Six stories from some of the most famous names in fantasy-all with one common thread-"the fair folk." From blithe fairies to sinister fey, some are fair, some are foul, all are fantastic.

In "The Kelpie," by Patricia A. McKillip, a carefree circle of bohemian artists is confronted by a being more powerful than any muse.

Jane Yolen and Midori Snyder weave a tale of two sisters long-exiled from their magical realm who must survive in ours, in "Except the Queen."

In Tanith Lee's "UOUS," a young woman with a rotten family is granted three wishes by a handsome elf-and learns that nothing good comes free of charge.

A hapless slob finds his world turned upside-down when an eager brownie moves in and proceeds to clean house, in Megan Lindholm's "Grace Notes."

Kim Newman introduces an intrepid government investigator whose latest case pits him against a sinister brood of fairy folk known as "The Gypsies in the Wood."

And the serenity of the Elves is tested in a wry fable of a long-suffering magical apprentice who can't catch a break, in Craig Shaw Gardner's "The Embarrassment of Elves.