Reader Alert

I was so engrossed by the opening stories in The Essential Bordertown that I had forgotten my general dislike for short stories-at least until I was reminded of why I felt that way. It was like a physical shock when I reached the end of the third story, Socks, and was back to the area guidebook that sits between each tale, binding them together. I like a story that you can live in for a while. I got the point of Socks-a nicely contained short piece of fiction--but I wanted it to go on!

A little history, personal and otherwise: Once upon a time by a river, a woman found herself sharing a magical night with her then husband and her closest friend. Magic was in the air, from the moon casting shakes of gray and lavender on the clouds to the twinkling lights that may have been fireflies, but could have also been fairies flitting through the trees. This woman declared to the night that it isn't fair that all the magical adventures are stuck in old fantasy. What about the dreams of today?

As it is sometimes with unintentional magic, she got the answer the next day. It came in the form of Dreams Underfoot, a collection of short stories by Charles de Lint. Fortunately, she didn't know they were short stories so she didn't reject them outright.

Enough of me in the third person. The point is, discovering de Lint's urban fantasy was like coming home, or to be a little less cliché, like finding someone else shared my daydreams. In those stories, there were still jobs and taxes and the everyday things, but turn a corner on your way to work and you may get a glimpse of the weird or the mystical.

I had to have more and I discovered some great books including Will Shetterly's Elsewhere set in the shared world of Borderland created by Terri Windling. What if Faerie were a real place rather than the imaginary home of nursery rhymes and ancient Celtic demi-gods? What if it came back into the real world one day? The books are set in the city on the border between the two realms. Elf magic meets rock-n-roll.

Take a look at the books even if urban fantasy isn't your thing. The characters are like "kids you know" and they with real human problems, even if parts are decidedly...extra-human.