Magical, mystical worlds are what Jeffrey Ford creates in this book of short stories. The Introduction talks about our loss of wonder as we age, but this book brings all that back and more. It is a spell-binding novel which will keep you enchanted story after story. The very first story in this book is entitled "The Annals of Eelin-Ok" which is about a fairy creature who lives in a sand castle built by a child and can only survive until the tide washes the sand castle out to sea. But for this fairy time moves at a different pace than it does for you and I. Other wonderful stories in this book were "The Empire of Ice Cream" about a young man who has synesthesia. He is the product of over-protective parents who shelter him his whole life. He is gifted with playing the piano and through the experience of coffee he can conjure an image of a young woman who is an artist. It is a very interesting story. Another favorite story of mine was "Botch Town" about a family in the 1950s and it centers on the children of the family. The oldest boy, Jim, builds a town replica in their basement and calls it Botch Town. The youngest child, a girl, moves the people around as things happen to them. It's as though she is psychic. It's about all the wonderful and horrible things that happen to you as a child. The "Boatman's Holiday" was another interesting story in this book. It is about the Egyptian underworld where Charon steers the dead in his boat along the river Acheron. In this story he goes on holiday and you'll love what happens on this holiday.
All the stories are really well written and fascinating. You will love these stories and they will stay with you after you have finished the book. There will be many I will come back to time and time again. I highly recommend this book.
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Lark
This is a fantastic overlooked author in my opinion
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