The Good Fairies Of New York : With an introduction by Neil Gaiman

''I owned it for five years before reading it, then lent my copy to someone I thought should read it, and never got it back. Do not make either of my mistakes. Read it now, and then make your friends buy their own copies. You''ll thank me one day'' Neil Gaiman

Morag and Heather, two eighteen-inch fairies with swords, green kilts and badly dyed hair fly through the window of the worst violinist in New York, an overweight and antisocial type named Dinnie, and vomit on his carpet.

Who they are, how they came to New York and what this has to do with the lovely Kerry - who lives across the street, and has Crohn''s Disease, and is making a flower alphabet - and what this has to do with the other fairies (of all nationalities) of New York, not to mention the poor repressed fairies of Britain, is the subject of this book.

It has a war in it, and a most unusual production of Shakespeare''s A Midsummer Night''s Dream and Johnny Thunders'' New York Dolls guitar solos. What more could anyone desire from a book?

Why do readers love The Good Fairies of New York?

''Pure literary gold''

''I can''t remember the last time a book gave me as many belly laughs as this one did''

''Hilarious''

''A fairy tale tale for the new kids on the block : irreverent, subversive, sexually liberated, rich in pop culture references''

''Page-turning . . . intelligent, but never overdone''

''Off-beat and quirky, but it''s also a tale with a beating pulse and moral warmth. Martin Millar is an incredible addition to the paranormal scene - he dirties the genre, roughs it up and screams a story that rings in your ears long after the last page''