Recommendations from the Green Hand for those in search of Magical diversions

At the dawn of the nineteenth century, two very different magicians emerge to change England's history. In the year 1806, with the Napoleonic Wars raging on land and sea, most people believe magic to be long dead in England-until the reclusive Mr Norrell reveals his powers, and becomes a celebrity overnight.

Soon, another practicing magician...

FOLGER SHAKESPEARE LIBRARY
The World’s Leading Center for Shakespeare Studies

The Folger Shakespeare Library, home to the world’s largest Shakespeare collection, brings A Midsummer Night’s Dream to life with this new full-length, full-cast dramatic recording of its definitive Folger Edition.

In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare stages the... Read more »

Harry Crewe, the Homelander orphan girl, is pleased with her new home. Life in Istan is certainly easy, but a voice in her ear whispers that the home of her heart is among the Hillfolk, among the descendants of Lady aerin, who once wielded Gonturan, the Blue Sword. Read more »

Although she is the daughter of Damar's king, aerin has never been accepted as full royalty. Both in and out of the royal court, people whisper the story of her mother, the witchwoman, who was said to have enspelled the king into marrying her to get an heir to rule Damar-then died of despair when she found she had borne a daughter instead of a... Read more »

Theodora Goss's first major short story collection showcases such stories as "The Rose in Twelve Petals," "The Rapid Advance of Sorrow," "Lily, With Clouds," "In the Forest of Forgetting," "Sleeping With Bears," and many more. Read more »

Perfect for readers of George Saunders, Karen Russell, Neil Gaiman, and Aimee Bender, Magic for Beginners is an exquisite, dreamlike dispatch from a virtuoso storyteller who can do seemingly anything. Kelly Link reconstructs modern life through an intoxicating prism, conjuring up unforgettable worlds with humor and humanity. These stories are at... Read more »

From award-winning author John Crowley comes an exquisite fantasy novel about a man who tells the story of a crow named Dar Oakley and his impossible lives and deaths in the land of Ka.

A Crow alone is no Crow.

Dar Oakley—the first Crow in all of history with a name of his own—was born two thousand years ago. When a man learns his language, Dar...

Edgewood—which is not found on any map—is many houses, all put inside each other or across each other. It's filled with and surrounded by mystery and enchantment; the further in you go, the bigger it gets.

Smoky Barnable, who has fallen in love with Daily Alice Drinkwater, travels from the City on foot to Edgewood, her family home. There he...

Listening to John Crowley's stories is to see almost-familiar lives running parallel to our own, secret histories that never quite happened, memories that might be real or might be invented. In the thirteen stories collected here, Crowley sets his imagination free to roam from a 20th century Shakespeare festival to spring break at a future Yale... Read more »

Return to Earthsea with Ged, the brash young wizard who survived the enchanted labyrinth of The Tombs of Atuan. In the third episode of this brilliant fantasy saga, a much older Ged sets off on a harrowing quest for the source of a terrible darkness that is taking the magic out of Earthsea. Read more »

WHEN YOUNG TENAR is chosen as high priestess to the ancient and nameless Powers of the Earth, everything is taken away -- home, family, possessions, even her name. For she is now Arha, the Eaten One, guardian of the ominous Tombs of Atuan. While she is learning her way through the dark labyrinth, a young wizard, Ged, comes to steal the Tombs'... Read more »

The tales of this book explore and extend the world established by the Earthsea novels--yet each stands on its own. It contains the novella "The Finder," and the short stories "The Bones of the Earth," "Darkrose and Diamond," "On the High Marsh," and "Dragonfly." Concluding with with an account of Earthsea's history, people, languages,... Read more »

"The shapeless mass of darkness split apart. It sundered, and a pale spindle of light gleamed between his open arms. In the oval of light there moved a human shape: a tall woman . beautiful, and sorrowful, and full of fear."-from A Wizard of Earthsea A Wizard of Earthsea, first in a tetralogy that includes The Tombs of Atuan and The Farthest... Read more »

Summer 1978. A young boy disappears without a trace from a summer cabin. His mother claims he was carried away by a giant. He is never found.

Twenty-five years later, another child goes missing. This time there’s a lead: a single photograph taken by Susso Myrén. Myrén has devoted her life to the search for trolls, legendary giants known as...

Special Edition features original music by Drew Miller - including a fully-produced track of the song "Run Back Across the Border" by Steven Brust, with the author himself on lead vocals - and Neil Gaiman reading his own poem, "The Song of the Song." Bordertown: a city on the Border between the human world and the elfin realm. A place where... Read more »

When the voice of Piemur-an apprentice at Harper Hall-changes, he has to leave the companionship of Master Shonagar behind. But his disappointment is soon replaced by a new challenge. He is to enter the service of the Master Harper himself as a rider of dragons. Soon, he embarks on a dangerous mission to the Southern Hold. The future of Pern... Read more »

Journey to the wonder-filled world of Pern in the first volume of Anne McCaffrey's best-selling Harper Hall Trilogy. Dragonsong is the spellbinding tale of Menolly of Half Circle Hold, a brave young girl who flees her seaside village and discovers the legendary fire lizards of Pern. All her life, Menolly has longed to learn the ancient secrets... Read more »

Menolly has returned home and entered the Harper Hall. But her entry into the Hall proves the beginning of more troubles, and the Master Harper gives her a difficult time because she is a girl. As Menolly begins to despair, she finds help in the shape of nine bright allies. Read more »

In his stunning novels of magic and danger in the modern world, Charles de Lint has brought an entire imaginary North American city to vivid life: Newford, where magic lights the dark streets, myths walk clothed in modern shapes, and a broad cast of extraordinary people work to keep the whole world turning. At the center of it all stands a young...

Myth, music, and magic—and dreams underfoot

Welcome to Newford—to the music clubs, the waterfront, and the alleyways where ancient myths and magic spill into the modern world. Gemmins live in abandoned cars and skells traverse the tunnels below, while mermaids swim in the grey harbor waters and fill the cold night with their song. Come meet...