The Midnight Circus

2021 Locus Award Finalist



In the newest volume of her World Fantasy Award-winning short story collections, beloved author Jane Yolen’s dark side has fully emerged. Her vivid, startling, and thrilling tales and poems of the supernatural—from icy-hearted witches to sometimes-innocent shapeshifters—reveal a classic storyteller at the height of her powers.



“Look this way, look that; blazing her consummate imagination against the shadows of human sorrow, Jane Yolen has done it again.”—Gregory Maguire, author of Wicked



Jane Yolen is the Hans Christian Andersen of America” —The New York Times


Welcome to the Midnight Circus—and watch your step. The dark imaginings of fantasy icon Jane Yolen are not for the faint of heart. In these sixteen brilliantly unnerving tales and poems, Central Park becomes a carnival where you can—but probably shouldn’t—transform into a wild beast. The Red Sea will be deadly to cross due to a plague of voracious angels. Meanwhile, the South Pole is no place for even a good man, regardless of whether he is living or dead.


Wicked, solemn, and chilling, the circus is ready for your visit—just don't arrive late.


Other Jane Yolen short story collections in this series

The Emerald Circus: 2018 World Fantasy Award winner

How to Fracture a Fairy Tale: 2019 Anne Izard Storytellers’ Choice Award