Alastair Macleod: 158 books

"At first the forest was green and light with wide clearings between the trees. She saw many little birds and deer, who told her the way. The forest started to get darker with bigger, older trees. Not so much sunlight reached the forest floor. Then she met a bear. She was not frightened and spoke...

"The seventh princess, who lived in a remote castle, in a mountain region, met no real young men; the only young men she encountered were in the stories that she read. Her hero from her book was a rich and magical youth who wandered the world collecting tales wherever he could and retelling them....

The Black Dragon "She had imagined many things about Li Ban but she shuddered at his death. He had tried to outrun the Black Dragon and failed. Each year young men ran before the great wave that sweeps up the Quintang River on the full moon. It was foolish and daring. Li Ban had tripped then...

"For the professional young women of Orkney, this influx of engineers and scientists was a godsend. It opened up the choice and here were men on good salaries, men with prospects. The selection of farmers, shopkeepers, and local government officers could seem dull to a girl. These new men, some...

"But the women did not realise Hero was really clairvoyant, he could see into the future. Because of this skill, in Nigeria he had studied to be a shaman and could travel in a trance. He saw his own life was about to change. There was to be an end to his free and easy existence for he was to meet a more powerful shamaness."

"They hadn't been together long. Danica felt she hadn't mapped Arusha yet, wasn't familiar with her patterns and rhythms. That was always part of the excitement – exploring the routes of another. Sometimes Danica longed for a quicker way to know someone, you know, before you got involved. Something...

In this first tale, in a collection of predominantly Welsh stories, a harper has a strange encounter on a lonely road that deeply affects his love life and leads to an interestesting arrangement. In the second story a woman loses her baby to an eagle but manages to negotiate his return. The...

This story takes place in the final chapter of the second Punic war of Rome against Carthage. For years Hannibal had rampaged over Roman territory but he is confined now to Bruttium, modern day Calabria in the toe of Italy. Roman armies are closing in. Towns that had once come under his sway...

"We were like the jellyfish she mused. They surrounded the boat, all pink and filmy, like upturned translucent pudding bowls, each pulsing slowly. Incapable of strong directional swimming they were at the mercy of greater forces, of powerful sea currents that swept them out of the Caribbean and...

"the sun was fierce outside but a gentle breeze lazily teased the filmy curtains. Hypnotically they moved to and fro. She dozed and slipped into a dream. She was standing in the corner of the courtyard, looking at a large terracotta olive oil jar. It had a voluptuous shape; moving from its narrow...

A young girl of ancient Greece is suddenly faced with the prospect of a forced marriage to a man she does not even know. In desparation she swims out to sea and her adventure begins.

"Charles Learmonth lay in bed wide awake. He was thinking of Isobel, her eyes, her hair. He was attracted. Outside the rain rattled against the window. Was he ready for a new relationship? Usually decisive he now felt confused. This was different culture. A lot went unsaid. He had caught her...

In 16th century southern Italy, a noble woman loses her husband and finds herself under pressure to marry her husband's creditor. She struggles with her unwillingness to do so and with the Catholic rules of re-marriage. Fate intervenes; Saracen pirates attack the coast, sweeping her and her daughters deep into the conflict between Muslim and Christian.

"Lions tended to be bossy, unfaithful and short tempered but did look magnificent. That had been Cato, Afro Caribbean, very good looking but she'd dumped him when she found out he was double dating her. Before Cato was Alec; now he was a Swan, faithful, slender and beautifully caring. She had...