Andersen’s Fairy Tales

Illustrator Sheila Greenwald
Author Hans Christian Andersen
Translator Pat Shaw Iversen
Year 1987 (first published 1966)
Publisher Signet
ISBN 0-451-52107-2

For over one hundred years, Hans Christian Andersen’s beloved fairy tales have charmed and entertained audiences around the world. Blending old folk tales told to him as a child with a mixture of colloquial speech and fantasy, Andersen’s stories reveal a vision rich in humor, sharp with irony, and reflect both the sadness and joy of living. The forty-seven tales in this beautifully translated collection transport readers into a magical world of kings and princesses, farm lads and mermaids, witches, and even the devil’s grandmother! But whether we are marveling at the fragile porcelain palace of the Emperor of China or weeping for the poor little match girl, every tale shocks us into recognizing a human truth—as clear as the nakedness of the Emperor in his new clothes, or the final beauty of the Ugly Duckling. As generation after generation of readers has discovered, and as Pat Shaw Iversen notes in a splendid Afterword, Hans Christian Andersen is a storyteller who ranks as “one of the greatest literary geniuses the world has ever known.”

Andersen’s Fairy Tales available on Amazon

Elf Defense

Illustrator unknown
Author Esther M. Friesner
Year 1988
Publisher Signet
ISBN 0-451-15230-1

WHEN MAGIC MEETS MORTAL…

When Amanda Taylor and her stepson, the elf prince Cassiodoron, fled Elfhame for the mortal lands of Earth, Cass’s royal father swore he’d hunt them down and bring them back. Yet for a time the fugitives found a haven in the peaceful Connecticut town of Godwin’s Corners…until a freakish accident revealed Amanda’s hideaway to the king.

Soon he and his minions besieged the town with a campaign of magical mayhem from dog-devouring plastic ware to a salamander’s blazing creation of an impromptu fire sale. Amanda and Cass were in desperate need of allies and they found them in lawyer Sandra Horowitz, her professor husband, and Davina, their Welsh maid who was gifted with the Sight. Yet who would be the winner when mortals challenged the power of immortal spells…?

Elf Defense available on Amazon

Thanks to Still Books for the cover

Dragontales 1: Sword Daughter’s Quest

Illustrator Tom Hallman (cover), Michael Gilbert
Author Rhondi Vilott
Year 1984
Publisher Signet
ISBN 0-451-13082-0

While crossing the Wastes on the way to the warrior games that will mark the start of your career as a swordswoman, your party is attacked by an orc raiding band, and your father is slain.

Should you seek the help of the handsome, half-elven Ranger who rescues you, joining him in a mission that will take you underneath the sacred lake where a blue dragon is chained for all eternity?

Or should you follow the orcs yourself and perhaps fall prey to the lure of buried treasure and the powerful warlord who seeks it?

Danger, romance, and riches await you at every turn. Will you fall victim to the spell of evil, or choose wisely for both your heart and your sword?

It’s up to you to make the choices and explore the many roads to magical adventure!

Sword Daughter’s Quest available on Amazon