Pixie - Modern Fiction

Modern Fiction

Pixies serve as helpers of Santa Claus in L. Frank Baum's 1902 novel The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus and his 1904 short story A Kidnapped Santa Claus.

In Frank Capra's 1936 Film Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, the eccentricities of the main character are attributed to his having become "pixilated", or falling under the influence of pixies.

In Michael Buckley's The Sisters Grimm series, pixies are described as small orange-glowing creatures that resemble fireflies and are controlled by fairies such as Puck by the use of a small wooden flute.

Enid Blyton wrote a number of children's books with pixies as featured characters. One employee of the BBC even criticized "Her stories...haven't much literary value. There is rather a lot of the Pink-winky-Doodle-doodle Dum-dumm type of name (and lots of pixies) in the original tales."

In Holly Black's and Tony Diterlizzi's Spiderwick Chronicles, pixies are green-skinned, human-sized fairies with shimmering wings. They have a command of glamour and a type of power to charm or seduce others. Holly Black has also written a book called Tithe in which the main character is a pixie.

In Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl series, pixies are one of a number of magical species that have been driven underground by humans and the pollution they have caused on Earth. Opal Koboi is the megalomaniac, genius pixie of Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception. Colfer describes characteristics of pixies as having abnormally childish features and larger heads than other types of Fairies, with large but vulnerable brains (their cranial mass is thin, which makes them easy to knock out). They are also prone to headaches and, particularly in the case of Opal Koboi, violent mood swings and temper tantrums. Koboi is the perfect example of their genius turned to madness.

In Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels The Wee Free Men and A Hat Full of Sky, a race of kilt-wearing fairies, warriors named the Nac Mac Feegle, call themselves "Pictsies".

In J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Gilderoy Lockhart releases a cage of Cornish blue pixies into the classroom in an inept effort to teach the students how to defeat them in his Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Rowling's version of pixies are about 8 inches tall, electric blue in colour, and are wildly rambunctious tricksters.

In Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan series, Rachel, a witch, works closely with Jenks, a pixie, to track down the missing, save various creatures, retrieve stolen objects, and defend the defenceless, etc. Jenks, his wife, and large family live in, tend, and protect Rachel's garden.

British rock band Alien Stash Tin included a short novelty song called "Bingo The Magic Pixie" as a bonus track on their 2007 debut album. Bingo is described as 'living alone' and making 'mushroom wine' which he shares with his friends.

Need, a series of novels by Carrie Jones, follows a struggle against malicious pixies in an urban fantasy setting.

Several characters in the Marvel Comics universe have been called Pixie.

Neil Gaiman told tales of piskies in his novel American Gods.

Ivy, the heroine of R.J. Anderson's novel Swift, is a Cornish piskey who lives with her clan in an abandoned tin mine.