Spanning more than three decades of work, this career-spanning anthology gathers some of the most beloved fiction by one of contemporary fantasy's defining voices, with a foreword by a Booker Prize-winning admirer. Arranged chronologically from the mid-1980s onward, it pairs nearly fifty short stories with extended excerpts from the author's major novels, tracing the evolution of a singular imagination across forms. The short fiction ranges widely in tone and texture: wry modern fables, unsettling horror, retold fairy tales seen from sinister new angles, science fiction, and quiet, aching pieces about grief and wonder. Among them are signature works in which the ordinary brushes against the mythic, an elderly woman buys the Holy Grail at a charity shop, a familiar fairy tale is recast through the eyes of its supposed villain. Alongside these sit passages drawn from the author's best-known longer works, offering newcomers an introduction and longtime readers a curated tour. Notably, the selection of stories was shaped by readers themselves, who voted online for their favourites, making the collection a kind of communal portrait of a much-loved body of work. Taken together, the pieces showcase a writer equally at home in myth, menace, and tenderness, and serve as both gateway and keepsake.
