Leannan Sidhe: The Irish Muse and Other Stories by Brian O'Sullivan

Leannan Sidhe - "a kind of fairy muse that takes an artist for a lover. In return for her lover's affection she bestows a gift on him; the ability to create a work of art of immense feeling." There are no fairy creatures in this collection from Irish-born Brian O'Sullivan. Instead the stories span continents and genres in a world where magic is often forgotten.

This is most obvious in 'The Ringmaster's Daughter', where an encounter with a supposed witch doctor leads the protagonist to abandon her life as a business woman - one of many stories showing a distaste for corporate life. 'After the Beep' explores the hypocrisy of a telecommunications company through the recorded voice message of a customer driven too far. It doesn't convince as something supposedly spoken, but all can relate to the fustrations of corporate phone systems. It is these satiric stories that are the strongest.

Others, such as the title story, are bogged down in prose. 'Leannan Sidhe' contains some lovely evocative descriptions - of the landscape, the music - but a phrase like "superstitiously misinterpreting such unaccustomed stylistic eccentricity..." pulls you right out. Such language is more textbook than fairytale.

The dialogue too suffers - the character's discussion of creativity reads like the author espousing his own ideas. Dialogue ringing false is a problem in all the stories - but this first suffers the most.

The collection ends on a stronger note - 'Morris Dancing' is a laugh-out-loud, yet unsettling vision of the Maori colonisation of Britain. It is these funny, disturbing that are the most enjoyable. Others try for poignance - but without a sense of humour, they fail. 'Slither' combines the two, and works the better for it, as the story of a 'senior escort' in a seedy nightclub who loses his position in a suspect attempt to defend a customer from a younger rival.

The stories in 'Leannan Sidhe' range from love story to sick satire and back via the somewhat fantastic. But even in those that do amuse, none of them could be called 'art of immense feeling' - especially those that want to be.