A FINALIST FOR THE 2020 WORLD FANTASY AWARDUnearth the enchanting origins of fantasy fiction
with a collection of tales as vast as the tallest tower and as mysterious as the dark depths of
the forest.Fantasy stories have always been with us. They illuminate the odd and the uncanny
the wondrous and the fantastic: all the things we know are lurking just out of sight on the
other side of the looking-glass beyond the music of the impossibly haunting violin through
the twisted trees of the ancient woods. Other worlds talking animals fairies goblins demons
tricksters and mystics: these are the elements that populate a rich literary tradition that
spans the globe. A work composed both of careful scholarship and fantastic fun The Big Book of
Classic Fantasy is essential reading for anyone who s never forgotten the stories that first
inspired feelings of astonishment and wonder.INCLUDING:Stories by pillars of the genre like the
Brothers Grimm Hans Christian Andersen Mary Shelley Christina Rossetti L. Frank Baum Robert
E. Howard and J. R. R. Tolkien Fantastical offerings from literary giants including Edith
Wharton Leo Tolstoy Willa Cather Zora Neale Hurston Vladimir Nabokov Hermann Hesse and
W.E.B. Du Bois Rare treasures from Asian Eastern European Scandinavian and Native American
traditions New translations including fourteen stories never before in EnglishPLUS:Beautifully
Bizarre Creatures! Strange New Worlds Just Beyond the Garden Path! Fairy Folk and Their Dark
Mischief! Seriously Be Careful Do Not Trust Those Fairies!
