North African Folktales

Historically Northern Africa was strongly affected by events and empires around the Mediterranean, from the exploits of the Phoenicians and their power centre Carthage, Alexander the Great, the ebb and flow of the Roman Empire and the Byzantine era in the early middle ages. The nomadic tribes of Libya and the ancient empire of Aksum are little understood today but their roots sit long behind the rise of Christianity and later the dominance of Islam. For this book of folktales the Berbers of Algiers, Libya and Morocco yield some stories, but many more come from the Arab influenced era with romances and poems which bring similarities to the Persian stories of the same period, with titles such as The Jealous King, The Lovers of Antequera, The Tower of Gold and The Ogre and the Beautiful Woman.

FLAME TREE 451: From mystery to crime, supernatural to horror and myth, fantasy and science fiction, Flame Tree 451 offers a healthy diet of werewolves and mechanical men, blood-lusty vampires, dastardly villains, mad scientists, secret worlds, lost civilizations and escapist fantasies. Discover a storehouse of tales gathered specifically for the reader of the fantastic.

Dr Christa Catherine Jones (Editor and Introduction) is Professor of French at Utah State University. Her research focuses on postcolonial North African literature, film and folklore. She is the editor of Djeha, the North African Trickster (2023) and coeditor of: Algerian Filmmaker Merzak Allouache (2017), New Approaches to Teaching Folk and Fairy Tales (2016) and Women from the Maghreb: Looking Back and Moving Forward (2014). She is the author of Cave Culture in Maghrebi Literature: Imagining Self and Nation (2012). Her coedited volume The Routledge Companion to Fairy Tales is forthcoming in 2025.

J.K. Jackson is General Editor of The World's Greatest Myths and Legends series, with titles including Myths of Babylon, Indian Myths, Egyptian Myths, Norse Myths and Polynesian Island Myths. He is editor of Myths and Legends and foreword writer for Celtic Myths & Tales. Other related work includes articles on the Philosophy of Time, 'Macbeth, A Gothic Chaos' and William Blake's use of mythology in his visionary literature.