Waif, Strays, and Stories I've Read Before

I've just finished reading Charles de Lint's Waifs and Strays. It's a collection of his short stories featuring teen aged protagonists. Over all, it's a good book, and I am a fan of his work, but I do have one problem.

Several of the stories in this collection are also in other collections of his. Of the sixteen stories, four of them are in other books I have. "Merlin Dreams in Mondream Wood" was in one of the Tansom House books. Three of the Newford stories--"But for the Grace Go I," "Ghosts of Wind and Shadow," and the titular "Waifs and Strays"--are collected in various Newford collections. They're all good stories, but I would have much rather seen their places filled by short stories that weren't included in other de Lint books.

The only story I didn't really like a lot was "Sisters," which is a bout a vampire who wants to turn her sister into a vampire so they can be together forever. I loved the last story in the collection, "Somewhere in My Mind There Is a Painting Box." "A Wish Named Arnold" was another good one.

I liked this book a lot. If it wasn't for the fact that four of the stories in it were in other de Lint collections, I'd have given it a five. As it is, it gets four yo-yos.