Great floods and river Gods, snake spirits, and Immortals, China's unique set of mythological tales are derived from its vast expanse, diverse culture and the endless wars between tribes and dynasties. The result is a rich landscape of humanity, gods and spirits introduced here in this comprehensive book of folk tales and legendary exploits. The latest title in Flame Tree's beautiful, comprehensive series of Gothic Fantasy titles, concentrates on the ancient, epic origins of modern fantasy.

Join Jack Montrose, a fish camp regular since 1965, as he reminisces about the good old days fishing on the St. Johns River. Tales from a Florida Fish Camp captures the atmosphere and humor of fish camps, where fishermen gathered to tell tall tales of their fishing exploits, play practical jokes, and relax over a cold beer. Here you'll find tales of more than just fish (though the ones caught were THIS BIG). You'll encounter snakes, gators, cats (ordinary house ones as well as a panther), turtles, manatees, a skunk, and lots and lots of bugs, as well as a few celebrities--including a baseball manager, a general, and an astronaut. The stars are more often than not the boats, and if the tale's about an airboat, well, don't expect the teller to have dry shoes. You're in for huge belly laughs as you read about fish camp contests, tourists, Yankees, and Flash, the hard-drinking, snake-chasing, spitz/bull-dog mix who was everyone's best friend. Practical jokes abound at fish camps: the author even got to be sheriff for a day when one of his buddies played a joke on him and some unwitting tourists.

Africa south of the Sahara is a land of wide-ranging traditions and varying cultures. Despite the diversity and the lack of early written records, the continent possesses a rich body of folk tales and legends that have been passed down through the strong custom of storytelling and which often share similar elements, characters and ideas between peoples. So this collection offers a hefty selection of legends and tales - stories of the gods, creation and origins, trickster exploits, animal fables and stories which entertain and edify - from 'Obatala Creates Mankind', from the Yoruba people of west Africa, to 'The Girl Of The Early Race, Who Made Stars', from the San people of southern Africa, all collected in a gorgeous gold-foiled and embossed hardback to treasure.

“The classic tale of the old couple, with no children of their own, who bake a gingerbread boy to keep them company. Just as the little old woman is about to take him from the oven, he slips away and runs out the door past a cow, a horse, a group of threshers, mowers, etc. All follow in hot pursuit until the gingerbread boy meets up with a wily fox, and ‘at last and at last he went the way of every single gingerbread boy that ever came out of an oven . . . He was all gone!’ A wonderfully frenetic cross-country chase is depicted in Galdone’s broadly humorous color wash drawings. Of the eight editions of this well-known story now in print, this hilarious version is the most delectable.” —School Library Journal, starred

“Galdone has already proven many times over that he is perfectly at home with those traditional nursery tales that are still preschoolers’ favorites, and his expressive, unassuming style just right for their very young audience. . . . Children will follow along breathlessly . . . right up to that last snip snap snip when the Gingerbread Boy goes ‘the way of every single gingerbread boy that ever came out of an oven.’”—Kirkus Reviews

Rivers and streams sculpt our landscape, and have connected our communities throughout history, from mountain to estuary and to the wide sea beyond. They give us water and food, trade and transport - yet they have a life-force all of their own. In this collection of traditional folk tales from wild rivers, lakes, and streams, Lisa Schneidau retells old stories of danger and transformation, of river goddesses, ghosts and the mysterious creatures that dwell in the watery arteries of Britain and Ireland.

Charged with possibility and power, this memorable collection is an extraordinary immersion into the bodies and voices, mindscapes and landscapes, of the shapeshifting women of our native folklore. Drawing on myth and fairy tales found across Europe from Croatia to Sweden, Ireland to Russia, these stories are about coming to terms with our animal natures, exploring the ways in which we might renegotiate our fractured relationship with the natural world, and uncovering the wildness and wilderness within.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203359127

Sandor Esterhazy is descended from a long line of talented pianists, but has no desire to play. So, one snowy afternoon, he promises his soul to the devil in exchange for a life of his own choosing. Afterwards, he laughs it off as a joke, but that night the devil arrives dragging someone - or something - with him. Uncertain what to do with the bewildered creature, Sandor locks it in the basement, allowing it out only once a night to visit the piano room - the creature, who he names Ferdi, is desperate to play. Sandor slips easily into his new role of captor, but as Ferdi learns what it is to be human, tensions between the two escalate, and Ferdi escapes into the world...

Galilee has been a crossroads of cultures, religions, and languages for centuries, as illustrated in these fascinating Bedouin folktales, which offer excellent examples of the Arabic narrative tradition of the Middle East. Bedouin Folktales from the North of Israel collects nearly 60 traditional folktales, told mostly by women, that have been carefully translated in the same colloquial style in which they were told. These stories are grouped into themes of love and devotion, ghouls and demons, and animal stories. The work also includes phonetic transcription and linguistic annotation. Accompanying each folktale is a comprehensive ethnographic, folkloristic, and linguistic commentary, placing the tales in context with details on Galilee Bedouin dialects and the tribes themselves. A rich, multifaceted collection, Bedouin Folktales from the North of Israel is an invaluable resource for linguists, folklorists, anthropologists, and any reader interested in a tradition of storytelling handed down through the centuries.

'The body was cold as ice; the heart had long ceased to beat: yet there were no other signs of death.'

The phantoms and ghouls of Japanese folklore are in this book driven back into the world of the living. Mysterious brides melt into mist, paintings come alive, and man-eating goblins barter for redemption. Traditional Japanese folktales and legends, infused with memories of Lafcadio Hearn’s own haunted childhood, are here masterfully retold.

When curious nomad Anna hears about Whisperwood, a town that’s not on any maps, that nobody goes to, and nobody comes from, she sees an opportunity to hide from her violent witch-hunting ex. But not everything is peaceful in the isolated community. A vanishing town, a gruesome funeral rite, an emergency field surgery—these surprises and more test Anna's resolve. Prevented from leaving the frontier settlement by folk magic she doesn’t understand, Anna lends helping hands everywhere she can, but quickly finds that investigating the forest too closely could end up being the last thing she does. FLAME TREE PRESS is the imprint of long-standing independent Flame Tree Publishing, dedicated to full-length original fiction in the horror and suspense, science fiction & fantasy, and crime / mystery / thriller categories. The list brings together fantastic new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices. Learn more about Flame Tree Press at www.flametreepress.com and connect on social media @FlameTreePress

Popolvar may not be as well known as Rumpelstiltskin, or Brother Birdie as well loved as the Ugly Duckling, but the folktales that feature these characters are as rich in charm and piquancy as any in the world.

This volume makes the Slovak folk tradition available to English -language readers with fifty tales culled from the collections of master folklorist Pavol Dobsinsky.

For the reader's delight, the translations preserve the poetic qualities of the original tales: Slovak rhymes have been replaced by English ones, puns have been repunned, proverbs have been rendered with proverbial concision, and the flexible Slovak folk idiom has been captured in colloquial English.

All of which is to say, the reader will enjoy these tales immensely. And for those who wish to know more about Slovak folktales, the volume includes commentaries, tale classifications, an introduction to the Slovak tale tradition, and a concluding essay on tale collection.

This is Homer's epic chronicle of the Greek hero Odysseus' triumph over Troy and arduous journey home: Odysseus survives a storm and shipwreck, the cave of the Cyclops and the isle of Circe, the lure of the Sirens' song and a trip to the Underworld, only to find his most difficult challenge at home, where treacherous suitors seek to steal his kingdom and his loyal wife, Penelope.

The Mafia Rats is the most hotly anticipated and sensational book to hit the British shelves. Branded already a modern classic, this completely original book is like nothing you have ever read before. Intelligent, vibrant and teeming with the creatures and wildlife indigenous to Britain, this is aimed for children and adults alike and will be missed at your peril. Enjoy and suffer as the extraordinary world of amazing creatures opens before your eyes. Shy away from the millions of hideously evil, filthy, filching, fiendish Mafia rats and their fantastically corrupt Protection Racket; pity the opium-sodden Bumblebee; laugh at the monocled Toad; empathise with the gentle Squirrels and listen to the wisdom of the revered Old Owl as the evanescent emanation of the Master of Maleficium permeates the book, where life to him matters not one jot. Celebrate the Astonishing Ball (nature at its best) and witness the agonising deaths in the Terrible Battle (nature at its worst); despise the Cult of the disaffected young; admire the brave Honey Bees and sympathise with the lone '142857' - just one more Drone from the Hive. Weep for the Grand Duke Badger and his seditious book and his tragedy that strikes in the first chapter and pray for his hopes for the future of his kind, tied up in the fate of the garrulous and feckless Prince Brocco, oblivious to most things round him. Despise the Geese; learn from the Guard Rabbits; abhor the Siamese Cat and dread the might of the Soldier Ants, Soldier Beetles, Stag Beetles and the Soldier-flies. Feel for the old Tortoise, identify with the revengeful Spiders and chuckle at the poor, truncated Brandling Worm. Then fear the sinister manufacture of the deadly poisons of the Specially-Bred Mosquitoes; the smugness of the Eucalyptus Spiders and the bravery of one young Rat, whilst all the time marvel at the tenacity of Straggly the Witch, trying to fulfil her promise to the Grand Duke Badger in her quest to find Magus the Magician, the Protector of the Courts. All the creatures you can think of adorn these pages and have a part to play. The Hawks, the Bats, the Paper Wasps, the Otters, the Damsel-flies, the Cockroaches and all the sinister Cavernophiles; one Albino Rat - there is betrayal, revenge, a second betrayal, a deception, an entreaty, a humiliation and joyous celebrations. There is much here for the intellectual in the double meanings and it will be like nothing you have seen before, creatures swimming before your eyes, their world, their hopes and fears ... and their destiny ... THE MAFIA RATS - Claire Knox's first book, is set in the gardens of Buckingham Palace (where else?) and details the fearful conflict between Straggly the Witch and the malevolent Mafia Rats. The natural world of small animals and exuberant plants is illustrated by the author in ravishing line-drawings. This epic story combines the scope of Tolkein or Pullman with the whimsical wizardry of Rowling, but it has an atmosphere all its own. You may never read an adventure story, equally suitable for adults and children, as compelling as The Mafia Rats - until, maybe, you decide you must read it a second time. DAVID BENEDICTUS 2014 - playwright and author of many books including Return To Hundred Acre Wood (Winnie The Pooh) for children. Bio - Claire Knox, originally a musician (mentor Anthony Hopkins), married into the army and lived all over the world. She has lectured at Oxford University on Creative writing and, as well as writing and illustrating this book, she designs cards.

Selling their London home and buying a decaying rural pile in the wilds of Dorset seems to Bill and Alison Cavendish the perfect way to swap the stresses and strains of the city for a peaceful new life in the countryside, with the added bonus of cash in the bank. Unfortunately the manor house which captures their interest in the picturesque village of Little Daunting has problems far older, deeper and nastier than rats and dry rot. The cellars conceal a terrible, shocking secret; one which dates all the way back to the witch hunts of the 17th century and to those who would steal living bodies in the quest for eternal life. As Bill and Alison soon discover, at least one of the villagers knows far more than he is admitting about the gruesome events that have been taking place in the ancient, walled-off catacombs which lie concealed under the neighbouring churchyard. When Bill and Alison and their new gypsy allies investigate, they find themselves lifting the lid on an unimagined horror...Catacombs of the Damned is a sexy, shocking horror story for adults from P J Cadavori.

The three goat brothers brave the terrible troll in a colorful version of the classic tale.

Continuing the story of The Hobbit, this three-volume boxed set of Tolkien's epic masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings, features striking black covers based on Tolkien's own design, the definitive text, and three maps including a detailed map of Middle-earth. Sauron, the Dark Lord, has gathered to him all the Rings of Power - the means by which he intends to rule Middle-earth. All he lacks in his plans for dominion is the One Ring - the ring that rules them all - which has fallen into the hands of the hobbit, Bilbo Baggins. In a sleepy village in the Shire, young Frodo Baggins finds himself faced with an immense task, as his elderly cousin Bilbo entrusts the Ring to his care. Frodo must leave his home and make a perilous journey across Middle-earth to the Cracks of Doom, there to destroy the Ring and foil the Dark Lord in his evil purpose. Since it was first published in 1954, 'The Lord of the Rings' has been a book people have treasured. Steeped in unrivalled magic and otherworldliness, its sweeping fantasy has touched the hearts of young and old alike.

Discover Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere, the extraordinary modern classic from the bestselling author of American Gods, illustrated for the first time by 2015-2017 UK Children’s Laureate Chris Riddell. This beautiful edition features the fully illustrated short story, ‘How the Marquis Got His Coat Back’, and will delight fans of Coraline, The Book of Dust and Goth Girl.

Under the streets of London lies a world most people could never dream of.

When Richard Mayhew helps a mysterious girl he finds bleeding on the pavement, his boring life changes in an instant. Her name is Door, she’s on the run from two assassins in black suits and she comes from London Below.

His act of kindness leads him to a place filled with monsters and angels, a Beast in a labyrinth and an Earl who holds Court in a Tube train.

It is strangely familiar yet utterly bizarre.