Contrary to popular belief as embodied by Yours Truly, the Science Fiction Book Club occasionally commissions collections of original short fiction, a fact which came as something of a surprise when I received this book in the mail. The six stories collected in The Fair Folk are loosely unified, revolving around the general theme of fairies and their interactions with the mortal world. All six are of novella length or longer, thus giving the authors room to spread out and tell the complex stories that call to them.
“UOUS,” by Tanith Lee, is a brilliant twist on the three wishes concept which is so often found in traditional fairy tales. Lois, a Cinderella-like girl whose home life is downright unbearable, makes an unknowing, foolish pact with a lord of the Fae, and is thus pressed into his service, compelled to grant -him- three wishes, as repayment for all those centuries the Fae served humans. The results are horrifying and disturbing, but fitting nonetheless. Lee manages to infuse the unsettling magic of the Fae with a certain cheap, tawdry feeling brought in from the mortal world, making this as close to a reverse fairy tale as ever I’ve seen. There are happy endings, but not as so we’d normally predict. The desperation and shame of the main character as she undergoes her trials is excellently conveyed, so that we really feel her being cast down even as she succeeds in improving her life. Lee’s managed to say something new, here, and it shows.
Megan Lindholm’s “Grace Notes” is the story of an everyday guy who ends up with a brownie in his home. She cooks, she cleans, she redecorates, she watches Martha Stewart, and she does it all invisibly and impeccably. Unfortunately, this brownie’s tastes don’t necessarily coincide with her human roommates’s sense of style, and the more she does, the more it grates on his nerves. And what’ll happen when the source of the brownie’s wealth comes to light? An upset host is nothing compared to an offended brownie. It’ll take some special help to set things right now. This is another one of those “why didn’t I think of that first?” stories.
“Except the Queen,” by Jane Yolen and Midori Snyder, is a gripping tale of two fairies exiled to the mortal world and charged with tasks involving several mysterious teenagers. Told entirely as a set of letters passed back and forth between the two sisters as they come to terms with their diminished powers and mortal vulnerabilities, the story’s mystery grows in complexity and excitement. Danger’s afoot on numerous fronts, and the secrets that come to light could change everything for the Fae. Once I started reading, I couldn’t stop until I’d found out what was in store for the unlikely grouping of heroes.
Stories by Craig Shaw Gardner, Kim Newman, and Patricia McKillip help to make The Fair Folk a truly excellent anthology, well worth checking out. If this is an example of what the SFBC can offer, I’ve been missing out all these years.