Queen Victoria's Book of Spells: An Anthology of Gaslamp Fantasy

by Elizabeth Bear, James P. Blaylock, Ellen Datlow (Editor), Terri Windling (Editor)

Overview

This Gaslamp Fantasy anthology features all-new stories set in a magical Victorian Era, with entries from Jeffrey Ford, Tanith Lee, and others.

Renowned anthologist Ellen Datlow draws together some of today's most exciting historical fantasy authors for a bewitching journey into Victorian England. Queen Victoria's Book of Spells presents eighteen original stories ranging from steampunk adventures to Jane Austen-inspired works that some critics call Fantasy of Manners.

Contributors to this volume include both bestselling writers and exciting new talents such as Elizabeth Bear, James Blaylock, Jeffrey Ford, Ellen Kushner, Tanith Lee, Gregory Maguire, Delia Sherman, and Catherynne M. Valente, who present a vision of a nineteenth century invested (or cursed ) with magic.
A Kirkus Reviews Best Fiction Book of 2013

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781429960915
Publisher:	Tordotcom
Publication date:	09/04/2024
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	352
File size:	888 KB

About the Author

Multiple award-winning editor ELLEN DATLOW has been editing science fiction, fantasy, and horror short fiction for almost thirty years. She was fiction editor of OMNI magazine and SciFiction and has edited more than fifty anthologies. She lives in New York City.
TERRI WINDLING is a writer, artist, and book editor interested in myth, folklore, and fairy tales. She lives in a little village at the edge of Dartmoor in Devon, England.

Ellen Datlow was editor of Sci Fiction, the multi award- winning fiction area of scifi.com, for almost six years. Previously, she was fiction editor of Omni for over seventeen years. She has won the World Fantasy Award seven times, two Bram Stoker Awards, the International Horror Guild Award, the 2002 and 2005 Hugo Award, and the 2005 Locus Award, for her work as an editor. Sci Fiction won the 2005 Hugo Award for Best Website. Datlow and Windling are the co-editors of over eleven original anthologies and of seventeen volumes of The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror.
Terri Windling is an editor, writer, painter, and passionate advocate of mythic arts. She has won the World Fantasy Award seven times, as well as the Mythopoeic Award for her novel The Wood Wife. During the last two decades she's edited over twenty-five anthologies with Ellen Datlow, as well as several other anthologies, including one called Faery. Her paintings, which are based on folklore and feminist themes, have been exhibited at museums and galleries in the United States, England, and France.

Read an Excerpt

QUEEN VICTORIA’S BOOK OF SPELLS
Table of Contents

Preface                                                           Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling                   000
Introduction: Fantasy, Magic, and
Fairyland in Nineteenth-Century England       Terri Windling                                              000
“Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells”                  Delia Sherman                                              000
“The Fairy Enterprise”                                    Jeffrey Ford                                                  000
“From the Catalogue of the Pavilion
of the Uncanny and Marvelous,
Scheduled for Premiere at the
Great Exhibition (Before the Fire)”                  Genevieve Valentine                                     000
“The Memory Book”                                       Maureen McHugh                                          000
“La Reine d’Enfer”                                           Kathe Koja                                                    000
“For the Briar Rose”                                       Elizabeth Wein                                              000
“The Governess”                                            Elizabeth Bear                                               000
“Smithfield”                                                    James P. Blaylock                                          000
“The Unwanted Women of Surrey”                 Kaaron Warren                                             000
“Charged”                                                       Leanna Renee Hieber                                    000
“Mr. Splitfoot”                                                Dale Bailey                                                    000
“Phosphorus”                                                 Veronica Schanoes                                       000
“We Without Us Were Shadows”                     Catherynne M. Valente                                  000
“The Vital Importance of the Superficial”       Ellen Kushner and Caroline Stevermer         000
“The Jewel in the Toad Queen’s Crown”         Jane Yolen                                                    000
“A Few Twigs He Left Behind”                        Gregory Maguire                                           000
“Their Monstrous Minds”                               Tanith Lee                                                     000
“Estella Saves the Village”                              Theodora Goss                                             000
About the Authors                                                                                                              000
Recommended Reading                                                                                                       000

Copyright © 2013 by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling

Table of Contents

Preface; by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling

Introduction: Fantasy, Magic, and Fairyland in Nineteenth-Century England; by Terri Windling

Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells; by Delia Sherman

The Fairy Enterprise; by Jeffrey Ford

From the Catalogue of the Pavilion of the Uncanny and Marvelous, Scheduled for Premier at the Great Exhibition (Before the Fire); by Genevieve Valentine

The Memory Book; by Maureen McHugh

La Reine D’Enfer; by Kathe Koja

For the Briar Rose; by Elizabeth Wein

The Governess; by Elizabeth Bear

Smithfield; by James P. Blaylock

The Unwanted Women of Surrey; by Kaaron Warren

Charged; by Leanna Renee Hieber

Mr. Splitfoot; by Dale Bailey

Phosphorus; by Veronica Schanoes

We Without Us Were Shadows; by Catherynne M. Valente

The Vital Importance of the Superficial; by Ellen Kushner and Caroline Stevermer

The Jewel in the Toad Queen’s Crown; by Jane Yolen

A Few Twigs He Left Behind; Gregory Maguire

Their Monstrous Minds; Tanith Lee

Estella Saves the Village; Theodora Goss

Editorial Reviews

A superb sampling of urban fantasy.... You will have fun with all twenty stories.” —Booklist on Naked City

“This is a treasure chest. Open it and revel in its riches.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review on The Faery Reel

“An often sophisticated view of the world [and] a real sense of how powerful nature can be in its various guises.” —School Library Journal on The Green Man

“An enchanting, witty collection of original stories.... This superior volume proves that the notion of modern-day Grimms, Andersens and Wildes isn't just a fairy tale.” —Publishers Weekly on Black Thorn, White Rose

From the Publisher

Eighteen tales of Gaslamp Fantasy, that is, historical fantasy set in an alternate 19th century where magic worked or supernatural events occurred, together with an extensive and informative introduction from editor Windling tracing historical roots and adding context. A majority of the tales here use historical events or biography as their foundation. Delia Sherman, then, portrays Queen Victoria as a highly effective wizard. Genevieve Valentine probes a highly unsavory aspect of London's 1851 Great Exhibition. Elizabeth Wein spins a tale of writer-designer William Morris and artist Edward Burne-Jones. Kaaron Warren writes movingly of a house where unwanted women are confined and how they gain revenge. Dale Bailey takes an actual case of spiritualism and fakery and demonstrates how it is not always clear which is which. Veronica Schanoes strikes sparks both real and figurative in her account of the unionization of the all-female workforce at a lucifer-match factory. And Jane Yolen reimagines the relationship between Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli and Queen Victoria. Other tales take their inspiration from Victorian literature. Catherynne M. Valente, for instance, revisits the fantasies of the Brontë children. Tanith Lee offers a steampunk variant on the Frankenstein's Monster theme. In Gregory Maguire's continuation of A Christmas Carol, Scrooge marries and has children, and Tiny Tim's life takes an unexpected turn. And Theodora Goss offers up an existential literary-games scenario à la Jasper Fforde. Elsewhere (via Jeffrey Ford, Ellen Kushner and Caroline Stevermer, Maureen McHugh, Kathe Koja, Elizabeth Bear, James P. Blaylock and Leanna Renee Hieber), the fiction is purer, the surprises no less welcome. Splendid tales that illuminate a bygone era's darker corners.

Kirkus Reviews