PHILIP K. DICK • ANDRE NORTON • POUL ANDERSON • HERMINIE TEMPLETON • THOMAS BURNETT SWANN • H.C. BAILEY • JESSICA AMANDA SALMONSON • JAMES HOGG * LAFCADIO HEARN • JOHANN LUDWIG TIECK • JOHN BUCHAN • MARY E. WILKINS • LORD DUNSANY • RICHARD MCKENNA • ROBERT F. YOUNG • HENRY SLESAR • ISAAC ASIMOV

Faeires—the legends about them abound throughout the world—from tales of evil creatures conjured up to frighten chldren, to dazzling visions of a land of immortals blessed with beauty, wisdom, and magic far beyond the understanding of ordinary mortals. They are the unseen dwellers whose realm stretches from beneath the earth to distant meadows to every place that has ever been caressed by night’s cool shadows.

From mischevious Brownies to the Faerie Queen and King, from those who prey on the gullibility of humans to those whom men and women have tricked out of their treasures, to mortals held for what seems but a few brief hours in the timeless kingdom only to find themselves returned at last to a world no longer their own, here are captivating journeys into the enchanting Faery lands. But beware, lest you, too, be touched by the spell of Faerie and forced to wander forever through—

ISAAC ASIMOV’S

MAGICAL WORLDS OF FANTASY

FAERIES

This is actually not an entirely disastrous anthology, although it is largely saved by the presence of Asimov’s “ Kid Stuff” (which is a hoot) and the beautiful, haunting “The Queen of Air and Darkness.” Few of the other stories are all that pleasant for me, although fans of Walt Disney and a singing Sean Connery might see a reason to read Herminie Templeton’s “How the Fairies Came to Ireland” and “Darby O’Gill and the Good People.” I can live without most of the others.

The main problem here is that a number of the stories—including both of Templeton’s—are older with correspondingly denser prose, set in rural parts of the British Isles, and use funny spellings to get dialects across. This makes them tedious reading, for me at least, and lessens substantially the enjoyment of the book.

Contents

“Kid Stuff”