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Dreams Underfoot

The Newford Collection

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Dreams Underfoot

By: Charles de Lint
Narrated by: Kate Reading
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Myth, music, and magic—and dreams underfoot

Welcome to Newford—to the music clubs, the waterfront, and the alleyways where ancient myths and magic spill into the modern world. Gemmins live in abandoned cars and skells traverse the tunnels below, while mermaids swim in the grey harbor waters and fill the cold night with their song. Come meet Jilly, painting wonders in the rough city streets; and Geordie, playing fiddle while he dreams of a ghost; and the Angel of Grasso Street, gathering the fey and the wild and the poor and the lost.

Like Mark Helprin's A Winter's Tale and John Crowley's Little, Big,Dreams Underfoot, a collection of nineteen stories, is a must-read book, not only for fans of urban fantasy but for all who seek magic in everyday life.

©1993 Charles de Lint (P)2009 Blackstone Audio, Inc. Anthologies & Short Stories Fantasy Fiction Genre Fiction Magic Magical Realism Science Fiction Dream Short Story
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Critic reviews

“[Kate Reading’s] wide vocal range serves the listener well, as she is able to voice the many different characters distinctively and lend each the emotional weight he or she commands in turn.”

(SFSite.com)

“In de Lint’s capable hands, modern fantasy becomes something other than escapism. It becomes folk song, the stuff of urban myth.”

(Phoenix Gazette)

“Charles de Lint shows that, far from being escapism, contemporary fantasy can be the deep mythic literature of our time.”

(Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction)

“This collection of conceptually innovative, thematically simple stories proves again that de Lint is a leading talent in the urban fantasy subgenre.”

(Publishers Weekly)

“Kate Reading tells their stories as if she knows her characters well and is familiar with their tales. She uses pace, timing, and tone to reflect the personalities of the main characters without neglecting the minor players. With a light touch she takes the unexpected and bizarre in stride and provides continuity and a unifying voice to the collection.”

(AudioFile)

“Superior work that upholds de Lint’s high reputation [and] definitely recommended for fantasy collections.”

(Booklist)
All stars
Most relevant
Charles de Lint is a master story teller weaving stories into tapestries and ducking you into the way he sees the world.

loved it

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A collection of interconnected short stories about the people of the fictional city of Newford. The best description l can think of is Grimm's fairy tales with a modern urban setting and characters. It's not an easy read in that, like fairy tales, not all of them have happy and satisfying endings. I think this is why it has less stars than I think it deserves. It touched me on a much deeper level than the average fantasy story and it is one of those books that will stay with me for a while. I listened to it in one go and, given how long it is, I don't think this is the best way to appreciate it fully. When I come back to it I think I will probably read 2 or 3 stories and then take some time to mull over them. It's obvious that the author is very familiar with the work of Jung and others who have written about how symbolism and myth speak to our unconscious mind and spirit. The highest praise I can give it is that I believe in magic that little bit more - well at least its power to touch the deeper parts of our being - and that I'm a slightly different person at the end of the book than I was at the beginning. I wasn't sure at first about the choice of Kate Reading to read this because , although she is a brilliant narrator, I always associate her voice with heavy epic fantasy like Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time" series. However she did a great job of it and her voice only added to the experience for me. If you want something more than an easy entertaining fantasy story ( not that it isn't entertaining) I can highly recommend this . I'm off to explore more of Charles de Lint's writing.

Not easy entertainment. Speaks to the spirit

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Many of my friends have read the books but I thought I would listen. the stories are separate but linked. just like life friends and places.

Beautiful

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