Charles de Lint

I first found him when I was about 14 I think. I breathed books and Moonheart appeared in the sci-fi / fantasy section in local bookshops. I loved it. It combined the magical world of faeries and other creatures with our world. I loved the way he bought magic and mystery into the common every day settings of modern life.

I bought every book of his that appeared in the shop and I had a nice little collection. When I was 19 I dated a chap from the north of England for a while and I lent his sister my collection. We split up and my books never made their way home. I have re-purchased some of his books but others are still missing.

His books became harder to find as book shops began to reclassify his work. Sometimes they were no longer in the sci fi / fantasy section. Sometimes they weren't there at all. Moving to Cornwall took away my access to huge bookshops and specialist sci fi / fantasy bookshops. I no longer saw his books at all really.

One day I looked him up on Amazon and was horrified and overjoyed to discover that this author I adored hadn't stopped writing, if anything he had been extremely prolific. My bookshops had never stocked all of his books. In fact he has published 65 books to date. I am so far behind!

Looking at his titles though a few more things become obvious. He writes horror, thriller and fantasy. He writes short stories, novellas and full length stories. He writes for adults, young adults and teens.

Having achieved his own following he is able to write short stories and have them published as little chap books with fantastical illustrations. His short stories slowly get gathered over the years into collections. Some of his earlier shorter stories have been gathered into books I own.

His chap books have a specialist collectors market and as such the ones amazon even lists are often over £100. Collections of his earliest writings are again collectors items and command high prices.

I have found 35 of his books on Amazon that are available and I don't have and would very much like. Of those on my list, three are over £100 (one is £170!) and another 5 are over £50. This leaves 28 books within my budget(ish)! As quite a few of these are older paperbacks, they are reasonably priced...

Imagine being such an author though that you can write best sellers and also small fantastically illustrated art editions... He is a folk musician and his stories are full of music. He draws on folklore from all over the world and from many different cultures and they are all magic....