“I consider it an honor to present you the pioneering work of iconoclastic sportsman, gentleman farmer, and idiosyncratic clairivoyant Reginal Blakely” ~Clive Marsh
From the foreward to the last paragraph, Goblinproofing One’s Chicken Coop stalwartly defends the notion that the world of the fey is no playful fantasy world. One must safeguard against the fairy realm at all costs, no matter the social awkwardness created by following the entreaties and advice of this peculiar Reginald Blakely.
Such seriousness of purpose is rarely ever directed upon the fey who have in recent centuries won the PR campaign, posing as mostly harmless beings. Blakely writes in the traditional style of old English gentlemen who have devoted themselves to their hobbies, be that mountain climbing, fishing, war tactics, or gardening. In his case, he is mounting an unending war upon the encroachment of the world of enchantment into our otherwise tidy, mundane lives. While many people do not have the second sight and may remain blissfully oblivious to the vexations of a pixie or never know the joys of the nutty flavor of fairy cow milk, to the few out there who need to know how to hunt and eat gnome, treat the wounds of elf-shot, chase out unwanted house brownies, de-sanctify sites, or graft flower-fairies to their plants for better harvests, there really is no better work to aid you. Just be forewarned, vigilance is the price one pays for the knowledge of this fairy foe.
Recommended
~review by Larissa Carlson
Author: Reginald Blakely
Red Wheel/Weiser, 2025
190 pages, $16.95
