>I'm wondering, after reading several books about events involving magic and myth, especially set in landscapes like England and Scotland, are there any books, set here in the States/Canada which exhibit similar, uhm, flavors?

My first degree was in Anthro, so I have some old, but good Indigenous American books involving magic and myth. You are welcome to browse my collection.

>Is it possible to set a book any where in America in which myth, magic, and imagination make the landscape haunted and full of power? Where you could easily slip through time without warning? Find your way to a place in which a battle happened and have similar events happen in the present?

We watched that episode of "Miracles: The Battle at Shadow Ridge," alternately called, "clean-up on aisle 3." If you have nothing to do you can drop by and watch the rest of the series.

But, that is TV, books are harder to find. If I learned anything when I lived on the Navajo Reservation for 9 yrs, I learned that the Navajos hate it when white people write about their religion and their myths. Many of them are not too thrilled with Tony Hillerman. When _The Fallen Man_ came out in 1996, the Navajo people were upset that Hillerman or anyone else might have climbed their sacred Tse' Bit'a'i (The Shiprock). The Navajo Resource Rangers went out and posted "do not climb" signs, just in case the book made it sound inviting to climb their sacred peak.

Are the Navajo possessive about their mythical and magical places? Very. Do the Navajo own exclusive literary rights to these places, these myths, and their religion? Yes, I think it comes under intellectual property. Is it fair? There is a lot of political and emotional baggage tied to any answer to that question.

>I don't mean the type of slippage which happens in Urban Legends (though they are similar) nor the type you hear about in ghost stories (like the guy who happened to be out rock hunting and hearing a noise, discovered he was looking at a dinosaur. The next minute the dinosaur was gone and the world had returned to normal... though again, it is very similar to what I'm driving at).

Splitting hairs.

Well, the earliest one I have read is ER Burroughs' John Carter series. He is a cavalry captain, escaping from an Apache war band. He enters an old Indian burial cave. The cave transports John Carter to Mars. Hijinx ensues on Mars for 9 books.

>In The Dark is Rising Sequence, for instance, Merriman Lyon (Merlin), Will Stanton and others like them are planted loosely in time and are thus able to step from one time period to another without effort. They are mythical and powerful folks whose power is drawn from beliefs which come from the dawn of time. The Doctor's ability to do the same in the TARDIS is bit like what these people/mythical/fictional people do. In a lot of ways, the Doctor (and Time Lords in general) are very similar to the Old Ones in that they are planted loosely in time and not stuck to one age or another and can affect the events around them.
>

Sounds like you need to read Roger Zelazny's Amber series. It fits your criteria. "They are mythical and powerful folks whose power is drawn from beliefs which come from the dawn of time." Very little time is spent in NY and South Africa. The characters tend to travel. There are 10 books and 6 short stories. The 10 books are published in an omnibus edition called, _The Great Book of Amber_. That should keep you busy. And, you will gain a new perspective on "slippage."

>But I'm getting side-tracked and I'm not looking for science or technology.
>
>My original question: is it possible to write a book set here in America that involves the same kind of themes one finds in such books as The Dark is Rising, The Mists of Avalon, Mary Stewart's Merlin Trilogy, even Rowling's Harry Potter series?

When I was a little squid, I remember reading Jane Langton's Hall Family Chronicles. They were popular in Boston in 1968. The first book is _The Diamond in the Window_. I lost it when I moved out here in 1974. However, a quick look at Amazon shows that the series was reprinted. I think there are 6-7 books. They live in an Addams Family type house (money pit). If you like 1960s New England mysteries, it may be what you want. They are children's books that involve solving a mystery.

>I know some of the writers we have here in the states are capable of really good fantasy, such as Eric S. Nylund, who wrote the excellent Dry Water set here in NM or Neal Gaiman, who wrote American Gods and The Anansi Boys. What I'm looking for is the type of magic I find in the above named series, set here in the States. Any takers?

_The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump_ by Harry Turtledove, is an interesting look at American Indian magical places and the power of their myths / gods.

_The Diamond in the Window_ (Hall Family Chronicles) by Jane Langton

_Jinx High_ (Diana Tregarde Mysteries) by Mercedes Lackey is about an ancient evil (is there any other kind?) living under Tulsa, OK. I was amused but not entranced by the book. _Burning Water_ is the first book. There are only 3 books in this series. Some fans are total idiots. They thought the events in these books were real and it caused a problem at conventions.

_Knight of Ghosts and Shadows_ by Mercedes Lackey and Ellen Guon is the first book in a bizarre series about Elves who come to SoCal and do the Renn Fair circuit. Elves rule.

_Guilty Pleasures_ (Vampire Hunter series) by Laurell Hamilton, may not be what you are looking for. It starts in St Louis and moves to different cites. The series may already be a comic book series by the Dabel Brothers, who did GRR Martin's "Hedge Knight."

And then, there is Harry Dresden in Chicago....
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I have seen some works that involve Indigenous American Magic. Writers and titles escape me at the moment, but I know there have been several.

As a 2nd generation American, I would not feel comfortable writing such works.

Walter John Williams has done some genre-bending work blending magic with cyberpunk. Metropolitan was the one I have.

Aaron "Mr. What" Birenboim
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