Under My Skin by Charles de Lint
reviewed by Sherwood Smith
This fast-paced tale for older teens takes off fast with first person narrator Josh, a normal surfer teen in a
coastal California city, until his mom's abusive boyfriend attacks him. Josh turns into a mountain lion and mauls
the guy, then races off in a complete panic until he meets another animal human.
Josh has become a Wilding, a shape-shifter who can switch back and forth between his animal shape and human. For
some reason it's been happening to local teens, no one knows why.
The Very Best of Charles de Lint by Charles de Lint
reviewed by Steven H Silver
Charles de Lint was writing Urban Fantasy before that genre was infiltrated by vampires and gritty
streets. His Urban Fantasy introduces a magical realism to the world, spirit magic seeping into the cement
environments mankind has built and most of the stories selected for this volume reflect that interest. His
urban fantasy is set in the vibrant city of Newford and its environs, which allows him to look at his magic
in a variety of different neighborhoods and social strata.
Dreams Underfoot by Charles de Lint
an audiobook review by Sarah Trowbridge
In Charles de Lint's world, the skin between the mundane business of everyday life and the realm of magical mischief is
always thin. Passing from one to the other is effortless and can take but a moment. Often, his characters are deep into
the doings of the world beyond before they begin to notice or admit that anything unearthly is going on. Some of
de Lint's characters acknowledge and embrace the other realm that lies just on the other side of that thin and
permeable barrier, while others clasp their skepticism close, denying the evidence of their senses for as long as they can.
Promises to Keep by Charles de Lint
reviewed by Amal El-Mohtar
This is a story about Jilly Coppercorn set in the early 70s, during her time at Butler
University. Having just recently set her life on track after struggling through abuse, drug addiction, prostitution, and life
on the streets, she gets a surprise visit from an old friend who offers her a very unusual choice: to stay where she is, or to
move with her to paradise.
Little (Grrl) Lost by Charles de Lint
reviewed by Steven H Silver
T.J. is a fourteen-year-old whose family has had to sell their farm, and T.J.'s horse, and move to the
city. The city is a foreign place to T.J. who maintains her sanity by texting with her friend Julie. Even that bond is
threatened, however, when Elizabeth comes into T.J.'s life.
Elizabeth is a Little, an eighteen-inch-tall girl whose family lives in the walls of the house T.J.'s family has
bought. Just as T.J. feels her parents don't understand what she's going through, Elizabeth also feels separated from
her parents, who don't realize she's grown up.
Widdershins by Charles de Lint
reviewed by Michael M Jones
For as long as there have been stories about Newford, the mythical North American city which has become the author's
signature setting, there have been Geordie Riddell and Jilly Coppercorn. Geordie's a musician with a fear of commitment
and a long string of failed relationships (sometimes, he'll even tell you about the girlfriend who was stolen by a ghost
from the past...) Jilly is Newford's answer to Kevin Bacon -- everyone knows her. An artist whose career and life were shattered
by a tragic accident several years ago, she's been recovering ever so slowly. Geordie and Jilly are the best of friends,
but what they don't realize, what everyone around them does, is that they'd be perfect for each other.
Triskell Tales 2 by Charles de Lint
reviewed by Michael M Jones
Charles de Lint has an absolutely wonderful tradition going on. Every year, he self-publishes, under the aegis of Triskell
Press, a small chapbook, whose circulation is limited to friends and family, and he sends these out for Christmas. So
every Christmas, his nearest and dearest get an uncommissioned story. But why stop there? Eventually, be it sooner or
later, he makes those chapbooks available to a wider audience. In the first volume of Triskell Tales (Subterranean Press,
2000), he collected the first twenty-two years worth. This volume brings together seven more tales written over the last
six years, 2000-2005.
Moonlight and Vines by Charles de Lint
reviewed by Alma A. Hromic
These are stories of people who get more out of their everyday reality in one hour of some enchanted day than
most of the rest of us are capable of siphoning out of our humdrum lives in a year. These are the people who share their city
with elemental spirits, with shapeshifters, with ghosts and with invisibles; with the shadows of their earlier selves; with
gnomes and sprites and crow girls. They are not perfect people; most if not all of them are damaged in some fundamental way,
through things that they wish they could remember and things that they wish they could forget.
Quicksilver & Shadow by Charles de Lint
reviewed by Michael M Jones
This is the second collection of early de Lint stories to be released by Subterranean Press. This volume
brings together seventeen of his lesser-known works, covering dark and contemporary fantasy, horror, science fiction, and his
Bordertown novellas. Along the way, we're treated to his thoughts on these early works, and we get a very real look at
both his beginning successes, and his occasional missteps.
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The Wild Wood by Charles de Lint
reviewed by Michael M Jones
Plagued by inexplicable dreams of a magical world, and haunted by the buried pains of her past, artist Eithnie Gerrow has retreated to
her cabin, deep in the Canadian woods. Even there, she can't escape the otherworldly contacts that seek her out in her sleep, their
touch weakening the distinction between the real world and that of Faerie. Unable to banish the feeling that she's been targeted for
something greater than she can explain, likewise unable to exorcize their influence from her art, she visits friends down in the
deserts of Arizona.
Medicine Road by Charles de Lint
reviewed by Michael M Jones
This time, it's the older Dillard twins, Bess and Laurel, a talented musical duo who've struck off on their own to see the world and play
their music in bars, roadhouses, house concerts, and anywhere else willing to host their particular flavor of bluegrass. Touched
years ago by a brief encounter with the supernatural, Bess would just as soon forget all about the unseen world of magic and
spirits, while Laurel is still looking for well... something. What neither of them expects is that their path will bring them into
contact with some very unusual people.
Mulengro by Charles de Lint
reviewed by Alma A. Hromic
The Gypsy culture comes to Ottawa. Patrick Briggs, an Ottawa cop, worries
that the murders brings with them an element he's unable to fathom and
incapable of stopping. Perhaps, it is only the Rom who can handle it.
A Handful of Coppers by Charles de Lint
reviewed by Alma A. Hromic
This is a collection of stories from when the author was, in his own words, "not done yet" -- he
made up with enthusiasm what he lacked in wealth of experience, or pure insight. The luminosity with which some of his later
stories are infused, with which they positively glow -- that isn't quite here. Not yet. These stories are the equivalent of the tilting
yard, where the young squire trains with sword and lance until he is good enough to become a knight. There is value in this practice. If
there is no luminosity yet, there is a glimmer of its formation, of the first bright sparks of it.
The Onion Girl by Charles de Lint
reviewed by David Soyka
A number of SF and Fantasy authors are noted for their rock and roll sub-texts -- Lucius Shepherd and Elizabeth Hand
come immediately to mind, and recently Gwyneth Jones began a new fantasy series steeped in the ethos of
rock music. But perhaps no one else consistently weaves musical references into the underpinnings of their tales
like this author, which is perhaps attributable in part to his also being a performing musician. In response
to reader requests for more about the tunes that inspire him, he has begun making it a practice to include a
preface to his novels listing what he's been listening to lately.
Forests of the Heart by Charles de Lint
reviewed by Steven H Silver
Many of the author's Newford novels mix Celtic and Native American folklore and magic together against a gritty
20th-century urban background. Here, he places the two traditions in direct
conflict. The Irish Gentry, or hard men, who had come to America with Irish immigrants, have decided it is time to
claim the region near Newford as their own. This puts them up against the manitou, the Native American
spirits who already inhabit the land.
Jack of Kinrowan by Charles de Lint
reviewed by David Soyka
Unlike traditional fairy tales, the author's heroes are more richly characterized,
achieving self-realization of untapped capabilities achieved through their trials in a fay world that
co-exists with familiar landscapes. Jack of Kinrowan
collects 2 previously published short novels -- Jack, the Giant Killer and Drink Down the Moon.
Moonlight and Vines by Charles de Lint
reviewed by Robert Francis
What would happen in a place where the animal spirits of the Native
Americans and the pixies, nixies, pookahs, hobgoblins, and others of faerie
co-existed? Charles de Lint has certainly been wondering this for a long
time and, in this collection, we can see where his musings have led.
Someplace to be Flying by Charles de Lint
reviewed by Neil Walsh
Neil thinks that if you don't find something in the plot to keep you turning
pages ravenously, then the colourful characters, both animal people and people people,
will charm you thoroughly. All in all, this is a very enjoyable book from one of the genre's best.
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