Harriet Klausner's Review Archive
"UOUS" by Tanith Lee. Unable to handle being the stepdaughter andstepsister since her dad died, she turns to a handsome fairy prince forsolace; he grants her three wishes, but expects remittance.
"Grace Notes" by Megan Lindholm. Bachelor Jeff enjoys his lifestyle untilthe anal brownie insists that cleanliness is Godliness. Needing help torid himself of this cleaning freak, Jeff turns to Maisy to help him evictthe nuisance.
"The Gypsies of the Wood" by Kim Newman. In rural late Victorian England,two children disappear in the woods leading to a search for them. They arefound, but the boy has aged into an old man while the girl behaves like ayoung child.
"The Kelpie" by Patricia A. McKillip. The artists' colony containstalented individuals jealous of one another. Ned and Emma seem to desireeach other, but both fears the ridicule of failure until the kelpie stepin.
"An Embarrassment of Elves" by Craig Shaw Gardner. Wuntvor, wizardsidekick, and his friends attend an elven party whereFritz and the darkriders crash the gala.
"Except the Queen" by Jane Yolen and Midori Snyder. The fairy exiles thetwo sisters, Meteora and Serana, forcing the siblings to live in the humansmog city. Though each swore not to intervene, they get involved with twoteens under magical assault.
THE FAIR FOLK is a fun fairy driven fantasy anthology containing sixcharming stories that sub-genre fans will enjoy, yet feel somewhatunsatisfied as if each entry fell a bit short. The contributions aresuburb when the plot dwells on cross species miscommunication, but feelspressing at times to insure the inclusion in a significant way of thesupernatural entities. Not the best work of these renowned authors, butreaders will enjoy hobnobbing with the FAIR FOLK.