Author of over 400 Books for Children and Adults
When I first saw Jane Dyer’s wonderful artwork–in a portfolio at a workshop I was running–I fell in love with her animals in clothing. I wrote “Piggins” esepcially for her, but I always remembered a picture from her portfolio of the three bears eating breakfast. When I started writing the
I began the COMMANDER TOAD books because I saw an article in the local newspaper about a boy and his frog who had just won a jumping-frog contest. The frog’s name was “Star Warts.” I thought it would be funnier if the frog had been a toad, since the old superstition is that toads gives you
I was invited to do this book by Wendy Wolf who was the great editor of the Pantheon Folklore series. It turned out to be a wonderful start to my serious study of folk tales. The book–with well over 150 stories–has become a core book for storytellers and storytelling courses. The long essay about stories
Original stories by a variety of authors, including the first publication of my “Great-Grandfather Dragon’s Tale.” Though the Introduction is signed by all three authors, I wrote it. And I chose all the stories and edited them. Marty did the business end of things.
Adam was fifteen, already a fine musician, when we sold this book. These were mostly old lullabies I had sung to the children (including one I composed) so it was a gift to be sending them on in such a lovely package. The pictures by Mikolaycak are gorgeous–warm, loving, beautifully composed. (Aha–a musical pun!)
Four linked poems about the seasons from the point of view of four different animals: winter is the weasel, who wears the season on his hide; spring is the spring peeper, a frog who believes he causes the season to appear by singing; summer is the dragonfly with wings like stained glass;
I wrote this book as a favor to Ruth Sanderson, the artist, because the packager, Ariel, was having trouble writing the book in-house. Ruth had almost completed the paintings when it became clear that someone would have to retell the story who could write around the art work. My husband
Stories and poems all centering on the great wizard, Merlin. Some are historical, some completely magical. From his birth to his death–and beyond. A few of the stories were published first in F&SF Magazine, and a number of poems and stories have been subsequently reprinted in
I began the COMMANDER TOAD books because I saw an article in the local newspaper about a boy and his frog who had just won a jumping-frog contest. The frog’s name was “Star Warts.” I thought it would be funnier if the frog had been a toad, since the old superstition is that toads gives you
A collection of my fantasy and science fiction short stories for adults (and sophisticated children) with an introduction by Patricia McKillip. There was a British edition as well.