Emerald Magic

Emerald Magic (2004) edited by Andrew M. Greeley

This book first caught my eye because I didn’t expect to see Andrew Greeley’s name in the fantasy section. Then I looked at the list of authors who wrote in this anthology: Charles de Lint, Diane Duane, Elizabeth Haydon, Morgan Llywelyn, Judith Tarr, Peter Tremayne, Jane Yolen. Even one of those names would have been enough inducement for me to pick up the book–but all those? And more!

Irish mythology, folktales, and fantasy. What more could I want?

Every story I read was excellent, although I did skip L.E. Modesitt Jr’s science fiction story (I am rarely in the mood for science fiction.)

I probably would have recognized Charles de Lint’s writing without seeing his name on the story. The Butter Spirit’s Tithe is set in Newford (another giveaway that this is a de Lint story). Conn O’Neil has accidentally angered a butter spirit, and has to figure out how to remedy the situation, especially when the butter spirit claims that Conn will be his tithe to the devil.

I loved Elizabeth Haydon’s The Merrow. It’s the story of a mermaid marriage to a human, and even talks of the old tales where a sailor or fisherman hides a mermaid’s item of power to keep the mermaid in her human form–and keep her as his wife. The tale is set during the Irish potato blight, as one town is trying to survive and concludes that traveling to America is the only way they’ll survive.

The Hermit and the Sidhe by Judith Tarr was wonderful. Catholicism and faerie run through many Irish folktales and stories, and this tale brings the two together and into conflict.

I was quite surprised by Peter Tremayne’s story For the Blood is the Life. I love his mysteries, and would never have guessed that this story–set in Modern Ireland–was one of his. On a similar vein to Peter Tremayne’s story was Fred Saberhagen’s A Drop of Something Special in the Blood.

Cecilia Dart-Thornton’s Long the Clouds Are Over Me Tonight was a retelling of another familiar story from the Fionn mac Cumhail tales, and one I’ve read in other folktales. You know how things are going to turn out, yet you keep hoping things will be different this time. In this tale things were different, though in the way I’d expected.

This is an anthology that I will come back and read again, so if you’re wondering whether you should make the purchase, my recommendation if definitely YES!
Rating: 8/10

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