Queen Victoria's Book of Spells: An Anthology of Gaslamp Fantasy

by Elizabeth Bear, Ellen Datlow (Editor), Terri Windling (Editor), James P. Blaylock

Overview

A Kirkus Reviews Best Fiction Book of the Year

An anthology featuring all-original tales of gaslamp fantasy from bestselling and award-winning authors including Gregory Maguire, author of Wicked.

"Gaslamp Fantasy," or historical fantasy set in a magical version of the nineteenth century, has long been popular with readers and writers alike. A number of wonderful fantasy novels owe their inspiration to works by nineteenth-century writers ranging from Jane Austen, the Brontës, and George Meredith to Charles Dickens, Anthony Trollope, and William Morris. And, of course, the entire steampunk genre and subculture owes more than a little to literature inspired by this period.

Queen Victoria's Book of Spells is an anthology for everyone who loves these works of neo-Victorian fiction, and wishes to explore the wide variety of ways that modern fantasists are using nineteenth-century settings, characters, and themes. These approaches stretch from steampunk fiction to the Austen-and-Trollope inspired works that some critics call Fantasy of Manners, all of which fit under the larger umbrella of Gaslamp Fantasy. The result is eighteen stories by experts from the fantasy, horror, mainstream, and young adult fields, including both bestselling writers and exciting new talents, who present a bewitching vision of a nineteenth century invested (or cursed!) with magic.

Includes short stories by Delia Sherman, Jeffrey Ford, Genevieve Valentine, Maureen McHugh, Kathe Koja, Elizabeth Wein, Elizabeth Bear, James P. Blaylock, Kaaron Warren, Leanna Renee Hieber, Dale Bailey, Veronica Schanoes, Catherynne M. Valente, Ellen Kushner and Caroline Stevermer, Jane Yolen, Gregory Maguire, Tanith Lee, Theodora Goss.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781429960915
Publisher:	Tor Publishing Group
Publication date:	09/04/2024
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	352
File size:	888 KB

About the Author

Multiple award-winning editor ELLEN DATLOW has been editing science fiction, fantasy, and horror short fiction for almost thirty years. She was fiction editor of OMNI magazine and SciFiction and has edited more than fifty anthologies. She lives in New York City.

TERRI WINDLING is a writer, artist, and book editor interested in myth, folklore, and fairy tales. She lives in a little village at the edge of Dartmoor in Devon, England.

Ellen Datlow, an acclaimed science fiction and fantasy editor, was born and raised in New York City. She has been a short story and book editor for more than thirty years and has edited or coedited several critically acclaimed anthologies of speculative fiction, including the Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror series and Black Thorn, White Rose (1994) with Terri Windling. Datlow has received numerous honors, including multiple Shirley Jackson, Bram Stoker, Hugo, Locus, and World Fantasy Awards, and Life Achievement Awards from the Horror Writers Association and the World Fantasy Association, to name just a few. She resides in New York.  
Terri Windling is a writer, editor, and artist specializing in fantasy literature, folklore, and mythic arts. She has published over forty books, receiving nine World Fantasy Awards, the Mythopoeic Award (for her novel The Wood Wife), the Bram Stoker Award, and the SFWA’s Solstice Award for “outstanding contributions to the speculative fiction field as a writer, editor, artist, educator, and mentor.” She writes essays on folklore and fantasy; maintains a popular blog on these subjects (Myth & Moor); and is on the board of the Chichester Centre for Fairy Tales, Folklore, and Speculative Fiction (Chichester University). She also creates myth-inspired visual art for exhibition in the US and Europe; and she’s a member of the Modern Fairies music-and-folklore project (Oxford & Sheffield Universities). A former New Yorker, she now lives with her British husband and family in Devon, England.

Author photo by Alan Lee
Elizabeth Bear was born on the same day as Frodo and Bilbo Baggins, but in a different year. She is the Hugo, Theodore Sturgeon Memorial, Locus, and Astounding Award–winning author of dozens of novels and over a hundred short stories. She has spoken on futurism at Google, MIT, DARPA’s 100 Year Starship Project, and the White House, among others. Find her at www.elizabethbear.com.
 

Read an Excerpt

QUEEN VICTORIA’S BOOK OF SPELLS
Table of Contents

Preface                                                           Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling                   000
Introduction: Fantasy, Magic, and
Fairyland in Nineteenth-Century England       Terri Windling                                              000
“Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells”                  Delia Sherman                                              000
“The Fairy Enterprise”                                    Jeffrey Ford                                                  000
“From the Catalogue of the Pavilion
of the Uncanny and Marvelous,
Scheduled for Premiere at the
Great Exhibition (Before the Fire)”                  Genevieve Valentine                                     000
“The Memory Book”                                       Maureen McHugh                                          000
“La Reine d’Enfer”                                           Kathe Koja                                                    000
“For the Briar Rose”                                       Elizabeth Wein                                              000
“The Governess”                                            Elizabeth Bear                                               000
“Smithfield”                                                    James P. Blaylock                                          000
“The Unwanted Women of Surrey”                 Kaaron Warren                                             000
“Charged”                                                       Leanna Renee Hieber                                    000
“Mr. Splitfoot”                                                Dale Bailey                                                    000
“Phosphorus”                                                 Veronica Schanoes                                       000
“We Without Us Were Shadows”                     Catherynne M. Valente                                  000
“The Vital Importance of the Superficial”       Ellen Kushner and Caroline Stevermer         000
“The Jewel in the Toad Queen’s Crown”         Jane Yolen                                                    000
“A Few Twigs He Left Behind”                        Gregory Maguire                                           000
“Their Monstrous Minds”                               Tanith Lee                                                     000
“Estella Saves the Village”                              Theodora Goss                                             000
About the Authors                                                                                                              000
Recommended Reading                                                                                                       000

Copyright © 2013 by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling

Table of Contents

Preface; by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling

Introduction: Fantasy, Magic, and Fairyland in Nineteenth-Century England; by Terri Windling

Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells; by Delia Sherman

The Fairy Enterprise; by Jeffrey Ford

From the Catalogue of the Pavilion of the Uncanny and Marvelous, Scheduled for Premier at the Great Exhibition (Before the Fire); by Genevieve Valentine

The Memory Book; by Maureen McHugh

La Reine D’Enfer; by Kathe Koja

For the Briar Rose; by Elizabeth Wein

The Governess; by Elizabeth Bear

Smithfield; by James P. Blaylock

The Unwanted Women of Surrey; by Kaaron Warren

Charged; by Leanna Renee Hieber

Mr. Splitfoot; by Dale Bailey

Phosphorus; by Veronica Schanoes

We Without Us Were Shadows; by Catherynne M. Valente

The Vital Importance of the Superficial; by Ellen Kushner and Caroline Stevermer

The Jewel in the Toad Queen’s Crown; by Jane Yolen

A Few Twigs He Left Behind; Gregory Maguire

Their Monstrous Minds; Tanith Lee

Estella Saves the Village; Theodora Goss

Editorial Reviews

Datlow and Windling (After) collect 18 stories of elegant beauty and gothic murk in this anthology of “gaslamp fantasy,” an umbrella term for speculative works set in or inspired by the Victorian era. In the title story by Delia Sherman, a young researcher uncovers a shocking secret hidden in the diary entries of Queen Victoria’s spell book. A vindictive governess manipulates those around her with a magical scrapbook in Maureen McHugh’s “The Memory Book.” Gregory Maguire suggests that Scrooge bestowed magical gifts upon Tiny Tim in “A Few Twigs He Left Behind.” Veronica Schanoes’s “Phosphorus” relates the grim conditions that drove Victorian factory workers to strike, and the grim witchcraft that one worker, dying of phosphorus poisoning, uses to extend her life so she can see the strike to its end. Fans of steampunk and Austen-inspired fantasies of manners will be completely enraptured by these stories, which show us how Victorians saw themselves and offer an assortment of ways for modern readers to consider the bright lights and gloomy shadows of the past. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

A superb sampling of urban fantasy.... You will have fun with all twenty stories.” —Booklist on Naked City

“This is a treasure chest. Open it and revel in its riches.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review on The Faery Reel

“An often sophisticated view of the world [and] a real sense of how powerful nature can be in its various guises.” —School Library Journal on The Green Man

“An enchanting, witty collection of original stories.... This superior volume proves that the notion of modern-day Grimms, Andersens and Wildes isn't just a fairy tale.” —Publishers Weekly on Black Thorn, White Rose

From the Publisher

This 18-story anthology profiles a subgenre of historical fantasy with a Victorian setting and elements of steampunk. In particular, gaslamp fantasy is the lighter side of the genre, with the tell-tale signs of steampunk (steam-powered machinery) almost nowhere in sight until the end. From well-known authors and newbies, these tales range from horror and fantasy to the re-imagining of lives of favorite literary characters such as Estella and Pip (from Great Expectations) and authors like the Brontë sisters. Queen Victoria finds her place in several stories: as a child learning magic, a young woman in an alternate universe who writes the world into existence, or as the subject of PM Benjamin Disraeli's attempts at kabbalah. The stories are neatly ordered: we start in our own time examining Queen Victoria's reimagined past and then we are plunged directly into the Victorian world. VERDICT This anthology is great for readers new to steampunk fantasy and for those well-versed in the genre. More often than not, readers will recognize characters, plots, and themes. Fans of Gregory Maguire, a contributing author to this anthology, and fans of Victorian historical fantasy will enjoy this volume. [See Prepub Alert, 9/24/12.]—Michelle Martinez, Sam Houston State Univ. Lib., Huntsville, TX

Library Journal

Eighteen tales of Gaslamp Fantasy, that is, historical fantasy set in an alternate 19th century where magic worked or supernatural events occurred, together with an extensive and informative introduction from editor Windling tracing historical roots and adding context. A majority of the tales here use historical events or biography as their foundation. Delia Sherman, then, portrays Queen Victoria as a highly effective wizard. Genevieve Valentine probes a highly unsavory aspect of London's 1851 Great Exhibition. Elizabeth Wein spins a tale of writer-designer William Morris and artist Edward Burne-Jones. Kaaron Warren writes movingly of a house where unwanted women are confined and how they gain revenge. Dale Bailey takes an actual case of spiritualism and fakery and demonstrates how it is not always clear which is which. Veronica Schanoes strikes sparks both real and figurative in her account of the unionization of the all-female workforce at a lucifer-match factory. And Jane Yolen reimagines the relationship between Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli and Queen Victoria. Other tales take their inspiration from Victorian literature. Catherynne M. Valente, for instance, revisits the fantasies of the Brontë children. Tanith Lee offers a steampunk variant on the Frankenstein's Monster theme. In Gregory Maguire's continuation of A Christmas Carol, Scrooge marries and has children, and Tiny Tim's life takes an unexpected turn. And Theodora Goss offers up an existential literary-games scenario à la Jasper Fforde. Elsewhere (via Jeffrey Ford, Ellen Kushner and Caroline Stevermer, Maureen McHugh, Kathe Koja, Elizabeth Bear, James P. Blaylock and Leanna Renee Hieber), the fiction is purer, the surprises no less welcome. Splendid tales that illuminate a bygone era's darker corners.

Kirkus Reviews