Charles De Lint Books In Order

Publication Order of Moonheart Books

Publication Order of Cerin Songweaver Books

Publication Order of Jack of Kinrowan Books

Publication Order of Philip Jose Farmer's The Dungeon Books

Publication Order of Dragonflight Books

Publication Order of Newford Books

Publication Order of Brian Froud's Faerielands Books

Publication Order of Wildlings Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Short Story Collections

Publication Order of Picture Books

Publication Order of Chapter Books

Publication Order of Author's Choice Monthly Books

Publication Order of Year's Best Fantasy Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Charles De Lint is a Canadian Writer born in 1951. De Lint grew popular in the 1980s alongside writers like Emma Bull and John Crowley, riding on the coattails of the rising interest in urban fantasy.

The author has made a name for himself working with magical realism and mythical fiction.

+Biography

Charles De Lint was born in the Netherlands. He was four months old when his family immigrated to Canada. The author’s writing career begun in 1983; he has published several dozen books since.

Working primarily within the arena of contemporary fantasy, Charles De Lint’s work combines the real world with the fantastical, crafting settings within which the natural and supernatural co-exist.

The author often relies on North American Aboriginal Culture to generate ideas for his stories, though he has also found inspiration within other cultures and myths such as Welsh Folklore.

Charles De Lint initially favored Ottawa as a setting during his earlier days. Later on, he began to favor North America, creating fictional cities using those aspects of North American city life that piqued his interest.

While Charles De Lint is primarily known for his novels, the author has also written novellas, poetry, and lyrics. He is most popularly known for The Newford series of books. Novels like Moonheart have also attracted considerable interest.

De Lint’s penchant for drawing upon American and European Folklore to create his stories probably harkens back to all the writers that influenced him and who also favored American and European Folklore as sources of inspiration, these including William Morris, E.R Eddison, and J.R.R Tolkien.

Besides writing fictional content, Charles De Lint is also an essayist and critic, having written a number of reviews for The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. People might also recognize him as one of the judges of the Nebula Award and Theodore Sturgeon Award.

The author has also made a name for himself teaching creative Workshops in Canada and the United States.

Not many people know of De Lint’s passion for music. Along with his wife MaryAnn, De Lint is proficient with a number of instruments. He also sings and writes music. The couple’s Irish and Celtic music has a loyal audience.

Charles De Lint’s lengthy career is best understood through the numerous awards he has won over the last several years, this including the 2000 World Fantasy Award, the Ontario Library Association’s White Pine Award and the Canadian SF/Fantasy Award to mention but a few.

Novels like The Painted Boy, The Mystery of Grace and The Blue Girl have received particular acclaim, earning Charles De Lint fans from all over the world.

A lot of people do not really know how to describe De Lint and his work, mostly because he seems to play in a variety of sandboxes, exceeding expectations as a detective mystery writer even while succeeding as a thriller novelist and a writer of otherworld mythic fantasy.

Charles De Lint’s ability to bring so many story facets together is masterful.

+Moonheart

Upon encountering seemingly ordinary artifacts, Sara and Jamie find that they are being called to dim and distant places filled with mists, forests, ancient magics, mythical beings and great evil.

Accompanied by an eclectic group, some friends and others enemies, from Keiran the Folk Musician to Blue the Biker, Sara and Jamie will discover adventure when they answer the call to traverse the portals of Tamson house.

Moonheart straddles this world as well as the other, sweeping from ancient Wales to the Streets of Ottawa today. Sara and Jamie are caught up in a tale they do not understand, where true magic reigns and fey people walk beyond the shadows of the moon.

Moonheart is a fresh and original urban fantasy. If you are looking for great settings and a rich, well-crafted cast of characters traversing a multi-layered plot, then Moonheart is the novel for you.

Charles De Lint is clearly drawing upon Celtic Folklore, though one cannot ignore the North American Indian myths that keep creeping through, possibly even intertwining with the foundation of the story.

One rarely encounters Native American/Celtic Lore in fantasy today. The story of Moonheart switches between the real world and the otherworld’. The otherworld is a land of magic, where legendary creatures walk and magic is real. As one might expect, the plot revolves around an epic battle between good and evil, though Charles De Lint gives his readers a lot to learn about the myths and legends of different cultures.

You feel the admiration that De Lint seems to have for Native American culture, in particular, this making his settings and concepts so much more vivid.

Moonheart is by no means perfect. But there is enough good to hide the bad; the book is well written and weird enough to appeal to a variety of readers.

+The Little Country

Finding a mysterious manuscript in her grandfather’s cottage changes Janey Little’s world as she is swept into a strange realm where true magic lurks and danger waits.

Only Janey’s music will protect her from a terrifying confrontation.

The Little country is magical, that much cannot be denied. Charles De Lint writes like no other author, using his extensive knowledge of music to craft this delightful tale that seeks to educate readers about Celtic Music.

When The Little Country came out in 1991, Urban Fantasy was hardly a trend. As such, it is easy to see why so many people would gravitate towards this book which, unlike many of Charles De Lint’s other novels, is set in Cornwall, England rather than Ottawa.

There are facets of the story that reach back into the 19th Century. The mythical and realistic elements blend together almost perfectly, De Lint tackling concepts of redemption and the confronting of one’s past.

While the supernatural plays an important role in the book, De Lint chooses to hide it in the beginning, allowing readers to engage with the thriller aspects of this book. If you love Celtic music, then The Little Country will delight you.

Even if you do not care about music in any capacity, this is the sort of unique novel that will appeal to everyone.

Charles de Lint is Canadian writer with Dutch origins best known for his urban fantasy novels. He was born in 1951 in the Netherlands but immigrated to Canada with his family when he was only four months old. Charles de Lint is a well-known author who has contributed greatly to the contemporary fantasy genre with top-notch books that continue to thrill readers worldwide. He was one of the contributors to Flying Buffalo’s book supplement titled, Mercenaries, Spies & Private Eyes, Citybook II. His interest in books started at an early age but it was in 1983 that Charles started writing as a full-time career. He used the pseudonym Samuel M. Key on some of his early books, most of which have been reprinted as by writer Charles de Lint. In most of his books, de Lint combines the real world settings with the “otherworld” fantasy ideas allowing for a co-existence of both natural and supernatural forces. He giftedly uses the folklore of world cultures to infuse the ideas to modern contemporary city way of life in a natural way. Charles de Lint is married to the Canadian artist, MaryAnn Harris.

Books Written by Charles de Lint

De Lint has written a number of bestselling books, some of which have won him awards. He is most notably known for the urban fantasy Moonheart book and the Newford series. The first book in the Newford series was written by de Lint in 1993 with subsequent editions following in the later years. De lint is also an author of several short stories and novels. Some of his short stories include Ascian in Rose (1986) and Westlin Wind (1989). Novels such as the Riddle of the Wren (1984), Angel of Darkness (1990) and The Little Country (1991) were written by de Lint during his heydays as an elite author in the 80s and 90s. Some of his books in the 21st century include an adult novel, The Mystery of Grace (2009) and The Painted Boy (2010). Here is a short description of two of his early books in the Newford Series.

Dreams Underfoot (1993)

Dreams Underfoot is part of the Newford book series by author de Lint that combines supernatural powers with the natural powers to provide a classic urban fantasy writing that you are most likely to enjoy reading. The book re-establishes the ancient myths and magic to the modern world. The story revolves around the lives of two main characters, Jilly Coppercorn and Geordie Riddell. Another character, the Angel of Grasso Street is also significantly mentioned in the successive chapters of the book. Readers are taken into a world of fantasy where supernatural powers dominant in ancient myths take control over the modern world of music clubs and alleyways. Jilly, a painter in the rough city streets and Geordie, who dreams of a ghost but plays fiddle, help in bring realism to a story that is otherwise full of imaginative mermaids, Gemmins and skells. De Lint successfully captures your imagination in Dreams Underfoot and for a moment, you will find yourself caught up in an illusory world almost believing the existence of the supernatural powers in real life as the main characters in the book move from one scene to another. Dreams Underfoot (1993) by de Lint is a classic that deserves a place in the most revered echelons of urban fantasy genre books.

The Onion Girl (2001)

The story of Jilly Coppercorn, the main character in the Newford series continues in The Onion Girl, published in 2001, and rated as one of the best books by de Lint. Jilly, a painter who was regularly abused by her brother as a child is in love with a longtime friend, Geordie, but the two have never recognized or approved it. The Onion Girl traverses the world of these two main characters and that of others surrounding them. Readers get to know about Sophie, Jilly’s friend who can successfully dream her mind and soul into the world of spirits and has even established a city called Mabon there and can visit at any given time. Jilly discovers that she can also successfully dream herself, without moving the physical body, to the spiritual world just like her long-time friend Sophie after getting involved in an accident that paralyzes her right side. A version of herself, dream version, actually traverses the spiritual world while the physical body remains bedridden in the hospital. Her art studio is vandalized and her friends repeatedly see a woman looking like Jilly walking on the streets. The mystery about Jilly’s past is unraveled in the book in a flashback. Readers get to find out how she was repeatedly abused by her brother known as Del and how she finally go to run away from home. The story continues with how Jilly was fund on the streets by Lou, a cop and rehabilitated to become the person she was at present. Back at the hospital, Jilly and her friend Sophie come into the realization that they can actually share their dreams and escapades in the fantasy world. Raylene, Jilly’s younger sister takes the center stage of most of the subsequent chapters in the book and the story ends as crow girls in the fantasy world visit Jilly Coppercorn and tell her that her paralysis condition cannot be cured yet but give her crow feathers so as to always call them anytime she needs them. De Lint’s mastery in storytelling is greatly revealed in The Onion Girl, a book that successfully intertwines supernatural powers to the modern way of life.

Charles de Lint Awards

De Lint’s Moonlight and Vines won the 2000 World Fantasy Award for Best Collection. His young adult novel, The Blue Girl (2004) won the Great Lakes Great Books Award and in 2006, his novel, Widdershins won first place on Amazon.com editor’s Picks: Top 10 Science Fiction & Fantasy Books of 2006. De Lint has written books that have surely changed the way of life of thousands of his close followers and hence the reason why he has been nominated and at times won a lot of awards over the years.

One Response to “Charles De Lint”

1. randy: 8 years ago

   looking for a fantasy novel from the late 80’s or 90’s that could be part of de lint’s sprit walk, but includes a tale of a young man who serially falls in love and seduces a number of young women then becomes a carp and lives out his life in a pond. Is this in spirit walk or is it part of another novel?

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