I have acquired a new appreciation of the short story and renewed my love for the wonder, beauty and magic in Charles de Lint's writing.

IN THE HOUSE OF MY ENEMY

Having learned my lesson from the last collection of his stories, I decided to share my thoughts on individual stories that particularly appeal to me rather than waiting to review the whole collection as one.

In the titled story is a paragraph on page 211 that really hit home with its truth.

...Beauty isn't what you see on TV or in magazine ads or even necessarily in art galleries. It's a lot deeper and a lot simpler than that. It's realizing the goodness of things, it's leaving the world a little better than it was before you got there. It's appreciating the inspiration of the world around you and trying to inspire others.

 

Sculptors, poets, painters, musicians - they're the traditional purveyors of beauty. But it can as easily be created by a gardener, a farmer, a plumber, a careworker. It's the intent you put into your work, the pride you take in it - whatever it is.

 

This is just one of the stories that speaks to me...the book is loaded with them and I'm loving every word.

I was first introduced to deLint's world of urban fantasy with his book, Dingo, and it was love at first word. He has the ability to look beyond the day to day struggles and show the magic of the world around us, a dream world where all is possible and the inhabitants take on a life of their own, blending mythology, the spirit world, fantasy and reality together and inviting his readers to join him.

I must confess though that I truly lack an appreciation of short stories. I've always preferred a full length novel that has the time to develop the characters as well as building a well executed plot line, things not available in short stories. That being said, I also have so great an appreciation for the tales told by Charles deLint that I thought I'd give it a shot. In true deLint style he presented 15 short stories that introduced us to fairies, wood spirits, desert spirits and other magical beings we've seen in folklore from around the world. Each story was well crafted, some of which I loved, others less so, but when taken as a whole seemed to lack a cohesive flow leaving the tales to blend together in what I felt was a bit muddled fashion.

Not being a veteran short story reader I fear that I approached and read the book in the wrong way. I read it as though it was a regular length novel without leaving enough time between stories, time to digest what I had read and to savor each tale on its own merits. I wish I had used a different method and read one short story per night so that I could have appreciated the book more, the way it deserved. I started out loving it but for the reasons given lost much of my enthusiasm. Still, deLint remains one of my favourite authors and I'm eagerly anticipating reading some of his other works that rest on my nightstand.

Originally published on www.chapterofdreams.com