"A warrior queen gives birth to a child who links the world to the monsters of a young man's dreams. A nobleman chooses a beautiful commoner for his bride, and the boy who loved her discovers her darkest secret dangling in the forest. In ten sharp tales, Lanagan pushes the short story form and the genre of fantasy to their limits....These stories are turgid with love, loss, hope, despair, and the sense that there must be more to the world than that which can be touched with hands....The result is stories that unsettle and explore. They are a pleasure at every level." (Voice Of Youth Associates)
"Seventeen-year-old slacker Shaun steps off the curb and is smacked by a cement-mixer truck. Just before he goes under, a curiously sneaky 'fallen angel' named Kiriel steps into Shaun's body. Thus begins Kiriel's near doe-eyed exploration of all the weird, whacked-out wonders of teenage boyhood.... The infusion of Kiriel's inquisitively dogged personality into Shaun's teenaged body humorously amplifies all of Shaun's usual boy instincts: Lust, hunger and love all spring to the center, most affecting when Kiriel's educated near-Shakespearean words spout forth from Shaun's usually blunt and blasé lips....Kiriel's own search for meaning and direction from his own realm in this new life packs an intriguingly deep wallop." (Kirkus Reviews)
The Restless Dead: Ten Original Stories of the Supernatural edited by Deborah Noyes
Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier
"On the night of each full moon, the five Transylvanian sisters who reside in the castle Piscul Dracului don their finest gowns. They raise their hands to create shadows against the wall, opening a portal to the Other Kingdom, where they will dance the night away with all manner of fantastical creatures. After nine years of full moons spent in delightful revelry, dark forces, both human and otherworldly, arise to encroach upon the sisters' happiness. Told by Jena, the second oldest sister, this detailed and mood-rich story covers much territory, both mundane and magical. Adult fantasy writer Marillier has uniquely reimagined and blended an assortment of well-known tales and characters--including fairies, dwarves, witches, vampires, and a frog who is more than he seems--into a compelling whole in her first book for teens." (Booklist)
"Aislinn knows that fairies are real and that they aren't the small, cute, winged beings that most people imagine. She has inherited the gift of Sight from her mother's family, allowing her to see them. She lives by rules that have kept her safe from their notice. All of that changes when Keenan, the Summer King, chooses her as his queen, involving Aislinn in a 900-year power struggle between him and his mother, the Winter Queen. If Aislinn refuses him, summer will cease to exist, killing both mortals and fairies alike. If she accepts, she loses her humanity and ties to the mortal world—as if life as a teenager isn't hard enough when you're 'normal.'" (School Library Journal)
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