2021 Locus Award Finalist In the newest volume of her World Fantasy Award-winning short story collections, beloved author Jane Yolen’s dark side has fully emerged. Her vivid, startling, and thrilling tales and poems of the supernatural―from icy-hearted witches to sometimes-innocent shapeshifters―reveal a classic storyteller at the height of her powers. “Look this way, look that; blazing her consummate imagination against the shadows of human sorrow, Jane Yolen has done it again.”―Gregory Maguire, author of Wicked Jane Yolen is the Hans Christian Andersen of America” ―The New York Times Welcome to the Midnight Circus―and watch your step. The dark imaginings of fantasy icon Jane Yolen are not for the faint of heart. In these sixteen brilliantly unnerving tales and poems, Central Park becomes a carnival where you can―but probably shouldn’t―transform into a wild beast. The Red Sea will be deadly to cross due to a plague of voracious angels. Meanwhile, the South Pole is no place for even a good man, regardless of whether he is living or dead. Wicked, solemn, and chilling, the circus is ready for your visit―just don't arrive late. Other Jane Yolen short story collections in this series The Emerald Circus : 2018 World Fantasy Award winner How to Fracture a Fairy Tale : 2019 Anne Izard Storytellers’ Choice Award Gr 9 Up-In 16 well-crafted stories, Yolen reveals the dark underside of her imagination, delving with surgical precision into horror, suspense, and the psychological fabric of nightmare. Culled from her prolific publication history, these tales-most of which draw on European Jewish, Russian, or Scottish folklore-find fresh life in this collection, each accompanied by an original poem and notes providing additional context. This book showcases Yolen's greatest strength-her marriage of fantasy and history, especially through the lens of folklore. In "The Snatcher," Yolen entwines her own family's story with a horrific figure from Jewish history, reimagined as a dark harbinger of conscription. "Requiem Antarctica" reimagines Robert Falcon Scott's Antarctic expedition through the lens of vampirism, and "Names" weaves together the horrors of anorexia and the Holocaust. The collection spans science fiction, mythology, and fairy tale, and despite its often gory imagery, remains imbued with Yolen's characteristic dry wit. Characters are rarely described physically. VERDICT An engrossing collection that will linger in readers' minds long after reading, and a perfect (re)introduction to Yolen's rich well of fantasy horror. For fans of Neil Gaiman, Kelly Link, and Leigh Bardugo.-Molly Saunders, Manatee County P.L., Bradenton, FLα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. “Jane Yolen is, simply, a legend. The powerful fairy godmother of every writer working in mythic fantasy today. In these dark and wonderful stories, that legend proves itself true over and over again, a sure hand pulling aside black and gauzy curtains to reveal a blaze of genius that will light up all the secret places of your heart.” ―Catherynne M. Valente, author of The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own “Look this way, look that; blazing her consummate imagination against the shadows of human sorrow, Jane Yolen has done it again. She has produced a set of spectacles designed to keep us awake in the darkness. The Midnight Circus delights, confounds, and challenges. We read all the night long; we are not the same come dawn.” ―Gregory Maguire, author of Wicked “A girl uses magic to call her love but not to keep him. A child born in winter hears voices calling to him in the cold wind. A lonely man falls for a selkie who sings an enticing song. Yolen often uses the language and imagery of fairy tales to weave her original, spellbinding stories, which make a cohesive collection. They’re all dark, though in most cases, that darkness encompasses loss but doesn’t revel in it. As Yolen puts it in her introduction, there's “a frisson of terror rather than massive amounts of spilt blood.” A couple of stories veer closer to true horror: The main character of “Great Gray” is drawn to the rare owls of the title because of his own predatory instincts, and the narrator of “Little Red” endures hinted-at torments because the alternative of returning home to her grandmother is somehow worse. But, as promised, there’s very little blood in these pages―just glimpses of the darkness of human nature. Some stories, like “Inscription,” read like Celtic folktales while “Requiem Antarctica” is a Jamesian tale of creeping madness at the ends of the Earth, and “An Infestation of Angels” is a retelling of the book of Exodus. And if the stories themselves somehow aren’t enough, each is accompanied by a poem that extends its themes into evocative verse. Haunting stories from a modern master.” ―Kirkus “ The Midnight Circus sings with magic, darkness, and wonder―