BELIEVING IS SEEING

A variety of stories from Jones’some of which have appeared in other volumes in the US and/or the UK—have been newly gathered into this offering, certain to lure fans of the supernatural. The one entirely new story portrays Anne Smith, a girl in bed with mumps. To pass the time she dreams up “Enna Hittims,” a tiny out-of-control superheroine who attacks her own creator and ends up squashed. The other stories, products of a supremely quirky imagination, certainly deserve a new showing. In “The Sage of Theare,” a boy finds himself by stalking his own future. Jones tackles Greek myths in “The Girl Who Loved the Sun,” an exploration of a girl who decides to turn into a tree. In “What the Cat Told Me,” cat lovers will enjoy learning the history of a rather older-than-normal kitty who used her wiles to escape an evil magician. The remaining tales are “The Master,” “Dragon Reserve, Home Eight,” and the typographically-inspired “nad and Dan adn Quaffy.” Those who have a few of these stories collected elsewhere may balk at the purchase, but others will relish the stories. The intriguing introduction illuminates the author’s methodology, including a written admission that she finds ideas everywhere, even in typos. (Fiction. 12-14)