Mythology and Folklore Books

Tales of Old-time Texas is classic story telling at its best. J. Frank Dobie weaves you in and out of stories of the old-west in Texas. Cowboys, Indians, bank robbers, mythical beasts, gold, hidden treasures: this collection of stories has it all. Dobie writes down stories from the past as told to him. Makes you ready to get your maps of Texas out and go prospecting.

It is for good reason that J. Frank Dobie is known as the Southwest's master storyteller. With his eye for color and detail, his ear for rhythm of language and song, he movingly spins tales of Texas collective heritages. This is a collection of 28 stories filled with vivid characters, exciting historical episodes, and traditional themes.

This is a great old book. Read about Josiah Wilbarger, who lived through a scalping and the woman who found him in her dreams, a bear who stole a pig and fattened it up, a ghost rider, a thief who took things from homes and walked right by the owner's dogs, a man who fought a tribe of hostile Indians singlehanded with the help of a load of hickory nuts, and various amusing stories about lost treasure and frontier life. This book is a treasure trove of tall tales and yarns that I couldn't put down.

Forget about the Alamo, San Jacinto and the heros that have made Texas famous throughout the world. Here are the stories only the real Texans know about. These are the stories my grandmother used to tell me when I was a kid. They carry on the tall-tale tradition and reinforce the Texan image of grandeur and hyperbole.

What a great place to go when you need a break. I really enjoyed the adventures of Gandar, Barto and Malox, the three orphan brothers. This book was really hard to put down, it was exciting, sweet and intriguing. I am looking forward to the next book!!

If you didn't read this book yet you should because you are missing out! Its full of adventure and fun. I rate this 10 star,(I can't on the rating box because it only goes up to 5)and 10 thumbs up!

Get this book!!!

Sincerely, Kirkus

In his first novel attempt, Rose has created a fantasy world that makes me feel like I somehow belong there; a world that I can't wait to visit again and again. Tapestry is a tale interwoven with magic and mystery that grabbed my attention and held it until the very last page. I applaud this piece, and I look forward to future releases from this promising author!

If you're looking for a fantasy adventure akin to the Dragonlance and Forgetton Realms series, then you'll want to read Tapestry! Rose creates a world of fantasy that practiaclly comes alive in the room when you read the book. Using in-depth character creation along with a strong story line, this book captures the imagination and makes you look forward to the next time you'll be able to read his work. Not to use the cliche, but I really didn't want to stop reading. The story speeds along getting more imaginative and brillant by the page. Following the adventure of three orphaned boys, Rose takes you on an story with that invloves adventure, romance, humor, magic, love, loss, heros and villians. Rose also weaves in mystery, intrigue and several intricate sub-plots to the book. The writing is so strong that you actually feel the emotions of each character. If you read one book this year, Tapestry should be it! Rose has the makings of a great author and its only time before we see his work in every bookstore!!

A Taste of Blood Wine by Freda Warrington

From the cover: "Karl von Wultendorf, though a vampire himself, is completely under the power of his maker, Kristian, who demands total servitude.

"Charlotte Neville is the daughter of a Cambridge professor. She has grown up questioning all that she sees and because of this, is seen as a wallflower by British society. She lives with her father and assists him with his experiments at their home.

"When Karl meets, and falls in love with, Charlotte, he realizes that he must find a way to kill Kristian, for Kristian has decided to teach Karl a lesson in power, by devouring Charlotte."

Shy, backward, but incredibly strong and stubborn Charlotte meets the man of her dreams. But there's a problem. Does Charlotte let the fact that her lover is a drinker of human blood sway her from his love? Not in this story. Charlotte never even blinks as she makes choices that lead to the deaths of family members and perhaps even the one closest to her. Karl never hesitates in making decisions that bring harm to Charlotte's family and danger to himself. These characters are absolutely uncompromising in their love for each other and for what they're willing to endure - and cause others to endure - to be together.

I'm not sure exactly what I find so unusual about this story. At the heart, it's a love story, perhaps not so unusual from what we've read in "vampire romances" before. And yet, it rises above almost every other vampire romance I've read, with its strong characters, uncompromising love story and perhaps in the brutalities committed against characters we've come to like. I do recommend it - highly. I eagerly await the sequels and hope they live up to the beginning of this original story.

Freda Warrington's vampires are sensual individuals, exotic and beautiful; also terrible as their predatory natures must never be forgotten.

Here we have vampires that evolved from new age concepts; they shift through space by moving through the Crystal Ring - a reality along side our own that is linked to the astral plane and the subconscious mind. Through the ring, much like the mythical vampire that by becoming mist can enter any room; the vampires of Warrington's trilogy can not be barred from any place...in the Crystal Ring, nothing of the world is solid and stone walls are but water colours painted on air.
These vampires are not troubled by sunlight; moving about by night or day and they sleep but rarely and then only within the unreachable realm of the Crystal Ring.

Along with spectacular characters, individuals to haunt your dreams and infect your every waking day dream; Warrington supplies the most beautiful, imagery filled writing...exotic landscapes come alive, handsome features are expertly painted with words that have far reaching impact.
You'll not soon forget a Warrington vampire, vivid colours that burn into the memory and stay with you forever.

Five years have passed since Kristian, self proclaimed God of the vampires, allowed rebellious Karl van Wultendorf to go his own foolish way. Now he demands his subordinate return to his castle overlooking the Rhine to genuflect to his creator. Karl knows he must adhere to the summons, but remains defiant refusing to worship Kristian, as he will visit on his time not his "master's" schedule.

Karl meets with Cambridge science Professor Neville to help him study vampirism in order to eradicate Kristian. However, a distraction in terms of Neville's reticent daughter Charlotte surfaces as he and Charlotte begin to fall in love but Kristian learns of her and her family. He has a new weapon better than banishment into the cold Crystal Ring dimension for he believes he can force his disobedient rebel to kneel or watch the Neville's drained of blood one at a time with Charlotte being the ultimate pawn caught in his web.

Fans of vampire tales with a strong romantic subplot will appreciate A TASTE OF BLOOD WINE. The story line provides an exciting, but different approach to much of the mythos and that requires some worthwhile but slower pacing explanations. Kristian is quite a superego maniac, but his use of the Nevilles as cannon fodder in a chess game of life and death makes for fabulous reading especially with the dilemma confronting the hero. Charlotte is a fine protagonist especially as a hostage in the great war between two powerful supernatural creatures whose rivalry makes the species seem genuine which leads to a fine time for fans.

Harriet Klausner

I had been waiting forever for this book to be in print again. I have the 2nd and 3rd book of the series (Dance in Blood Velvet and the Dark Blood of Poppies). People who have enjoyed Anne Rice novels will love this one! In my opinion, Freda Warrington is even better. The vampire world she creates is imaginative. All the myths about vampires (eg. cannot be in the sun) are gone. This is a refreshing look at the vampire world. The central characters of Karl and Charlotte are compelling. They engage the audience and you want to know more about their relationship and how it develops. "Dance in Blood Velvet" furthers their relationship and I recommend you read that one after this excellent book!

As we begin to see this earth suffer the effects of our presence here, these poems -with roots in every continent- speak together of this planet as a sacred place. One perhaps we might still come to treat well. Read a few aloud, sit in your garden this spring and read a Navajo corn song, stir, stir ... This is well researched, carefully and lovingly translated; it should accompany any studies of native cultures worldwide.

Back in the 1970s I discovered this book. It became my companion. Its rich poetry, its multitudes of rituals and images have inspired my batiks and paintings for the past thirty years. What variety and life!

I was introduced to this book by a fiction writing teacher to whom I'll always be grateful. It's a fresh, ingenious selection of ritual and sacred poetry from around the world, translated with irreverence and raw attitude. If you're used to the vague New Age-isms of what usually gets thought of as "ritual" and "sacred," pick this up and get a jolt--Rothenberg finds incredibly powerful language in places where it wouldn't occur to most people to look, and he's not afraid of crudeness and hilarity. Amazing stuff. A friend of mine has worn out copies of both the first edition and this one, and I don't blame her.

Technicians of the Sacred was compiled by Rothenberg after attending two 1964 readings of "Primitive and Archaic Poetry" at The Poet's Hardware Theater and the Café Metro in New York city. Intrigued with the deep intuition of these works, Rothenberg decided to collect poetry, songs, and chants from around the world.

Rothenberg's intention was not to focus on any one particular aspect of the sacred but merely to compile material that was available in English and the book's organization directly reflects this lack of apparent direction. Works are subdivided into nine sections: Origins & Namings; Visions & Spells; Death & Defeat; The Book of Events (I); The Book of Events (II); Africa; America; Asia; Europe & The Ancient Near East; and Oceana. Having material from the first five sections more or less focused around a specific theme while the remaining five sections reflect a geographic focus the work feeling a little thrown together and disorganized.

This disorganization is further reflected within each section, where there is everything from modern poetry and prose through traditional songs and chants to ancient pictographs and artwork. Moreover works from individual cultural groups are not placed together but dispersed throughout each section.

That the work only reflects English translations is also somewhat problematic. A Commentary section at the back of the book explains how Rothenberg came across each work offering explanations about the themes and topics within a particular piece. However, more often than not, these notes did not describe how the piece was translated. This lack of information would be particularly useful as Rothenberg states that the translations vary from literal to very free. This book does contain a number of interesting and useful pieces. Rothenberg has chosen a good mixture of poetry from a variety of different sources, not just the most accessible and he illustrates poems from the Paleolithic through to modern times. Moreover, this book contains some very interesting and intriguing transitional pieces reflecting Christian religious teaching modified into traditional forms. Thus, despite some very irritating and distracting organizational problems, this book contains some very valuable information. This information will likely be of use to those wishing to gain insight into aspects of the sacred in general or those wanting insight into the belief systems of particular cultures. Nonetheless, the apparent lack of organization of these pieces make this book an unlikely candidate as a classroom text.

I have read this book during story time for YEARS. There are other versions of the Teeny Tiny Woman out there, but Galdone's has, to me, the best pacing and rhythm. Like so many of his versions of basic fairy tales, he gets the job done simply and well. I often read this book early in October as an introduction to the "scary stories" that will follow later in month. When I read this book aloud I use the "voices" as the kids say, with a teeny tiny squeaky voice for the woman and a moaning spooky voice for the ghost, so that by the time the last page comes the students are enthralled. Then, at the end,when the teeny tiny woman says in her biggest teeny tiny voice--scream the words "TAKE IT!!!! They'll jump out of their seats. And then they will laugh and laugh. This book is always a hit.

Great audio with great voices, great book with great illustrations. The kids at school absolutely LOVED it!!!

My son absolutely loves this story. He enjoys the fact that he can follow the words with the audio narrator and at the same time get spooky feelings about the Teeny-Tiny Woman! I am so glad we found this book - it is very unique and keeps his attention - no matter how many times he reads it. Definetly a keeper for our library!

If you've ever been to a slumber party you've probably heard someone tell this spooky-fun tale. Illustrator Paul Galdone gives the royal treatment to this classic story of a teeny-tiny woman out on a teeny-tiny walk who finds herself a teeny-tiny bone and thinks of making a teeny-tiny pot of soup for herself. Humour and suspense in generous amounts follow the events that spiral out from her one simple act of bringing the bone home. The silly surprise ending is classic slumber-party fare...eek! This is a good story for around Halloween time due to its bedtime suspense and ghostly plot. Be sure to share this one with a new generation of kids. It's sure to be loved.

Having read many books on the power of storytelling and on women's issues and life cycles returning to Meade's Tell It By Heart has reminded me that this book is as fresh, insightful and meaningful as when it first came out. Meade's 13 tenents that she describes as the essentails of the healing power of story and myth are as brilliantly conceived for use today as they were at the book's puliciation in 1995. This book is a timeless look into the deep well of story and its uses and applications as a healing modality. The intimate narrative style charms us and the wisdom of the book heals us and those we wish to reach through story and myth. I hihgly recomment that therapists, art therapists and tellers read or re-read this important book.

Meade's description of her heartfelt work as a therapist, community worker, and sublime storyteller is a gift. She bridges the world of the story with the world of personal suffering. By way of her own encounters she exposes the healing power of myth to rekindle love and connection. There is a deep poetic intelligence in this book and it is skillfully woven with humor, humility and tenderness. As a therapist and teacher myself, I revisit this book time and time again. I teach graduate counseling courses and this book is always on my syllabi, either as required or highly suggested reading. I can think of no better text for teaching students to work from the heart.

I love this book. As an actor and arts educator, I am drawn to books about personal stories and how people are transformed by telling them. Helm-Meade's style of storytelling is warm and engaging. In this honest re-telling of personal stories, she takes the reader on a journey into the heart and gives us an opportunity to explore our own depths of compassion. A great book for sure.

I came across this book in my search to find information about narrative therapy. Meade's book is a writer-therapist's dream -- she SHOWS rather than TELLS the reader what narrative therapy is all about. A great book to curl up with on a rainy afternoon and a fantastic teaching tool for students of any of the healing arts.

Is it "impostor" or "imposter"?--that is the question that nagged me while I read The Three Impostors. Which spelling is correct, and which is the imposter/or? The lexicographers need to come down hard on this issue!!

That aside, The Three Impostors is a black diamond of a little dark fantasy, told in hypnotic descriptive prose. The book is structured as a series of stories within a frame story, much like the Decameron or Canterbury Tales, only the frame story has its own plot and is the most interesting of all in The Three Impostors. The sub-stories range from the strange to the macabre, to the frankly paranormal, each entertaining in its own right besides what it contributes to the whole. Moreover, Machen's style glitters with curious flights of thought and characterizations, well nigh as enertaining as the story itself.

What struck me most of all about The Three Impostors is how panoramically influential this short book is, as if it were the whole nine muses of twentieth century literature! The Maltese Falcon owes an obvious debt to the Gold Tiberius. I think the Novel of the Dark Valley is a clear precursor to The Trial, and obviously, Lovecraft derived his whole schtick from the Adventure of the Missing Brother. Machen himself must have been influenced by Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, published about 10 years earlier, but Machen amplifies and enhances the original, rather than narrowing it.

Altogether, The Three Impostors, however you spell it, was well worth the 150 pages of reading time. Dyson and Phillipps are my new literary heroes! I would recommend the edition from Chaosium, since this includes several other good Machen works for about the same price as the other editions.

This little book is an unexpected but welcome surprise in the world of literature. Jorge Luis Borges wrote the introduction in the Spanish edition that I own. And he was right, few people know the existence of this great mistery novel, otherwise it would be already a classic.

In has the flavour of Dickens and the imagination and dexterity of Agatha Christie.

His name is Arthur Machen.

Arthur Machen can easily be described as one of the writers who provided the foundation to the 20th century fantasy and horror literature. This one is a great collection of horror stories, most of which has a quite Lovecraftian style. If you are new to Machen, and/or like stories with a tinge of "Mythos Horror" in them, you'll definetely like this one.

Horror master Arthur Machen's crowning achievement, a still shocking compendium of interwoven short horror tales. In late 19th century London, a scientist and an unpublished writer join forces as amateur detectives in an attempt to solve a minor but puzzling mystery which ultimately leads to the discovery of a truly diabolical conspiracy. In the course of their investigations, the two men find themselves repeatedly surrendering their attention to a series of seemingly outlandish tales spun by an assortment of eccentric story tellers. The stories, which all deal with imposture of some kind, are only tangentially related to each other, yet offer the somewhat bumbling sleuths important clues to the mystery at hand. Machen builds suspense slowly and methodically, masterfully leading the reader on to a completely unexpected, gruesome climax. Comical, tragic, sophisticated, violent, horrific, and even downright disgusting, THE THREE IMPOSTORS is a classic horror novel of sly deception and wit.

The 1995 Everyman paperback is the only critical edition of this remarkably rich book released to date, offering a scholarly introduction (by editor David Trotter) that carefully details Machen's main influences (chiefly Robert Louis Stevenson) and themes (imposture of various kinds, also derived from Stevenson). A short text summary nicely encapsulates the narrative's various twists and turns. Finally, a section entitled "Machen and His Critics" provides a welcome offering of mostly contemporaneous critical responses to this remarkable book; while many of these reviews were laudatory, quite a few passionately outraged quotes reveal just how shocking THE THREE IMPOSTORS must truly have been in its time.

Ken Geist and Julia Gorton's THE THREE LITTLE FISH AND THE BIG BAD SHARK is a wonderful story outlining what happens when three little fish encounter a seahorse, a shark, and various underwater building materials. Fish who stick together make fun houses and safer settings are hilarious here.

My son loves this book. It is a great twist on The Three Little Pigs. We read it at least twice every day. Bright colors. Highly recommend.

My four year old son loves the story of the three little pigs which is why I purchased this book. I was so pleased when it arrived. The illustrations are beautifully done, the colors are vibrant and the print is large. The story is quick and easy to read and the repetition, just like in "The Three Little Pigs," makes it very catchy. Examples: "Little Fish, Little Fish, Let Me Come In." "Not by the skin of my finny fin fin!" "Then I'll munch and I'll crunch and I'll smash your house in." A quick and fun read!

I can't remember where my son got this book or for how long we have had, but I do know how much we enjoy it. It's a short story so it's usually one of two bedtime books.

This book took the legendary story of The Three Little Pigs and gave it a face lift. Instead of the Three Little Pigs, we have Three Little Fish. Instead of the Big Bad Wolf, we have The Big Bad Shark. It's the same basic plot with a new setting, the ocean.

The pictures are very vibrant and the story is fun to read. The words are fairly large, making it easy to point them out as I read. The author has also added a female to the story. Instead of all three of the fish being brothers like in the classic piggy story, they have added one sister fish.

Like the original, the story is brief. What I like about the brevity and repetition is I can easily point out the words while I read. Hopefully the familiarity of using some of the same words and sentences repeatedly will help my son recognize those words and eventually help him read.

As someone who enjoys the repetition for teaching, but was a bit burned out on the pigs, this book was a refreshing and enjoyable change. I give it two fins up!

Cherise Everhard, Feb. 2008

This story line is familiar if you've read The Rainbow Fish, but Tico pre-dates that story. Tico is also a more profound, developed story. Happy, re-assuring ending. Sensitive and precient in this age of me me me.

Library bound edition very high quality. Wonderful to have a new copy of a very memorable story from my childhood to share with my children, nieces, nephews and grandchildren.

I've been reading books to children for almost two decades, and Leo Lionni's books have always been among my favorites. They're simple in the same way that the parables of Jesus are simple - the meaning of the stories is immediately clear, yet they are deep and wise, and the stories stay with you forever.

Tico and the Golden Wings is not one of Lionni's best known books (Swimmy and Frederick probably fill that category - and both of them are terrific), but it's one of my favorites. It's about a bird born without wings, who cannot fly like his friends. The friends are kind to him, but he feels left out because he cannot do the things they do. Wishing for wings, he gets his wish, but the wings are made of gold. As Tico flies around the world, he encounters people with great needs and tries to help them by giving each of them one of the gold feathers from his wings. His reward for this generosity is to grow a real feather for every golden one he gives away.

In the end, Tico returns to his friends, who are thrilled to see him with wings just like theirs. They think he is now just like them, but Tico nurtures an understanding that his thoughts and experiences are not like those of his friends, that inside he is still different.

The message is simple: you can care about others and still nurture your own indivuality. What is special about this book, though, is not just the lovely and wise message, but the fact that it remains lovely, and not the least bit cloying or preachy, after hundreds of readings. You can read this book to any three or four year old who has enough experience with books to sit still for a quiet story, and continue reading it to him or her for years, knowing the child will get more out of it each time he or she hears it.

A lovely story. Thoughtful. Sometimes having what we wish for is not nearly as important as giving. Our value comes from within. A story I look forward to sharing with my nephews and grandchildren.

Found this and the second volume in some stuff my uncle left at my grandparents house and I kept them for my children. I am now hoping to find copies of both for them to share with their children. Excellent stories and pictures. My daughters still seek them out to read about once a year.

I have been looking for this book for ten years! My grandparents had both this book and the second treasury and they were the first things I headed for when I went to visit them. I spent many fond hours reading the fairy tales, which has a great collection of classic Brothers Grimm as well as many lesser known tales, and memorizing the details of every picture. When I had my own children, I wanted to share these books with them, but I couldn't remember the title or publisher. I could never find it on the internet. Finally, I found volume one at a used children's goods store and I am ecstatic! Now that I know the title, I plan on getting the other one right away. The pictures and font may seem a little dated (they were printed in the seventies), but they are still appealing and the writing is excellent.

This book (and it's sequel) will always be the mark against which every fairy tale is measured, in my life. I deeply regret that my nieces are growing up with Disney movies as their defining tales.

The illustrations in these two treasuries are not only gorgeous in their own right, but they also laid a foundation for many imagined princes, princesses, dwarves, ogres, and animals throughout the formative years for myself and my siblings. All these years later, I can still picture clearly Cinderella's three beautiful gowns-- though I believe only one was actually illustrated. These fairy tale treasuries are filled with food for imagination and words to stretch it further.

I have been lucky to find the means to acquire a set for myself after so many years, but I do wish that they were still in print so that I could share them with others!

This book and it's second volume were two of our favorite books as children. The writing isn't always the best, but the pictures are all wonderful. And isn't that what you most remember about fairy tales of your early childhood? Now we are able to share them with our own children. If you can get a copy, I recommend that you do so. There are many of the first book availble. I have only ever found one other copy of the second book, but I was too slow to get it.