DRAGONS: A Handbook of History & Lore from Basilisks to Wyverns, beautiful woodcut art of the worlds favorite mythical beasts

DRAGONS: A Handbook of History & Lore from Basilisks to Wyverns
AGNES HOLLYHOCK
publisher (non-affiliate Bookshop.org link)
$19.99 all editions, available now

Rating: 5* of five

The Publisher Says: Dragons is your beautifully illustrated guide to these mythical creatures and their lore across cultures and centuries. Discover the ancient lore and cultural myths behind dragons—the world’s most mysterious and ubiquitous creatures—in this stunningly illustrated handbook.

For millennia, dragons have been considered real, appearing in legends and myths across cultures and societies, including Central America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Why are these creatures so popular, and what do they reveal about human nature?

Dragons offers a deep dive into the imaginative world of dragons and explores their vivid lore and myths across a wide variety of cultures. Through detailed descriptions and original artwork, learn all about these mysterious and powerful creatures, including:

Historical Tales and Legends

Dragons in Ancient Cultures

European Dragon Lore

Asian Dragon Myths

African and Polynesian Dragons

Dragon-Related Symbols

And more!

Featuring beautiful illustrations and a comprehensive appendix of notable dragon sites around the world, this easy-to-use and informative handbook is perfect for fantasy enthusiasts and the dragon curious. From their appearance in ancient myths to contemporary fantasy works, discover how dragons have influenced human culture across the globe.

The Folklore Legends series summons the mythical, magical, and mysterious creatures of lore out of the shadows with in-depth explorations of their stories and histories. Featuring original, woodcut illustrations and tales both famous and forgotten, these display-worthy volumes reveal the common traits, cultural variations, and appearances of these legendary beings across time and around the world.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: Is there anything more certain to get a limbic response from a modern person than a dragon? Like dinosaurs for little kids, these monsters are not real (in the sense that you're not able to go anywhere in the world to see a living one) so the anxiety induced by a giant predator is manageable. We watch horror movies...or the news...for more threatening anxiety hits. Dragons and their legends add many layers of padding for the anxiety, so feel fun, almost friendly. After all you see tons of dragon media, like the Dragonriders of Pern series that's run for decades, all the way to the How to Train Your Dragon media franchise for the young ones.

We like to be scared. But only in fantasy. Dragons fit the need humans have for this fantasy of risk. A survey of the myth structures that deliver the shiver safely like this book is ideal for the YA market. This book is also beautiful, illustrated with woodcuts that capture the mythic element of the dragon lore we all love.

It makes for a lovely added layer of pleasure in the reading experience. The ebook looks fine on my tablet...I doubt a standard Kindle/Kobo would do that well with it, being black-and-white, but certainly wouldn't cause problems with the reading process.

But what a loss not to see this beautiful enhancing art in color!

A treat for any 12-year-old or older dragon-loving reader, fantasy fan, or just someone who likes reading about nyths and legends from around the world.

QUEER AS FOLKLORE: The Hidden Queer History of Myths and Monsters, straight-peoples' anxieties and hostilities seen from the other side

QUEER AS FOLKLORE: The Hidden Queer History of Myths and Monsters
SACHA COWARD
Unbound
$25.00 trade paper, available now

Rating: 4.5* of five

The Publisher Says: Queer as Folklore takes readers across centuries and continents which reveals the unsung heroes and villains of storytelling, magic and fantasy. Featuring images from archives, galleries and museums around the world, each chapter investigates the queer history of different mythic and folkloric characters, both old and new.

Leaving no headstone unturned, Sacha Coward will take you on a wild ride through the night from ancient Greece to the main stage of RuPaul’s Drag Race, visiting cross-dressing pirates, radical fairies and the graves of the ‘queerly departed’ along the way. Queer communities have often sought refuge in the shadows, found kinship in the in-between and created safe spaces in underworlds; but these forgotten narratives tell stories of remarkable resilience that deserve to be heard.

Join any Pride march and you are likely to see a glorious display of papier-mâché unicorn heads trailing sequins, drag queens wearing mermaid tails and more fairy wings than you can shake a trident at. But these are not just accessories: they are queer symbols with historic roots.

To truly understand who queer people are today, we must confront the twisted tales of the past and Queer as Folklore is a celebration of queer history like you've never seen it before.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: Funny how the stories of queerness, of love between same-sex couples, are so very often found in "monster" tales, isn't it. I mean, the rise of vampire fiction as AIDS bit gay men hard is a tough sell as coincidence. Back a way we have Dr. Fankenstein building his perfect man, who then gets all freaked out because he isn't just like the other boys; we have the enduring folktale of Beauty and the Beast, as queer a metaphor as you can find; we have the Greek gods taking outlandishly unlikely forms to get off with humans.

And that's just the Western world.

In modern times there are the just barely clothed superheroes in comic-book or filmed form, flaunting their junk in our faces at $25 a ticket or graphic novel (aka comic book) with oblivious or deeply in denial boys of all ages perving on their favorite characters' amazing prowess without seeming to have a single introspective neuron firing. These hypermasculine avatars of (mostly) toxic masculinity go around destroying things with their unstoppable powers; what better way for these theater-loads of bottoms to get their desperate need to be dominated, wrecked, brutalized met safely and without admitting to themselves their need is deeply, deeply sexual? Likewise the astonishing-to-me rise of RuPaul and drag as mass entertainment...male parodies of femininity enacted for the audience's titillated amusement. There is no filmed entertainment of any sort that doesn't rely on the universal human lust for voyeurism. If I'm at all honest, that applies to literature and reading as well.

Those sour reflections out of the way, let's talk about the *fun* of it all.

The author's done a creditable job of assembling fun examples of myths and folktales that present queerness in a framework of plausible deniability, as has ever been the case. We've always been here...just have to listen to the quiet parts in between the blaring trumpets of heteronormativity. Only in recent times have we been able to say the quiet parts out loud, and it makes the control freaks and haters absolutely wild with fury that anyone could not want to be exactly like them.

Hm. I seem not to have left the sourness behind after all. Well, take the rough with the smooth, laddies and gentlewomen. I listen to unreflective heteronormativity all day every day. Listen to how it feels to be consciously aware of the receiving end of a microaggression for a change. It's never been what you meant, it's always been what the audience hears.

The audience for this survey course in queer identity is in for a treat in terms of the author's clear desire to bring us history burnished to a mellow, shadow-melting glow of inclusion. The care with which he draws lines between what modern people mean by queerness, and the often very different understandings of gender and sexuality people held in earlier times, is both commendable and clarifying. It enables us to respond honestly from within our framework to stories coming from a different framework. It's often done anecdotally, using reports of experience, so data-driven readers might not like this narrative choice. We're in the unabahedly popular arena in this book. Applying academic rigor to the way the author informs us of the existence and the resonances of queer icons in our (Western) cultural history is unwarranted.

Breadth and anecdotality (I think I just invented that word) are both strengths and weaknesses. As always. No tool cannot also function as a weapon. I did wonder at times where the heck Author Coward found his examples of modern peoples' resonances with the stories we inherited from the foreparents. At times this is my favorite thing about the read; at others, it feels...grafted on, placed too carefully to feel entirely natural.

I am mostly unhappy, to the extent I actually am, with the absence of world cultures' representation. I understand this isn't sold or described as about world cultures, but tell me in the subtitle..."The Hidden Queer History of Western Myths and Monsters, f/ex...that I'm not getting this broader focus. I promise I'd still buy and read it. So now you know where that last half-star went.

Still a good read, still a great gift, still something I want people to know is available for their amusement and edification.

AN ATLAS OF AFTERLIVES: Discover Underworlds, Otherworlds and Heavenly Realms, beautiful object cramjam full of good stories for kids

AN ATLAS OF AFTERLIVES: Discover Underworlds, Otherworlds and Heavenly Realms
EMILY HAWKINS (illus. Manasawee Rojanaphan)
Wide Eyed Editions
$30.00 hardcover, available now

Rating: 5* of five

The Publisher Says: What happens after we die? This difficult question has fascinated people for thousands of years. An Atlas of Afterlives sets out to explore and explain the many underworlds, otherworlds, heavens and hells believed in by cultures from across the world, throughout history. From paradise gardens to fiery kingdoms, from shadowy isles of the dead to ghostly galleons on an eternal voyage, these visions of eternity are fascinating examples of human creativity and storytelling.

Organised by continent , this book will take you on an eerie journey to discover legendary places from different mythologies. Each lavishly illustrated spread invites you into a different realm of the dead, with deities, demons and other details drawn from historical sources ranging from ancient Egyptian scrolls to Chilean folklore. With wonder , curiosity and sensitivity , every one of these awe-inspiring places is presented in its cultural context, combining real, historical fact with the magical atmosphere of the unknown – and unknowable.

Discover afterlives from all over the world, With stories , histories and maps to get lost in, An Atlas of Afterlives is a truly unforgettable departure from our everyday lives into the depths of world mythology, exploring a fundamental question in an accessible, respectful and totally unique way. This lavish volume will fire the imaginations of curious explorers aged 9-12 keen for a glimpse of what lies beyond.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: Remember Emily Hawkins? Her effort regarding mythical kingdoms led me to look for, and forward to, this beautiful looking item:

The artist, Manasawee Rojanaphan, has a great design sense and a broad imagination. This is some of what is covered:

The careful effort to present the world's thinking about the thing that happens after we die is admirable; the clarity and concision of the stories; the sensitive artwork that invites close and sustained examination, all add up to much more than just the sum of the pretty parts.

Your curious folklore and mythology-loving tween will enjoy it as an aesthetic object, as will any teens still (re)reading the many modern takes on mythology. It is a useful reference book for the grade-school set. It wouldn't look too terrible on Grandpa's hearthside reading chair, either. All ages can find some appreciation for its facets; the hallmark of a truly well-made and -thought-through book.

AN ATLAS OF LOST KINGDOMS: Discover Mythical Lands, Lost Cities and Vanished Islands, perfect for your tween lover of fantasy lands

AN ATLAS OF LOST KINGDOMS: Discover Mythical Lands, Lost Cities and Vanished Islands
EMILY HAWKINS (illus. Lauren Mark Baldo)
Wide Eyed Editions
$30.00 hardcover, available now

Rating: 5* of five

The Publisher Says: Shortlisted for Children's Travel Book of the Year, Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards 2023

On this quest around the world, you will discover lost kingdoms, phantom islands, and even legendary continents once sought by explorers but now believed to be mythical.

For centuries, people have dreamed of finding the lost worlds of Atlantis, El Dorado, and the Seven Cities of Gold. As well as shedding light on these famously elusive places, this atlas contains maps and captivating illustrations to illuminate lesser-known destinations, from the lost island of Hy-Brasil to the desert city of Zerzura. You will learn about rich mythologies from different cultures, from the Aztecs to the ancient Britons, from the Greek legends to Japanese folklore.

Most of the places in this book have never been found, but within these pages you will succeed where the adventurers of the past were thwarted. Learn about ancient maps, age-old manuscripts, and cryptic carvings that reveal clues to the whereabouts of these lost kingdoms. The journey will transport you to thoroughly other-worldly places.

From Emily Hawkins—New York Times bestselling author of Oceanology—comes this whimsical blend of myth and history, fact and fantasy. This lavish volume will fire the imaginations of young adventurers everywhere.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: I was a nerdy kid. Unclutch your pearls, Mary, it's true: I read the Encyclopedia Britannica (1944 edition) the year I was ten. I woulda KILLED for this book back then. It's beautiful:

..and designed in such a way that the graphic-novel/videogame generations will grasp its import immediately. Like any good encyclopedia, my childhood one was stuffed with legends and myths presented in the driest, most academic way possible. This made me more curious than ever to find art that matched, or explained, these places. I think kids now will feel the same way about stories of Ys and Hy-Brasil and Eldorado.

Author Hawkins has the giant gift of being able to make stories concise and still replete with excitement and discovery. Because times have moved on from my Britannica-reading days, I learned more about Ile-Ife than I did back when:

...and am now inspired to look deeper into Yoruba folktales and memories. The inclusion of stories from African cultures is a sign of why I like the way the world is, broadly, headed. More stories and different ones for us all, can only lessen the fear and suspicion that the nattering nabobs of negativism spew at us from every news site.

Even King Arthur, he of Camelot fame, knew the power of spin to change the world.

Anyone on your Booksgiving list who loves the stories and legends of Days of Yore, who has a sensawunda for the imaginary mindscapes of our ancestors, or just love looking at fantastic fantasy-themed art, deserves this to unwrap and savor with the sweet, hot cocoa under the Yule tree.