GIVING BIRTH TO THUNDER is focuses on Native American tales of Coyote. They range from respectable to raunchy, definitively establishing Coyote’s place as a complex trickster-hero figure. However, it’s not entirely clear whether or not the author simply replaced tricksters from other tribal tales with Coyote himself. The book also pushes a “the single Native American culture” bias, but that probably has more to do with the dated academic standards of the 1970s than outright ignorance, as the author clearly respects the peoples of the stories he adapted.

The Coyote tales themselves are surprisingly lifeless, presumably due to their roots in oral tradition—every character states the actions they’re about to undertake, everything is described as simply as possible, etc. Normally an author would deserve credit for presenting so many conflicting stories with such an even tone, but it works against the book’s favor here. The term “bare bones” has never been more apt, although I could see the material working much better as an audiobook.

From a methodological standpoint, the author claims to have used multiple sources to transcript academic or oral stories into a literature-friendly whole. While there is a bibliography, Lopez doesn’t cite his sources for each specific story, so it’s difficult to determine exactly how much was changed from the original folklore in the process. In fact, there appears to be no consultations with actual Native Americans in the text at all. However, since the introduction examines the various problems of similar collections, such as problematic alterations for Western audiences, it’s not likely that any oversights were made on purpose.

It’s not a bad collection overall, and I have no doubts that it was fair for its day. Recommended for anyone genuinely interested in the material and willing to overlook some of its dated conventions.

Whenever I can, I try to buy books from local self-published authors, doubly so when it comes to local pagan-ish authors, and triply so when the book title is inspired by one of my favorite songs. Thus is how I wound up with this smutty retelling of the tragic Guinevere/Lancelot romance.

WHITE ROSE OF AVALON clearly owes its roots to books like the MISTS OF AVALON, as both femininity and religion are major focuses of the story. In this version, fairy folklore is interwoven into a historical narrative to give credence to both the supernatural and political origins of the mythos. Heckart assumes that the reader is already familiar with the time period and plot of the original legends, and therefore wastes no time getting to the action. And what action it is! Lancelot, Gwenhwyfar, Morgaine, and Nimue are the four main characters, and the book uses their sexuality to illustrate both their innate power and helplessness in context of the world around them. Make no mistake, though—WHITE ROSE OF AVALON is erotica through and through, even if it’s well-written.

One of the most interesting minor changes is that King Arthur is given a roman nomen, Artorius, and he is clearly a Roman amongst the Britons. His presence and relationship to the fall of Rome lends well to the theme of a cultural and religious division when used alongside the Welsh spelling of Gwenhwyfar, the French origin of the name Lancelot, and druids of Morgaine. It’s a level of depth that I wasn’t expecting in otherwise straightforward romantic drama.

As a historical fantasy/romance from a small POD imprint, the quality is about what I expected. Kelley Heckart is a talented writer, but the help of a content editor might have made the manuscript shine. WHITE ROSE OF AVALON isn’t bad, but it would have been better off as a film script than a book.

I’ve read many “comprehensive’ books on faeries and most cover the usual English/Welsh mythology. If you’re lucky, you’ll find those that expand a bit into French mythos. This book is NOT one of those; this book is exactly as named, that being WORLD Folklore. It is comprehensive enough to be considered a must-have to anyone who studies mythology.

There is not a massive amount of information on each sort of faerie, but enough is given as a starting point and the amazing bibliography can be used to find more information on anything in the book. It is set in alphabetical order according to the name of the faerie, and finding the information you need is easy—that is if you are not me and stop along the way to check out other entries that catch your eye as you are on the way to the entry you were looking up.

All in all, I consider this an important volume to anyone who studies folklore, mythology, or is just a lover of Faerie. Your library will thank you for its addition, and you will look to it often.