We all know about fairies—they're usually helpful, ethereal creatures in children's stories and Walt Disney films, flitting about doing good, right? Wrong! In ancient times, the concept of fairies was rather different. They were the often-dangerous embodiment of the land, dark and unpredictable spirits that watched Humanity with a jaundiced and hostile eye. And, according to conventional folk wisdom, they were to be feared rather than trusted. Indeed, in their original form, many of our "fairy tales" read more like late-night horror stories. Dr. Bob Curran investigates the folkloric roots of the fairy kind, tracing their origins from the sprites and maenads of Classical times to the sanitized versions of the English Victorians. Among other aspects, he examines the connections in the Christian mind between the fairy kind and demons; the links between fairies and ancient, pagan gods; and the often-strained relations between fairies and humans across the ages. This is not a book for those who believe that fairies are friendly, kindly creatures. With the growing and anticipated interest in fairies—particularly given the forthcoming Disney film Wings, starring Miley Cyrus—Dark Fairies is a timely and valuable new title.

Discover the wild and wonderful creatures of Thra in this guide to the flora and fauna of the Dark Crystal universe featuring remarkable original illustrations. In a world where rocks talk and trees dispense wisdom from across the ages, anything is possible. The Dark Crystal Bestiary is a comprehensive volume that catalogs the many lifeforms of Thra’s unique ecosystem. Drawing from all aspects of the Dark Crystal saga’s universe, this book is visually dazzling and filled with enthralling information about all of Thra’s lifeforms, making it the definitive guide to a world of wonders. • Own the most comprehensive guide to the Dark Crystal universe: This book showcases fauna from all corners of Thra, from the vile Skeksis and their noble counterparts, the Mystics, to a whole cornucopia of amazing creatures and critters, including Landstriders, Garthim, Peeper Beetles, Fizzgigs, Pluff’m, and many more fan favorites. • Over 200 fantasy illustrations: Featuring all-new illustrations by Iris Compiet, a protégé of the original Dark Crystal concept artist, Brian Froud, this book will show you the world of Thra as you’ve never seen it before. • Learn about the world of Thra: The Dark Crystal Bestiary is packed with lore, drawing information from the original film, the hit Netflix show The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, comic books, and novels. • An epic addition to your home library: Great for fantasy lovers, The Dark Crystal Bestiary will be a perfect addition to your bookshelf or coffee table.

At the Bottom of the Garden is a history of fairies from the ancient world to the present. Steeped in folklore and fantasy, it is a rich and diverse account of the part that fairies and fairy stories have played in culture and society. The pretty pastel world of gauzy-winged things who grant wishes and make dreams come true—as brought to you by Disney's fairies flitting across a woodland glade, or Tinkerbell’s magic wand—is predated by a darker, denser world of gorgons, goblins, and gellos; the ancient antecedents of Shakespeare's mischievous Puck or J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan. For, as Diane Purkiss explains in this engrossing history, ancient fairies were born of fear: fear of the dark, of death, and of other great rites of passage, birth and sex. To understand the importance of these early fairies to pre-industrial peoples, we need to recover that sense of dread. This book begins with the earliest manifestations of fairies in ancient civilizations of the Mediterranean. The child-killing demons and nymphs of these cultures are the joint ancestors of the medieval fairies of northern Europe, when fairy figures provided a bridge between the secular and the sacred. Fairies abducted babies and virgins, spirited away young men who were seduced by fairy queens and remained suspended in liminal states. Tamed by Shakespeare's view of the spirit world, Victorian fairies fluttered across the theater stage and the pages of children's books to reappear a century later as detergent trade marks and alien abductors. In learning about these often strange and mysterious creatures, we learn something about ourselves—our fears and our desires.

Edited by David Larkin. Two talented artists explore the world of faeries in myths, legends, and folklore.

Let me tell you about Faeries, let me take you away on a journey, an adventure. The Faultlines is an ancient name given to those places where the veil between this world and the Other is thinnest. It is the place where faeries dwell, creatures creep, and magic oozes through the cracks. Recently the Faultlines have been stirring, opening up to all who wish to see, and to all who dare to venture... Faeries of the Faultlines was an instant Kickstarter success in 2017, and this edited, expanded edition includes the complete original documentation from the greenmen to mermaids, with expanded sections and many more faeries to meet! "Iris Compiet's work is an astonishing and masterful revelation of the Faery Realms. She is an artist who, with stunning alacrity, reveals the fleeting personalities of the normally unseen." --Brian Froud "Iris summons and draws upon the forces that are necessary in giving life to such creatures--imagination, an intelligent curiosity, and a relentless energy. The Faeries are lucky to have her!" --Alan Lee "I have known Iris for many years. I have watched her find her voice. I am enchanted by her vision." --John Howe

Don’t be fooled by Tinkerbell and her pixie dust—the real fairies were dangerous. In the late seventeenth century, they could still scare people to death. Little wonder, as they were thought to be descended from the Fallen Angels and to have the power to destroy the world itself. Despite their modern image as gauzy playmates, fairies caused ordinary people to flee their homes out of fear, to revere fairy trees and paths, and to abuse or even kill infants or adults held to be fairy changelings. Such beliefs, along with some remarkably detailed sightings, lingered on in places well into the twentieth century. Often associated with witchcraft and black magic, fairies were also closely involved with reports of ghosts and poltergeists. In literature and art, the fairies still retained this edge of danger. From the wild magic of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, through the dark glamour of Keats, Christina Rosetti’s improbably erotic poem “Goblin Market,” or the paintings inspired by opium dreams, the amoral otherness of the fairies ran side-by-side with the newly delicate or feminized creations of the Victorian world. In the past thirty years, the enduring link between fairies and nature has been robustly exploited by eco-warriors and conservationists, from Ireland to Iceland. As changeable as changelings themselves, fairies have transformed over time like no other supernatural beings. And in this book, Richard Sugg tells the story of how the fairies went from terror to Tink.

Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark: Blackwood’s Guide to Dangerous Fairies is a dark and disturbing illustrated novel based on the world of Guillermo del Toro’s film “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark.” Taking place a hundred years before the movie begins, the book chronicles the travels and explorations of Emerson Blackwood, a young and ambitious natural scientist who quickly discovers there is a mysterious world beyond what his education and peers understand. Follow Blackwood as he travels, discovering more and more about this secret world and the creatures that inhabit it -- creatures that Blackwood quickly realizes are just as interested in him as he is in them, particularly a long-lived and dangerous group of beings that have had centuries of encounters with humanity, creatures that live by eating enamel and bone.... The book, co-written by del Toro and the award-winning Christopher Golden, features illustrations by the director of “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark,” Troy Nixey.

Enchanting and haunting fairies abound in this gorgeous coloring book. From the shadows of enchanted forests to the moonlit mountains in far-off lands, the 45 fairies in this intricate coloring book are sure to leave a lasting impression. Detailed line art of macabre but beautiful fairies—including vampires, mermaids, and more otherworldly incarnations—are done in a manga-influenced style, making the art appealing to a wide range of colorists. The haunting fairies in this book are inspired by both Eastern and Western folklore, providing a magnificent variety of themes, settings, and opportunities to connect with legendary beings from across the world.

In the age of fairies, Linwae is the sole survivor of a lost water fairy race and she narrates you through an extraordinary journey of how Princess Ethinia of the ice fairies and Prince Ardian of the fire fairies find each other, fall in love and then learn that their two opposite worlds can coexist; but they also realize that their love will also cause a war between the ice and fire fairies. Linwae has envisioned this fairy tale in a dream and she writes down her visions in this book that accurately shows the future. Since these visions haven't all happened yet, she can only call this her story about two fairies who will determine the fate of their races. They have the power to recreate a lost race of water fairies, but at what cost? Hopefully, they won't suffer the same fate that the water fairies did and will make the right decision. They will have to make the biggest choice of their young lives... love for each other or life for their civilizations

Patrick and Sophie Obrien were direct descendants of a cursed family when the tales of Fairies were very much real and feared among many Irish families abroad. Since Patrick and Sophie only knew of the tales that were told by their parents and were not directly affected by the superstitions, they didn't believe in any of them. Patrick and Sophie would joke at times about the evil fairies that lived in the forts just miles from where they lived. The children's father would tell bedtime stories to their three children Seamus, Niall, and Aine. The children often had nightmares about fairies taking their souls and coming back as a changeling to torment their family then dying shortly thereafter with their parents never realizing that it wasn't their child. As the children got a little older their fear of fairies seemed to fade. One day the children got the courage to take a trip to the fairy fort to put their fears to rest about these evil fairy tales their parents gave them when they were too young to distinguish between fantasy and reality. Seamus was the older of the three children and the bravest so it was evident that he would be the one to lead them through the evil fairies fort. Aine was the youngest and the most frightened but she knew her older brothers would take good care to not let anything harm her. The children proceeded to sneak out of the house when their mother Sophie stopped them dead in their tracks and said "Where do you children think you're going." The children replied, "To ride our bikes through the trails and we'll make sure we get back before sundown." The mother said, "Please be careful and you better all be back for dinner." Seamus said, "Don't worry Mum we'll be right on time for dinner that's a promise." "Okay, now hurry along, I've made cookies and hot apple pie for dessert," said Sophie. The children got on their bikes peddled into the woods and waited for their mother to go inside the house. Seamus said, "Think the coast is clear." So, they quietly pushed their bikes back out of the woods to the side of their house and one by one slowly rode their bikes to the street and took off as fast as they could pedal down the road to the evil fairies fort. Finally, after about an hour of riding down the road, they reached their destiny, the evil fairy fort. "There is such a place said Niall. "Look at this place, it is creepy looking, I wouldn't want to live here," said Aine. "Well since we're here who wants to go in first," said Seamus. "I do," said Niall. Niall entered the fort and immediately felt like he was being watched by someone other than his sister and brother. "Is anyone feeling what I'm feeling right now said Niall." Aine and Seamus laughed at Niall. "All I feel is a cool breeze, nothing unusual," said Seamus. Aine said, "Niall don't talk like that, You know I scare very easily." "No, I'm not kidding I felt like someone watching me," said Niall. "I want to go home!" cried Aine. "Oh, it's probably nothing let's just stick close together and not separate from one another," said Seamus. Seamus said, "I don't believe this is a fairy fort." Seamus found a metal pipe and started shouting and swinging his metal pipe with great force, desecrating the evil fairy fort. Seamus was in for a big surprise, each swing of the metal pipe against the fort just angered the fairies even more. The fairies had seen enough and it was time to teach these kids a lesson that would be their last. All of a sudden there was a blinding light so bright it lit up the whole fort. The children couldn't find their way out and they were frozen with fear. All the children could hear was the evil fairy's voice telling them their souls were being taken right before their very eyes and when they returned to their home they would have changed.