Jonathan Strahan

Originally posted on Just Geeking by.

Content warnings:
This book contains scenes of death, blood, and violence.

Content warnings for specific stories are as follows:

‘What I Remember of Oresha Moon Dragon Devshrata’ by P. Djèlí Clark – Betrayal, prejudice, ignorance, rumours, and lies.

‘Catechism for Those Who Would Find Witches’ by Kathleen Jennings – Misogyny.

‘The Luck Thief’ by Tade Thompson – Brief reference to children being stalked due to custody battles going wrong, and discussion of physical abuse.

‘Good Spells’ by Ken Liu – Corporate greed, dehumanisation of workers, alienation.

‘The Witch Is Not the Monster’ by Alaya Dawn Johnson – Racism, prejudice, child abuse.

‘Met Swallow’ by Cassandra Khaw – Domestic abuse (physical).

‘The Nine Jars of Nukulu’ by Tobi Ogundiran – Forced amputation of a child’s hands by a parent for ritual magic, genocide, brutal deaths.

‘In a Cabin, In a Wood’ by Kelly Robson – Death of a parent, discussion of death.

‘What Dreams May Come’ by C. L. Clark – Prejudice, Transphobia,

‘She Who Makes the Rain’ by Millie Ho (Poem) – Reference to memory loss.

‘As Wayward Sisters’ by Hand in Hand, Indrapramit Das – Drug use, sexual abuse, racism.

‘Orphanage of the Last Breath’ by Saad Z. Hossain – Child abuse (physical), child death, mutilation, police corruption.

‘So Spake the Mirrorwitch’ by Premee Mohamed – Ignorance, prejudice, religious zealotry.

‘Just a Nudge’ by Maureen McHugh – End of life care, discussion of a day working in the ICU hospital, homophobia, ableism, hostile neighbour, threatening behaviour.

‘Her Ravenous Waters’ by Andrea Stewart – Domestic abuse (physical), gaslighting, betrayal.

‘Déjà Vue’ by Tochi Onyebuchi – Mention of infant death, woman is burned alive as a witch, prejudice, child abandonment.

‘BOTANICA: A Song in Four Movements’ by Sheree Renée Thomas (Poem)

‘Through the Woods, Due West’ by Angela Slatter – War, reference to experimentation.

‘Nameless Here for Evermore’ by Fonda Lee – Prejudice, religious zealotry, suicide.

‘Mask of the Nautilus’ by Sheree Renée Thomas – Discussion of generation racism.

‘Night Riding’ by Usman T. Malik – Body horror, medical trauma, hospital scenes, ableism, medical model of disability, sexual assault (off page),

‘Witchfires’ by E. Lily Yu – Misogyny, prejudice, pack mentality, women burned alive as witches.

‘The Academy of Oracular Magic’ by Miyuki Jane Pinckard – Prejudice, transphobia.

‘The Cost of Doing Business’ by Emily Y. Teng – Body horror, workplace accidents.

‘John Hollowback and the Witch’ by Amal El-Mohtar – Domestic abuse (emotional, manipulation), gaslighting, homophobia.


An anthology titled The Book of Witches, of course, caught my attention, and with such a showcase of writing talent on offer I had to check this one out. There are twenty-five stories and four poems in The Book of Witches, and I enjoyed the wide variety of subjects covered under the umbrella term of “witches”. It is always interesting to see how each writer interprets the theme of an anthology, and The Book of Witches is a splendid example of creativity. The range of settings and genres means that this is an anthology that truly does offer something for everything. From the traditional urban fantasy and paranormal themed stories, to tales of necromancers, vengeful spirits, techno-witches and dream magic.

My favourites from the anthology are ‘What I Remember of Oresha Moon Dragon Devshrata’ by P. Djèlí Clark, ‘The Luck Thief’ by Tade Thompson, ‘The Witch Is Not the Monster’ by Alaya Dawn Johnson, ‘Met Swallow’ by Cassandra Khaw, ‘The Nine Jars of Nukulu’ by Tobi Ogundiran, ‘What Dreams May Come’ by C. L. Clark, ‘The Unexpected Excursion of the Murder Mystery Writing Witches’ by Garth Nix, ‘So Spake the Mirrorwitch’ by Premee Mohamed’, ‘Her Ravenous Waters’ by Andrea Stewart, ‘Through the Woods, Due West’ by Angela Slatter, ‘Witchfires’ by E. Lily Yu and ‘The Cost of Doing Business’ by Emily Y. Teng.

Some of these are by authors that I’ve read multiple times and know to deliver sensational short stories, such as Cassandra Khaw and Angela Slatter. While others are on my reading list (C. L. Clark and Andrea Stewart) and confirmed everything that I’ve heard about their writing. The other authors I’ve not read before, but will certainly be checking out now!

The Book of Witches begins with a well researched introduction by editor Jonathan Strahan. It’s an interesting read, however as a disabled reader I was extremely disappointed to see only BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ writers named when he mentioned diversity. This is such an ignorant perspective, and having it printed in an anthology published by a major publisher is rather upsetting. Despite this comment in the introduction, there is disability representation in The Book of Witches, most notably the excellent ‘Just a Nudge’ by Maureen McHugh and the brilliant ‘Night Riding’ by Usman T. Malik (please do check the content warnings for this one though as it is a very dark tale).

On a final note, I was disappointed by the illustrations. I didn’t feel that they were of particularly good quality nor did they add anything to the stories they accompanied.

Full list of stories and poems:

‘Seed of Power’ by Linda D. Addison (Poem)

‘What I Remember of Oresha Moon Dragon Devshrata’ by P. Djèlí Clark

‘Catechism for Those Who Would Find Witches’ by Kathleen Jennings

‘The Luck Thief’ by Tade Thompson

‘Good Spells’ by Ken Liu

‘The Liar’ by Darcie Little Badger

‘Escape Artists’ by Andrea Hairston (Poem)

‘The Witch Is Not the Monster’ by Alaya Dawn Johnson

‘Met Swallow’ by Cassandra Khaw

‘The Nine Jars of Nukulu’ by Tobi Ogundiran

‘In a Cabin’ by In a Wood by Kelly Robson

‘What Dreams May Come’ by C. L. Clark

‘She Who Makes the Rain’ by Millie Ho (Poem)

‘As Wayward Sisters’ by Hand in Hand, Indrapramit Das

‘Orphanage of the Last Breath’ by Saad Z. Hossain

‘The Unexpected Excursion of the Murder Mystery Writing Witches’ by Garth Nix

‘So Spake the Mirrorwitch’ by Premee Mohamed

‘Just a Nudge’ by Maureen McHugh

‘Her Ravenous Waters’ by Andrea Stewart

‘Déjà Vue’ by Tochi Onyebuchi

‘BOTANICA: A Song in Four Movements’ by Sheree Renée Thomas (Poem)

‘Through the Woods, Due West’ by Angela Slatter

‘Nameless Here for Evermore’ by Fonda Lee

‘Mask of the Nautilus’ by Sheree Renée Thomas

‘Night Riding’ by Usman T. Malik

‘Witchfires’ by E. Lily Yu

‘The Academy of Oracular Magic’ by Miyuki Jane Pinckard

‘The Cost of Doing Business’ by Emily Y. Teng

‘John Hollowback and the Witch’ by Amal El-Mohtar

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