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Dreams Underfoot

The Newford Collection

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About this listen

 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 gray 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. Dreams Underfoot 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

Critic reviews

"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)
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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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