Review
"A sheer delight of grand storytelling."

Book Description
Though the Emerald Isle is no stranger to tales of the fantastic (everything from the Hound Cuchlain to Darby O'Gill and his leprachaun friends), most of the fantasy works dealing with Ireland have limited themselves to either ancient history/Celtic legends and lore, sentimental tales of wee folk, or ghostly tales of hauntings in old deserted castles. Needless to say, there is more to the history and culture of Ireland than the sort of entertainment fare popularized each year around March 17th.

Fantastic Irish Tales will present the entire cavalcade of Eire from its earliest beginnings right up to the current climate that has begotten such popular phenomenons as the rock band U2 and the novels of Roddy Doyle as the backdrop for a collection of all new stories of the fantastic.

Given the huge success of such books as How the Irish Saved Civilization, and Irish themed novels by such authors as Leon Uris, Roddy Doyle, and Thomas Flanagan, there is no doubt to the widespread appeal of this book.

Ideal to any fan of Irish books and perfectly timed for the Saint Patrick's Day season, Fantastic Irish Tales will be a collection to be treasured and enjoyed.


About the Author
A native of Chicago, Reverend Andrew M. Greeley, is a priest, distinguished sociologist and bestselling author. He is professor of social sciences at the University of Chicago and the University of Arizona, as well as Research Associate at the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. His current sociological research focuses on current issues facing the Catholic Church--including celibacy of priests, ordination of women, religious imagination, and sexual behavior of Catholics.

Father Greeley received the S.T.L. in 1954 from St. Mary of Lake Seminary. His graduate work was done at the University of Chicago, where he received the M.A. Degree in 1961 and the Ph.D. in 1962.

Father Greeley has written scores of books and hundreds of popular and scholarly articles on a variety of issues in sociology, education and religion. His column on political, church and social issues is carried by the carried by the Chicago Sun Times and may other newspapers. He stimulates discussion of neglected issues and often anticipates sociological trends. He is the author of more than thirty bestselling novels and an autobiography, Furthermore!: Confessions of a Parish Priest.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
For those who enjoy Celtic mythology comes Emerald Magic, a fantasy anthology of 15 original stories about Irish legend and folklore. Featured authors include Ray Bradbury, Elizabeth Haydon, L. E. Modesitt Jr., and Cecilia Dart-Thornton, to name a few.

Noteworthy inclusions include "The Hermit and the Sidhe" by Judith Tarr, a tale that pits an overzealous Catholic priest against a rural congregation of believers in the Old Ways and the Old Folk; and "Speir-Bhan" by Tanith Lee, which explores the legend of the three fox women -- a trio of demonic sisters who, every full moon, feast on the flesh of unwary humans. When a musician finds and reads her Irish grandfather's diary, she unknowingly unleashes a ghostly muse bent on collecting an old debt of her grandfather's -- to somehow rid the land of the deadly fox women.

Other exceptional stories include Fred Saberhagen's "A Drop of Something Special in the Blood," about a 19th-century Irish author who either encounters a vampiric lover or experiences syphilis-induced delusions (or both); and "The Butter-Spirit's Tithe" by Charles de Lint, a never-before-published Newford tale about a guitarist who accidentally disrespects a magical being and pays for it with seven years of, shall we say, bad luck. When the curse is ended, he must surrender his soul -- but does he?

Spilling over with the spirit and magic of the folklore of the Emerald Isle, this outstanding anthology is a virtual cornucopia of fantastical tales of faeries, pixies, druids, and -- of course -- leprechauns. Paul Goat Allen

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Mythology and magic come alive in this collection of Irish fantasy stories by some of today's finest authors.
Ireland is a nation that holds fast to its history and heritage, and nowhere is that more true than in its folktales and legends. From the great Celtic myths featuring the bard Taliesin, the terrible Morrigan, the heroic Cuchulain, or the noble and cunning Sidhe to strange and mysterious tales of today, the stories and traditions of the Emerald Isle hold a strong attraction for many. Stories are told in cottage hearths from Galway to Dublin, and from the windblown rocky Cliffs of Mohr to the seaside villages where fishing boats still roam the oceans. Tall tales and town stories are as much a way of life as a pint and good conversation at the local pub.
Emerald Magic brings together today's best fantasy authors to explore the myths of the Irish, telling their own versions of these ancient tales of luck, love, and honor, or drawing upon centuries of Irish myths and folktales and updating them into brand-new stories. Edited and with an introduction by bestselling author Father Andrew M. Greeley, Emerald Magic contains fourteen wonderful stories of legend and lore, including:
"A Woman Is a Fast Moving Picnic" by Ray Bradbury. A group of pub regulars set out to discover the truth behind a local song and answer that age-old question: Just how fast does a person sink in a bog?
"The Isle of Women" by Jacqueline Carey. In an age long ago, a warrior sailing for vengeance happens upon an island ruled by a woman like no other. But if he is to continue his quest, he must choose between her and his duty.
"Speir-Bhan" by Tanith Lee. A woman who finds and reads her grandfather's diary unleashes the specter of an old debt that, even in today's modern age, must be paid--one way or the other.
"A Drop of Something Special in the Blood" by Fred Saberhagen. In the late eighteenth century, an Irish author encounters a being that he will turn into his greatest literary creation.
"The Cat with No Name" by Morgan Llywelyn. A lonely girl neglected by her parents finds an unexpected friend in the alley behind her home--one that may be more than it first seems.
"The Butter-Spirit's Tithe" by Charles de Lint. Even in twenty-first-century America, it is still not wise to anger the spirits of the world, as a young musician discovers when a butter-spirit who had cursed him nine years earlier comes to claim his soul.
"Land of Heart's Desire" by Elizabeth Haydon. A young man discovers the magical truth about his parents' marriage, and sets a chain of events in motion that will force him to choose between the life he has always known--and another life he could have.
"The Swan Pilot" by L. E. Modesitt, Jr. In the far future, spaceship pilots travel through interdimensional portals from planet to planet--and the only thing more important than knowing how to fly is knowing how to handle the strange hallucinations that appear during the journey.
Filled with the spirit and magic of the stories of Ireland, Emerald Magic is a collection of fantasy stories that will delight and captivate from the first page to the last.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

It has been said that the Irish transformed English-speaking literature. This anthology may not reshape literature, but it is a sheer delight of grand storytelling. In 15 tales, 13 of which are original to the volume, a variety of modern seanachies (or storytellers), whether Irish by blood or only intention, are inspired by both modern culture and mythic legend to play upon the ancient Celtic theme of how closely the mundane exists with the magical. This parallel nature allows the Irish to serve the Christian God as well as the pagan sidhe, as they do in Judith Tarr's "The Hermit and the Sidhe," or a young man, in Elizabeth Haydon's "The Merrow," to discover himself heir to both the powerful magic of the sea and the magical land of Ireland. Editor Greeley, a Catholic priest, in "Peace in Heaven?" tells an earthy story of sidhe and seraphim that might make his bishop blush. Love can be a sorrowful thing, as it is in Jacqueline Carey's "The Isle of Women," or it can triumph over a vengeful spirit and the Grey Man himself, as in Charles de Lint's "The Butter Spirit's Tithe." Some stories are tinged with darkness, but have a favorable ending, like Tanith Lee's "Speir-Bahn," an eerie tale of shape-changing. Peter Tremayne, Diane Duane, Jane Yolen and Adam Stemple also contribute worthy stories. Whether a true child of the Ould Sod or Irish only on St. Patrick's Day, the reader will find plenty to celebrate here. (Feb. 25) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

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