Fearsome Fairies

Fearsome Fairies taps into the enormous fascination with fairies in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and includes cornerstone authors of the Weird genre such as Arthur Machen, M R James and Charlotte Riddell. You see - no, you do not, but I see - such curious faces: and the people to whom they belong flit about so oddly, often at your elbow when you least expect it, and looking close into your face, as if they were searching for someone - who may be thankful, I think, if they do not find him. There was an enormous fascination with fairies in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries which popularised depictions of benevolent, butterfly-winged beings and glittering pantomime figures. But the fae have always had a more sinister side. Taking inspiration from folk tales and medieval legends, the works of weird tale and ghost story writers such as Arthur Machen, M. R. James, Angela Carter and Charlotte Riddell show that fairies, goblins and other supernatural entities could be something far more unsettling. Delving into a frightening realm of otherworldly creatures from banshees to changelings, this new collection of stories revives and revels in the fearsome power of the fairy folk.

Introduces mischievous fairy babies, tricky toadstool fairies, nasty fairies who trip people and cover their clothes with goo, and other unpleasant supernatural creatures.

Fairies are a challenging subject, intertwining culture, folklore, and anecdotal accounts across centuries and millennia. Focusing primarily on the Celtic speaking cultures, with some material from adjacent cultures including Anglo-Saxon and Norse, A New Dictionary of Fairies has in-depth entries on a variety of fairies as well as subjects related to them, such as why we picture elves with pointed ears or where the idea of fairies being invisible comes from. It also tackles more complicated topics like the nature and physicality of the fairy people. Anyone with an interest in the Good Neighbours will find this book a solid resource to draw from.

The sharp-tongued Shade, gregarious Ginch, and pilfering Professor return for more mad-cap misadventures! Will the three stop a bullying bugbear from closing the Grand Library of Elfame? Maybe. Will they track down members of a secret society of book guardians and retrieve a treasure trove of lost books? Possibly. Will Quentin Q. Quacksworth actually approve of this tale? I wouldn't bet on it, but the only way to find out is to read (against the advice of Quacksworth, of course) Another Dreadful Fairy Book! Bullying bugbears, inept inventors, bickering gangsters, hay fever-plagued monsters—a whole new batch of dreadful fairies join Shade, Ginch, and the Professor in this sequel to A Dreadful Fairy Book. Shade's pleasant life in the magical Grand Library of Elfame is threatened when the Grand Scrutinizer of the Ministry of Ordinariness, Averageness, and Normalcy (M.O.A.N.) decides that the library poses a danger to the "moral climate" of the fairy lands. Shade, unfortunately, has little time to deal with that when she discovers that her late father belonged to a secret society of book guardians. Taking up her father's mission, Shade ventures forth to find and unite the other members and retrieve a treasure trove of rare books. Will she succeed? Will the library remain open? Will narrator Quentin Q. Quacksworth find this book to be as "improper" as the last one? Read Another Dreadful Fairy Book and find out!

Readers, beware: what you hold in your hands is a dreadful fairy book. I wish I were narrating almost any other fairy story, but alas, this is my lot. Whatever expectations you have of delightful and whimsical fairies are sure to be disappointed. There are certainly fairies, but most are not proper fairies. Some who are supposed to be nasty are disappointingly nice, while some who should be kind and helpful are disconcertingly surly, dishonest, and generally unpleasant company. Our heroine is, perhaps, the worst offender—a sprite more interested in books than carefree games, who insists on being called Shade. She is on a quest, albeit with rather questionable companions, to find a place her outré self can call home. A place of companionship, comfort, and, most importantly, positively filled with books.

Dixie is a fairy who is afraid to fly. It doesn't help that all the other fairies in the Land-of-Pixie have four wings while she has only two. Then one day a bumblebee finds himself in trouble and it's up to Dixie to help him. Will she be able to "rise above" and overcome her fears?

S. Elizabeth curates a sourcebook of more than 200 artworks inspired and informed by the morbid, melancholic and macabre.

Introduces mischievous fairy babies, tricky toadstool fairies, nasty fairies who trip people and cover their clothes with goo, and other unpleasant supernatural creatures.