RETURNING MY SISTER’S FACE AND OTHER FAR EASTERN TALES OF WHIMSY AND MALICE

Enchantment, peril, and romance pervade the shadowy Far East, from the elegant throne room of the emperor’s palace to the humble teahouse of a peasant village. In these dozen stories of adventure and magic from the Orient, a maiden encounters an oni demon in the forest, a bride discovers her mother-in-law is a fox woman, a samurai must appease his sister’s angry ghost, strange luck is found in a jade locket, and dark and light are two sides of harmony.

Introduction by Vonda N. McIntyre.

Table of Contents:
  1. Daughter of Bótù
  2. The Tiger Fortune Princess
  3. A Thread of Silk
  4. The Snow Woman’s Daughter
  5. The Tanuki-Kettle
  6. Honor is a Game Mortals Play
  7. The Raven’s Brocade
  8. Shim Chung the Lotus Queen
  9. The Tears of My Mother, the Shell of My Father
  10. Year of the Fox
  11. The Archer of the Sun and the Lady of the Moon (listen to me read this story)
  12. Returning My Sister’s Face

212 pages
Hardcover (March 2009): $23.95 (£16.00)
ISBN-10: 1-60762-010-3
ISBN-13: 978-1-60762-010-5

Trade paperback (July 2009): $11.95 (£9.00)
ISBN-10: 1-60762-011-1
ISBN-13: 978-1-60762-011-2

Press release

Whimsy and malice—yes—also mystery, a very female sensuality, and wit. An elegant and entertaining book.
—Ursula K. Le Guin, Hugo, Nebula, Pushcart, and Newbery Award-winning author.

The tales are beautifully written, elegant, passionate, funny and moving. The entire collection is a delightful, magical bridge across cultures. I hope many readers find their way to it.
—Patricia A. McKillip, Locus, World Fantasy Best Novel, and World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement Award-winning author.

Noted short story author Foster offers a dozen enchanting and sometimes chilling tales alive with elegantly sketched characters and sensibilities drawn from Asian folklore…Readers who long for a break from European medieval fantasy will be charmed and entertained by Foster’s tales.
—Publishers Weekly

Up till now, fans of Eugie Foster’s clever, crystalline fairy tales, drawn from Chinese and Japanese mythology, had to seek out single instances of her stories in various magazines and anthologies. However, with the March publication of Returning My Sister’s Face: And Other Far Eastern Tales of Whimsy and Malice, old aficionados can relish 12 of her tales all in one place…I wholeheartedly recommend this collection of tender and well-written stories.
—Elizabeth A. Allen, The Fix

In this elegant collection of stories Eugie Foster bridges the gap between the traditional fairytale and historical fantasy. Throughout the collection she alternates between re-tellings of Chinese and Japanese legends and original stories with elements drawn from the same deep wells. There is a formality to the writing that suits the traditional strain, giving a timeless authority to all the stories without making them unapproachable. On the contrary, they are charming to read.
—Holly Phillips, Fantasy Magazine

Lovers of fairy and folk tales who crave, as I do, stories from cultures not their own will delight in these deceptively simple tales. They are layered with tragedy and superstition, with spirituality and most importantly, with a fine sense of the marvelous.
—Erzebet YellowBoy, Cabinet Des Fées