Kish Guides: Fairy Tales, Myths & Legends: Modern Fairy Tales

Featured Author: George MacDonald

Photo credit: Jeffrey of London, c1870 (Public Domain)
The Scottish writer George MacDonald (1824-1905) is considered one of the pioneers of the modern fantasy genre. He personally encouraged Lewis Carroll to publish the Alice stories, and later influenced C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Madeleine L'Engle, and others. His tales for both children and adults bring a modern sensibility to the ancient fairy tale tradition.

The Complete Fairy Tales by George MacDonald
Call Number: PR4966 .K58 1999
Phantastes: a Faerie Romance by George MacDonald; Arthur Hughes (Illustrator)
Call Number: PR4967 .P49 2005
Lilith: a Romance by George MacDonald
Call Number: PR4967 .L33 2008

Featured Author: Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman has proven himself to be a master storyteller. His original fantasy works often adapt and expand upon traditional fairy tale stories and themes. Gaiman has won numerous literary awards for enchanting—and often chilling—works like The Graveyard Book, Coraline, and The Ocean at the End of the Lane.

Photo credit: pinguino k CC BY 2.0

Coraline by Neil Gaiman; Dave McKean (Illustrator)
NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE (2009)
"Now, if you're thinking fondly of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe or Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, you're on the wrong track. Neil Gaiman's Coraline is far darker, far stranger, playing on our deepest fears. And, like Roald Dahl's work, it is delicious." (Amazon review)
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman; Dave McKean (Illustrator)
"In this Newbery Medal-winning novel, Bod is an unusual boy who inhabits an unusual place—he's the only living resident of a graveyard. Raised from infancy by the ghosts, werewolves, and other cemetery denizens, Bod has learned the antiquated customs of his guardians' time as well as their ghostly teachings—such as the ability to Fade so mere mortals cannot see him." (Amazon review)
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
"Forty years ago, our narrator, who was then a seven-year-old boy, unwittingly discovered a neighboring family’s supernatural secret. What happens next is an imaginative romp through otherwordly adventure that could only come from Gaiman's magical mind." (Amazon review)
The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman; Chris Riddell (Illustrator)
Call Number: PR6057.A319 S64 2014
"In this captivating and darkly funny tale, Neil Gaiman and Chris Riddell have twisted together the familiar and the new as well as the beautiful and the wicked to tell a brilliant version of Snow White's (sort of) and Sleeping Beauty's (almost) stories." (Amazon review)

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Featured Author: J.R.R. Tolkien

Photo credit: "Oxford Tolkien" by Julian Nitzsche
Licensed under Creative Commons CC BY-SA
J.R.R. Tolkien is well known for writing The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings saga, but did you know that he was also a world-class scholar of languages and literature? Below you'll find his translations and adaptations of ancient stories, as well as his two-volume Book of Lost Tales.