Status
Available
Call number
Collections
Publication
Ace Books (1970), Edition: 2nd, Mass Market Paperback
Description
Encounter telepaths, wizards, and more in these five fantasy stories from the New York Times-bestselling Science Fiction Writers of America Grand Master. Warlocks of other worlds--or scientists of times unknown? Craike, a man hunted in two worlds . . . Miss Rutheven, whose needles pointed to secret kingdoms . . . Dagmar, with the fatal fascination of Helen of Troy . . . Ully, whose music touched the powers before mankind . . . Tamisan, the sorceress who found herself the victim of her toy . . . These and others like them inhabit Andre Norton's world of High Sorcery, where the primeval desires and fears of man--his loving and loathing--are merged with his dreams of future knowledge and technological power. Those who have enjoyed the alchemy of Norton's other mind-bending tales should enjoy these!… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member TadAD
I particularly liked "Through the Needle's Eye".
LibraryThing member xenacick
CRAKIE, MISS RUTHEVEN, DAGMAR, ULLY, TAMISAN. These, and others unlike them, inhabit Andre Norton's world of High Sorcery, where the primeval desires and fears of man - his loving and loathing - are merged with his dreams of future knowledge and technological power. Those who have enjoyed the
Show More
alchemy of Norton's other mind-bending tales should enjoy these! Show Less
LibraryThing member justchris
Five stories, only "Ully the Piper" pertains to the Witch World, but all entail some degree of magic (and disability, I am just now realizing). The first, the novella "Wizard's World" (previously published and broken into 9 chapters) is very similar to the original Witch World in terms of plot:
Finally, "Toys of Tamisan" (8 chapters) is a blend of science fiction and fantasy. This novella was expanded into the full-length novel Perilous Dreams 7 years later by the addition of 3 other sections following this part. It opens with a science fiction story of a bored, disabled rich man (former space explorer or other man of action) who at the urging of his oh-so-solicitous cousin buys a telepathic dreamer (an organic form of virtual reality) who specializes in action dreams for her clients. Challenged by her client's ennui, Tamisan decides to create a dream based on possible alternate trajectory of their city and planet if 3 critical decision points in history had gone differently. Stunned to find herself trapped within the dream world and apparently gifted with magical oracular power, she struggles to find her client and his cousin and free them all before any of them dies in a reality she can't control.
Tangentially, I have always loved the cover by Steve Hickman, although it has nothing to do with any of the stories in the book. Not so much the female nudity (yawn, the usual SF/fantasy sexism on display--but it's a product of its times, 1970--I hear the apologists' cry already). But I very much enjoy all of the curves and spirals and how they intersect: the arms of the chair and draped fabric, the curve of the horns and the satyr-like leg, in addition to the curves of the feminine torso, the spirals of the hair, the circular pedestal, the colonnades in the background, etc. And I enjoy the study in red--all of the colors from the same palette range.
I still enjoy the stories after all these years (admittedly, to varying degrees). This book's a keeper.
Show More
hunted man manages to flee his pursuers into another world where magic apparently works. In his own world, his esper talents made him a hated minority trying to escape genocide or slavery, but here they make him a person with the Power. He finds a woman being hunted and saves her, then joins forces with others to carve out a place for himself. Second, "Through the Needle's Eye" is set in the modern world. A disabled girl is drawn to a disabled old woman who is the last of a family famous for embroidery. The old woman's tragic past and mysterious future are tangled up with the devil's bargain (well, the other party is left unclear) made by the first of her line and the magical needles passed down from one talented woman to another through the generations. "By a Hair" is set in an unnamed location of eastern Europe(?) in the wake of WWII and the rise Stalinism and the Soviet Union. Politics and personal desire and old powers collide in the machinations of 4 people to devastating and unexplainable effect. Fourth, "Ully the Piper" features Ully, a disabled boy who can't participate in the spring dances with the other youth of their remote dale that escaped the ravages of war. The popular kids bully him and push his cart down the hill to get lost in the woods at night, where he happens upon a faery ring. Faery gifts, envy, greed, and the rewards for ill intent are all there in a classic folktale plot.Finally, "Toys of Tamisan" (8 chapters) is a blend of science fiction and fantasy. This novella was expanded into the full-length novel Perilous Dreams 7 years later by the addition of 3 other sections following this part. It opens with a science fiction story of a bored, disabled rich man (former space explorer or other man of action) who at the urging of his oh-so-solicitous cousin buys a telepathic dreamer (an organic form of virtual reality) who specializes in action dreams for her clients. Challenged by her client's ennui, Tamisan decides to create a dream based on possible alternate trajectory of their city and planet if 3 critical decision points in history had gone differently. Stunned to find herself trapped within the dream world and apparently gifted with magical oracular power, she struggles to find her client and his cousin and free them all before any of them dies in a reality she can't control.
Tangentially, I have always loved the cover by Steve Hickman, although it has nothing to do with any of the stories in the book. Not so much the female nudity (yawn, the usual SF/fantasy sexism on display--but it's a product of its times, 1970--I hear the apologists' cry already). But I very much enjoy all of the curves and spirals and how they intersect: the arms of the chair and draped fabric, the curve of the horns and the satyr-like leg, in addition to the curves of the feminine torso, the spirals of the hair, the circular pedestal, the colonnades in the background, etc. And I enjoy the study in red--all of the colors from the same palette range.
I still enjoy the stories after all these years (admittedly, to varying degrees). This book's a keeper.
Show Less
Language
Original publication date
1970
DDC/MDS
| Fic SF Norton |