Book picks similar to
Fish Soup by Ursula K. Le Guin


fantasy
fiction
audio_wanted
childrens

Gonna Roll the Bones


Fritz Leiber - 1967
    Tired of his decrepit house, he leaves his wife and mother behind and sets out for a night at The Boneyard. Joe has a knack for dice throwing and figures he can take on any opponent. But can he win when the stakes are raised, and it's his life he's gambling for?

A Circle of Cats (Newford)


Charles de Lint - 2003
    She wanders the woods, chasing squirrels and rabbits and climbing trees. Free-spirited and independent Lillian is a kindred spirit to the many wild cats who gather around the ancient beech tree. One day, while she is under the beech, Lillian is bitten by a poisonous snake. The cats refuse to let her die, and use their magic to turn her into one of their own. How she becomes a girl again is a lyrical, original folktale. Set in the countryside north of de Lint's fictional Newford, with some of the same characters as the duo's recent, acclaimed "Seven Wild Sisters," "A Circle of Cats" is the long-awaited first picture book by long-time friends Charles de Lint and Charles Vess, whose masterful art is as magical as the story.

Fears Unnamed


Tim Lebbon - 2004
    He is the winner of numerous awards, including a Bram Stoker Award. Critics have raved about his work and fans have eagerly embraced him as a contemporary master of the macabre. — Perhaps nowhere are the reasons for his popularity more evident than in this collection of four of his most chilling novellas. Two of these dark gems received British Fantasy Awards, and another was written specifically for this book and has never previously been published. Together, these terrifying tales form a perfect showcase for this startling talent, a window into a world of horrors that once experienced, can never be forgotten.

Mad Dog Summer: And Other Stories


Joe R. Lansdale - 2004
    Originally available only in limited-edition hardcover, these tales run the gamut from devilish fantasy to twisted courtroom drama to vampire-robot western. Each story has an introduction in which the author relates the background of and inspiration for the story, whether it was drawn from history, literature, or pure imagination. The title story, about a serial killer in Texas in the 1930s, won the 1999 Bram Stoker Horror Award for long fiction.

The Christmas Thingy


F. Paul Wilson - 2000
    Not a big, mean monster; more of a friendly little one to play with when she comes home from school, and maybe scare away the mice who live in her big old London house.But the old housekeeper, Mrs. Murgatroyd, warns her against wishing for a monster in this house. Exactly one hundred years ago the Christmas Thingy visited this very house and stole away with a load of Christmas presents.As Mrs. Murgatroyd's mum used to say: "Like a rose must bloom and a pig must squeal, a cow must moo and a thingy must steal. It simply must."Be careful what you wish for, Jessica...The Christmas Thingy is a heartwarming story for children (and adults!) of all ages -- and a delightful fantasy for every day of the year!

Fair Peril


Nancy Springer - 1996
    Trouble ensues when Buffy's rebellious teenage daughter Emily does kiss the frog; soon she and handsome Prince Adamus disappear into the enchanted land of Fair Peril. It is up to Buffy to rescue Emily and, in the process, learn that magic does exist in the most ordinary of lives.

Where's My Cow?


Terry Pratchett - 2005
    There are some things you have to do. It isthe most loved and chewed book in the world.But his father wonders why it is full of moo-cows and baa-lambs when Young Sam will only ever see them cooked on a plate. He can think of a more useful book for a boy who lives in a city.So Sam Vimes starts adapting the story. A story with streets, not fields. A book with rogues and villains. A book about the place where he’ll grow up.

Excalibur


Sanders Anne Laubenthal - 1973
    Thundering down through the centuries comes the legend of chivalry carved out by EXCALIBUR - the magic sword of Arthur Pendragon - with all the mysticism and heroic courage of the Arthurian legend transmuted to a time and a place remote from Camelot - but linked to it in the still desperate struggle against evil.

Help! I'm Trapped in the First Day of School


Todd Strasser - 1994
    At first, the boy is shocked--until he realizes how he can make each first day wilder than the one before.

The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories


Dr. Seuss - 2011
    Seuss stories were published in magazines in the early 1950s and are finally available in book form. They include “The Bippolo Seed” (in which a scheming feline leads a duck toward a bad decision), “The Rabbit, the Bear, and the Zinniga-Zanniga” (about a rabbit who is saved from a bear by a single eyelash), “Gustav, the Goldfish” (an early rhymed version of the Beginner Book A Fish Out of Water), “Tadd and Todd” (about a twin who is striving to be an individual), “Steak for Supper” (in which fantastic creatures follow a boy home in anticipation of a steak dinner), “The Strange Shirt Spot” (the inspiration for the bathtub-ring scene in The Cat in the Hat Comes Back), and “The Great Henry McBride” (about a boy whose far-flung career fantasies are bested only by those of Dr. Seuss himself). An introduction by Seuss scholar Charles D. Cohen traces the history of the stories, which demonstrate an intentional move toward the writing style we now associate with Dr. Seuss. Cohen also explores the themes that recur in well-known Seuss stories (like the importance of the imagination or the perils of greed). With a color palette enhanced beyond the limitations of the original magazines, this is a collection that no Seuss fan (whether scholar or second grader) will want to miss.From the Hardcover edition.

Talking Man


Terry Bisson - 1986
    Having dreamt this world into being, the wizard called 'Talking Man' falls in love with what he has made and retires there. He lives in a house trailer on a Kentucky hillside close by his junkyard, and he only uses magic on the rare occasions he can't fix a car the other way. He'd be there still if his jealous co-dreamer Dgene hadn't decided to undo his creation and return this world to nothingness. When Talking Man lights out to stop her, his daughter Crystal and chance-acquaintance William Williams give chase into a West that changes around them. The geography shimmers and melts, catfish big as boats are pulled from the Mississippi, the moon crumbles into luminous rings and refugees from burning cities choke the highways.A World Fantasy Award nominee"A genuinely fresh imagination at work!" —Michael Moorcock"Any novel that encompasses John Deere tractors, tobacco planting in the South, wizards at the end of Time, a six-mile wide Mississippi Canyon, singing magic, and a '62 Chrysler racing to the North Pole is covering an awful lot of ground ... Bisson covers that ground as if it were the most natural thing in this world, or any other." —Guy Gavriel Kay"The geography shimmers and melts, catfish big as boats are pulled from the Mississippi, the moon crumbles into luminous rings and refugees from burning cities choke the highways. A novel of the New South with a liberal does of the Old ... fantastic and gothic, charming, literate ... teasingly allusive and very entertaining!" —Publishers Weekly"An action-filled romp through a surreal landscape of ever-changing America." —Los Angeles Times"Bisson has dumped magic into non-urban America, and writes about it all with brilliance and poetry." —Asimov'sAbout the Author: Best known for his short stories "macs," "They're Made out of Meat" and "Bears Discover Fire," Terry Bisson has won every major award in SF, including the Hugo, the Nebula, the Sturgeon and Locus awards, and France's Gran Prix de l'Imaginaire. He lives in California.

Giant Bones


Peter S. Beagle - 1997
    The stories range from adventurous to introspective, humorous to suspenseful, but all share Beagle's gift for language and his ability to bring his characters to life.—Don D'Ammassa

Expiration Date


Duane Swierczynski - 2010
    Mickey Wade is a recently-unemployed journalist who lucked into a rent-free apartment – his sick grandfather's place. The only problem: it's in a lousy neighborhood. The one where Mickey grew up, in fact. The one he was so desperate to escape.But now he's back. Dead broke. And just when he thinks he's reached rock bottom, Mickey wakes up in the past. Literally.At first he thinks it's a dream. All of the stores he remembered from his childhood, the cars, the rumble of the elevated train. But as he digs deeper into the past, searching for answers about the grandfather he hardly knows, Mickey meets the twelve-year-old kid who lives in the apartment below. The kid who will grow up to someday murder Mickey's father.

Instructions


Neil Gaiman - 2010
    Sometimes, we need those two things the most" (Brightly.com, citing "Books That Teach Kids What It Means to Be a Kind Person").In this breathtaking jacketed picture book, Neil Gaiman's lyrical poem guides a novice traveler through the enchanted woods of a fairy tale—through lush gardens, a formidable castle, and over a perilous river—to find the way home again.Illustrated in full color by Charles Vess, Instructions features lush images of mythical creatures, magical landscapes, and canny princesses. Its message of the value of courage, wit, and wisdom makes it a perfect gift.

Journey from Peppermint Street


Meindert DeJong - 1968
    It was alive with ten hundred thousand fireflies darting in the night and frogs booming at them. But Grandpa said it was dangerous, too - they had to keep on the path - when SPLASH Grandpa fell in! Aunt Hinka came to the rescue in her little boat just in time! Oh, what a menacing and magical journey it was from Peppermint Street.