Patricia A McKillip

Brenden Vetch has a gift. With an innate sense he cannot explain to himself or describe to others, he is able to connect to the agricultural world, nurturing gardens to flourish and instinctively knowing the healing properties each plant and herb has to offer. But Brenden's gift isolates him from people and from becoming part of a community—until the day he receives a personal invitation from the Wizard Od. She needs a gardener for her school in...

Stylistically rooted in fairy tale and mythology, McKillip explores imperceptible landscapes in these stories. There are princesses dancing with dead suitors, a knight in love with an official of exotic lineage, and fortune's fool stealing into the present instead of the future. In one tale, a time-traveling angel is forbidden to intervene in Cotton Mather's religious ravings, while another narrative finds a wizard seduced in his youth by the Faerie...