This third volume in Jane Yolen's World Fantasy Award-winning series brings you passionate treasures and delirious transformations. This bewitching assemblage, with an original introduction from Brandon Sanderson, is an ideal read for anyone who appreciates witty, compelling, and classic romantic fantasy. "The Scarlet Circus is a magical collection of love stories, where love is often an act of courage and intelligence. Jane Yolen has a true storyteller's voice." -Anne Bishop, New York Times bestselling author of the Black Jewels series A rakish fairy meets the real Juliet behind Shakespeare's famous tragedy. A jewelry artist travels to the past to meet a successful silver-smith. The addled crew of a ship at sea discovers a mysterious merman. More than one ignored princess finds her match in the most unlikely men. From ecstasy to tragedy, with love blossoming shyly, love at first sight, and even love borne of practical necessity-beloved fantasist Jane Yolen's newest collection celebrates romance in all its glory. Other short story collections by Jane Yolen in the Jane Yolen Circus series The Emerald Circus How to Fracture a Fairy Tale The Midnight Circus Jane Yolen has been called the Hans Christian Andersen of America. She is the author of more than four hundred books, including children's fiction, poetry, short stories, graphic novels, nonfiction, fantasy, and science fiction. Her publications include Owl Moon, The Devil's Arithmetic, Briar Rose, Sister Emily's Starship, and Sister Light, Sister Dark. Among her many honors are the Caldecott and Christopher Medals, multiple Nebula, World Fantasy, Mythopoeic, Golden Kite, and Jewish Book awards; as well as the World Fantasy Association's Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Science Fiction Poetry Grand Master Award. Yolen is also a teacher of writing and a book reviewer. She lives in Western Massachusetts and St Andrews, Scotland. Brandon Sanderson is the fifteen-time New York Times best-selling author of adult and young adult fantasy, including the Mistborn Trilogy, the Stormlight Archive, the Cosmere novels, and the Rithmatist series. In 2007, he was chosen by Robert Jordan's widow to complete Jordan's epic Wheel of Time series, published in three novels. He participates in the weekly podcast Writing Excuses. Sanderson's 2022 Kickstarter, for his four new entries in the Cosmere series, received finding of forty-one million dollars, the most in crowdfunding history. He currently resides in Utah with his family. Preface by Jane Yolen Introduction by Brandon Sanderson Sans Soleil Dusty Loves Unicorn Tapestry A Ghost of an Affair Dark Seed, Dark Stone Dragonfield The Sword and the Stone The Sea Man Memoirs of a Bottle Djinn Peter in Wonderland The Erotic in Faerie: The Footnotes Story Notes and Poems "As skillful as The Emerald Circus (2017), thematically warmer than The Midnight Circus (2020), this volume's central thread is love. Featuring an introduction by Brandon Sanderson, it collects more of Yolen's reimagined narratives, many of them previously published. But fairy-tale endings are not guaranteed: Characters choose badly, and death and other sadness enters in. Julie appears from her grave, mourning Roman, in a wry rewrite of Romeo and Juliet narrated by an elf. Several tales are about the power-for good or ill-of belief; merfolk, djinn, and ghosts play major roles. There is time travel and some real history as well as appearances by Merlin and Arthur, Alice Liddell, and many brave and independent young women. The rich and varied plots and tones are matched by advanced but suitable vocabulary-fortuitously, lambent, incorporeal, slatterns, sepulchral, and legerdemain, for example-much of which young readers will be able to decipher from the context. Occasional poems are interspersed among the stories. The fully realized details bring to life both this-worldly and otherworldly settings. Yole

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