Otherkin-Related Fiction and Poetry

Elfae Spectrum  |  Other Types  |  General Mythic/Magic  |  Miscellaneous

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Here in 2021, an Amazon search for "otherkin" now actually turns up a surprising amount of hits (this definitely did not used to be the case!). But take the results with a large serving of salt. Many of them are misusing the term and do not actually mean something roughly like "apparently-human people whose soul/energy/mind is actually that of a mythic, fantastic, or otherworldly being". Sometimes I feel like an author is just exploiting us for "weird/edgy" points.

Urban fantasy is a useful genre to look in to find otherkin-relevant fiction. Whereas classic or high fantasy features a completely fantastic setting (frequently based on a mishmash of ideas about medieval, Renaissance, or early modern Europe), in urban fantasy the magic and otherworldly beings are set against an otherwise "normal", contemporary modern backdrop, just as the lives of actual otherkin are. Of course, there's plenty of plain fantasy that is germane to otherkin too. Often certain details about folk, creatures, or realms will resonate and form a useful point of reference to say "my kind of ____ were sort of like that".

Elfae Spectrum

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AE. Properly Æ, derived from Æon, this was a pseudonym of the Irish poet and writer (and painter) George William Russell. Like Yeats and Fiona Macleod (q.v.) there's a lot of possible suggestions, so a bibliography may be helpful as a starting point. "A Call of the Sidhe" from The Nuts of Knowledge (1903) is very good.

Baudino, Gael. Gossamer Axe. (1990) A sixth-century Irish harper, kidnapped by the Sidh (sic), escapes in the 1980s and forms a heavy metal band in order to free her lesbian lover from the Sidh's captivity. Yes, really! Involves themes of magic, Druidry, musical theory, lesbian relationships, and feminism. Sh'k'anna of Elfinkind Digest said: "[I]t's worth it just to experience a musical battle with the Sidh bard on the one side and Christa's band screaming out Quiet Riot's 'Bang Your Head' on the other. Even though I should be rooting for the Sidh!"

Baudino, Gael. Strands of Starlight tetralogy. (1989-1994) Strands of Starlight tells the story of Miriam, a woman with healing powers living in the fictional medieval Western European realm of Adria, and her transformation into the Elf Mirya. Maze of Moonlight is the story of the grandson of the antagonist in Strands and his meeting with a part-Elf girl with the Sight. In Shroud of Shadow an Elf harper, finding herself the last living Elf in the world, tries to save a young girl from the Inquisition, and has visions of Elves reawakening in the future United States. Strands of Sunlight ends up with a small group of Elves having reawakened in modern Colorado. Otherkin elves who find aspects of the elves in these books similar to their own experiences have sometimes called them "starlit elves", after the titular "strands of starlight" they are filled with and connected by, although this term is not used within the books. Personally, I enjoyed the first two more than the last two, but your mileage may vary. Warning for various violent content including rape of the protagonist, other sorts of abuse, and some bloody fights. (If I remember right, there is some especially nasty stuff in the third novel, Shroud of Shadow.)
Spires of Spirit (1997) is a collection of short stories set in the same universe. Rialian Ashtae especially recommends the story "The Shadow of the Starlight", which was previously published in the April 1985 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.

Black, Holly. Modern Faerie Tales series. (2002-2007) The first volume, Tithe: "Sixteen-year-old Kaye Fierch is not human, but she doesn't know it. Sure, she knows she's interacted with faeries since she was little--but she never imagined she was one of them, her blond Asian human appearance only a magically crafted cover-up for her true, green-skinned pixie self." I've only read Tithe and Ironside (not sure how I missed the middle one), but I think the series is generally worth recommending.

Black, Holly, and Tony DiTerlizzi. The Spiderwick Chronicles. (2003-2004)

Borderland series, a.k.a Bordertown. (1986, 1991-1994, 1998, 2011) "A city on the border between our human world and the elfin realm. Where both magic and technology refuse to follow anyone's rules. Where Elves play in rock bands and race down the street on spell-powered motorbikes. Where human kids recreate themselves in the squats and clubs and artists' studios of Soho." A variety of authors have written short stories and novels in this shared universe. There are some sample stories and poems here. See also a review of the series at Green Man. Titles, in date order:

Windling, Terri, and Mark Alan Arnold (eds.). Borderland (1986) and Bordertown. (1986)
Windling, Terri (ed.). Life on the Border. (1991)
Shetterly, Will. Elsewhere (1991) and Nevernever (1993). You can read the first chapter of Elsewhere, titled "On the Elflands Express", here.
Bull, Emma. Finder. (1994) You can read the first chapter, "Falling Out of Paradise", here.
Windling, Terri, and Delia Sherman (eds.), The Essential Bordertown. (1998) From the review at Green Man: "...written to be your first Bordertown friend, the handbook you keep with you until you find your niche--or at least until you get to The Dancing Ferret and have your complimentary first drink. It's partly a collection of stories told by a variety of the city's residents and visitors, and partly a really good travel guide--the kind you wished you had the first time you visited a place where you didn't speak the language. With sections for both humans and elves, the travel guide tells you bluntly where it's safest and best to stay, where and what to eat and drink ... and how to find help when you need it."
Holly Black and Ellen Kushner (eds.). Welcome to Bordertown. (2011)

Bull, Emma. War for the Oaks. (1987) From the review at Green Man: "When the Fey go to war, then, what's to give the matter any weight? If everyone's immortal, what makes this battle any different from children jousting with wooden swords? Simple. The presence of a mortal, bound to the effort, whose existence and presence convey mortality to the Fey. So long as Eddi's on the battlefield ... the Fey can bleed and die just like any human. That's why Eddi's drafted. To serve as the harbinger of death to the deathless, to bring mortality to the immortal, and to serve as the price the Fey must pay for their war."

Cherryh, C. J. The Dreaming Tree. (1997) Contains the novels The Dreamstone (1983) and The Tree of Swords and Jewels (1983). Alternatively known as the "Ealdwood duology", or sometimes "Arafel's saga" after the name of the protagonist. "Elf" and "sidhe" are both used in this book, but I personally consider its feel to be more on the elven side.

de Lint, Charles. Very enjoyable renderings of faery and magic at the edge of normal perception, and hiding right in the middle of the modern world. He set a bar for urban fantasy. Pretty much any title will be good, but see especially:

Moonheart (1984)
The Riddle of the Wren (1984) - The "home base" the story starts in is a kind of alternate Earth, and the first world the heroine jumps to seems to me to be a far-future ruined New York.
Jack of Kinrowan (1995) - A collection of Jack, the Giant Killer (1987) and Drink Down the Moon (1990). The latter inspired my poem "Drink the Moon's Luck".
Dreams Underfoot (1993)
Memory and Dream (1994)
The Wild Wood (1994) Illustrated by Brian Froud. From the review at Green Man: "It's a haunting that is peculiarly suited to an artist, to see things in one's work that one did not put there. But Eithnie's haunting grows; the creatures in her pictures step out into the world around her, and she begins to see them everywhere in the familiar woods around her home, overwhelming her with the beauty and terror of the unknown.
Spirits in the Wires (2003)

Drummond, India. Blood Faerie. (2011)

Gaiman, Neil. Neverwhere. (1996) A secret magical world hides under the streets of London.

Godwin, Parke. The Last Rainbow. (1985) An imaginative interpretation of (not-yet-Saint) Patrick trying to spread Christianity among the Faerie people, or Prydn, as they call themselves. This is a "literal, physical small-dark-elder-race" setting, rather than the Prydn being supernatural with respect to humans, although there is a fantasy take on both pagan and Christian magic in it. The Prydn word Dronnarron, meaning "the green time that was before", has stuck with me ever since.

Hamilton, Laurell K. Merry Gentry series. (2000- ) Paranormal erotica featuring sidhe and other faery creatures of Seelie and Unseelie courts. I haven't read past the third book, Seduced by Moonlight (2004), which was already losing my interest, but up through that point at least I found some aspects of the depiction of sidhe to be relevant.

Hennen, Bernhard. The Elven. (2004) This has a Germanic/Norse flavor, but does not follow that lore as such. Epic in scope, with the protagonists jumping across time through gates (basically a confluence of ley-lines) and the reader given a long view of changes in the world over time. Several people in reviews compare it to The Lord of the Rings (q.v.) in respect of its sense of vast history, and I would agree on that count.

Hetley, James A. The Summer Country. (2002) From the review at Green Man: "The Summer Country evokes some of the best of Charles de Lint, with roots both in gritty urban reality, and a fantastic otherworld filled with dangers and magic. [...] In short, they're the Fae of Tam Lin, of Thomas the Rhymer, of La Belle Dame Sans Merci, the otherworldly creatures named the Fair Folk because you fear or respect them, but don't know or trust them."

Kennealy-Morrison, Patricia. The Keltiad. (1984-1998, 2014) The recommender said this series was "Tuatha de Danann in space."

Kruse, John T. Albion Awake! (2016) Recommended with reservations. "...follows the enchanted adventures of John Bullen as he travels in time and space, meeting inspirational figures from England's past and devising a plan to save present day Albion from its plight. The island is sick, damaged by pollution and poverty, and the fairy queen, Maeve, recruits John to save it." The book has a good message about proper human relationship to the land, but it is very much that -- a Message Piece™ that is heavy handed about its statement -- and I'm not sure that people who don't already agree with its points will be able to stomach it. It's also extremely dialogue-heavy, including some loooong bits where a single paragraph takes up nearly an entire page. All that said, it's an interesting depiction of the Other Folk, and preferable to the author's The Elder Queen.

Lackey, Mercedes, and Ellen Guon. Bedlam Bard series. (1990-1992, 2001-2005) From the review at Green Man for Bedlam's Bard (1992), a collection of the first two novels: "Even after he makes it back home to L.A., with the aid of some sympathetic friends, he finds that life is stranger than ever before. For one thing, there's an elf in his apartment. A pointy-eared, cat-eyed, too-beautiful-for-words elf, wearing Eric's best cloak and making himself at home in Eric's apartment." From the review at Green Man for Beyond World's End (2001), the fourth novel: "No one ever said it was easy to be a Bard in New York. Luckily, he's got friends and his own Bardic magic, and hopefully he'll be able to stop a three-way war between the good guys, the Sidhe, and the drug producers before it gets out of hand."

Levertov, Denise. "The Elves". (1964?) Elves are no smaller / than men, and walk / as men do, in this world, / but with more grace than most, / and are not immortal.

Lindsey, Luna. Emerald City Dreamer. (2013) I was afraid at first this was going to be a human-hunters-only tale with the fae solely framed as monsters/bad guys, but the story definitely unfolds into something more sympathetic and complex on all sides, including a starcrossed romance between one of the hunters (who is a "dreamer", I suppose the eponymous one of the title) and one of the fae.
The influence of ideas from Changeling: the Dreaming is pervasive, which may put some readers off, but I was fine with it. For example, the concept that human creativity generates "toradh" or "aisling" which fae feed off of (glamour, in Changeling terms); "glamour" is used to mean the power or force of fae magic in general, not just a tighter meaning of "illusion"; there are good and bad ways of taking glamour from dreamers, which are to only take what is given freely or instead "Rending" (in Changeling there are Reverie, Rapture, Rhapsody and Ravaging); and an otherworld called "The Dream" which overlaps in some places with the mundane world, but also goes much deeper (cf. Changeling's world of "The Dreaming"). Interestingly, the book uses the term "faeborn" to mean fae spirits born into human bodies, an idea which may sound familiar to real-world otherkin, some of whom use the same word. I wonder if that is coincidence or whether the author found it online and decided to use it.
One thing that did annoy me is that the spell-verses various characters (mostly Jina) speak are all on the level of bad children's doggerel. I am not sure if this is a weakness of the author, or was done intentionally to represent that the characters are not very good at it, but it made it difficult for me to believe that the spells would have the power they do in-universe. (And if Jina writes songs for her band that are at all popular even in an indie-scene sense, should she be that bad at this kind of thing?) Overall, though, it's a shame that the sequels to this book never materialized.

Macleod, Fiona, ed. Elizabeth A. Sharp. The Works of "Fiona Macleod". (1910) Fiona Macleod is the pseudonym, or alter ego, or Faery contact (depending on how you look at it) of William Sharp, a Scottish writer of the latter half of the 19th century. Faery is one of the major themes of her works. By Sundown Shores used to be one of the best sites collecting her work. See also The Works on Archive.org. Particularly recommended poems: "The Lords of Shadow", "The Crimson Moon".

McDonald, Ian. King of Morning, Queen of Day. (1991) From the review at Green Man: "Fans of Charles de Lint will delight in Enye's sword-wielding encounters with pookas and other mythic creatures in the back alleys and underpasses of modern Ireland. Anyone who has read Robert Holdstock as well as de Lint will certainly find ley lines of similarity between McDonald's "phaguses," Holdstock's "mythagos," and de Lint's "numena." Like his fellow authors, McDonald also asks serious questions about our modern, civilized world, which seems so stripped of the numinous."

McGraw, Eloise. The Moorchild. (1996) A changeling tale about a half-human, half-"moorfolk" (read: faery or elven) girl banished to live among humans.

McGuire, Seanan. October (Toby) Daye series. (2009- ) I have so far only read the first book, Rosemary and Rue (2009), and the second, A Local Habitation (2010). The reviews of Rosemary and Rue were pretty polarized, some characterizing the protagonist as "whiny" or "ineffectual", but I liked it and plan to read further. "The murder of Countess Evening Winterrose, one of the secret regents of the San Francisco Bay Area, pulls Toby back into the fae world. Unable to resist Evening’s dying curse, Toby must resume her former position as knight errant to the Duke of Shadowed Hills and begin renewing old alliances that may prove her only hope of solving the mystery... before the curse catches up with her."

Nalissi. [untitled poem] (ca. 1997) I am like nothing else, and yet I am at One with Everything. / I am an Elf.

Nieto, Ron C. The Wild Hunt. (2014)

Pini, Wendy, and Richard Pini. Elfquest. (1978- ; "Original Quest" 1978-1984) Presents a variety of elf body and culture types, from tall, slender, and highly civilized to smaller-than-human and feral, living in a variety of environments besides the stereotypical forest. Features such things as dark-skinned elves as main characters, homoeroticism, and polyamory that were ahead of their time in the '70s and '80s. The Father Tree Press collections in color are long out out of print and very pricy on the used market, but fortunately, everything published prior to 2014 is available to read online. You can also buy new "Reader's Collections" from Dark Horse Comics, although they are in black and white.

Reaves, Michael. Street Magic. (1991) "Danny, a runaway boy with reading problems, senses the potential of magic power within himself, and he longs for home as if he had come from some other reality. Clues to fairy land come through comic books and photographs, and some other young refugee elven-kind with Danny's help find the gateway to the Fair Realm in a bookstore basement."

Rein-Hagen, Mark, et al. Changeling: The Dreaming. (1st ed. 1995, 2nd ed. 1997, 20th anniversary ed. a.k.a. "C20" 2016) Yeah, yeah, okay, hear me out. An old joke among 'kin used to be "okay, who blabbed?" (And indeed, there was at least one otherkin on the writing team, who is still doing some work for Onyx Path today.) Yes, it's a role-playing game, hence my listing it as fiction, but some of its concepts hew close to how things actually seem to work for some fae people: the antipathy between magic (glamour) and mundane consensus reality (banality); the importance of dreams and creativity; the existence of chimerical (dreamed-up or spiritual) creatures; Houses of the Sidhe (or Tuatha de Danann); the potency of magic being related to spontaneity ("bunks"), special havens for magical folk (freeholds), etc. The second edition is superior to the first in terms of gameplay, but if you're just interested in the concepts and atmosphere, it may not matter much. Do be warned of content that now (2021) pretty clearly stands out as culturally stereotyping and/or appropriative, however.
The analogous game in the so-called "New World of Darkness", Changeling: The Lost, trades on much different concepts. I don't not-recommend it, exactly, but I never cared for it and don't know much about its particulars.

Shakespeare, William. A Midsummer Night's Dream. (1595-1596) Intertwining "mistakes were made; hijinks ensue" plotlines featuring several sets of human lovers and a quarrel between the king and queen of the fairies, Oberon and Titania, over a changeling child. Some blame this work at least in part for the diminishing of the "Other Folk" to the tiny, insect-winged "fairies" commonly thought of today; it's almost certainly responsible for the modern popularity of the names "Oberon" and "Titania" (although "Oberon" at least has some medieval ancestry).

The Silver Elves. Caressed by An Elfin Breeze: The Poems of Zardoa Silverstar. (2011) "These are some of the poems of Zardoa Silverstar. ... Some of these poems are from songs that he wrote, many of them from over 30 years ago. ... They are all, to us at least, evocative in their way of Elven Magic."

Sweet, Dennis. The Shee. (2011) Recommended with reservations. This take on the sidhe is based on an extradimensional/extraterrestrial origin. "A sídh ('shee'), or 'fairy mound,' has been discovered in western Ireland: the oldest artificial structure in the world. When opened, a rash of bizarre and inexplicable events occur throughout the region. A young American anthropologist and his friends try to understand the significance of these events in light of what was found in the shee...and what escaped from it." The actual nature of the characters who turn out to be incarnated Tuatha De Danann, or the "Tribe" as they call themselves, is very interesting and creative, bordering on science fiction. However, I was over halfway through the book before things started to get interesting -- I think the first half could have been cut down quite a bit -- and everything kind of flies together again in a blur in the last 5%. There are some elements of spy-intrigue, who's-really-the-traitor stuff that didn't appeal to me, but may to others. A more minor annoyance, I was bothered by many inaccuracies in astronomy, such as describing Orion as a summer constellation. Warning: Gratuitous graphic violence, rather gross-out campy and schlocky in my opinion, but still gruesome.

Tolkien, J. R. R. The Lord of the Rings (1954-1955) ; The Silmarillion (1977) ; and various other works (many posthumous and edited by his son Christopher Tolkien) dealing with his "Legendarium". Perhaps more clichéd than ever for otherkin since the release of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films in 2001-2003, but still one of the grandaddies. The Elves are obviously the thing most clearly relevant to otherkin (hence the placement in this section), but angelics or god-shards might find relevance in the Valar or Maiar, I've met a person or two who said they were a hobbit (there used to be a whole list for them on Yahoo Groups), and there are orcs and goblins out there who find that this depiction lines up with their perceptions or memories. (I've yet to meet an Ent otherkin, however!) The ideas of half-elven people and of humans carrying non-human blood in their ancestry also appear.

Windling, Terri. The Wood Wife. (1996) From the review at Green Man: "Windling's Arizona desert comes alive with fey beings, shapeshifters small and great that are as mysterious and amoral as any European Fair Folk, yet practical and earthy and distinctively Native American in their coloration."

Yeats, William Butler. Faery and similar themes are present in many of his works, so the gentle reader may want to take a look at a bibliography. Particular recommendations could be The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems (1889), The Celtic Twilight (1893), and The Wind Among the Reeds (1899).

Other Types

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See also Baxil's list of urban fantasy books featuring dragons (last updated 2011).

Beagle, Peter S. The Last Unicorn. (1968) A unicorn questing for others of her kind gets turned into a human girl. Addresses themes such as the wrongness of the body, and it is mentioned that she will forget being a unicorn if she stays human too long.

Constantine, Storm. Grigori Trilogy. (1995-1997) The person who recommended this for an older version of the list simply said, "For angelics." In Western magical tradition the Grigori are the Watchers, a group of angels.

Coville, Bruce. The Unicorn Chronicles. (1994, 1999, 2008-2010) Wikipedia: "Young adult fantasy novels. The fantasy world of Luster lies parallel to our own. ... Cara Hunter is sent to Luster via a magical amulet, given to her by her grandmother, Ivy Morris. She is asked to tell the Queen of the Unicorns that "The Wanderer is weary," and must set out in search of the Queen. Along her travels, she befriends the world's inhabitants".

Eggleton, Bob, and John Grant. Dragonhenge (2002) and The Stardragons (2004).

Hand, Cynthia. Unearthly series. (2011-2013) "When Clara Gardner learns she's part angel, her entire life changes. She now has a purpose, a specific task she was put on this earth to accomplish, except she doesn't know what it is." This was recommended by an acquaintance on Dreamwidth.

McCaffrey, Anne. Dragonriders of Pern series. (1968-2003; 2003-2018 by other authors) There are many of these, but I recommend the original trilogy Dragonflight (1968), Dragonquest (1971), and The White Dragon (1978), plus the Harper Hall trilogy Dragonsong (1976), Dragonsinger (1977), and (though somewhat less) Dragondrums (1979). In these "core" books, the society is mostly Renaissance to early-modern in character, and the telepathic dragons partner with special humans to protect Pern from an extraplanetary threat known as Thread. Other books tell the higher-tech backstory, or stories in the same time period but about different characters. See the Wikipedia article on Dragonriders of Pern for further information.

Nafina, Ashlyn. To Dream, Perchance to Soar. (2011) Written by an otherkin, based on their memories of their home world of winged people. "Aile's France is not too different from the one we know. The zeppelins fly overhead, shuttling passengers from city to city. The cars drive by, business continues as usual. Then one day a parallel universe touches hers, and suddenly everything changes. 'Les volants' soar through the skies like angels. Dreams become real. What isn't possible?" As of mid-2021, the Kindle edition is a mere 99 cents (she says, shilling for someone she's friends with on Dreamwidth).

Prelutsky, Jack. The Dragons Are Singing Tonight. (1993) Recommended with some reservations. This is children's poetry, so a lot of the contents may be a bit too twee and whimsical for the taste of actual otherkind, but there are a few pretty good ones, such as "Once They All Believed in Dragons": We must make them all remember, / In some way we must reveal / That our spirit lives forever-- / We are dragons! We are real!

Shifting Hearts. (2013) A collection of seven short stories featuring nonhumans of various types. The stories are about a raven; some kind of alien beast; a margay (a small wild cat) and a dhole (a wild canid); a being that is possibly some sort of alien or otherworldly person (it is not made clear); an angel; a wolf, a coyote, and a magpie; and a dragon. I wish that more mythological sorts had been included, like an elf, sidhe, or faery, but for as short as it is, it's quite good. I assume the authors were all otherkin or therians themselves.

Skiles, Simon. Memoirs of a Unicorn: Sanctuary. (2015) Recommended with reservations. I think this was written by a unicorn otherkin. I'm not sure if this is based on his memories or not, but it's presented as fiction. Overall, it's not too bad. The journey to find a safe home may not be the most original plot, but was serviceable. The different personalities of the unicorns, elves, and humans were all fairly well rendered.
However, it left me feeling unsatisfied. I found it rather mixed up as to its setting in time and geographically; I had a hard time figuring out if it was in primeval Africa, a pseudo-medieval pseudo-Europe, or what. It seemed to have odd ideas about biology that made unicorns some kind of magical subspecies of horses (or at least that they interbreed). I found descriptions of some of the unicorns' reactions odd. Feeling emotions is fine, but how can they grin, or frown, or blush, or cry? And I never understood how they made sounds with their horns -- are they supposed to be hollow, or something? (Yes, it appears to be physiological, not magic.) Also, there's a lot of violently orphaned characters, which I found myself getting a bit tired of. But I can see how some unicorns might find value in this.

General Mythic/Magic

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Danvers, Dennis. Wilderness. (1991) From the review at Green Man: "With Wilderness we are exposed to the concept of werewolves living amongst us. In fact, one is living right next door to college professor Erik Summers, one he has actually met and spoken with in regard to her status as a career student."

Ende, Michael, tr. Ralph Manheim. The Neverending Story. (1983) A regular human boy enters the world of all human stories and dreams (Fantastica) through identifying with the main character of a magical book. Some urban fantasy elements; much more philosophical or highbrow than the popular film.

Gaiman, Neil. Sandman. (1989-1996) Not a single work, but a sprawling series of graphic novels, involving various other authors and artists. Modern myth and dreamlands.

Goldstein, Lisa. Dark Cities Underground. (1999) Publishers Weekly: "Journalist Ruth Berry is working on a biography of E.A. Jones, beloved author of The Adventures of Jeremy in Neverwas, a classic series of children's books based on stories that Jones's son, Jeremy, told her about the imaginary Land of Neverwas. ... As Ruth and Jerry delve deeper, they uncover links between the plot of the Neverwas series and Egyptian myths ... Ruth begins to wonder if many of the best-known children's books might actually be based on places and events in Neverwas."

Holdstock, Robert. Ryhope Wood series. (1984-1997, 2009) A magical wood spawns mythic creatures from the minds and ancestral memory of those who enter it. Part magical world, part dreams, part urban fantasy, part deep ancestral myth. The books are not a series in the linear sense (although you can place the events within them in a chronological order), but a collection of stories all looking in on the same wood from the view of different characters at different times, rather like the several paths into Ryhope Wood itself.

Lewis, C. S. The Chronicles of Narnia. (1950-1956) Immersive fantasy.

Lindsay, Vachel. "The Sorceress!" (1904?)

O'Shaughnessy, Arthur. "Ode". (1873) Also referred to by its incipit, "We are the music-makers".

Purcell, Sally. The Holly Queen. (1971) A collection of poems with themes of nature, the Otherworld, enchantment, ancient paganism and Druids, dreams, and all that good stuff. Possibly a somewhat obscure title, since there's basically nothing online other than biographical information about the author. I probably read this at my university library in 1998 since that's the date on the document I copied a few of the poems down into, and WorldCat indicates they still have a copy. The poems also appear in Collected Poems (2002), which is still in print as a paperback (2004).

Zelazny, Roger. The Chronicles of Amber. (1970-1991) The Great Book of Amber (2010) collects all ten novels in one large volume. The person who originally recommended this for an older version of this list said, "A treatise on the manipulation of reality." From the review at Green Man: "...Amber, a place at the center of reality. All other places are mere shadows, and can be reached only by manipulating reality, changing it bit by bit until you arrive at the place you want to be. Earth is a shadow, too, you may be surprised to learn..."

Miscellaneous

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Not directly related to any type of mythfolk or to myth/magic in general, but touch on relevant themes of dreams/imagination, otherworlds, or being unlike "normal people".

Barrie, J. M. Peter and Wendy. (1911) This is the actual title of the novel commonly referred to as Peter Pan, which expanded on the 1904 stage play actually titled Peter Pan. A boy who decides to never grow up lives in a fantasy land having adventures with pirates, fairies, mermaids, and all sorts of the stuff of youthful imagination.

Baum, L. Frank. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. (1900) The adventures of a young farm girl from Kansas after she and her pet dog are swept away to Oz by a tornado. Has a somewhat similar feel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (q.v.), though of course with quite different characters and setting. Bizarre and fantastical. Oz is one of those places that has old, old etheric reality, if not historical reality.

Carroll, Lewis. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There. (1871) Adventures of a young English girl in a bizarre subterranean dreamland with creatures and plants that talk, as well as plenty of nonsense that makes sense.

Constantine, Storm. Wraeththu Chronicles. (1987-1989) An omnibus volume titled Wraeththu was published in 1993. Constantine's description: "Humanity is in decline, ravaged by insanity, natural disasters, conflict, disease and infertility. A mysterious new race has risen from the ghettos and ruins of the decaying, dying cities. The young are evolving into a new species, which is stronger, sharper and more beautiful than their forerunners. Androgynous beings, they transcend gender and race. They possess skin psychic abilities and the means, through a process called inception, to transform humans into creatures like themselves. But they are wild in their rebirth and must strive to overcome all that is human within them in order to create society anew. They are the Wraeththu."

Heinlein, Robert A. Stranger in a Strange Land. (1961) In a post-Third-World-War United States, a Mars-born human with psychic powers and supernormal intelligence has difficulty adjusting to life with Terran humans. This novel was part of the inspiration for the Church of All Worlds, which has some links to the modern otherkin community, such as their magazine Green Egg publishing some of the Elf Queen's Daughters' letters in the 1970s.

Hesse, Karen. The Music of Dolphins. (1996) A feral child raised by dolphins is discovered on an island and taken to a research facility, where she is taught ordinary human ways. Yet she yearns for the dolphins and asks to be returned to the ocean.

L'Engle, Madeleine. The Time Trilogy. (1962-1978) Mixed fantasy/sci-fi tales of twisting time and space, with Christian religious undertones and fantastic beings from unicorns to cherubim to small big furry creatures from Alpha Centauri Ixchel.

Travers, P. L. Mary Poppins series. (1934-1988) A magical (?) nanny takes her charges on many fanciful adventures, such as a trip around the world with a compass, a tea party on the ceiling, a circus in the sky, a Christmas shopping trip with a star (of the celestial variety), an undersea garden party, and visiting extraterrestrial cats.

Williams, Tad. Tailchaser's Song. (1985) Semi-anthropomorphized cats, in the vein of the rabbits in Watership Down. The cats' cosmology is cool, and I found the constructed bits of cat-language very neat; they seemed to function well as "words of power" for me when I was a teenager and young adult, even though I have no particular relation to cats.

last updated 5/26/2021