Alternating between high tragedy and earthy humor, the 12 stories in this fantasy collection from bestseller McKiernan (Dragonstone
, etc.) entertain while touching on complex moral and philosophical issues of gender, society and self-knowledge. Intended to "tie up loose ends left over from the Mithgar series," as the author explains in his foreword, these episodic tales, some of which amount to vignettes or prose poems, are united by the framing device of the Red Slipper, a bordello about which Aylis, Aravan, Noddy and other crew members of the elvinship Eroean
spin yarns of danger, revelry and a bittersweet longing to return to the past. Despite the occasional clichéd character, McKiernan never fails to lend humanity to the elves, dwarves and other mythical creatures that populate his appealing world. Agent, Jonathan Matson. (May 4)
