I scour thrift shops for used books, and have stumbled upon some doozies in my time. One of my personal favorites has been the (out-of-print, and very expensive) UK 3-book collection of Martin Millar's unique fantasy novels. I knew nothing about the book or the author, but was intrigued by the day-glo green cover of a punk-rocker in a tu-tu, and the blurbs about the novels. This novel seemed the most interesting to me - I was intrigued by the idea of punk fairies. I read this book in a few days, staying up late, and enjoyed it immensely. The fairies are highly entertaining, and the human characters are very well-drawn and sympathetic, providing an intersting balance of comedy and pathos. I haven't read the other two books in my omnibus edition, I'm saving them. But, I am delighted to see that this book that I thought was so obscure and hard to find coming in to print in the US, and with a gushing intro by Neil Gaiman. I hope this book finds an audience, and that we get more of this author's works in print on this side of the Atlantic.

If you haven't read The Good Fairies of New York, and especially if you are a New Yorker, or a New Yorker at heart, stop reading this right now, and immediately put your name on the Amazon.com pre-order list ... The Good Fairies have found their way back home to Amazon.com and to NYC, and everyone around the world is overly excited by the news!

I have been addicted to Martin Millar for over ten years. I was one of the lucky few to have purchased a copy of The Good Fairies of New York before it became an out-of-print statistic.

Martin has a talent for twisting the logic out of reality, and making you believe his tales are not mere inventions of his fragmented mind, but instead are actual events. The Good Fairies of New York will make you a believer, if not in fairies, at least in Martin's belief that they exist.

The Good Fairies is not a child's fairytale, but instead a tale that includes fairies. Martin's forte is writing about characters that are flawed (some physically flawed, all emotionally flawed). Although Martin brings a refreshing childlike innocence in his approach of character development, his books are very adult orientated.

He is not afraid to tackle serious subjects using a perverse sense of humor to lighten the mood when life becomes too grim. The Good Fairies will take you on an emotional ride that you will want to re-experience over and over.

All of Martin's books should have the following label ... Caution: be forewarned that all it takes is one book to become a Martin Millar junkie!

I heard of Martin Millar from Neil Gaiman's blog. Neil Gaiman praised Martin Millar's wisdom, wit and solid writing in "The Good Fairies of New York" -- and mentioned it a few more times. I loved the premise of punk rock fairies and wanted to check it out, but couldn't afford it.

Finally, when (August 23, 2003, in the blog) Neil's assistant Lorraine was cited as claiming that Millar's as-of-yet unpublished book "Lonely Werewolf Girl" might be the best book ever written, and then (Novemeber 2003, at Sequential Tart) Neil namechecked him again, I made it my mission in life (I'm a writer, bookseller and rare book scout) to track down a damaged copy. They wanted $54 for a scrunched copy of the Collected with a bite out of the back cover and the title page torn out. (I paid $38 plus $4 shipping, but -- at this point, rabid -- I really needed it.)

I've only read "The Good Fairies of New York" and have two entire Millar novels to go. It's ingenious. He ambles between traditional fairy motifs and the Gods of Punk Rawk. Deftly and cheerfully, he spins the stories of characters that mainstream bestsellers tend to skip. Millar's favorite writer, according to his website, is Jane Austen. It shows. Whimsically and precisely, with a fun plot that turns corners on a dime, all sorts of delicious mayhem ensue. If you've ever wanted Johnny Thunders of The New York Dolls to come back from heaven to find his lost guitar, or if you've ever wondered why reels can be so tricky on the fiddle, or if you've tired of some of the more traditional types of fantasies, the book's for you.

If you're as poor as I am, get Kelly Link's "Stranger Things Happen" or Matt Ruff's "Set This House in Order" or Jonathan Carroll's "White Apples." They're all in print in paperback. But if you've read those (and Gaiman and Kiernan and Mieville and the others pushing things forward), then treat yourself to "The Good Fairies of New York." It's wrong that it's out of print and so expensive, but it's oh so worth it.

When a colleague of mine recommended me to read this book -no, she urged me to read it- I believed it would be like every other "great" book. It isn't. It's better.
It's the story of wild juvenile elves who behave just like adolescent girls and boys- i.e. they consume drugs, they struggle with the traditions of the elderly and -at last- they bring chaos to a whole city.
You're thinking: what could they do to have this effect?
If you want to know, you got to read it!
"The Good Fairies..." is not just another crazy story but more:
it's satire and allegory, it's a love story (between human beings) and it's an hint on things we can't see any more with our rationalist eyes!

I read this book for at least the third time again last night, its the type of book that ensures that youre not at all embarassed to chuckle out loud on a bus because you know its worth it. Amazingly layered, and hilarious; if I could be an original writer like this i'd be damn happy.