On the Edges of Elfland


Book Description

Alfred Perkins was an ordinary young man who grew up in the small English village of Carlisle. When he was a boy his godfather, old Oliver Cyning, used to tell him stories about Elfland, the place where all the fairies, elves, gnomes, goblins, and more lived. Alfred grew up believing in those stories. One day, Mr. Cyning told Alfred they had to stop spending time together. Eventually, Alfred stopped believing. Now Alfred has returned home from university and has made the startling discovery that his godfather had not lied to him and that now his fate, along with that of the village, was tied to that of Elfland and it was Alfred's job to save them both.




The King of Elfland's Daughter


Book Description

From “one of the greatest writers of this century,” a fantasy masterpiece about the aftermath of a marriage between a mortal prince and an elfin princess. —Arthur C. Clarke Before the fellowships and wardrobes and dire wolves . . . . . . there was the village of Erl and the Kingdom of Elfland. Considered formative to the development of the fairy tale and high fantasy subgenres, The King of Elfland's Daughter follows Alveric, who leaves home on a quest with a few basic instructions: locate the Princess Lirazel in Elfland, convince her to return to Erl and marry him, and together produce the first magical Lord of Erl. But what happens when a village gets exactly what it asked for? How does an elf learn to live as a human? Is love lost once, lost forever? The people of Erl are about to find out. Take a walk through the fields we know and see if you can spot the pale-blue peaks of the Elfland Mountains. Fans of J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, and Neil Gaiman will adore Lord Dunsany’s influential 1924 classic as much as those authors themselves did. “No amount of mere description can convey more than a fraction of Lord Dunsany's pervasive charm.” —H. P. Lovecraft “We find that he has but tranfigured with beauty the common sights of the world.” —William Butler Yeats “No one can understand modern fantasy without understanding its roots, and Lord Dunsany's work is immediately significant as well as enjoyable even today.” —Katharine Kerr “A fantasy novel in a class with the Tolkien books.”—L. Sprague de Camp




The King of Elfland's Daughter


Book Description

DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "The King of Elfland's Daughter" by Edward 18th Baron of Dunsany Plunkett. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.




Desire and Pursuit of the Whole


Book Description

This is a description of Venice at the time when it served as an asylum for undesirables from all over Europe, as well as erotic vacation destinations for some, in much the same way Thailand and similar countries are today. It stands as a scurrilous sensual testament to his fervent affection for the physical beauty of the city of Venice. It was first published posthumously in 1934 in a heavily edited version and finally, in an unexpurgated edition by Quartet in 1993. This is the first annotated edition with details of the people libelled in the book.




This Scepter'd Isle


Book Description

DENORIEL: WARRIOR OF KORONOS; RIDER IN THE WILD HUNT . . . NURSEMAID Denoriel Siencyn Macreth Silverhair was a warrior in Koronos' band, a fierce rider in the Wild Hunt, but when he was summoned he came obediently to the valley of the FarSeers. A glow of power lifted about the crystal lens. "Here is the nexus of our future," said the FarSeer in the dress of ancient Greece, and a mist seemed to pass over the surface of the lens. A moment later, the surface cleared, and within it, Denoriel saw the image of a human infant, red-haired and scowling, swaddled in fine, embroidered linen and lace . . . and glowing with power. The babe was being held by a figure that Denoriel recognized¾the mortal king of England, Henry, eighth of that name. The lens misted again, and scene after scene played out briefly before him¾briefly, but enough to show him a future very bright for the mortals of England, a flowering of art, music, and letters, of great deeds, of exploration and bravery. Oh, there were problems¾¾twice, if Denoriel read the signs aright Spain sent a great fleet against England, only to be repulsed at minimal cost. But the troubles were weathered, the difficulties overcome, and the result was nearly an age of gold. "And this," said the lady of the ancient ways, "Is what will come to pass if that child does not reign." Fires . . . Black-robed priests, grim-faced and implacable, condemned scores, hundreds, to the Question, torturing their bodies until they would confess to anything, then burning what was left in front of silent onlookers. Others, whose intellects burned as brightly as the flames, did not need to be tortured; they confessed their sins of difference defiantly . . . and were also burned. In place of a flowering of art and science, came a blight. Darkness fell over the land, pressed there by the heavy, iron hand of Spain and the Inquisition. "You are the key to all of this." The FarSeer's emerald eyes held his. "The red-haired child of Great Harry of England must live, and thrive, and grow up to rule. You must go to it in the mortal world, and become its protector." "But I am a warrior, not a nursemaid¾" he said, feebly. At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).







The King of Elfland's Daughter


Book Description

The men of Erl desire to be "ruled by a magic lord," and the lord's heir, Alveric, ventures into Elfland to win the king's daughter, Lirazel.




The King of Elfland’s Daughter


Book Description

The people of the obscure village Erl demand to be ruled by a magic lord, so their ruler sends his son Alveric to Elfland to wed the elfin princess Lirazel. He brings her back to Erl and the couple have a son, but Lirazel has trouble integrating with human society. When a scheme by her father spirits her away and Elfland vanishes, Alveric begins a mad quest to find where Elfland went. The King of Elfland’s Daughter is written in the pseudo-archaic prose style for which Dunsany is known. Some contemporaries thought the style did not suit a novel-length work, but contemporary Irish writer George Russell called the book “the most purely beautiful thing Lord Dunsany has written.” The book touches on a range of themes, including the longing for fantastical things lost, the perception of time, sanity and madness, the fear of the unknown, and being careful what you wish for. Large passages are also devoted to hunting; the original edition even featured an illustration of a unicorn hunt opposite the title page. Neil Gaiman wrote an introduction to the 1999 edition, and Christopher Lee was a featured vocalist on a 1977 progressive rock album based on the book. This book is part of the Standard Ebooks project, which produces free public domain ebooks.




The Green Man


Book Description

The Green Man is a collection of poetry that looks to the world around us and asks what lies behind the things we can see, smell, taste, touch, and hear. Poetry can help us see through what Coleridge called the “film of familiarity.” These poems attempt to help the reader pierce that veil and see the world around them in a new light.




Time


Book Description

Reels for 1973- include Time index, 1973-