Short Stories

This book contains the complete Andersen's fairy tales and stories hardcopy format. Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish author and poet. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, Andersen is best remembered for his fairy tales, a literary genre he so mastered that he himself has become as mythical as the tales he wrote. Andersen's popularity is not limited to children; his stories - called eventyrs, or "fantastic tales" - express themes that transcend age and nationality. During his lifetime he was acclaimed for having delighted children worldwide and was feted by royalty. Andersen's fairy tales, which have been translated into more than 125 languages, have become culturally embedded in the West's collective consciousness, readily accessible to children, but presenting lessons of virtue and resilience in the face of adversity for mature listeners/readers as well. They have inspired motion pictures, plays, ballets, and animated films.

It's a question as old as time itself: which is better, the zombie or the unicorn? In this anthology, edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier (unicorn and zombie, respectively), strong arguments are made for both sides in the form of short stories. Half of the stories portray the strengths—for good and evil—of unicorns and half show the good (and really, really bad-ass) side of zombies. This anthology will have everyone asking: Team Zombie or Team Unicorn? Includes: "Prom Night" / Libba Bray "Princess Prettypants" / Meg Cabot "Cold Hands" / Cassandra Clare "The Third Virgin" / Kathleen Duey "Love Will Tear Us Apart" / Alaya Dawn Johnson "The Children of the Revolution" / Maureen Johnson "A Thousand Flowers" / Margo Lanagan "The Highest Justice" / Garth Nix "Purity Test" / Naomi Novik "The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn" / Diana Peterfreund "Bougainvillea" / Carrie Ryan "Inoculata" / Scott Westerfeld

Stories of the unreal, of trolls and werewolves, spells and sorcerers and magic lands, have been part of the human psyche for as long as there are records. In the present century, far from being outdated by the rise of technology and science fiction, fantasy has once more become a major literary genre expressive of the deepest feelings about humanity and its relation to the natural world. Fantasy is indeed one of the most successful of modern literary genres, as can be seen from the sales of Tolkien and his successors. Yet the rise of the fantasy 'trilogy' has tended to obscure a long tradition of short fantasy fiction, just as enjoyable as the long books. Built on the ancient foundation of the fairy tale but sharply distinguished from it, the fantasy story has evolved in often ephemeral and little\-known magazines. Tom Shippey, editor of the companion Oxford Book of Science Fiction Stories, has now brought together thirty\-one short fantasy stories from the last years of the nineteenth century to the immediate present. The anthology shows both the development of the fantasy genre over time and the range of individual talents it has embraced, from Lord Dunsany and H. P. Lovecraft through John Buchan, Mervyn Peake, Larry Niven, and Angela Carter to the latest creations of Tanith Lee, Lucius Shepard, and Terry Pratchett. For established readers of fantasy fiction, Tom Shippey's selection will give a taste of the many successes that have fallen out of print or missed out on fame. For those less familiar with the genre, it forms an ideal introduction to perhaps the purest of literary pleasures.