Green Man - Tales from the Mythic Forest - by Various

One of our most universal myths is that of the Green Man—the spirit who stands for Nature in its most wild and untamed form. Through the ages and around the world, the Green Man and other nature spirits have appeared in stories, songs, and artwork, as well as many beloved fantasy novels, including Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. Now Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, the acclaimed editors of over thirty anthologies, have gathered some of today’s finest writers of magical fiction to interpret the spirits of nature in short stories and poetry. Folklorist and artist Charles Vess brings his stellar eye and brush to the decorations, and Windling provides an introduction exploring Green Man symbolism and forest myth. The Green Man is required reading—not only for fans of fantasy fiction but for those interested in mythology and the mysteries of the wilderness.

This is a really lovely collection of short stories and poems based around the lore of the Green man. I'm not usually a fan of anthologies etc but, had this languishing on my bookshelf for a few months so thought I would pick it up. Although saying that I have discovered some really good authors from short stories collections which I may not have discovered otherwise.

There are some brilliant well known fantasy writers here such as Charles de Lint, Gregory Maguire and Tanith Lee and also some authors I had not heard of but, will definitely be looking them up to read more.

I won't bore you with descriptions of each and every short story but, suffice to say if you have any degree of fascination with the Green Man, trees etc this is one I am sure you will love - of course some of these stories are better than others but, this is a great book to pick up and dip into.