Customer Reviews

The Hour Before Dawn: And Two Other Stories from Newford

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The Hour Before Dawn & Two Other Stories from Newford is a short but weighty collection of three stories by acclaimed urban fantasy writer Charles de Lint.

"The Hour Before Dawn" is a delightful stretch for de Lint. Although based in his usual Newford digs, de Lint has spun the calendar back to 1957 for a detective potboiler with a Newford twist: Jack Daniels, private eye, talks to the dead. He doesn't want to, mind, but they come all the same -- usually in the last dream before morning, mostly because they need his help. Unfinished business, that sort of thing. That, combined with vivid memories of Korea, a close friend and partner who ate his own gun, and a mean-spirited ex-wife, have Jack drowning himself in the bottle for which he was named. Then his ex-wife's sister-in-law shows up, and Jack didn't even know she was dead....

"That was Radio Clash" is a surprising tribute to Joe Strummer, a musician best known for his work with the Clash and the Pogues. It's surprising in that it's not actually about Strummer, it's about a blue-haired young woman who mourned his death. It's also about second, and maybe even third, chances to define one's life. It's obliquely about the importance of music as compared to the importance of the musician. And it's very, very sweet.

"The Butter Spirit's Tithe" is set on the road with two musicians, one of whom is Miki from de Lint's novel "Forests of the Heart." The other is Conn, a middlin' guitarist and erstwhile janitor who had the misfortune to anger one of the Little People, for which his soul was promised to the Grey Man as a seventh-year tithe. But Miki has had past dealings with the faerie realms, and she doesn't take kindly to their casual attitude towards mortal lives. And, drawing on a traditional ballad for inspiration. she might be able to devise a way to untangle poor Conn's knot.

Bonus: For the first time, de Lint supplies his own artwork to illustrate the stories. The photo illustrations are a montage of images that nicely create atmosphere without strictly defining his characters.

Three stories from Newford all in one book.

De Lint is my favorite author and I almost all of his works. Some even signed.

Perhaps you either like him or don't. But I think if you are in to fantasy and his work being urban fantasy which most can relate to - well how can you not help but like him?

I'm a big DeLint fan, but these 3 short stories just didn't grab me as much as some of his previous work. I think I'm just missing Jilly Coppercorn and friends...