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Dreams Underfoot Kindle Edition
Reviews:
This collection of conceptually innovative, thematically simple stories proves again that de Lint is a leading talent in the urban fantasy subgenre.
—Publishers Weekly
I can never recapture the feeling of first arriving in Newford and meeting the people and seeing the sights as a newcomer. However, part of the beauty of Newford is the sense that it has always been there, that de Lint is a reporter who occasionally files stories from a reality stranger and more beautiful than ours. De Lint also manages to keep each new Newford story fresh and captivating because he is so generous and loving in his depiction of the characters. Yes, there are a group of core characters whose stories recur most often, but a city like Newford has so many intriguing people in it, so many diverse stories to tell, so much pain and triumph to chronicle.
—Challenging Destiny
Dreams Underfoot is a collection of stories set in Newford, Charles de Lint's mythical city, and its environs, both magical and mundane. I say mythical, but Newford is sometimes more real to me than any other place I've been. The stories in this fat volume are all wonderful… These stories connect in ways that tug at your heart and make you look more deeply for the magic in your own life.
—Rambles Magazine
If Ottawa-area author Charles de Lint didn't create the contemporary fantasy, he certainly defined it. …writer-musician-artist-folklorist de Lint has lifted our accepted reality and tipped it just enough sideways to show the possibilities that lie beneath the surface… Unlike most fantasy writers who deal with battles between ultimate good and evil, de Lint concentrates on smaller, very personal conflicts. Perhaps this is what makes him accessible to the non-fantasy audience as well as the hard-core fans. Perhaps it's just damned fine writing.
—Quill & Quire
In de Lint's capable hands, modern fantasy becomes something other than escapism. It becomes folk song, the stuff of urban myth.
―The Phoenix Gazette
Charles de Lint shows that, far from being escapism, contemporary fantasy can be the deep mythic literature of our time.
―The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
Every story is a winner. With moody pieces offset by airy and magical fantasies, and the occasional glint of an edge just beneath the surface, de Lint does indeed create a mythology all his own.
—Booklovers
Maybe you find it hard to believe that the dirty, smelly, crowded modern-day city can have any sort of mystique or magic to it, but believe me, there's a lot more than what meets the eye. Legends stalk the slums, ghosts haunt the cobblestoned streets, goblins dwell in the buried part of the city, and nightmares share the roads. The city itself possesses character, spirit, and an identity.
—Green Man Review
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateNovember 22, 2017
- File size1916 KB
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Review
"Charles de Lint shows that, far from being escapism, contemporary fantasy can be the deep mythic literature of our time." -The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
About the Author
Charles de Lint has helped to popularize the genres of urban fantasy and mythic fiction and has earned a devoted following and critical acclaim as a master of contemporary magical fiction in the tradition of storytellers like John Crowley, Jonathan Carroll, Alice Hoffman, Ray Bradbury, and Isabel Allende. Many of his novels, including Dreams Underfoot, Memory and Dream, The Onion Girl, and Widdershins are set in the mythical North American city of Newford. He and his wife, artist MaryAnn Harris, live in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Kate Reading is an Audie Award-winning narrator and has received numerous Earphones Awards from AudioFile magazine. She is also a theater actor in the Washington, DC, area and has been a member of the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company since 1987. Her work onstage has been recognized by the Helen Hayes Awards Society, among others. She and her husband live in Hyattsville, Maryland, with their two children.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Dreams Underfoot
The Newford CollectionBy De Lint, CharlesOrb Books
Copyright © 2003 De Lint, CharlesAll right reserved.
ISBN: 9780765306791
UNCLE DOBBIN’S
PARROT FAIR
1
She would see them in the twilight when the wind was right, roly-poly shapes propelled by ocean breezes, turning end-over-end along the beach or down the alley behind her house like errant beach balls granted a moment’s freedom. Sometimes they would get caught up against a building or stuck on a curb and then spindly little arms and legs would unfold from their fat bodies until they could push themselves free and go rolling with the wind again. Like flotsam in a river, like tumbleweeds, only brightly colored in primary reds and yellows and blues.
They seemed very solid until the wind died down. Then she would watch them come apart the way morning mist will when the sun burns it away, the bright colors turning to ragged ribbons that tattered smoke-like until they were completely gone.
Those were special nights, the evenings that the Balloon Men came.
* * *
In the late sixties in Haight-Ashbury, she talked about them once. Incense lay thick in the air—two cones of jasmine burning on a battered windowsill. There was an old iron bed in the room, up on the third floor of a house that no one lived in except for runaways and street people. The mattress had rust-colored stains on it. The incense covered the room’s musty smell. She’d lived in a form of self-imposed poverty back then, but it was all a part of the Summer of Love.
“I know what you mean, man,” Greg Longman told her. “I’ve seen them.”
He was wearing a dirty white T-shirt with a simple peace symbol on it and scuffed plastic thongs. Sticking up from the waist of his bell-bottomed jeans at a forty-five degree angle was a descant recorder. His long blonde hair was tied back with an elastic. His features were thin—an ascetic-looking face, thin and drawn-out from too much time on the streets with too little to eat, or from too much dope.
“They’re like…” His hands moved as he spoke, trying to convey what he didn’t feel words alone could say—a whole other language, she often thought, watching the long slender fingers weave through the air between them. “…they’re just too much.”
“You’ve really seen them?” she asked.
“Oh, yeah. Except not on the streets. They’re floating high up in the air, y’know, like fat little kites.”
It was such a relief to know that they were real.
“’Course,” Greg added, “I gotta do a lot of dope to clue in on ’em, man.”
* * *
Ellen Brady laid her book aside. Leaning back, she flicked off the light behind her and stared out into the night. The memory had come back to her, so clear, so sharp, she could almost smell the incense, see Greg’s hands move between them, little colored after-image traces following each movement until he had more arms than Kali.
She wondered what had ever happened to the Balloon Men.
Long light-brown hair hung like a cape to her waist. Her parents were Irish—Munster O’Healys on her mother’s side, and Bradys from Derry on her father’s. There was a touch of Spanish blood in her mother’s side of the family, which gave her skin its warm dark cast. The Bradys were pure Irish and it was from them that she got her big-boned frame. And something else. Her eyes were a clear grey—twilight eyes, her father had liked to tease her, eyes that could see beyond the here and now into somewhere else.
She hadn’t needed drugs to see the Balloon Men.
Shifting in her wicker chair, she looked up and down the beach, but it was late and the wind wasn’t coming in from the ocean. The book on her lap was a comforting weight and had, considering her present state of mind, an even more appropriate title. How to Make the Wind Blow. If only it was a tutor, she thought, instead of just a collection of odd stories.
The author’s name was Christy Riddell, a reed-thin Scot with a head full of sudden fancies. His hair was like an unruly hedgerow nest and he was half a head shorter than she, but she could recall dancing with him in a garden one night and she hadn’t had a more suitable partner since. She’d met him while visiting friends in a house out east that was as odd as any flight of his imagination. Long rambling halls connected a bewildering series of rooms, each more fascinating than the next. And the libraries. She’d lived in its libraries.
“When the wind is right,” began the title story, the first story in the book, “the wise man isn’t half so trusted as the fool.”
Ellen could remember when it was still a story that was told without the benefit of pen and paper. A story that changed each time the words traveled from mouth to ear:
* * *
There was a gnome, or a gnomish sort of a man, named Long who lived under the pier at the end of Main Street. He had skin brown as dirt, eyes blue as a clear summer sky. He was thin, with a fat tummy and a long crooked nose, and he wore raggedy clothes that he found discarded on the beach and wore until they were threadbare. Sometimes he bundled his tangled hair up under a bright yellow cap. Other times he wove it into many braids festooned with colored beads and the discarded tabs from beer cans that he polished on his sleeve until they were bright and shiny.
Though he’d seem more odd than magical to anyone who happened to spy him out wandering the streets or along the beach, he did have two enchantments.
One was a pig that could see the wind and follow it anywhere. She was pink and fastidiously clean, big enough to ride to market—which Long sometimes did—and she could talk. Not pig-talk, or even pig-Latin, but plain English that anyone could understand if they took the time to listen. Her name changed from telling to telling, but by the time Long’s story appeared in the book either she or Christy had settled on Brigwin.
Long’s other enchantment was a piece of plain string with four complicated elf-knots tied in it—one to call up a wind from each of the four quarters. North and south. East and west. When he untied a knot, that wind would rise up and he’d ride Brigwin in its wake, sifting through the debris and pickings left behind for treasures or charms, though what Long considered a treasure, another might throw out, and what he might consider a charm, another might see as only an old button or a bit of tangled wool. He had a good business trading his findings to woodwives and witches and the like that he met at the market when midnight was past and gone, ordinary folk were in bed, and the beach towns belonged to those who hid by day, but walked the streets by night.
* * *
Ellen carried a piece of string in her pocket, with four complicated knots tied into it, but no matter how often she undid one, she still had to wait for her winds like anyone else. She knew that strings to catch and call up the wind were only real in stories, but she liked thinking that maybe, just once, a bit of magic could tiptoe out of a tale and step into the real world. Until that happened, she had to be content with what writers like Christy put to paper.
He called them mythistories, those odd little tales of his. They were the ghosts of fancies that he would track down from time to time and trap on paper. Oddities. Some charming, some grotesque. All of them enchanting. Foolishness, he liked to say, offered from one fool to others.
Ellen smiled. Oh, yes. But when the wind is right…
She’d never talked to Christy about the Balloon Men, but she didn’t doubt that he knew them.
Leaning over the rail of the balcony, two stories above the walkway that ran the length of the beach, Christy’s book held tight in one hand, she wished very hard to see those roly-poly figures one more time. The ocean beat its rhythm against the sand. A light breeze caught at her hair and twisted it into her face.
When the wind is right.
Something fluttered inside her, like wings unfolding, readying for flight. Rising from her chair, she set the book down on its wicker arm and went inside. Down the stairs and out the front door. She could feel a thrumming between her ears that had to be excitement moving blood more quickly through her veins, though it could have been the echo of a half-lost memory—a singing of small deep voices, rising up from diaphragms nestled in fat little bellies.
Perhaps the wind was right, she thought as she stepped out onto the walkway. A quarter moon peeked at her from above the oil rigs far out from the shore. She put her hand in the pocket of her cotton pants and wound the knotted string she found there around one finger. It was late, late for the Balloon Men to be rolling, but she didn’t doubt that there was something waiting to greet her out on the street. Perhaps only memories. Perhaps a fancy that Christy hadn’t trapped on a page yet.
There was only one way to find out.
Copyright © 1993 by Charles de Lint
Continues...
Excerpted from Dreams Underfoot by De Lint, Charles Copyright © 2003 by De Lint, Charles. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
From AudioFile
Product details
- ASIN : B078BP3W47
- Publisher : Triskell Press (November 22, 2017)
- Publication date : November 22, 2017
- Language : English
- File size : 1916 KB
- Simultaneous device usage : Unlimited
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 418 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #324,824 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #1,746 in Contemporary Fantasy (Kindle Store)
- #3,750 in Contemporary Fantasy (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Charles de Lint and his wife, MaryAnn Harris, live in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, with their little dog Johnny Cash. His evocative novels, including Moonheart, Forests of the Heart, The Onion Girl, and The Wind in His Heart have earned him a devoted following and critical acclaim as a master of contemporary mythic fiction. In 2018 he was given a World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement.
Customer reviews
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Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers enjoy the beautiful and rich stories with interconnected tales. They find the characters fantastic and memorable. Readers praise the writing style as outstanding and savoring the language. The book is described as delightful, thoughtful, and a worthwhile read. Customers describe the author as creative and talented, making it unique and exciting.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers enjoy the engaging stories with their well-developed characters and interconnected tales. The author uses fantasy and magic to transport readers into the world and souls of the characters. Readers find the stories fresh and engrossing, making them reconsider hidden worlds and explore new places.
"Spooky and sweet tales make up much of this interconnected story. Is Charles really Christy?..." Read more
"...I made a terrible mistake. These stories are beautiful and rich...." Read more
"...behind the stories that make this collection not only unique and exciting, but moving and provocative...." Read more
"A beautiful collection of short stories catching the spirit and the heart of the people who populate the hidden parts of the city...." Read more
Customers enjoy the well-developed characters. They say the characters stay with them after reading the book.
"...The characters are fantastic, and the language is awesome. You can tell his writing had progressed since 'Yarrow' written a few years earlier...." Read more
"...It is just so well written, and the characters will stay with you long after you have finished reading." Read more
"...Characters intertwine among the stories and you are left with the impression that you were actually part of their lives" Read more
"...of Newford, as well as our introduction to a number of wonderful characters." Read more
Customers enjoy the writing style. They say it's outstanding and can be read aloud to savor the language. The book reads like a novel, with the same characters.
"...But the writing is just phenomenal. I immediately ordered a bunch more De Lint including most of Newford until my wallet was hurting too much...." Read more
"...De Lint's prose is gentle and relaxing. These stories almost beg to be read aloud, so that the reader can savor the language...." Read more
"...It is just so well written, and the characters will stay with you long after you have finished reading." Read more
"The writing is outstanding, but it is the ideas behind the stories that make this collection not only unique and exciting, but moving and provocative..." Read more
Customers enjoy the book. They find it delightful, thoughtful, and well-written. The book is considered a worthwhile read.
"...denser than his earlier works, but also in the long run a more rewarding read...." Read more
"...While enjoyable I will say the tone gets pretty ponderous by the last quarter of the book...." Read more
"...You simply cannot go wrong with the story telling of this amazing writer, musician and artist...." Read more
"...book on college, and over 25 years later, it remains one of my very favorite books. Quintessential urban fantasy by the Master of the form." Read more
Customers appreciate the author's creativity. They find his stories engaging and unique.
"...it is the ideas behind the stories that make this collection not only unique and exciting, but moving and provocative...." Read more
"...Have never read a de Lint book that did not speak to me. He is inventive, creative, talented, and his stories strum wild music on my heartstrings." Read more
"Creative, imaginative, characters that stay with you" Read more
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on November 23, 2013This was recommended to me as an easy entry point into the 'Newford' series of Urban Fantasy work by Charles De Lint, it's also the fourth straight book I've completed reading by De Lint, having previously read 'Greenmantle', 'Yarrow', and 'The Wild Wood'. 'Dreams Underfoot' is a selection of short stories featuring many of the same characters, and reads almost like a novel if you go the whole way through. The characters are fantastic, and the language is awesome. You can tell his writing had progressed since 'Yarrow' written a few years earlier. It is somewhat denser than his earlier works, but also in the long run a more rewarding read. I approached 'Newford' with trepidation because I'm not normally an Urban Fantasy reader, it just hasn't interested me. But the writing is just phenomenal. I immediately ordered a bunch more De Lint including most of Newford until my wallet was hurting too much. I am a binge reader and buyer. I know De Lint will supply me with many more hours of happy reading.
- Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2024I've bought from these guys for years: always a quick, easy, and great transaction.
- Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2019Spooky and sweet tales make up much of this interconnected story. Is Charles really Christy? Maybe maybe not but each story pulls on you and makes you reconsider a hidden world.
- Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2001In the nineteen stories about the fictional Canadian city of Newford collected in this book, Charles de Lint relocates the mythical creatures of fairy tale and folklore from their traditional settings and surrounds them with urban scenery. As one character writes in the final story: "That was the real magic for me: the possibility that we only have to draw aside a veil to find the world a far more strange and wondrous place than its mundaneness allowed it could be." That quote sums up why I love the Newford stories than I ever could.
While not a novel, these stories do add up to more than the sum of their parts. Minor characters in one story may go on to star in stories of their own. Events in one tale have resonances later on. The reader is given a cross-sectional look at the small events that make up life in this city, and gets a chance to know its inhabitants.
De Lint's prose is gentle and relaxing. These stories almost beg to be read aloud, so that the reader can savor the language. Whenever I'm feeling upset, I know I can read one of de Lint's stories and feel better, just by "listening" to his voice. He doesn't always have something groundbreaking to say about people or life or love, but sometimes it's good to be reminded of things we already know to be true, and even better to be reminded in such a beautiful fashion.
- Reviewed in the United States on October 22, 2020I had been putting off reading the Newford series, because "Someplace to be Flying" is one of my favorite books, and I worried the rest of the books wouldn't hold up to it. I made a terrible mistake.
These stories are beautiful and rich. They don't all have happy endings, and I think that makes them even better. Life doesn't always have a happily ever after. The characters are real and flawed.
I love Urban fantasy, and this fits that genre, but is closer to urban fairytale. It is just so well written, and the characters will stay with you long after you have finished reading.
- Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2020The writing is outstanding, but it is the ideas behind the stories that make this collection not only unique and exciting, but moving and provocative. The characters present as people you already know, familiar from the first page. What is most stunning about "Dreams Underfoot" is the freshness of each new story. In an anthology of this size we might expect some repetition of theme, but Charles de Lint mines new ideas as though from an undiscovered land. Don't miss it.
- Reviewed in the United States on May 22, 2018I’ve been reading De Lint’s Newford books for a while but never took the trouble to track down #1. I’ve decided to start at the beginning and it was fun to see all the usual characters from other books get introduced for the first time.
- Reviewed in the United States on March 13, 2022A beautiful collection of short stories catching the spirit and the heart of the people who populate the hidden parts of the city. Use wisps of fantasy and magic the author takes you into their world and their souls. Characters intertwine among the stories and you are left with the impression that you were actually part of their lives
Top reviews from other countries
- Kindle CustomerReviewed in the United Kingdom on February 27, 2020
5.0 out of 5 stars Just brilliant....
This was one of the first books of his I read, at least 20 years ago. Re-reading it, i was just as sucked into his stories as I was then. It's a collection of short stories set in a final city called Newford. There's magic in his writing, and honesty and love and miss and sadness and so much humanity. Just quality.....
- Kindle CustomerReviewed in Canada on January 14, 2018
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Another winner by Charles deLint
-
AmazonカスタマーReviewed in Japan on September 7, 2023
4.0 out of 5 stars 角が折れて届きました
テープで穴を塞いだペランペランの袋に入って来て驚きました。アマゾンらしくない。本自体に良いです。パッキングに大いに不満。なので星一つ減らします。
- Du citron dans mon théReviewed in France on March 16, 2017
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful
The short stories in this book each show a different facet of the city of Newford. Sometimes sad, simetimes horrific, sometimes romantic, but always magical.
Each story gave me a little something, a little spark that echoed a long time.
I simply love this book.
- Connor CapleReviewed in the United Kingdom on June 5, 2018
5.0 out of 5 stars Another great collection of haunting, wyrding tales from the author.
I love the way these tales draw you in and show you a world of what might be. Many familiar characters are waiting here to take you by the hand and lead you away.