As one of three children growing up in a small house, it was a constant battle to keep my siblings from getting into my stuff. Eventually I hit on the perfect solution—I appropriated a medium-sized cardboard box and on the top I wrote: Warning!! Dangerous Polar Bears inside!!! DO NOT OPEN!!!!!!! Then I placed my most secret treasures inside the box, confident that the warning message would give pause to even the most inquisitive of my siblings.
I knew it wasn’t likely that there would be polar bears inside the box, and suspected that my brother and sister knew that as well. But it was possible.
It’s that sense of possibility, of wonder, that fantasy readers share. Long after childhood has passed, and we’ve been forced to acknowledge that polar bears aren’t generally found roaming the streets of suburban New England, we still enjoy reading what-if stories. What if our favorite myths were real, or we could travel to the stars, or journey back in time? What if … ? The possibilities—and the stories they inspire—are endless.
Last year, after Joshua Palmatier and I finished editing our first anthology (After Hours: Tales from the Ur-Bar, DAW Books, March 2011), we began discussing our next project. Joshua suggested, “What if the fairies hadn’t disappeared? What if they were still around today?”
The idea quickly took shape. What if the fae were still here, living among us? Perhaps living in secret, doing their best to pass for human. Or perhaps their existence is acknowledged, but they’re still struggling to fit in. How have they survived? Are they outcasts clinging to the edges of society, or do their powers ensure success in the mortal realm? I was excited by the idea, as were the authors that we invited to send in stories. Out of their submissions we picked fourteen fabulous tales—ranging from humor to dark fantasy—that explore how the creatures of fae are fitting into the modern world.
We hope you enjoy.
Patricia Bray and Joshua Palmatier