Stylistically rooted in fairy tale and mythology, McKillip explores imperceptible landscapes in these stories. There are princesses dancing with dead suitors, a knight in love with an official of exotic lineage, and fortune's fool stealing into the present instead of the future. In one tale, a time-traveling angel is forbidden to intervene in Cotton Mather's religious ravings, while another narrative finds a wizard seduced in his youth by the Faerie Queen and returning the treasure that is rightfully hers. This collection draws elements from the fables of history and re-creates them in startlingly magical ways--www. FantasticFiction. com.