One of the terrific things about participating in Carl V’s Once Upon a Time Challenge is that you are introduced to so many new authors that you might not have discovered easily on your own. During last year’s Challenge, there were some great reviews of Charles de Lint’s books, and they all sounded so interesting I decided to choose one of his books to read for this year’s OUAT2 Challenge. It turns out that the book I chose (which had such a nice cover), The Wild Wood, is one of 4 books written as part of a special project started in 1991 by the wonderfully talented artist, Brian Froud.

I loved the idea of this project and have just finished reading each of the four books. What an enjoyable experience! Here is Brian Froud’s description of his project, and a list of the four books along with photos of the paintings that inspired each book. My reviews of each of the books will follow in the next few days.

“I [Brian Froud] created the Faerielands art in the summer and autumn of 1991. Later that autumn I met with four authors who were to write the books, Charles De Lint, Patricia McKillip, Midori Snyder, and Terri Windling, along with the series co-creator Robert Gould and the producer Byron Preiss, and spread out the drawings and paintings I’d completed–over fifty of them in all. The writers divided the images among them, choosing the ones they were most drawn to, and then they each went away to write the story the pictures whispered to them.” 

“They had the freedom to write whatever they chose, just as I’d had the freedom to paint what I chose; yet we’d agreed on a central premise: a recognition that Faerie, inextricably bound as it is to nature and natural forces, is gravely threatened by the ecological crises that human beings have brought to our world.”

The Wild Wood, by Charles de Lint

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Wood Wife, by Terri Windling

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Something Rich and Strange, by Patricia A. McKillip

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hannah’s Garden, by Midori Snyder