Everything I said in my review of 'Tales from Bosky Creek' holds true here. Gilead is best known as an artist and rightly so, because his work is amazing, but I adore his stories and, after the treat of that back, I'm incredibly happy to hold in my hands a sequel, 'Return to Bosky Creek', which has a firmly appropriate subtitle of 'Where the Hills are Steep and the Tales are Tall". And the text is in a fontsize large enough that I don't have to put on my reading glasses to understand it.

For those who enjoyed 'Tales from Bosky Creek', this is very much more of the same with more of the same positives and negatives for me to say about it. The best stories are the ones Gilead gets his teeth into over multiple pages and the worst are the glimpses that are over in a paragraph or so, there mostly to accompany another wonderful picture. They're not bad; they're just teases for longer stories that we have to write in our own heads. Gilead's not going to do that work for us, in part because I'm sure he wants us to visit Bosky Creek ourselves and tell our own stories.

There are wonderful characters, because Gilead's sense of whimsy is powerful indeed and he has a knack of creating people—or fictionalising real ones—in a way that can't fail to make us smile. I particularly liked the Walking Backwards Man here, initially as a simple idea but then as part of a fantastic punchline. However, the Grabapple Tree is a glorious creation too and one to accompany surely the most memorable piece of artwork in the entire book.

There are wonderful creatures here too, because Bosky Creek was a rural place, out in the middle of who knows where, even if a gay pair of guys has since paved paradise and put up a parking lot. I felt a real sense of loss when Gilead talks in 'Gnome Invasion' about how so much has changed, as special places have vanished, replaced by subdivisions. I know urban fantasy is a thing, but there's an impeccably brutal line to end this peach of a story: "So if you wanna know where the gateway to the netherworld is, well it's under the gravel by the stucco wall on the house that looks just like every other house in the whole dang world. Can't miss it."

But back to the wonderful creatures. They're a little less wonderful this time out, but I still found enjoyment in Gilead's take on Lewis Carroll's jubjub birds, "fictitious and therefore rarely seen in these parts" and the kuducorn—or is it a kudicorn? Gilead's proofreading isn't up to his painting or his storytelling. Mr. Bigguns and the mud fairies need longer to build and we sadly don't get to see much of the gnomes in 'Gnome Invasion', merely the results of their nocturnal activities. They feature in a joyous story, though, with yet another joyous ending.

There are also wonderful phrases, because the best storytellers know exactly how to wrap a bunch of words around each other in just such a way that they take the form of a hidden truth. I honestly can't pick my favourite this time out. Maybe it's, "I should know since I've rarely escaped with my life on many occasions." That takes some beating, I think, but perhaps "The dead are dead, and I won't have you associating with people like that!" tops it. And it's not too far outside the realms of possibility to suggest that "That's the thing about hurrying, it takes forever" might end up the best of them all.

It's worth mentioning too that these are tall tales. We know that because Gilead told us there on the cover and we surely have to trust him. He's an artist. However, there is real truth to be found here along with hidden truth. I know about the tunnels under Whiskey Row in Prescott, though a Google search turns up both historians who deny their very existence and a plethora of people in Prescott who claim that they've walked them. The Sharlot Hall Museum is definitely a real place, as some of those very same historians work there. And I remember Gilead talking about Crazy Ed before; I read an article about the body he kept in his freezer. So maybe Bernie was real too.

The story I wish was true but surely isn't is the one titled simply 'A Suit'. It's a two-page piece that I presume Gilead built out of a suitably quirky piece of art. He doesn't have a name, merely being "the old guy at the next table", but he has a story and it's a haunting one. I absolutely adore the idea at the heart of this piece, even if it's rather heartrending. It appropriately doesn't wrap up in the way that most of these pieces do, certainly not in the pristine style of 'Walking Backwards Man, 'The Grabapple Tree' and 'Gnome Invasion'. However, it doesn't need to. It's exactly what it needs to be.

And, in its way, so is this book. As much as I enjoy Gilead's artwork, which is a heck of a frickin' lot, I want to read more about Bosky Creek. And, if he doesn't follow this up with a book three, I'd hope that he will at least show me where to find it on the time map. ~~ Hal C F Astell

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