A Renaissance faire, or Renaissance festival is an outdoor weekend gathering, usually held in the US, open to the public and generally commercial in nature, which emulates a historic period for the amusement of its guests. Some are permanent theme parks, others are short-term events in fairgrounds or other large public or private spaces. Renaissance fairs generally include an abundance of costumed entertainers, musical and theatrical acts, art and handicrafts for sale, and festival food.

All stories featured make use of some fantastic encounters or occurrences to tell their stories:

"Jewels Beyond Price" by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough >> Nothing like a genie to make life interesting. Scratch that, a genie who has a laptop inside his magic lamp (or in this case, a cigarette lighter) to access their own server which was recently plagued with malicious ifrits. Now, that's one way of labelling a virus or ad-ware to be more "period" sounding!

"Diminished Chord" by Joe Haldeman >> Does not actually take place at a Faire, but it does make use of fantasy. A musician has a magical encounter with a mysterious woman and acquires something that allows him to become successful later (due to the large following his instrument--a chitarrone--makes. The closest to a Fair is a musical performance among other players of antiquated instruments at a gathering at a home.

"Splinter" by Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta >> Is a somewhat nicely done moral lesson type of a story that brings in some historical personages and religious artifacts to educate a misguided and thieving young man.

"Girolamo and Mistress Willendorf" by John Maddox Roberts >> Is a story about an eternal conflict: the battle between established religion and paganism. It brings in classic religious items and a dash of a discussion about feminism.

"A Time for Steel" by Robert E. Vardeman >> Is a lame encounter between modern-day country police force and the real Merlin, and somehow working in the use of the Arthurian sword Excalibur.

"One Hot Day" by Stephen Gabriel >> Is one of the stories in the anthology that links an attendee of a Fair to the past by some mystical means, specifically an artifact pertaining to The Green Man or more accurately, The Jack-in-the Green (refer to my review of an anthology of this fascinating bit of folklore). The buildup was good, but the end was a bit sudden. The resolution itself, though, we nicely done.

"Wimpin' Wady" by Jayge Carr >> This one deals with faeries and changelings plus the somewhat forced issue of parental authority and how children of any race can be precocious.

"Brewed Fortune" by Michael Stackpole >> Using characters from a past story, the author uses a Renaissance Faire setting to tell a story about the assistant to an investigator that ties into the ancestry of that assistant's past. "People who come to the faire tend to drop into three groups--though the professionals call them all patrons, and volunteers tend to call them mundanes. The easiest to spot are the tourists. Then there are the faire-goers, who have been before and get into the spirit of things. These folks generally buy bits and pieces of garb over the years and come in some percentage of fancy dress. The third group gets just a bit scary. They are called playtrons and spend a lot of time at the faire. They fork out tons of money to put together an ensemble. They come to the festival all dressed-up, assume their own persona, and watch their favorite performeres wherever they are playing."

"Marriage A La Modred" by Esthner Friesner >> Is easily the worst story included in this collection--in fact, I think I'd rank it as one of the worst short stories I've ever read! A cocksure young man inadvertently gets his sister into trouble with a fantastic Faire-attendee, leading him to a noble decision to save her. The ending is lame, and most of the dialogue and developments nothing to write home about.

"A Dance of Seven Vales" by Rose Wolf >> This one has magical and mystical doings aiding preservation of the environment, and the many creatures that live therein.

"Moses' Miracles" by Roberta Gellis >> A collector of rare manuscripts and his assistant make an interesting acquiantance at a Faire. Linking ancient religion and New World civilizations in a more or less satisfactory way compared to the other stories in this volume, Gellis delivers one of the better stories in this book.

"Grok" by Donald J. Bingle >> Telling the sad story of a forgotten man whose only life takes place at the annual Faire.

"Renaissance Fear" by Stephen D. Sullivan >> Another lesson-story and unfortunately, another weary read of a time-travel story. While it is at least not as touchy-feely as most of the stories in this collection, the overriding lesson of being honest is not as valuable as the author thought it would be.

"The Land of the Awful Shadow" by Brian A. Hopkins >> The trials and tribulations of youth are the focus here, especially as they relate to alternate realities and people able to perceive them.

"Faire Likeness" by Andre Norton >> A wonderfully gifted artist and the magic he wields to produce his works is the focal point--which tended to get unfocused towards the latter part of the story.

Overall, the stories are lame, badly written, and condescending to the concept that they're supposed to be promoting.

Book Details:

Title Renaissance Faire
Author Edited by Andre Norton and Jean Rabe
Reviewed By Purplycookie ( )

Most of the stories in this anthology are at least readable, enjoyable fluff. However, people with issues about abusive relationships will want to avoid reading the story titled "Renaissance Fear", which is slipshod horror from the POV of an abusive, control-freak protagonist. How that story got past two competent editors, given its abysmal writing quality, is anyone's guess. ( )

The stories in the book are mostly colorful and filled with sights and sounds of Renaissance Faires. I've never been to one, but they sound quite interesting from the descriptions here. It is a nice fantasy collection in general, though not all the stories are as good as the others. They fascinate me enough to want to visit a Ren Faire some day (I wish!), without any of the sinister magic of course. ( )