Joey Madia, New Mystics Reviews

   (M. Schmidt Productions, 2022). ISBN: 978-0-578-32451-7 There is an encouraging trend I am seeing as of late where children’s book authors are using the Heroes and Dragons fantasy subgenre to introduce young people to social justice and health and safety issues. From Stranger Danger to desirable emotional and personality traits using D&D-type formats, the magic and wonder of this subgenre are helping to create a more peaceful world. Given the popularity of movies and television shows that exploit this subgenre primarily to promote violence and sex, this is an encouraging counterbalance. In the case of Davy’s Dragon Castle , the hero of the story is a dragon who—going against popular and longstanding conventions—doesn’t attack a castle, but lives in one, along with his wife Lily and their children. Sitting in an idyllic, North Pole–like setting, the castle is the centerpiece of the town. It is so important to the daily life of the citizens that the town is called ...

  (Brentwood, TN: CamCat Publishing, camcatpublishing.com, 2022). ISBN: 9780744304510 Along with abandoned castles, caves, and ancient forests, cornfields are immediately evocative of horror. Images of a pair of gloved hands pulling someone unexpectedly into high corn (something I filmed last autumn for one of my projects), the rats in the corn in Stephen King’s The Stand , scarecrows, and of course King’s Children of the Corn all bring a chill to the spine.   Then there are the entities known as faeries, which are not the cute little sprites that fill the pages of children’s books. Even Tinkerbell, before she was Disney-fied, kills Wendy in JM Barrie’s Peter Pan because she is jealous of her affection for Peter. Faery and UFO lore have significant overlaps (a fact touched on in this story) and the idea of parallel dimensions and the elements that make up a good faerie story—don’t eat the food, don’t invade their space, the exchanging of a human baby with a Changeling, b...