The finest stories of this popular pioneer of urban fantasy and creator of the mythical city of Newford have been chosen by the author?and his fans?and gathered in this extraordinary collection. Asked to suggest their own favorite stories for inclusion, de Lint’s fans have been instrumental in creating a treasury that will spark the imaginations of readers of all ages. These are retold fairy tales and new modern myths that thoroughly redefine the boundaries of magic.

Between these pages are all manner of enchanted characters in unusual places: playful Crow Girls who sneak into the homes of their sleeping neighbors, a graffiti artist who risks his life to expose a deadly conspiracy, and an unrepentant trickster who throws one last party to reveal a lost folkloric tradition.

At turns unexpected, whimsical, dark, and mystical, this is an essential compendium of timeless tales to be revisited as often as the heart desires.

span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">CHARLES de LINT is the author of more than seventy adult, young adult, and children’s books. Renowned as one of the trailblazers of the modern fantasy genre, he is the recipient of the World Fantasy, White Pine, Crawford, and Aurora awards. The first book of the Wildlings trilogy, Under My Skin, won the 2013 Aurora Award for Young Adult Fiction. De Lint is a poet, songwriter, performer, and folklorist, and he writes a monthly book-review column for The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.

De Lint and his wife, MaryAnn Harris, a fellow artist and musician, recently released companion CDs of their original songs, samples of which can be heard on de Lint’s website. They live in Ottawa, and their respective websites are www.charlesdelint.com and www.relectica.com. 

Charles de Lint's profile page

?It’s hard not to feel encouraged to be a better person after reading a book by Ottawa’s Charles de Lint.”
?Halifax Chronicle Herald

?Charles de Lint is the modern master of urban fantasy. Folktale, myth, fairy tale, dreams, urban legend?all of it adds up to pure magic in de Lint’s vivid, original world. No one does it better.”
?Alice Hoffman

?An outstanding and widely varied collection of 29 tales.... Long-time fans and newcomers alike will fall in love with de Lint’s graceful, poetic language and characters.”
?Publishers Weekly

?[de Lint] is a master storyteller.... [I]n every story?and I do mean every?he manages to pack an emotional wallop, and a sense that the fantastical could be very, very possible if only we choose to believe it so.”
?Bookgasm

?More than 400 pages of the finest urban fantasy fiction of the past three decades.”
?Ottawa Citizen

“The Very Best of Charles de Lint truly is Charles de Lint at his very best.”
?FantasyLiterature.com

?Lovely and quite diverse...[t]his is a collection definitely worth picking up.”
?San Francisco/Sacramento Book Review

?These are stories for those who love reading.”
?Locus

?De Lint is prolific, and if you’ve resisted picking him up because you’re not sure where to start, this is an excellent way to get a feel for his polished prose, his deep empathy for his own characters, and a wondrous world that may be filled with danger but is no less beautiful because of that.”
?Bookgasm