Thomas Burnett Swann’s Where Is the Bird of Fire? (1970) is the author's second (and final) story collection, bringing together three works of short fiction from 1962–1970, including the Hugo-nominated title story.
Author: sonofsagan
The Forgotten Fantasies of Thomas Burnett Swann: A Reader’s Introduction
My guide to the work of fantasy author Thomas Burnett Swann (1928-1976), with links to my essays about every novel and short story collection, as well as other resources for curious readers, critics, and scholars.
Reading “The Dolphin and the Deep” by Thomas Burnett Swann
Thomas Burnett Swann’s The Dolphin and the Deep (1968) is the author's first story collection, bringing together three of his earlier (and uneven but ambitious) works of short fiction from 1963–1966.
Reading “Dinotopia: A Land Apart from Time” by James Gurney (Dinotopia 1)
James Gurney's Dinotopia: A Land Apart from Time (1992) is an incredible illustrated utopian novel of an adventurer's arrival and education in a land where dinosaurs and humans live side-by-side in harmony. And it fucking rules!
Ballantine Adult Fantasy: Reading “The King of Elfland’s Daughter” by Lord Dunsany
The thirteenth essay in my Ballantine Adult Fantasy reading series, which looks at Lord Dunsany's The King of Elfland's Daughter (1924), a fairy tale mixed with a heroic romance that offers a cautionary tale of what happens when you invite magic in.
Reading “Cry Silver Bells” by Thomas Burnett Swann
Thomas Burnett Swann’s Cry Silver Bells (1977), the author's sixteenth and final novel, returns to the Country of the Beasts on Crete and tells the tragic story of the Minotaur Silver Bells.
Reading “Queens Walk in the Dusk” by Thomas Burnett Swann
Thomas Burnett Swann’s Queens Walk in the Dusk (1976) is the author's fifteenth and only hardcover novel, which retells the melancholy, tragic story of Aeneas and Dido's ill-timed love.
Reading “The Gods Abide” by Thomas Burnett Swann
Thomas Burnett Swann’s The Gods Abide (1976) is the author's fourteenth novel and explores the violence of the rise of Christianity in Roman Italia and Britannia.
Reading “The Minikins of Yam” by Thomas Burnett Swann
Thomas Burnett Swann’s The Minkins of Yam (1976) is the author's eleventh novel, is set four thousand years ago in pharaonic Egypt, and is one of his weaker novels charting the "secret history" of the prehumans.
Ballantine Adult Fantasy: Reading “The Blue Star” by Fletcher Pratt
The twelfth essay in my Ballantine Adult Fantasy reading series, which looks at Fletcher Pratt's The Blue Star (1952), an impressive, short novel of "rational" fantasy about power, gender, and why you should not cheat on your witch girlfriend.
Genre Fantasies 