Best of
Historical-Fantasy

1999

Daughter of the Forest


Juliet Marillier - 1999
    Bereft of a mother, she is comforted by her six brothers who love and protect her. Sorcha is the light in their lives: they are determined that she know only contentment.But Sorcha's joy is shattered when her father is bewitched by his new wife, an evil enchantress who binds her brothers with a terrible spell, a spell which only Sorcha can lift—by staying silent. If she speaks before she completes the quest set to her by the Fair Folk and their queen, the Lady of the Forest, she will lose her brothers forever.When Sorcha is kidnapped by the enemies of Sevenwaters and taken to a foreign land, she is torn between the desire to save her beloved brothers, and a love that comes only once. Sorcha despairs at ever being able to complete her task, but the magic of the Fair Folk knows no boundaries, and love is the strongest magic of them all...

Grandmothers' Stories: Wise Woman Tales from Many Cultures


Burleigh Muten - 1999
    Tales from around the world about adventurous, wise, daring, and magical grandmothers.

Suppressed Transmission: The First Broadcast


Kenneth Hite - 1999
    -- Literally hundreds of ideas for using Secret History and Weird Science in games or fiction.-- A "crossover" title with appeal to anyone interested in conspiracy, coincidence, and untold history.-- The footnotes alone are worth the price of the book.How can Ken Hite be so academic yet so entertaining? We don't know, but we hope he keeps it up for a long, long time.

Sor Juana's Second Dream


Alicia Gaspar De Alba - 1999
    Wanting only to study, confused by her love for la Marquesa, and loathe to marry, in five years Juana becomes Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz in the Convent of Santa Paula of the Order of San Jerónimo. There, her quill becomes her salvation and damnation as her notoriety mounts with each new artistic commission. Popular with court and clergy, she receives a stream of guests at the convent, among them la Condesa de Paredes, who becomes Sor Juana's intimate friend. More than two decades later, after brilliantly defending her right to think, teach, and write, Sor Juana appears before the Inquisition and abruptly withdraws from the spotlight.Mixing fiction with Sor Juana's own words, and drawing on the most recent Sor Juana scholarship, Alicia Gaspar de Alba creates the most full-bodied portrait of Mexico's Tenth Muse to date. This remarkable novel about a remarkable woman will enlighten a new generation of readers, and stoke the interest of devotees who already are captivated by the inspiring Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz."An adventuresome exploration into the lyrical and historical vision of an extraordinary woman, written by an extraordinary novelist who has given us a new possibility to dream and invent Sor Juana Inés all over again."--Marjorie Agosín, Wellesley College"Beautifully written, without doubt the best book I have read this year. A masterpiece."--Greg Sarris, author of "Watermelon Nights"

Hiccup: The Viking Who Was Seasick


Cressida Cowell - 1999
    His dad, Stoick the Vast, says there's no such thing as a frightened Viking. But Hiccup's about to find out otherwise. Hiccup's hilarious tale shows the true meaning of bravery, and the delights that await when one faces one's fear.

Realm of the Rising Sun: Japanese Myth


Tony Allan - 1999
    According to Japanese mythology, the cosmos took form spontaneously from chaos.  Lighter elements formed the abode of the gods, while heavier ones became the shapeless Earth.  Many divinities emerged in these two realms, but the seventh celestial couple consisted of Izanagi and Izanami, a god and goddess whose destiny was to establish the sea-kissed islands of Japan in the unruly waters far below.This pair created innumerable further deities, or kami, responsible for the world’s natural phenomena, though the greatest of all their offspring was the sun goddess Amaterasu.  She was brought forth by Izanagi and given dominion over the sky.  The eight gods and goddesses she produced with her brother Susano are said to be the ancestors of Japan’s emperors.Many other tales can be found in Realm of the Rising Sun: Japanese Myth, one volume in an exciting series called Myth and Mankind, a culture-by-culture examination of world myth and its historical roots.  Whether exploring the myths of Persia, early America, China or Greece, each book brings an ancient culture to life as never before.As a result, this is a world history like no other.  Every book is filled with the strange stories, mystic rites, angry gods, vision quests and magic symbols at the heart of all cultures – but left out of most history books.  Such myths are central to understanding how, since the dawn of time, people around the world have sought to explain birth, death, creation, love and other mysteries of life.  These myths lie at the intersection of imagination and history, wisdom and experience, dreams and reality.

Dead Brides: Vampire Tales


Edgar Allan Poe - 1999
    In these classic tales, Poe investigates the vampiric nature of human relationships, including love and lust both normal and incestuous, and develops his theme to observe the vampiric qualities inherent in the creative or artistic process. Vampirism, with its terrible energy exchanges and lesions, is ultimately Poe s analogy for a love that persists beyond the grave—an all-consuming passion that knows no peace until an undead reconciliation is effected. With a preface by Jeremy Reed, Dead Brides is illustrated by the lithographs of the Symbolist Odilon Redon, who was compelled to reproduce the most insane images from his unconcious through the inspiration of Baudelaire, Huysmans, and other dangerous writers of his age.