Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
Guild America Books, USA (1989). 529p. Wraparound cover design by Edward Gorey.
Description
Witches & warlocks curse, jinx, hex, spook, possess, charm & bedevil their victims in this collection of tales. Many stories are dark & chilling; some are light & humorous; most are time-honored; and a few are original, having been written especially for this book. Contributors include Robert Louis Stevenson, Nikolai Gogol, W.B. Yeats, L. Frank Baum, H.G. Wells, Isaac Singer, Ray Bradbury, Tanith Lee, Robert Bloch, Manly Wade Wellman, and others.
User reviews
LibraryThing member noneofthis
Kaye's Witches and Warlocks is not Asimov's Young Witches and Warlocks. Shame on me for inexplicably confusing them.
Kay's anthology is markedly lurid. After finding that the first few stories were focused around the topics of sex and hellfire, I skipped around and only read the stories by the
Wells' "The Magic Shop" couldn't hold my interest. Bradbury's "The Traveler" was an excellent October Country tale, and I'm surprised that it was't included in the October Country collection. Pinkwater's "Wizard Crystal" was only mildly exciting; I prefer his humorous works. Lee's "Perfidious Amber" was a bit of mystery story and not one of her best. Baum's "The Tiger's Eye" was perhaps even better that Bradbury's story and one that I'm glad I read, and not just for this quote:
"Not willingly," admitted the tiger. "But here is the alternative; either you transform yourself into an eye for our child, or I and my dear wife will tear you into shreds." (Guild America Books, no ISBN, pp. 212-213)
Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown" is so frequently anthologized that there was little pleasure in finding it here. Asimov's "The Up-to-Date Sorcerer" was not at all to my taste. Lovecraft's "Witches' Hollow" (completed by August Derleth) was pretty bland. Stevenson's "The Song of the Morrow" started of promisingly but ended rather flat. The Appendices contained some interesting information, however.
Kay's anthology is markedly lurid. After finding that the first few stories were focused around the topics of sex and hellfire, I skipped around and only read the stories by the
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authors I was interested in. By and large, I could have lived without reading them, but there were a few I felt worth the effort of tracking down.Wells' "The Magic Shop" couldn't hold my interest. Bradbury's "The Traveler" was an excellent October Country tale, and I'm surprised that it was't included in the October Country collection. Pinkwater's "Wizard Crystal" was only mildly exciting; I prefer his humorous works. Lee's "Perfidious Amber" was a bit of mystery story and not one of her best. Baum's "The Tiger's Eye" was perhaps even better that Bradbury's story and one that I'm glad I read, and not just for this quote:
"Not willingly," admitted the tiger. "But here is the alternative; either you transform yourself into an eye for our child, or I and my dear wife will tear you into shreds." (Guild America Books, no ISBN, pp. 212-213)
Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown" is so frequently anthologized that there was little pleasure in finding it here. Asimov's "The Up-to-Date Sorcerer" was not at all to my taste. Lovecraft's "Witches' Hollow" (completed by August Derleth) was pretty bland. Stevenson's "The Song of the Morrow" started of promisingly but ended rather flat. The Appendices contained some interesting information, however.
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Subjects
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1991
Local notes
Mostly focused on witches in Colonial America, some coverage of witches in the British Isles.
My copy includes some fascinating ephemera, with correspondence between the publisher and Dalby.
My copy includes some fascinating ephemera, with correspondence between the publisher and Dalby.