Search Results for: "de lint"

Vintage Treasures: Moonheart by Charles de Lint

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Moonheart (Ace Books, 1984). Cover by David Mattingly I started reading science fiction and fantasy in the late 1970s, with authors like Isaac Asimov, Robert Silverberg, Stephen R. Donaldson, and of course J.R.R. Tolkien. I learned an enormous amount from those early books, about astronomy, and space travel, and speculative physics and chemistry. And about adult relationships, and the US. military, and the kind of alien life that might exist on Venus (the kind that resembled dinosaurs, obviously). But one…

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Random Reviews: “Wizard’s Bounty” by Charles de Lint

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“Wizard’s Bounty” is an early short story by Charles de Lint, first published in 1979 in Dark Fantasy magazine and only reprinted in de Lint’s collection A Handful of Coppers. As such an early appearance, it does not have the feel of much of de Lint’s work as he was clearly trying to find his voice when the story was written, which certainly does not mean that it isn’t a story worth reading. de Lint has published a handful of…

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Rock Stars, Bloggers, and Hidden Magic: The Wind in His Heart by Charles de Lint

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I met Charles de Lint when he was an unpublished author in the early 80s. We both hung out at the best bookstore in town, the much-missed House of Speculative Fiction in downtown Ottawa. There was a big fuss about his first novel, The Riddle of The Wren (1984), plucked out of the slush at Ace Books by legendary editor Terri Windling, but it was the bestselling Moonheart (Ace, 1984) that made us realize that Charles wasn’t just a local boy…

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Charles de Lint and The Little Country

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In talking about portal fantasies last time, I was moved to reread one of the more unusual examples of the sub-genre, Charles de Lint’s The Little Country (1991). The book is in a very real sense two books, but it isn’t a simple play-within-a-play, story-within-a-story thing: Each book is being read by the protagonist of the other. The now-overused self-referential concept known as “meta” wasn’t so common when The Little Country was written, but it might have been invented to…

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Vintage Treasures: Charles de Lint’s Wolf Moon, and a Tale of Roving Booksellers

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It pays to know excellent booksellers. On Tuesday, Rich Warren, co-owner of Starfarer’s Despatch, posted a pic of Charles de Lint’s 1988 Signet paperback Wolf Moon on Facebook and later this brief review: What a blast. Just finished this one this morning. A tale sympathetic to the Werewolf, and told from his point of view. I know there are De Lint fans who enjoy his urban fantasy (Newford) more but the great writing is still present in these older fantasies….

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A Circle of Cats by Charles de Lint and Charles Vess

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It’s always a pleasure when two creators I admire collaborate. Case in point: A Circle of Cats, a Charles de Lint short story gorgeously illustrated by Charles Vess. Although it’s very short (48 pages, at least half of which is full-color artwork), A Circle of Cats is a complete and satisfying tale. It tells the story of Lillian, a 12-year-old orphan who lives on the edge of a vast and very old wood with her aunt. One day, after all her chores…

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Charles de Lint’s Promises to Keep

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Promises to Keep Charles de Lint Tachyon (192 pp, $14.95, Paperback May 2011)  Reviewed by Elizabeth Cady Charles de Lint has become one of the big names in the worlds of Urban and Mythic Fantasy, and for good reason. At its best, his stories are beautifully crafted. They capture both the wonder of the everyday and the sheer strangeness of the otherworld that can intrude into our own. A key aspect of his work has been his creation of Newford,…

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A Review of Jack the Giant Killer, by Charles de Lint

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Jack the Giant Killer, by Charles de Lint Ace (202 pages, hardcover, November 1987) Charles de Lint’s Jack the Giant Killer is an urban fantasy novel, but it feels more accurate to call it an urban fairy tale. It’s set in Ottawa and makes frequent references to streets and landmarks; I have a feeling I’d get even more out of it if I were the least bit familiar with the city. Fortunately, geographic familiarity is not required to enjoy this…

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Galactic War, Haunted Farmhouses, and an Occupied Earth: September-October Print Magazines

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September-October 2024 issues of Asimov’s Science Fiction and Analog Science Fiction & Fact, and the Summer issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Cover art by Shutterstock, NASA, and Mondolithic Studios The big news this month is the arrival of the new issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, after a nearly 8-month hiatus. In the pages of the new issue, publisher Gordon van Gelder reports that “Ongoing production problems have led us to skip the Spring issue…

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Vintage Treasures: The Bantam Spectra Élisabeth Vonarburg

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The Bantam Spectra Élisabeth Vonarburg: The Silent City (August 1992), In the Mothers’ Land (December 1992), and Reluctant Voyagers (March 1995). Covers by Oscar Chichoni, Oscar Chichoni, and Stephen Youll I left Canada to attend grad school at the University of Illinois in Urbana Champaign in August 1987, and when I did I lost touch with much of the vibrant Canadian SF scene. There were a few Canadian authors celebrated in the States — folks like Charles de Lint, Donald…

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