Where Desert Spirits Crowd the Night

I felt echos of Terry Windling's Wood Wife, but that's probably because both stories are set in the American southwest, both enter into the local spiritual world and its resident pneumas. Mister de Lint puts his own spin on the elementals and how they interact with us.Satisfying.

Creative, wise and believable story telling about the worlds we cannot see . I love Charles de lints writing and plan to read everything he has written!

Sophie Etoile, is an artist and a dreamer whose dreams take her into the the otherworlds--or one particular otherworld, Mabon, where among other charms is found the bookstore run by Mr. Truepenny, and where she meets her good friend, Jeck Crow. Or at least, that's where her dreams usually take her.One night, she hears flute music, and steps out the back door of the bookstore, expecting to find herself in the alley behind the store. Instead, she's in the desert of the American southwest--and the bookstore, and the door back into it, are gone.What, or rather who, she meets here are spirits of the southwestern desert, except for Nokomis, also called Grandmother, a spirit of the Kickaha tribe that lives much further east, in the area of the city of Newford, where Sophie lives. Nokomis tells her she can't get out of this dreamworld until she finds the reason that she's here, and than only Coyote or Kokopelli, another spirit who plays the medicine flute, can help her.She goes walking through the desert, and meets Coyote, and when he can't help directly, asks him to help her find Kokopelli. This leads to walking through the desert with Coyote, who can be charming and fun, but also very frustrating. Sophie just wants out of this dreamplace, and when she wakes up in her own bed in the morning, she's relieved.The following night, she's back in the desert.Meanwhile, in the waking world, she's had a show, and met Max, a gay man grieving his recent deceased partner. They become friends, and she learns about his late partner, Peter, and about Max's own art, in the form of sculpture. She comes to suspect that one of the partners is not ready to let the other go, and she's trapped in a dreamworld meant for Max.Or maybe she's not.This is a gentle, thoughtful novella, about recognizing and embracing your own truth.Recommended.I bought this book.

A classic DeLint novella. Empathic and mystical.

Not a lot of bite in this one. More like a mango drink. Perfect for Mango-lovers, though. Give it a try.

It seems I’ve been reading de Lint my whole life, but I didn’t get out of Newford til I realized I hadn’t visited his world for years. Somehow I found his ebooks and I’m so happy to be going there again. The Desert of the Southwest has been a favorite place of mine before reading this book, which has de Lint’s light touch with the world of spirits consensually unseen. The mood of this one is contemplative and the “action” takes place mostly in a seeker’s dream journey, which I look forward to continuing.Highly recommended

All the characters in her dream world were her helpers to guide her, but not to give answers. The book is well written and we could all learn from this book. I for one enjoyed this story and recommend this book.

Just the sort of little meander through myth and mystery I needed tonight. Love Sophie, Coyote and all of de Lint's work!

Mr Lint is a favourite writer of mine, loved his books.My mistake here lay in not realizing that this is a novella all of 64 pages long. For close to £7. I deeply regret not returning the book straight away as it is not worth the money. The story is nice, but still not good enough to warrant that sort of expense.If you are an absolute fan, do buy it. Otherwise... keep on browsing.

The descriptive imagery in the story is a fabulous as it always is with a Charles Dr Lint book. He has a wonderful way of bringing myths to life in a real world setting. Have you ever wanted to walk a Spirit Quest in the Desert? This book takes you on one.

not a great deal of substance and not worth the money. never thought i'de say that about a de lint book

As I have read all that I can by Charles De Lint it was wonderful to meet up with characters from Newford again. Loved the story and will look out for more being available.

A gift to my daughter and she loved it.