historical fantasy set in an alternate Victorian
England. Queen Victoria asks an old friend for
help following the theft of a book of magic that
safeguards the future of the British Empire. In its
absence, supernatural creatures harass the citi-
zenry, and the throne itself may not remain safe
for long. Elf Defense(1989) was her first openly
humorous fantasy, although it has its somber mo-
ments. The protagonist is a mortal woman who
married but has recently separated from a prince
of Faerie. When he sends his minions to reclaim
her, she counters with a potent new ally—a di-
vorce lawyer.
Humorous fantasy became quite popular at
the end of the 1980s, and Friesner quickly became
one of its leading talents. Her first trilogy consisted
of Here Be Demons(1988), Demons Wild(1989),
and Hooray for Hellywood(1990). A group of un-
derachieving demons are exiled to Earth, where
they attempt to corrupt a group of college stu-
dents, one of whom discovers that his mother is a
reformed demon. A second set includes Gnome
Man’s Land(1991), Harpy High(1991), and Uni-
corn U(1992), an even funnier story arc in which
goblins invade a high school, a student struggles to
avert his doom when it is announced by a banshee,
and the gods themselves show up to disrupt things.
Much of Friesner’s short fiction is similarly
light in approach, and many of her funny fantasies
were collected in It’s Been Fun(1991). Sphynxes
Wild(1989), a far more serious novel although
with many amusing moments, follows the adven-
tures of a sphinx who has assumed human form to
visit contemporary America. Yesterday We Saw
Mermaids(1992) is the most underrated of her
novels from this period, the story of a ship that
precedes Columbus to the New World, which is
full of magical creatures whose existence will be
nullified with the arrival of rationalists from Eu-
rope. Wishing Season(1993) continues Friesner’s
string of humorous novels, a predictable but like-
able story about a genie’s efforts to control his
thoughtless master’s proliferating wishes. Another
trilogy, Majyk by Accident(1993), Majyk by Hook or
Crook(1994), and Majyk by Design(1994), is less
successful, the adventures of an apprentice magi-
cian and his magically intelligent cat. Split Heirs
(1993), written with Lawrence WATT-EVANS, is an
amusing satire about court intrigues. Child of the
Eagle(1996) is her last major fantasy novel and her
best single book. Within the context of a magical
alternate Roman Empire, Brutus betrays his fellow
conspirators to Caesar. Later he has second
thoughts and realizes that he should probably have
stuck to his original intention.
Friesner has become less prolific in recent
years, producing two very fine science fiction nov-
els and a humorous fantasy, E Godz(2003), written
with Robert Lynn Asprin, which spoofs corporate
business dealings. She has also edited a series of
anthologies of humorous fantasy fiction that in-
cludes Chicks in Chain Mail(1995), The Chick Is in
the Mail(2000), and Turn the Other Chick(2004).
She has become a prolific short story writer in re-
cent years, alternating humor with serious themes,
and her most recent collection is Up the Wall &
Other Tales of King Arthur and His Knights(2000).
The decline in popularity of humorous fantasy in
the United States may have disrupted her momen-
tum, but she has proven able to write excellent
novels with serious themes as well and is likely to
retain her prominence in fantasy.Frost, Gregory(1951– )
Gregory Frost had begun writing fantasy fiction as
early as 1981 with “In the Sunken Museum” but
made little impression until Lyrec(1984), his first
novel, which relates the adventures of two com-
panions as they travel across a wide variety of par-
allel worlds, taking on new personalities or even
altered physical bodies every time they switch real-
ities. One of them becomes a traveling musician as
the story develops, while the other is trapped in
the body of a cat. Frost enthusiastically develops
his theme in a rather loose series of adventures
that mix good-natured humor with wild adventure.
His next two novels, Tain(1986) and Remscela
(1988), two exploits of the legendary Cu Chulainn,
or Cuchulain, from Celtic mythology, are consider-
ably more serious and ambitious, though in some
ways less interesting. They are filled with historical
allusions, druidic magic, spells, and a visit to the land
of the Fairies, but there had been so many similar
treatments, not always as well written, that the duo
made less of an impression than it might have other-124 Frost, Gregory