Believing Is Seeing: Seven Stories - Hardcover

Jones, Diana Wynne

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0688168434 ISBN 13: 9780688168438

Publisher: Greenwillow Books, 1999

Synopsis

Believing is seeing, as the title of this outstanding collection of fantasies proclaims. And reading is seeing more than you've ever imagined when in the masterful hands of acclaimed author Diana Wynne Jones. Here are seven tales -- seven doorways to bizarre, yet strangely familiar worlds -- to transport one and all. In these worlds are a child born to an ordered society but preordained to spread Dissolution...a girl who so loves the sun that she renounces her humanity for eternity...a cat and a boy, held captive by an evil magician until they can find a bigger magic of their own...a woman imprisoned in a strange country dominated by three ravenous wolves...and many other characters and stories just as exceptional. These richly drawn, razor-sharp stories showcase the skills and sheer narrative power of one of the most esteemed fantasy writers of our time.

About this title

About the Author

In a career spanning four decades, award-winning author Diana Wynne Jones (1934‒2011) wrote more than forty books of fantasy for young readers. Characterized by magic, multiple universes, witches and wizards—and a charismatic nine-lived enchanter—her books are filled with unlimited imagination, dazzling plots, and an effervescent sense of humor that earned her legendary status in the world of fantasy.

From Kirkus Reviews

A variety of stories from Jonessome of which have appeared in other volumes in the US and/or the UKhave been newly gathered into this offering, certain to lure fans of the supernatural. The one entirely new story portrays Anne Smith, a girl in bed with mumps. To pass the time she dreams up ``Enna Hittims,'' a tiny out-of-control superheroine who attacks her own creator and ends up squashed. The other stories, products of a supremely quirky imagination, certainly deserve a new showing. In ``The Sage of Theare,'' a boy finds himself by stalking his own future. Jones tackles Greek myths in ``The Girl Who Loved the Sun,'' an exploration of a girl who decides to turn into a tree. In ``What the Cat Told Me,'' cat lovers will enjoy learning the history of a rather older-than-normal kitty who used her wiles to escape an evil magician. The remaining tales are ``The Master,'' ``Dragon Reserve, Home Eight,'' and the typographically-inspired ``nad and Dan adn Quaffy.'' Those who have a few of these stories collected elsewhere may balk at the purchase, but others will relish the stories. The intriguing introduction illuminates the author's methodology, including a written admission that she finds ideas everywhere, even in typos. (Fiction. 12-14) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Greenwillow Books
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0688168434
• ISBN 13: 9780688168438
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 176