The language can't sustain the book's dreamlike qualities, and its few bright flourishes get buried. But the elements just never come together readers may not understand the deeper meanings, because -perhaps-there aren't any. Yolen could have been writing a meditation on the genre by trying to evoke the actual experience of reading a fantastic mystical work and the work could have been a presentation of classic symbols in a sort of visionary hieroglyph that would speak to readers directly, unburdened by a conventional narrative. Readers drift through an evocative netherworld, as if the traditions and symbols of this literature are in themselves, enough. There are no real relationships presented each character seems to wander alone through the mists, trying to figure out what is happening in this sad and lonely work.

All the elements of epic fantasy are present: good and evil, darkness and light, a black knight, young hero, castle, creatures. Yolen strips the genre down to the bare bones. The story concerns two boys, Jerold and Gerund, who exist in parallel realities and become pawns in an evil knight's quest. we humans build the future on such dreams.A gruesome fantasy, as cold and disturbing as a blood-stained suit of armor in a field of wildflowers. As Yolen writes, ''Stories are not just recordings. Feuding mobsters get more than they bargained for in ''Under the Hill,'' which Yolen playfully describes as ''Damon Runyon meets the elves.'' ''Blood Sister,'' ''The Traveler and the Tale'' and ''Speaking to the Wind'' echo older themes from Ursula Le Guin's work, but the powerful title story, which also won a Nebula, closes this collection on high notes of originality, creativity and hope. Henry's Christmas classic with a cautionary tale of Beauty and the Beast. The ignorance of anti-Semitism brings tragedy to characters in ''Granny Rumple'' and ''Sister Death.'' Meanwhile, ''The Gift of the Magicians, with Apologies to You Know Who'' merges O. The revisionist Snow White of ''Snow in Summer'' defeats her wicked, snake-handling stepmother with her own wits-no need for any prince. The Nebula-winning ''Lost Girls,'' for example, turns the familiar story of Peter Pan into a feminist revolt. Yolen has a particular knack for redaction, finding new resonance by retelling old folk stories from novel points of view.

Three of the 28 entries here are new, and all draw deeply from themes of justice and independence, while typically spurning traditional sentimentality in favor of clear-eyed, sometimes grim realism.

Although Yolen (The One-Armed Queen) has published a great deal of acclaimed SF and fantasy (and children's fiction), this is her first collection of genre stories for adults-and it has been worth the wait.

The wild hunt jane yolen