommending a pair of books by British author Eleanor Farjeon (1881-1965) which I would classify as Pastoral Fantasy. They are set in the English county of Sussex and share a central character – wandering minstrel, Martin Pippin. The first book, Martin Pippin in the Apple-Orchard was published in 1921 and has rarely… Continue reading
This month I’m recommending a challenging but very rewarding Fantasy Read – the Indian epic known as The Mahabharata. It has everything that a Fantasy-lover could want – conflict and adventure, heroes with superweapons, dauntless heroines, demons, monsters and interfering deities. The original Sanskrit poems were composed and collected between around 400 BCE and 400… Continue reading
During this cold Spring, with many of us in Lockdown, I think we still need spirit-lifting reads. Few authors are as good at creating cheering books as Kim M. Watt, so this month my recommended Fantasy Read is the first in her Gobbelino London series. Gobbelino London and a Scourge of Pleasantries was first published… Continue reading
This is the first in a new monthly series of recommendations from Fantasy Reads. As many people are currently stuck at home trying to keep bored children stimulated and amused, I thought I’d begin with an almost forgotten children’s classic – The Little Grey Men by the English author known as BB. It was first… Continue reading