Muse and Reverie [Hardcover]

Charles de Lint (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 8, 2009

Muse and Reverie is an all-new collection of short fiction in Charles de Lint’s “Newford” universe—the fifth such collection since 1993, and the first since 2002. Previous collections are Dreams Underfoot, The Ivory and the Horn, the World Fantasy Award-winning Memory and Dream, and Tapping the Dream Tree.

 The city of Newford could be any city in North America, bursting with music, commerce, art, love and hate, and of course magic. Magic in the sidewalk cracks, myth at the foundations of its great buildings, enchantment in the spaces between its people. In this new collection, de Lint explores that magic and those spaces, shedding new light on the people and places that readers of novels like Moonheart, Forests of the Heart, The Onion Girl, and The Mystery of Grace have come to love.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. This collection of 13 stories is the fifth set in Newford, de Lint's city of artists, musicians and magic, and the first since 2002's Tapping the Dream Tree. Interspersing time travel (Riding Shotgun, That Was Radio Clash) and period pieces (The Hour Before Dawn) with tales of Native American and Celtic magic (A Crow Girls' Christmas, Da Slockit Light), de Lint creates an entirely organic mythology that seems as real as the folklore from which it draws. From flighty yet powerful avatars to fiendish goblins, the characters are complex and clever, and even the most fantastical still has a sense of humanity. The endings often contain twists worthy of O. Henry. These clever, frightening, wise and entertaining stories are an excellent introduction to de Lint's writing and imagination, and will also provide longtime fans a welcome return to Newford. (Dec.)
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Review

“A master storyteller, de Lint blends Celtic, Native American, and other cultures into a seamless mythology that resonates with magic and truth.” —Library Journal

 “What makes de Lint’s particular brand of fantasy so catchy is his attention to the ordinary. Like great writers of magic realism, he writes about people in the world we know, encountering magic as part of that world.” —Booklist

 “In the fictional city of Newford, replete with the brutal realities of modern urban life, de Lint’s characters encounter magic in strange and unexpected places…. In de Lint’s capable hands, modern fantasy becomes something other than escapism. It becomes folk song, the stuff of urban myth.” —The Phoenix Gazette on Dreams Underfoot

“De Lint is a master of the modern urban folk tale.” —The Denver Post on The Ivory and the Horn

“Fulfilling and rewarding…. Every story is a discovery.” —Quill & Quire on Tapping the Dream Tree

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; First Edition edition (December 8, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765323400
• ISBN-13: 978-0765323408
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #736,709 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Charles de Lint and his wife, the artist MaryAnn Harris, live in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. His evocative novels, including Moonheart, Forests of the Heart, and The Onion Girl, have earned him a devoted following and critical acclaim as a master of contemporary magical fiction

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars so compelling, you just might believe, March 20, 2010

By 

K. Hernandez "DailyReadz - One Great Book Eve... (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Muse and Reverie (Hardcover)

Charles de Lint's newest - thirteen lovely little short stories from the master of urban fantasy. de Lint's writing is so compelling that you just might believe. A comic-strip artist working on a strip about a fairy named Diesel, finds said fairy standing on her drawing table and pointing out her mistakes. An artist, lost in the woods for fifteen years, suddenly appears and then disappears again by painting a portal on the wall of a magic cave. Two crow girls get jobs as elves at the mall at Christmastime. Many of the characters in the stories will be familiar to de Lint readers as this collection is set in Newford, his semi-fictional city somewhere in North America. If you like your urban fantasy gentle and whimsical, as opposed to dark and gritty, you owe it to yourself to read something by Charles de Lint. He is one of the authors on my perpetual list; I haven't finished reading his extensive list of published works, and I always keep my eyes open for new books as well.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars super, December 9, 2009

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Muse and Reverie (Hardcover)

The thirteen Newford tales all appeared in other collections between 2001 and 2005, but never together. In fact none appeared in the same anthology with several different publishers offering Newford stories as part of various author compilations and one tale (A Crow Girls' Charismas) was an online entry. All are super, size matters as the best shorts are the longer ones; like "The Butter Spirit's Tithe", "Riding Shotgun" and "Da Slockit Light" as the key characters of each come across human and inhuman, which in turn enhances the de Lint twist that feels as if the author places O'Henry and Bret Harte in the Twilight Zone. The best read is "The Hour Before Dawn"; this well written compilation is Charles de Lint at his best as he leaves his fans to Muse and Reverie the impact of placing "The World in a Box".

Harriet Klausner

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Feels like a homecoming, March 13, 2010

By 

Karen Bock-Losee (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Muse and Reverie (Hardcover)

Although I'd already read many of these stories in the original publications, I was happy to find them collected in this volume. Visiting Newford through De Lint's writing is always a treat.