A Wizard's Dozen: Stories of the Fantastic

by Michael Stearns (Editor), Patricia C. Wrede (Contributor), Charles de Lint (Contributor)

Do you believe in magic? For this collection is overflowing with everything mystical, magical, fantastic and unbelievable. This book features stories by Patricia Wrede, Jane Yolen, Bruce Coville and many others. "A balanced and pleasing introduction to the genre".--School Library Journal.

"Do you believe in magic?

If you don't, you will. If you do, you're more than halfway there. For this collection is overflowing with everything mystical, magical, fantastic, and unbelievable. There's Caliph Arenschadd who has a nasty habit of putting curses on everyone. Why doesn't someone put a curse on him? Hmm...Not a bad idea...

And what of the fairy that Harlyn found? Of course no one believed that she'd actually seen a fairy--Harlyn hardly believed it herself. Until the war in the backyard...

Does anyone remember Brion? He'd died long ago, but something was keeping him from staying that way...

There's lots more. A story for everyone who knows that nothing is as it seems." (From the back of the book)

Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies, Young Adult, Science Fiction Fantasy, Young Adult Fantasy

186 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1993

Reviews

[Andria Potter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun, silly, thoroughly enjoyed. 3 ⭐

[D.R. Oestreicher · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Wizard’s Dozen edited by Michael Stearns is an anthology of thirteen children’s fantasy stories. It includes Efrum’s Marbles by Joy Oestreicher and The Princess Who Kicked Butt by Will Shetterly.

If you would like a short story collection for a young reader, or nighttime stories for a child beyond picture books, this is an excellent choice.

For my expanded report: https://1book42day.blogspot.com/2019/...
Check out https://amazon.com/shop/influencer-20... for book recommendations.

[Eden Silverfox · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is filled with stories of fantasy by some very good and well known auithors. I enjoyed the book, but not as much as I thought. Some of the stories I couldn't get into and the ending of one of the stories just really annoyed me.
However, there are definitely some gems in this book. The first story The Sixty-two Curses of Caliph Arenschadd by Patricia C. Wrede is a creative, unique and wonderful story.
Fairy Dust by Charles de Lint (Author) is a good story and is about how important it is to step in when we see something that is wrong going on.
The Princess Who Kicked Butt by Will Shetterly is just seriously funny.
The Queen's Mirror, With His Head Tucked Underneath His Arm and Harlyn's Fairy are a few others I enjoyed as well as the final story in the book called Faith by Sherwood Smith.

Overall, it was a pretty good book with some okay stories and some really wonderful stories.

[Wealhtheow · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of fantasy short stories. Patricia Wrede's "The 62 Curses of Caliph Arenschadd" has fun world-building. Charles de Lint's "Fairy Dust" is, like all his other work, filled with fascile moral conclusions and immature writing. I loved the main character in Will Shetterly's "The Princess Who Kicked Butt." Tappan King's "Come Hither" also has a very enjoyable main character (another self-sufficient girlchild).
I have always thought Bruce Coville is awesome, and he proves it yet again with the imaginative, very anti-war story "With His Head Tucked Under His Arm." Alan Smale's "The Breath of Princes" is a fantastic story in the same vein as Dealing With Dragons or Dragon's Bait. Speaking of Vande Velde's work, her short story "Lost Soul" is a creepy tale of a peasant seduced by the fey.

[Marissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fun collection of stories. I found them all to be readable, but favorites I enjoy rereading are the more light-hearted inclusions - The Sixty-Two Curses of Caliph Arenschadd by Patricia C. Wrede and The Princess Who Kicked Butt by Will Shetterly, both of which I would particularly recommend.

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

For the pedigree of authors included in this collection, I was actually underwhelmed and even disappointed by many of the stories. The biggest surprises were from writers I had not encountered before.

”The Sixty-Two Curses of Caliph Arenschadd” by Patricia C. Wrede: Wrede brings her typically wry storytelling regarding young people and magic to this fun tale about a short-tempered ruler. (Four stars)

”Fairy Dust” by Charles De Lint: I feel that De Lint has done better than this short and somewhat uninspired tale of a captured fairy. (Two stars)

”The Princess Who Kicked Butt” by Will Shetterly: A comedic story that is more novel for its telling than its narrative. (Three stars)

”The Sea Giants” by Betty Levin: This read as a kind of indigenous or folk tale but without any clear theme — or meaning. (One star)

”Efrum’s Marbles” by Joy Oestreicher: What begins as an amusing tale is ruined by a left-turn, nonsensical ending. (One star)

”Come Hither” by Tappan King: I found this to be a very clever, almost sci-fi fantasy filtered through the lens of 90s home computing. (Four stars)

”With His Head Tucked Underneath His Arm” by Bruce Coville: A very typical Coville story that mixes middle grade horror with a morality tale about conflict. (Three stars)

”The Queen’s Mirror” by Debra Doyle and James D. Macdonald: A story that tries to put a unique spin on the Snow White legend with mixed success. (Two stars)

”The Breath of Princes” by Alan P. Smale: Smale knocks it out of the park in his first (!) published story that puts a novel twist on the dragon-princess relationship. (Five stars)

”Harlyn’s Fairy” by Jane Yolen: A simple, uninspired story that makes light of mental illness as background information. (One star)

“Lost Soul” by Vivian Vande Velde: A femme fatal naiad leads a peasant to his death. Yawn. (Two stars)

”The Way of Prophets” by Dan Bennett: A clever and enjoyable fairytale-type story. (Three stars)

”Faith” by Sherwood Smith: Along with “The Breath of Princes,” this was among the best stories in this collection. (Five stars)

Average Rating: 2.7

[Just a Girl Fighting Censorship · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a nice collection of young adult fantasy stories (not wizard-related stories, as I wrongly assumed).

Out of the 13 stories, this was the best of the bunch:

- The Sea Giants by Betty Levin
This one is a real gem with mythological legend status.

- Efrum's Marbles by Joy Oestreicher
Giants!

- The Queen's Mirror by Debra Doyle, James D. MacDonald
A fresh take on Snow White

- Harlyn's Fairy by Jane Yolen
Shrinking!

- Lost Soul by Vivian Vande Velde
LOVED this one about an evil siren

- The Way of the Prophets by Dan Bennett
If you love careful-what-you-wish-for-stories this one is for you.

- Faith by Sherwood Smith
This story closes out the anthology and is an interesting choice because it is the least fantastical and is very much rooted in harsh realities. Themes of friendship and well...having faith.

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good storytelling stories with magic and mystery and danger and humor. And a Princess Who Kicks Butt! Easy to breeze through one fantastical parable to the next, and I think I've found a few authors I'd like to get to know better.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good short stories, a mix of funny, sad, spooky, and uplifting! My favorite was "The Princess Who Kicked Butt," with the help of her horse, Hates Everything.

[Kaye · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a collection of 13 charming tales. Though written for young readers, I enjoyed them.

[Katharine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had read several of these stories in other collections already, some of the tales were good, a few were were not especially engaging.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Score is for the average of all stories

[Brittany · Rating 3 out of 5]

On a Reread, I found most of these stories to be mediocre.

[Susanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Re-read as a childhood favorite - still very much holds up. The thirteen story (Faith by Sherwood Smith) still resonates deeply, but now with a different perspective.

[Echo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A reread from my childhood and I still love it all these years later.

[SBC · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book when I read it as a young person. My favourite stories were Patricia C. Wrede's The Sixty-Two Curses of Caliph Arenschadd and Sherwood Smith's Faith. I also liked Debra Doyle and James D. Macdonald's retelling of Snow White, The Queen's Mirror and Jane Yolen's Harlyn's Fairy.

1. Patricia C. Wrede - The Sixty-Two Curses of Caliph Arenschadd - 5 stars

2. Charles de Lint - Fairy Dust - 3 stars

3. Will Shetterly - The Princess Who Kicked Butt - 3 stars

4. Betty Levin - The Sea Giants - 2 stars - involves transformation

5. Joy Oestreicher - Efrum's Marbles - 3 stars - A giant stops growing after a marble comes into his hands which may be the eyeball of a wizard or a dragon. In the end the girl he likes wins it off him and he grows again. She hides it in a magical bag where it can do no harm.

6. Tappan King - "Come Hither" - 1 star - I didn't like this. Basically there are three daughters and the middle one who never gets anything special, goes into a computer-faery realm where everything seems great but turns out to be a bad illusion and really evil. Wakes to discover was gone for a year or two so that now she's the youngest.

7. Bruce Coville - With His Head Tucked Underneath His Arm - 3 stars - A good, short tale. A series of kingdoms all at war, and protesters get killed. One of these comes back and haunts the king until he makes the kingdom peaceful, then when the other kingdoms' armies come to steal the peaceful land he gets the dead to rise up and scare them away by showing them what death is, but the chuckle is that there is something good that comes after, which he can now let himself move on to.

8. Debra Doyle and James D. Macdonald - The Queen's Mirror - 3 stars - This was good but a bit chilling. Retelling of Snow White, but instead of 7 dwarfs we've got 7 forest spirit women. A cyclic story so that SW forgets her childhood and thus never learns from her mother's mistakes and repeats them on her daughter down through the ages.

9. Alan P. Smale - The Breath of Princes - 1 star - I didn't like the protagonist, a girl who uses other people and plans to marry the prince simply because his breath tastes better and her life will be easier than in the village. Gets herself kidnapped by a dragon then when kills her village rescuer no longer a moral virgin but uses his tail-sting poison to put self to sleep until prince finds a cure for her.

10. Jane Yolen - Harlyn's Fairy - 4 stars - About a young girl staying with her aunt. Her mother has long been hospitalized for mental illness - aliens. And now she sees fairies and wonders if she's going crazy or if maybe her mother isn't that crazy after all. We're not sure either. She was turned small to fight off some ants who had stolen a fairy baby, then turned big again.

11. Vivian Vande Velde - Lost Soul - 2 stars - This was well-written but I didn't really like it - about a young farmer who falls under the spell of a forest nymph, who basically lets them touch her hair then drowns them, stealing their spirit. After seeing her everything else seems pointless and dull; he loses his sweetheart and his life.

12. Dan Bennett - The Way of Prophets - 1 star - I didn't like this.

13. Sherwood Smith - Faith - 5 stars - A nice story about a trio of young girls, long time friends in a small town. The most imaginative of the three belongs to a very poor family, also quite rough and crude, and escapes her world through fantasy. About the power of belief. The protagonist is one of the friends, caught between the imaginative girl and the other who is focusing on growing up and leaving childish fantasies behind, defining these now as lies.

[Chandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have always loved the characters from The Princess Who Kicked Butt. For that reason alone, this book will always remain among my fond childhood memories. The other stories are also well written and worth the time it takes to read them.

[Denae Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

For short stories, these were superb. I especially liked Sixty-Curses of Caliph Arenschadd, Princess Who Kicked Butt, Breath of Princes, and Faith. Great authors. I might decide to read some more short stories...and maybe not.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fast read and some of the stories are really good. (It's a bunch of short stories)

[Kira E. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is full of short stories, all about magic. I enjoyed reading these stories, but some were more "slow" then others, but still pretty good.

[Jillian · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very fun collection, though a few tales were a bit simplistic or anticlimactic. My favorites were the stories by Patricia C. Wrede, Will Shetterly, Bruce Coville, and Vivian Van Velde.

[Jkk · Rating 2 out of 5]

*throws up*

[scarlettraces · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3.5)

[Brooke · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with most story collections, some were better than others. On average, they were 3.5 stars.