Charles de Lint

An all-new collection of short fiction in Charles de Lint's "Newford" universe.

Collects four Hellboy stories, including one where he teams with a wandering hillman in a tale of Appalachian witchcraft.

Altagracia--her friends call her Grace--has a tattoo of Nuestra Señora de Altagracia on her shoulder, she's got a Ford Motor Company tattoo running down her leg, and she has grease worked so deep into her hands that it'll never wash out. Grace works at Sanchez Motorworks, customizing hot rods. Finding the line in a classic car is her calling. Grace loves John, and John loves her, and that would be wonderful, except that John, like Grace, has unfinished business: he's haunted by the childhood death of his younger brother. He's never stopped feeling responsible. Like Grace in her way, John is an artist, and before their relationship can find its resolution, the two of them will have to teach each other about life and love, about hot rods and Elvis Presley, and about why it's necessary to let some things go.--from Publisher description.

Fourteen-year-old T.J. and her new friend, sixteen-year-old Elizabeth, a six-inch-high "Little" with a big chip on her shoulder, help one another as T.J. tries to adjust to her family's move from a farm to the big city and Elizabeth tries to make her own way in the world.

New at her high school, Imogene enlists the help of her introverted friend Maxine and the ghost of a boy who haunts the school after receiving warnings through her dreams that soul-eaters are threatening her life.

Twelve-year-old Lillian, an orphan who loves roaming the woods looking for fairies when her chores are done, is bitten by a deadly snake and saved through the magical forest creatures.

Manifestations of a writer named Christy, Saskia, who believes she was born on a website, and Christiana, who is made up from the writer's cast-off personality traits, find their virtual lives threatened by a computer crash that whisks Saskia into oblivion.

Charles de Lint's remarkable novels and short stories have always been, at heart, about what lies beneath the surface; the ancient patterns we still follow today; and, most of all, the possibility of growth, change, kindness, magic, and love. In a very real sense, they are coming-of-age stories-and his work has always included memorable teenage characters. Here, at long last, is a collection of his stories about teenagers-a collection for teen and adult readers alike. From the streets of his famed Newford to the alleys of Bordertown to the realms of Faerie, here is storytelling that will transfix and delight, with characters who will linger in the mind-many of them from his acclaimed novels. Featuring an illuminating preface by acclaimed author, anthologist, and critic Terri Windling, Waifs and Strays is a must-own for de Lint fans, and an ideal introduction to his work for newcomers.

Minda, who is trapped inside a dark nightmare, makes a journey to another world to confront Ildran the Dream-master and try to save the Lord of the Moors.

Sarah Jane Dillard discovers and helps an injured 'sangman fairy in the Tanglewood Forest, putting herself, her six sisters, and friends Aunt Lillian and the Apple Tree Man in the middle of a fairy feud. Sarah Jane Dillard discovers and helps an injured fairy in the Tanglewood Forest, putting herself and her family in the middle of a fairy feud.

In the old century, they called them the Gentry: ancient spirits of the land, magical, amoral, and dangerous. When the Irish emigrated to North America, some of the Gentry followed...only to find that the New World already had spirits of its own, called manitou and other such names by the Native tribes. Now generations have passed, and the Irish have made homes in the new land, but the Gentry still wander homeless on the city streets. Gathering in the city shadows, they bide their time and dream of power. As their dreams grow harder, darker, fiercer, so do the Gentry themselves -- appearing, to those with the sight to see them, as hard and dangerous men, invariably dressed in black. Bettina can see the Gentry, and knows them for what they are. Part Indian, part Mexican, she was raised by her grandmother to understand the spirit world. Now she lives in Kellygnow, a massive old house run as an arts colony on the outskirts of Newford, a world away from the Southwestern desert of her youth. Outside her nighttime window, she often spies the dark men, squatting in the snow, smoking, brooding, waiting. She calls them los lobos, the wolves, and stays clear of them -- until the night one follows her to the woods, and takes her hand.... Ellie, and independent young sculptor, is another with magic in her blood, bus she refuses to believe it, even though she, too, sees the dark men. A strange old woman has summoned Ellie to Kellygnow to create a mask for her based on an ancient Celtic artifact. It is the mask of the mythic Summer King -- another thing that Ellie does not believe in. Yet lack of belief won't dim the power of the mask, or its dreadful intent. Once again Charles de Lint weaves the mythic traditions of many cultures into a seamless cloth, bringing folklore, music, and unforgettable characters to life on modern city streets.