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The Way of the Wizard

by John Joseph Adams (Editor)

Other authors: John Joseph Adams (Introduction), Peter S. Beagle (Contributor), Desirina Boskovich (Contributor), Marion Zimmer Bradley (Contributor), Orson Scott Card (Contributor)28 more, Adam-Troy Castro (Contributor), Cinda Williams Chima (Contributor), Susanna Clarke (Contributor), David Farland (Contributor), C. C. Finlay (Contributor), Jeffrey Ford (Contributor), John R. Fultz (Contributor), Neil Gaiman (Contributor), Simon R. Green (Contributor), Lev Grossman (Contributor), Jonathan L. Howard (Contributor), Vylar Kaftan (Contributor), Rajan Khanna (Contributor), David Barr Kirtley (Contributor), Ursula K. Le Guin (Contributor), Krista Hoeppner Leahy (Contributor), Yoon Ha Lee (Contributor), Kelly Link (Contributor), George R. R. Martin (Contributor), Nnedi Okorafor (Contributor), T. A. Pratt (Contributor), Mike Resnick (Contributor), Delia Sherman (Contributor), Robert Silverberg (Contributor), Jeremiah Tolbert (Contributor), Genevieve Valentine (Contributor), Wendy N. Wagner (Contributor), Christie Yant (Contributor)

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2076129,633 (3.63)2
Witches, warlocks, sorcerers, necromancers-- enter a world where anything is possible. Experience the trill of power, the way of the wizard, in these thirty-two spellbinding tales, written by some of today's most magical talents.
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Because... Magic.

That seems to be the one rule herein. Seems the authors decided to throw in slapdash versions of tales. As if in sarcastic answer to requests for a type of tale the authors don't like.
And... I may want to read about wizards, but I like more plot than the grade school level thank you. ( )
  acb13adm | Sep 13, 2023 |
I’m going to preface this review by saying that I will review each of the 36 stories in the anthology. So it’ll take me a while to complete the entire review. But I did want to mark it as finished and move onto my next book :)

In The Lost Lands by George R. R. Martin - An excellent story from the master of mythology. The kind of tale that I can easily see as a small chapter in the next Song of Ice and Fire novel. The entire story was told with a sense of foreboding that came to fruition with the not-so-happy ending. I can only hope that GRRM has gotten the desire to leave his readers saddened out of his system before he finishes the Song of Ice and Fire series.

Family Tree by David Barr Kirtley - A decent story. The idea of the family tree being an actual, physical tree where the limbs died as a family line died out was unique. Probably not enough to base an entire story upon, but different enough to make this tale interesting in theory.

John Uskglass and the Cumbrian Charcoal Burner by Susanna Clarke - A classic tale of an omnipotent king being bested by an unwitting peasant. A nice retelling, proving that even wizards fear power that is stronger than theirs.

Wizard’s Apprentice by Delia Sherman - Another good, quick read. A boy runs away from an abusive home and becomes apprentice to an evil wizard. It’s a tale of family, and what makes a family, that just happens to involve a wizard.

The Sorcerer Minus by Jeffrey Ford - A short tale of a terribly evil wizard who gets his two servants (a guy and a rat) to do his bidding. But when he gets the rat to get rid of the guy, things go wrong…

Life So Dear Or Peace So Sweet by C. C. Finlay - A good story that keeps you guessing. A witch and a warlock, in Revolutionary War times, are given the task of getting rid of pirates. Only the pirate is magical in his own right and his treasure is not what it seems…

Card Sharp by Rajan Khanna - Fantastic story! Magicians are given a deck of cards and the higher the suit, the more powerful the magic that can be cast. But once you're through your 52 cards, your magic is no more…

So Deep That the Bottom Could Not Be Seen by Genevieve Valentine - A morality story about global warming and taking care of the planet. Okay. The story focuses on the last Inuit Shaman as she’s brought to the United Nations for a delegation of magicians (real and fake) and how she comes into her own.

The Go-Slow by Nnedi Okorafor - Sucked. A Nigerian movie actor is stuck in traffic and he’s hunted by either shape-shifters or people controlling animals. I don’t really remember because it was horrendous.

Too Fatal a Poison by Krista Hoeppner Leahy - Excellent! The behind-the-scenes story of Elpenor from Homer’s “The Odyssey” and what happened to make him drink to excess and fall to his death.

Jamaica by Orson Scott Card - Not bad… But not great. A nice idea that fell apart when everything was was neatly and conveniently wrapped up on the last page. Just like the overrated “Ender’s Game” was wrapped up with one sentence “It’s not a simulation!”

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice by Robert Silverberg - A love story. I guess I’m not surprised that a love story had to pop up eventually. Not bad, but not great. At least the story of a young man trying to study wizardry wasn’t hampered by the portions of the tale that dealt with him being lovestruck by his mentor.

The Secret of Calling Rabbits by Wendy N. Wagner - Another crappy story. A dwarf meets a little girl and she wants to know how he can call rabbits. Then she’s older, or something, and dying. And he saves her, but ends up becoming a plant. Or something. Sucked.

The Wizards of Perfil by Kelly Link - Huh? I don’t know where to begin with this one. It was a confusing, jumbled mess. I was bored halfway through it and cannot tell you exactly why I didn’t like because, to this day, I still cannot begin to understand what the hell was happening during the story. The editor should have done a better job and axed this stinker.

How to Sell the Ponti Bridge by Neil Gaiman - I am actually going to level a “complaint” against a Neil Gaiman story… It was too short. I wanted more of the rogues, thieves, and connivers. This was one of the few stories that I would read a novel that expanded on the story.

The Magician and the Maid and Other Stories by Christie Yant - A good story. A woman is held prisoner in a library. The woman is also the main character of a fairytale called “The Magician and the Maid” which resides on the shelf in the library where she is trapped. Can she find her book and escape…

Winter Solstice by Mike Resnick - Another fantastic entry in a book that’s been all over the place in terms of quality. Another side to Merlin, the magician of Arthurian legend. This one concerns Merlin living backwards in time and fragility of his memories.

The Trader and the Slave by Cinda Williams Chima - Not a bad story. A powerful sorcerer hires a slave for a night, then buys her from her duplicitous, evil owner.

Cerile and the Journeyer by Adam-Troy Castro - Awesome! Very short, but amazing story about a man and his quest for an all-powerful sorceress, Cerile, who will bring him happiness.

Counting the Shapes by Yoon Ha Lee - Average, at best. A war of wizards. A family squabble. Math. The story is less than the sum of its parts, unfortunately.

Endgame by Lev Grossman - Great short story! Definitely makes me want to read “The Magicians” and its sequel. Wizards in training battle in an everyday environment. Nuff said.

Street Wizard by Simon R. Green - Better than I was expecting. A wizard works for London and keeps the streets clean and city peaceful. Based on his working hours, he’s also friends with prostitutes. More certainly, not the worst of this lot.

Mommy Issues of the Dead by T. A. Pratt - A wizard for hire gets caught in the middle of two magical brothers fighting over a powerful object. And things are not what they seem…

One Click Banishment by Jeremiah Tolbert - A fun read for me (wizards are computer programmers and the programs are spells) because of my experience in the IT field. The basis of the world created was interesting and really came together well. I did, however, feel the ending was ruined with the twist being brought up earlier in the story.

The Ereshkigal Working by Jonathan L. Howard - A powerful magician (Necromancer, actually) stops a zombie outbreak, started by a nemesis causing trouble. Would be an interesting read, if you’re familiar with Howard’s stories about said Necromancer. Otherwise, it’s…meh.

Feeding the Feral Children by David Farland - Pretty shitty. I wish I could remember more. I’m staring at the actual pages as I type this, and the story is still a blur of bad writing.

The Orange-Tree Sacrifice by Vylar Kaftan - The shortest of the stories, it’s brevity and ambiguity had me enrapt and wanting more. Enticing with so few words…

Love is the Spell That Casts Out Fear by Desirina Boskovich - Two tales of two Hannah’s (one in the real world, and one in a magical world) overlap without either of them knowing it. Pretty decent story.

El Regalo by Peter S. Beagle - Fantastic! Only the second piece of work that I’ve read by Beagle, it was a magical as “The Last Unicorn”. One of the longest stories, it felt short and was a quick read because it sucked you in and left you hurrying to get to the next page. The "twist" or "surprise" ending to the story was also done by one of the previous stories, but done better by Beagle.

The Word of Unbinding by Ursula K. Le Guin - Another great story. The hopelessness of the main character is palpable on every page. Similar to the cloying, winter wasteland in her classic novel “The Left Hand of Darkness”. The ending left me sad and happy at the same time.

The Thirteen Texts of Arthyria by John R. Fultz - A man who feels not part of our world is drawn to a book. Then a second. And a third. And each one takes him more and more away from our world and into Arthyria. Nice tale.

The Secret of the Blue Star by Marion Zimmer Bradley - An excellent story to close on. Wizards doing battle and trying to steal each other’s powers. The kind of story that I was hoping for more of when I bought the book. It successfully, and slowly, built up the mystery of the main character’s “secret” until revealing the unexpected truth at the end. Marvelous ( )
  writertomg | Sep 6, 2017 |
A collection of stories about magic users, some new and some many decades old.

George RR Martin, “In the Lost Lands.” A sorceress quests to find a werewolf skin. Purple prose, telegraphed&obvious plot ~twists~. Was not impressed.

David Barr Kirtley, “Family Tree.” Simon is pulled back into the family feud, in which everyone lives in a living tree and fights over which branch is larger. He ends it by killing everyone on the opposing side, including the lady he loved but whose loyalty toward her family was stronger than her love of him. Simon then brings the remaining family to live in his own, independently created tree, and thus the cycle of feuding over branches will continue, I guess. Not sure what the point of this story was.

Susanna Clarke, “John Uskglass and the Cumbrian Charcoal Burner.” Set decades before Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. A poor old charcoal burner has his house accidentally destroyed by the Raven King’s hunt. For vengeance, he persuades various saints to torment the Raven King. Very funny, and I was immediately pulled back into Clarke’s understated style of magic.

Delia Sherman, “Wizard’s Apprentice.” An abused kid runs away and becomes the apprentice to an evil wizard. Evil and apprenticeships, viewed slightly sideways. I liked it.

Jeffrey Ford, “The Sorcerer Minus.” An evil sorcerer defeats himself. I felt like this story was supposed to be clever, but instead it just felt flat and boring, because I hated Minus and didn’t care what happened to him.

CC Finlay, “Life So Dear or Peace So Sweet.” Two wizards are trapped between a pirate and a tiger in a foggy no-where pocket of existence. Not bad.

Rajan Khanna, “Card Sharp.” There is a kind of magic that uses cards. Each person gets a single deck of 54, each of which will do something different. Every time they use magic, they lose that ability forever. The plot is just your basic revenge plot, but I like the magic system. It feels Tim Powers-y.

Genevieve Valentine, “So Deep that the Bottom Could Not Be Seen.” The last Northern shaman is summoned to attend the First International Magical Congress. Climate change and environmental damage have destroyed Anna’s home, scattered her people, and killed all the narwhals. And only now are the sorcerers taking notice. Anna is deeply angry, but what can she do? The very environmental degradation that she would fight has already taken her magic. Fantastic, with a great mix of magical workings.

Nnedi Okorafor, "The Go-Slow." Nkem is a movie star stuck in traffic. Then an albino bull charges his car, and he's reminded of all the other times white animals have tried to kill him. After a few more incidents that afternoon, its revealed that he has magical powers and his former friends from the spirit realm have been trying to kill him so they can be together again. It's a cool concept, but Nkem is deeply unlikable and the whole thing is told with a casual acceptance of the surreal that doesn't seem likely.

Krista Hoeppner Leahy, "Too Fatal a Poison." One of Odysseus's men tells the true tale of why Elpenor died on Circe's island. Becoming a pig isn't a punishment--it's the men's only escape from their memories of war and PTSD. Great descriptions of life as a pig.

Orson Scott Card, "Jamaica." Jam tries to be good for his single mom and paralyzed brother. But after his science teacher exposes him to a strange rock, Jam begins to suspect there's magic in the world, and he finds it harder to be such a good son. Despite the author I was kind of enjoying this until 2/3rds of the way through, when the twists of the story built to a crescendo of silliness. There's only so many revelations of "But wait! he's really the emperor! and your mom is not your mom! and your brother is a grown man with children! and you're a philosopher's stone!" I can take within a single story before it loses all coherence.

Robert Silverberg, "The Sorcerer's Apprentice." Gannin apprentices himself to a young and beautiful sorcerer. He sexually harasses and gropes her every chance he gets, despite her perpetual clear denials. Eventually he tries to commit suicide, she saves his life, and they have sex. End of story, I guess. This was a creepy read, because I got the feeling that Silverberg thought this was all just funny shenanigans. The editor seems to have thought so too--it's introduced as "Some aspiring magicians may in fact find themselves apprenticed to attractive female wizards. However, for an amorous young man, this can be a mixed blessing." Sure, life's real hard for the ~amorous young man~, but what about the lady he keeps harassing? All she wants to do is teach, and he's constantly spying on her in the bath, declaring his love, and doing shit like bursting into her room and fondling her. It's rife with scenes like:
"that was wonderful!" she cried. "How marvelously you did that! How proud I am of you!"
This is it, he thought, the delirious moment of surrender at last, and slipped his hand between their bodies to clasp her firm round breast, and pressed his lips against hers and drove his tongue deep into her mouth. Instantly she voiced the spell of levitation and sent him crashing miserably to the floor, where he landed in a crumpled heap with his left leg folded up beneath him in a way that sent the fiercest pain through his entire body.
She floated gently down beside him.
"You will always be an idiot," she said, and spat, and strode out of the room.
If these two ever got together I'd have assumed it was because Gannin eventually figured out that he was acting like an asshole, but no, she onlly "opened her legs to him" (blegh!) after he tries to kill himself. And Gannin, delightful man that he is, immediately thinks, "however hard she might be battling against it, he knew now that he would go on searching, forever if necessary, for the key that would unlock her a second time." Jesus christ! [b:Twilight|41865|Twilight (Twilight, #1)|Stephenie Meyer|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1361039443s/41865.jpg|3212258] had a healthier, less abusive relationship than this!

Wendy N Wagner, "The Secret of Calling Rabbits." The last dwarf is forced to choose whether to help a little human girl and expose his existence to the humans, or let her die. Nicely done.

Kelly Link, "The Wizards of Perfil." I usually hate Link's stories because they're so surreal and discombobulated, without plot or reason to them. But this one combines Link's trademark woozy dream-logic with solid writing and a truly touching tale about life during wartime.

Neil Gaiman, "How to Sell the Ponti Bridge." Oh man, I feel bad. I was going to rip this story apart and then I saw it was by Neil Gaiman, which makes me feel embarrassed for him. Gaiman's novels are hit and miss with me, but his short stories are usually his strongest work. This, however, is twee bullshit about a conman telling how he tricked a town into bribing him. It's a really, really obvious and stupid con, and yet it's described as "a perfect con" and ends "We were lost in contemplation of the brilliance of the man who sold the Ponti Bridge." If you want to wow me with the cleverness of an idea, having two pages of characters tell me how incredible it is won't do it. Just come up with an actual clever idea.

Christie Yant, "The Magician and the Maid and Other Stories." A cool twist on the ol' "besotted boy seeks his fortune" trope. Audra's boyfriend left years ago, and never returned. She has ventured through planes of existence looking for vengeance, by the man she thinks killed her love is actually her long-lost lover.

Mike Resnick, "Winter Solstice." Merlin lives backward, and this tale spells out what that means for him in horrifyingly dismal detail. Very well done, but I am very, VERY over depressing takes on Arthurian tales.

Cinda Williams Chima, "The Trader and the Slave." A deleted scene from the second book in her Heir Chronicles. An enslaved enchantress is commanded to kill a wizard--but she can't help but hope that perhaps, this could be her chance at freedom. As someone who's read and enjoyed the Heir books, I quite liked this.

Adam-Troy Castro, "Cerile and the Journeyer." A man spends a lifetime on a quest to find the witch Cerile but when he finds her, he begins the quest anew. This would work, except that I have no idea why he wanted to find her in the first place.

Yoon Ha Lee, "Counting the Stars." Years ago, the lady Biantha escaped her service to the Demon Lord and swore her loyalty instead to the last human king. On the eve of the final battle between demons and humans, Biantha's long lost son, who has served the Demon Lord all this time, defects to her side. But is his change in loyalties real, or a trap? I love the complex, mathematical magic in this story, and the world. I really hope this becomes part of a novel or something, because I'd love to read more of it.

Lev Grossman, "Endgame." The protagonist of [b:The Magicians|6101718|The Magicians (The Magicians, #1)|Lev Grossman|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1313772941s/6101718.jpg|6278977] was disaffected and callous; the protagonist of this short story, set in the same world, is just as jaded and cynical. I have no idea why. She says it's because
Being a magician, it turned out, wasn't so much like it was in books. You thought there'd be a Sauron or a White Witch or a Voldemort waiting for you when you graduated, but you know what? Those fuckers could never be bothered to show up. Didn't get the memo.
Their final betrayal, their ultimate evil, was their refusal to exist. So there she was, a newly minted sorceress, spoiling for a fight, but there was nobody to fight and precious little to fight for.
This is such absolute silly bullshit. Who the fuck reads a fantasy book and wants to have magic so they can fight evil wizards? Fighting evil wizards is a price you have to pay in order to have magic, not the prize! (Additionally, I'd like to point out that not a single one of the characters Grossman names was defeated by magic. Sauron is defeated by a hobbit throwing jewelry into a fire, not by a wizard. The White Witch is defeated by children having faith in JesusAslan. Voldemort is killed by Harry's acceptance of his own death.) I could buy that one or two people would be so blinkered and unimaginative that they'd think the only point to magic was having wizard battles against Ultimate Evil, but in Grossman's world every.single.magic user thinks this way. It makes no sense! Where are all the wizards who want to explore the moon, feel what it's like to be an animal, or hell, use their magic to help people? Grossman has said he writes a deconstruction of fantasy, but in order to deconstruct something you have to understand it first--and he clearly doesn't.

Simon R Green, "Street Wizard." The London City Council pays men like the narrator to patrol the streets, looking for illicit uses of magic. Poorly thought out magical systems and a self-aggrandizing narrator. Blegh.

TA Pratt, "Mommy Issues of the Dead." Marla Mason knows lots of kinds of magic but hasn't mastered any, and so she's often outclassed magically. Luckily, she's a clever little rogue. I love Marla's sarcastic, no-nonsense style, and this is a great little adventure in which she defeats an immortal cyborg in order to get a snowglobe.

Jeremiah Tolbert, "One-Click Banishment." Through forum posts, a hacker magician (aka m4g1ck pirate) tells the tale of his defeat of a dread demon. Told in the present tense, which makes it completely unbelievable as a forum post, and turgid with unfunny in-jokes. ex:
You know, I never watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer, so I don't know any badass moves to take out a demon. (I'm more old-school in my entertainment. I grew up watching a little movie called Monster Squad. You can catch it on cable every once and a while. Check it out.)
So, lesson number five: like a wolf man, arch-demons have 'nards.
That is a lot of set-up for one not particularly funny reference. The whole thing is like that: slow-witted, pretentious, and desperately try-hard.

Jonathan L Howard, "The Ereshkigal Working". A necromancer and a beat cop stop the zombie apocalypse. Delightfully sardonic main character.

David Farland, "Feeding the Feral Children." Huang Fa goes to seek his fortune, but in defending his horse from bandits he becomes the target of a vengeance curse. Extraordinarily clunky dialog, ex "When I return, I will have much silver. Your father will surely agree to the match when he sees what I bring."

Vylar Kaftan, "The Orange-Tree Sacrifice." This story consists of two pages of a girl being tortured to death. The twist--that she has sacrificed herself to kill the demons who are killing her--isn't good enough to make up for it.

Desirina Boskovich, "Love is the Spell that Casts Out Fear." Two entwined stories: a wizard turns an incubus into a stag and herself into a deer, and a young teen tells her youth minister that he shouldn't have kissed her. I have no idea what happened in this story. The intro says its about characters using fantasy worlds to face their problems from a new angle, but let's be real, that's a pretty overplayed angle. If that's all this story has to offer (because goodness knows it lacks plot, characterization, or suspense) then I'm disappointed.

Peter S Beagle, “El Regalo.” Angie’s little brother is a witch, and no one else seems to notice. They have a realistically contentious relationship, but when he tries to do her a favor and something goes magically wrong, Angie has to delve into the world of magic herself. Really well written, and is both believable and sweet in the style of old school YA like Diana Wynne Jones.

Ursula K Le Guin, “The Word of Unbinding.” Festin is captured by the dread wizard Foll. No matter how clever his transformations or how powerful his magics, Festin cannot escape. Beautifully written.

John R Fultz, “The Thirteen Texts of Arthyria.” Jeremy finds an old book and rapidly begins dreaming of a magical land called Arthyria. Soon, he’s living in Arthyria and on a quest that he remembers more clearly with every additional book of magic he reads. The conceit (that the mundane world is the illusion, a trap to prevent wizards from beating the Dead King) is good, but the main character reads like an authorial insert, a self-aggrandizing Mary Sue. Jeremy is the bestest wizard, everyone loves and respects him, the Dead King himself bows before him, and oh yeah, his ex-wife (who wanted him to get a paying job to supplement her income, how DARE she) is totally just a bitchy demon who was trying to trap him.

Marion Zimmer Bradley, “The Secret of the Blue Star.” Lythande is an adept of the Blue Star, whose magical powers are bound into hiding a single Secret. If the secret is ever revealed, all of the adept's powers are given to the one who discovered it. Lythande is a woman, obviously. I assume this was surprising when this was first published, in the 1970s, but like many twists, this one has been blunted by societal changes since then. If the story hadn't been all about the incredibly obvious secret, I might have liked it--Lythande is likable enough--but as it was I just felt impatient. ( )
  wealhtheowwylfing | Feb 29, 2016 |
This is a great collection of stories about magic and its users. Several of these stories will stick with me for a long time, and it's an anthology I'm very happy that I own. ( )
  RhiannonAgnes | Mar 9, 2014 |
The list of authors contributing to this anthology is what initially caught my eye. Lucky me that I actually won a paperback copy signed by the editor. Thank you Goodreads' giveaway! I've been snacking on these short stories for a few months now. I gather from other reviewers that there isn't much "new" material to be found here. Well I've never had the pleasure of encountering any of these stories before. They were all new to me and maybe that is why I enjoyed the collection so much. I was doubly impressed by the sheer variety of wizarding tales included in this anthology. There are all kinds of wizards, all kinds of magic represented. Some standouts, in order of appearance:

"Card Sharp" by Rajan Khanna....A revenge tale wherein a magician's power lies in his ability to wield a deck of cards. I like that the source of magic in this story is finite (each card represents a different spell and can only be used once).

"Too Fatal A Poison" by Krista Hoeppnere Leahy....[b:The Odyssey|1381|The Odyssey|Homer|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1312497624s/1381.jpg|3356006] is one of my favorite stories and I loved seeing even a tiny portion of that epic tale fleshed out here.

"The Secret of Calling Rabbits" by Wendy N. Wagner....I was not prepared for the emotional impact of this story. Although it ended on a hopeful note, mostly I just felt sad and angry.

"The Wizards of Perfil" by Kelly Link....Ah, the age old trick of misdirection.

"The Ereshkigal Working" by Jonathan L. Howard....My first introduction to the character of Johannes Cabal. We shall meet again necromancer.

"The Word of Unbinding" by Ursula K. Le Guin....The wizard Festin has been imprisoned in an enchanted tomb and his repeated attempts to escape thwarted at every turn. According to the story's introduction, this is the first story ever set in the Earthsea universe.

Overall, I'd say this was a strong collection. It's a brick of a book but I never really felt like I was slogging through it. More like savoring. ( )
  diovival | Oct 14, 2013 |
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Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Adams, John JosephEditorprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Adams, John JosephIntroductionsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Beagle, Peter S.Contributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Boskovich, DesirinaContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Bradley, Marion ZimmerContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Card, Orson ScottContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Castro, Adam-TroyContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Chima, Cinda WilliamsContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Clarke, SusannaContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Farland, DavidContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Finlay, C. C.Contributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Ford, JeffreyContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Fultz, John R.Contributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Gaiman, NeilContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Green, Simon R.Contributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Grossman, LevContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Howard, Jonathan L.Contributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Kaftan, VylarContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Khanna, RajanContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Kirtley, David BarrContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Le Guin, Ursula K.Contributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Leahy, Krista HoeppnerContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Lee, Yoon HaContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Link, KellyContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Martin, George R. R.Contributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Okorafor, NnediContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Pratt, T. A.Contributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Resnick, MikeContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Sherman, DeliaContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Silverberg, RobertContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Tolbert, JeremiahContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Valentine, GenevieveContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Wagner, Wendy N.Contributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Yant, ChristieContributorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
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Witches, warlocks, sorcerers, necromancers-- enter a world where anything is possible. Experience the trill of power, the way of the wizard, in these thirty-two spellbinding tales, written by some of today's most magical talents.

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Book description
Power. We all want it, they've got it - witches, warlocks, sorcerers, necromancers, those who peer beneath the veil of mundane reality and put their hands on the levers that move the universe. They see the future in a sheet of glass, summon fantastic beasts, and transform lead into gold... or you into a frog. From Gandalf to Harry Potter to the Last Airbender, wizardry has never been more exciting and popular. Enter a world where anything is possible, where imagination becomes reality. Experience the thrill of power, the way of the wizard. Now acclaimed editor John Joseph Adams (The Living Dead) brings you thirty-two of the most spellbinding tales ever written, by some of today's most magical talents, including Neil Gaiman, Simon R. Green, and George R. R. Martin. [Product description from back of book]

CONTENTS:
Introduction by John Joseph Adams
In the lost lands / George R.R. Martin
Family tree / David Barr Kirtley
John Uskglass and the Cambrian charcoal burner / Susanna Clarke**
Wizard's apprentice / Delia Sherman
The sorcerer Minus / Jeffrey Ford
Life so Dear or Peace so Sweet / C. C. Finlay*
Card sharp / Rajan Khanna
So deep that the bottom could not be seen / Genevieve Valentine
The go-slow / Nnedi Okorafor
Too fatal a poison / Krista Hoeppner Leahy
Jamaica / Orson Scott Card
The sorcerer's apprentice / Robert Silverberg
The secret of calling rabbits / Wendy N. Wagner
The wizards of Perfil / Kelly Link
How to sell the Ponti Bridge / Neil Gaiman
The magician and the maid and other stories / Christie Yant
Winter solstice / Mike Resnick
The Trader and the Slave / Cinda Williams Chima*
Cerile and the journeyer / Adam-Troy Castro
Counting the shapes / Yoon Ha Lee
Endgame / Lev Grossman*
Street wizard / Simon R. Green
Mommy Issues of the Dead / T. A. Pratt*
One click banishment / Jeremiah Tolbert
The Ereshkigal Working / Jonathan L. Howard*
Feeding the feral children / David Farland
The orange-tree sacrifice / Vylar Kaftan
Love is the spell that casts out fear / Desirina Boskovich
El regalo / Peter S. Beagle
The word of unbinding / Ursula K. Le Guin
The thirteen texts of Arthyria / John R. Fultz
The secret of the blue star / Marion Zimmer Bradley

*Stories that are part of a series, not already collected into a series anthology, are linked to individual records and hence to the series.

**Other stories may be linked if someone has cataloged it individually.
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