Witches: Wicked, Wild & Wonderful

by Paula Guran (Editor), Elizabeth Bear (Contributor), Tanith Lee (Contributor)

A bewitching brew of stories sure to enchant.

Surrounded by the aura of magic, witches have captured our imaginations for millennia and fascinate us now more than ever. No longer confined to the image of a hexing old crone, witches can be kindly healers and protectors, tough modern urban heroines, holders of forbidden knowledge, sweetly domestic spellcasters, darkly domineering, sexy enchantresses, ancient sorceresses, modern Wiccans, empowered or persecuted, possessors of supernatural abilities that can be used for good or evil—or perhaps only perceived as such. Welcome to the world of witchery in many guises: wicked, wild, and wonderful. Includes two original, never-published stories.

Contents
The Cold Blacksmith • (2006) • shortstory by Elizabeth Bear
The Ground Whereon She Stands • (2011) • shortfiction by Leah Bobet
The Witch’s Headstone • (2007) • novelette by Neil Gaiman
Lessons with Miss Gray • (2006) • novelette by Theodora Goss
The Only Way to Fly • (1995) • shortstory by Nancy Holder
Basement Magic • (2003) • novelette by Ellen Klages
Nightside • [Diana Tregarde] • (1989) • shortstory by Mercedes Lackey
April in Paris • (1962) • shortstory by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Goosle • (2008) • shortstory by Margo Lanagan
Mirage and Magia • (1982) • shortstory by Tanith Lee
Poor Little Saturday • (1956) • shortstory by Madeleine L'Engle
Catskin • (2003) • shortstory by Kelly Link
Bloodlines • shortfiction by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
The Way Wind • (1995) • novelette by Andre Norton
Skin Deep • (2008) • novelette by Richard Parks
Ill Met in Ulthar • shortfiction by Tim Pratt [as by T. A. Pratt ]
Marlboros & Magic • shortfiction by Linda Robertson
Walpurgis Afternoon • (2005) • novelette by Delia Sherman
The World Is Cruel, My Daughter • (2011) • shortstory by Cory Skerry
The Robbery • (1995) • shortstory by Cynthia Ward
Afterward • (1999) • shortstory by Don Webb
Magic Carpets • (1995) • shortstory by Leslie What
Boris Chernevsky's Hands • (1982) • shortstory by Jane Yolen

Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories, Anthologies, Witches, Fiction, Urban Fantasy, Magic

384 pages, Paperback

First published March 6, 2012

About the author

Paula Guran is senior editor for Prime Books. She edited the Juno fantasy imprint from its small press inception through its incarnation as an imprint of Pocket Books. She is also senior editor of Prime's soon-to-launch digital imprint Masque Books. Guran edits the annual Year's Best Dark Fantasy and Horror series as well as a growing number of other anthologies. In an earlier life she produced weekly email newsletter DarkEcho (winning two Stokers, an IHG award, and a World Fantasy Award nomination), edited Horror Garage (earning another IHG and a second World Fantasy nomination), and has contributed reviews, interviews, and articles to numerous professional publications.

Reviews

[Fiona Knight · Rating 5 out of 5]

Historically, those persecuted as witches, Dziemianowicz reminds us, "shared one common stigma: the perception they differed in subtle and insidious ways...their greatest transgression was their simple nonconformity." Being an outsider is a risky business.

I've recently had a promotion at work, and as a result haven't finished a book in almost three weeks - until now!

Short stories, as always, have a way of fitting into a busy day where a novel just doesn't. And if you've got as little time to spend reading as I did recently, I highly recommend selecting your collections with care, because disappointment is extra disappointing when you can't just move to the next book!
Luckily for me, this is one hell of a collection - from the very first story I was blown away, and with only 1 or 2 exceptions, the quality remained ridiculously high throughout.

Walpurgis Afternoon, by Delia Sherman, is the first story in the collection, and is probably still my favourite. When a house just appears at the end of the lane, what will the local Neighbourhood Association say? This story just kept turning expectations on their head and I loved it so much.

Elizabeth Bear's "The Cold Blacksmith" brought us an old-fashioned and yet completely new fairytale; Nightside by Mercedes Lackey showed just where urban fantasy sprang from, with a story written in 1989 (and with a vampire calling his human lover "ma petite", I know of at least one UF author who absolutely sipped at this wellspring of inspiration). Basement Magic by Ellen Klages brings a dash of karmic justice within the framework of The Help, and April in Paris, from the amazing brain of Ursula K. le Guin, explores the idea of a truly "found" family - and chestnut blossoms in Paris.

The stories are as varied and as magical as their eponymous witches have been portrayed throughout history. If there were any I'd pick holes in, it would be the last two - they were much darker and grimmer than the rest of the collection and just didn't fit to me. It's not to say they were bad, but it was an odd note to end the collection on.

Overall though, this remains one of the strongest collections of short fiction that I've read yet, and one perfect way to break the reading fast.

[Renee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fairly good anthology. But like all anthologies some of the stories were hit and miss. My favorites were: Walpurgis Afternoon,which focused on animals and gardening and the witches were lesbians, quite creative. Lessons with Miss Gray had an odd way of telling the story, but the characters were vivid and the magic, ridiculous, in a good way. However the ending made it seem like there should be another story. The World is Cruel, My Daughter was Rapunzel from the witch's point of view and disturbing in an almost erotic way, while Bloodlines focused on hereditary Hispanic magic and women who pass it down a generation at a time. Skin Deep brought magic to a whole other level with a witch who puts on "skins" to do tasks around her farm.

Some like the Way Wind and Poor Little Saturday I could just not get in to, while others like The Only Way to Fly tried to cram too much info and story into not enough word count.

The most disappointing, however, was the Neil Gaiman story. Which was seriously just an excerpt from his book "The Grave Yard Book" in where Bod meets the witch Liza and gets her a headstone. Honestly just read the full novel it was awesome.

So all in all, not a bad read, pretty standard for an anthology.

[Pandora's Book · Rating 5 out of 5]

A group of girls gather at the local witch’s house to learn magic. The lesbians next door have a tropical rainforest growing in their backyard (never mind the temperate climate). A boy discovers the right words to become invisible. The Magia arrives in a grasshopper carriage. A budding wise woman pulls on the enchanted skins of others.

Magic is everywhere. Witches can be anyone.

I love magic, and I love witches. I’d rather be reading about witches than anything else, and so I knew from the moment I got my hands on Witches: Wicked, Wild & Wonderful, that this was going to be an anthology I’d enjoy. The cover boasts stories from the likes of Neil Gaiman, Mercedes Lackey, Ursula K. Le Guin and Jane Yolen, and they are just a handful of the many authors represented in this collection.

Save for two stories (I believe it’s two), the majority of what’s included in the book have been previously published elsewhere. If you frequent these kinds of anthologies, you’ve probably run into a lot of these stories before. For example, I also have a copy of the similarly themed Hecate’s Cauldron, and there are a couple of stories here that overlap there. Unlike Hecate’s Cauldron, however, Witches is available in ebook format.

These are definitely stories worth owning in your ebook library! There are so many different kinds of magic and witches portrayed, which is probably one of my favourite things about this book. There’s brujas and sorceresses, hoodoo and potions, modern and mythical looks at witches. Some stories are dark, some are hopeful, some are humorous, and so there’s really something for everybody here.

A few of my favourites include Walpurgis Afternoon by Delia Sherman, a brilliant example of how well magic works with the (modern) mundane; Lessons with Miss Gray by Theodora Goss, where witchcraft lessons are advertised in the newspaper and girls learn to fly and create potions for their heart’s desire; and Bloodlines by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, which features a family of witches, or brujas, and the ones who have to put up with them (including the members of their family who have no talent for magic).

There are other great stories in here that stood out to me. The Ground Whereon She Stands by Leah Bobet, Skin Deep by Richard Parks, The Robbery by Cynthia Ward. I especially enjoyed ‘Afterward’ by Don Webb, but each story is enjoyable in its own way and brings something different to the table of magic and reading.

Witches are, in my opinion, the best part of life and fantasy. And Witches: Wicked, Wild, and Wonderful showcases many different reasons that is the case. Whether you agree, or are perhaps wondering what all the fuss is about, this is a book I would recommend to anyone.

[Erika · Rating 3 out of 5]

The collection was mostly made up of previously published stories from various sources that the editor corralled into a book, though there were a couple written for this anthology specifically.

Some of the stories I wouldn't have bothered to read if they hadn't been in the book, but that's true of any collection.

It was interesting to read the editor's thoughts on why each story fit into the broad landscape that is witches, though I do tend to prefer anthologies that contain stories written to the theme, like "witches at highschool" or "witches who aren't great at being a witch."

[Beverly Diehl · Rating 5 out of 5]

This short story collection includes great stories by top writers (Ursula K. LeGuin, Neil Gaiman, Mercedes Lackey, Andre Norton, and more) all witch-themed. Some are modern, some historical, some are young and smokin' hot, others are just smoking (and in big trouble for it).

I usually skim past any introduction to stories in anthologies, but this editor has really done an outstanding job. They are the perfect lead-in that enhanced my appreciation of each story, and are the perfect length.

If you're a fan of witches, you'll appreciate this collection.

[Alysa H. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very uneven collection, with a few great stories, a few less so. All, or almost all, were previously published elsewhere — and over a rather long period of time, so some of them are now period pieces. I am ambivalent as to whether the attempt to group them by “witch theme” in this book was successful. Each story has a short intro from the editor, but I found most of these intros to be pedantic and often useless.

[Tomasz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Paula Guran seems to be a risk-averse anthology editor (or at least she was so, back in 2012), and this is a typical case in point, the round-up of usual suspects somewhat skewed towards cosy urban fantasy. Not disappointing, but not astounding, either. Probably "just what the publishers ordered"...

[Julie Bye · Rating 4 out of 5]

None of the short stories in this anthology are a total miss and some of them are pretty good. I’m not usually a short story fan, but this was worth my time

[Patricia Stewart · Rating 3 out of 5]

An entertaining collection of stories, I enjoyed some more than others. For instance, "The Witch's Headstone" by Neil Gaiman and "Nightside" by Mercedes Lackey were two of my favourites.

[Yasmin · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was okay, but I did skip some stories as most were not geling with me. Even the first story that quoted Oscar Wilde, without naming him, wasn't a great read on the account the tone was off.

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good collection, though I'm not sure all the editorial history bits about witches were really needed. Lots of great writers, some entries scary, some amusing, some otherworldly.

[Moira · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The dollhouse chimney had broken off and fallen to the ground. One of the cats picked it up and carried it away, like a souvenir. That cat carried the chimney into the woods and ate it, a mouthful at a time, and passed out of this story and into another one. It's no concern of ours." -- Catskin, by Kelly Link

I read a book very similar to this about a year ago called "Wizards: Magical Tales From the Masters of Modern Fantasy" and loved it. This book had a very similar premise: a compilation of short stories by various modern fantasy writers, all on the subject of magic and trickery and the people who use these things to their advantage in one way or another. And like "Wizards", no two stories use these concepts in the same way. Instead each writer has their own take on the subject, twisting the traditional image everyone thinks of when they hear the word "witch" into something entirely new and unique.
Some stories take place in a modern setting, some resemble more medieval times, while some take place in a world barely resembling our own. The witch herself (or himself) takes a completely different form from each story to the next; in one she's a bad-ass modern heroine much like Buffy from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", in another a small, male French scholar from the 1400s. The witches in the stories may use magic in unexpected ways as well: the magic may take a form that we know well, such as chanting and flying on brooms. But more likely the kind of sorcery these people use is more subtle, simpler, and harder to put your finger on. Maybe they're mere healers or herb-women who put a little extra something into their concoctions, or their simply everyday people who dabble in conjuration on the side. This book looks at the archetype of the witch from every possible angle, and I think it may be impossible to read all of these stories and not find one that intrigues you in some way.

Favorite Stories
"The World Is Cruel, My Daughter" by Cory Skerry. OH MY GOD YOU GUYS. This one had me completely hooked, it was crazy. It may just be my morbid side talking, and my weird fascination with psychotic people, but READ THIS.

"Bloodlines" by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. I know this probably isn't a good thing to say, but I have to admit that the family in this story kind of reminded me of my own extended family. Not in the weird, "all of the women in my family are crazy murderers" kind of way (well, maybe a little) but just the fact that these people seemed so REAL, even while they were casting spells and stuff. They seemed so dysfunctional, but not in the quirky sit-com kind of way. In the really-messed up sort of way.

"Mirage and Magia" by Tanith Lee. This one is a bit on the girly side, I admit. But then again, I'm a girl, so shut up I'll do what I want. What I mainly liked about this one were the visuals. That's a weird thing to say about a book, I realize, but I think some of the best stories are the ones that make me visualize the most stunning and unforgettable scenes, and this one certainly did that. I can just imagine someone making a movie out of this story and it would be directed by Tim Burton, but like the old Tim Burton, when he was really good and not in such a bro-mance with Johnny Depp.

I think that's a good place to end the review. Yup. Bro-mance with Johnny Depp. Mm-hmm.

[Hebah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I always go into short story collections with the expectation that the stories are going to be a mixture of hit or miss. A good collection brings me new gems from favorite authors and introduces me to authors I should be reading. This collection was... OK. Just OK.

Many of the stories neither stunned me nor disappointed me. But tellingly, I can only really recall a few of them off the top of my head. The selections seemed to be chosen to provide as an encyclopedic overview of the range of fictional depiction of witches rather than to provide highlights, and frankly, there were more old reprints than I like in a relatively contemporary collection, seemingly more for name recognition than for being necessarily the best examples (like the highlighted Neil Gaiman, whose selection is an excerpt from The Graveyard Boy or the Mercedes Lackey story, originally published in 1989 and featuring tropes that have since become rather familiar in urban fantasy).

Highlights did include Delia Sherman's "Walpurgis Afternoon," a charming story of a couple of lesbian witches who move into unsuspecting suburbia and help the local women discover their own inner magic; "The Cold Blacksmith" by the talented Elizabeth Bear, featuring a very matter-of-fact witch who helps a blacksmith with an impossible task; Bloodlines, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, about a teenage witch coming into her familial powers with terrifying application; and Richard Parks' "Skin Deep," a story of a young witch finding her own way separate from that of her grandmother's way of doing things.

[Shawn Thrasher · Rating 3 out of 5]

The unexpected and very "un" Madaleine L'Engle story, "Poor Little Saturday," was worth the purchase alone. It pre-dates A Wrinkle in Timeby six years, and is also about witches, although far different from the Wrinkle witches. Drawing lines between the witch woman in this short story and the later, greater Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which would make an interesting parlor discussion for L'Engle-philes and L'Engle-ologists. That story stood out for me, as did Tanith Lee's "Mirage and Magia," which was like some sort of erotic entry in the Oz series. "Catskin" by Kelly Link was refreshingly bizarre. My only complain was the Halloweenish cover. My favorite witches from literature, Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg (see Wyrd Sisters) would make short work of that Goth vampira, if not actually injuring her, then making her cry and give up her poseur ways.

[Lucy · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was okay. I've had much better anthologies. Some stories I disliked intensely. Some others I couldn't even finish or skimmed over lightly. I can't even remember most of them. I remember that I liked a couple of them, but I can't rightly remember which they were.
The stories are: Walpurgis afternoon, Delia Sherman; Nightside, Mercedes Lackey; The cold blacksmith, Elizabeth Bear; Basement magic, Ellen Klages; Mirage and magia, Tanith Lee; Lessons with Miss Gray, Theodora Gross; The world is cruel, my daughter, Cory Skerry ; Ill met in Ulthar, T. A. Pratt; The witch’s headstone, Neil Gaiman; Boris Chernevsky’s hands, Jane Yolen; Bloodlines, Silva Moreno-Garcia; The way wind, Andre Norton; Poor little Saturday, Madeleine L’Engle; The only way to fly, Nancy Holder; Skin deep, Richard Parks; The robbery, Cynthia Ward; Marlboros and magic, Linda Robertson; Magic carpets, Leslie What; The ground whereon she stands, Leah Bobet; Afterward, Don Webb; The goosle, Margo Lanagan; Catskin, Kelly Link.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, I started this in 2013? I think this may be the first book that took me 3 years to finish it. Well, there were many wonderful, wild, and wicked stories just as the title promised. This is definitely not a read for anyone under 18 in my humble opinion, especially the re-write of hansel and grettle around page 350, that story was just extremely disturbing. If I could do this all again (and I just might because this was a good read despite how long it took me) I would read 1-3 stories per night and place a post-it note on my absolute favorite stories, which I remember even though I started them years ago and have read dozens of books since. I'm also hoping I can find more works by some of those favorite authors as well, which was in fact one of the reasons I bought this book- to find more writers for the genre I love.

[Belen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love discovering authors, and found three in this anthology: Richard Parks: Skin Deep, Ellen Klages: Basement Magic and Silvia Moreno-Garcia: Bloodlines. Ellen Klages' story answered a question I've had all my life: what is a goofer. Growing up my mom (and my husbands mom) said things were as soft as goofer feathers. It's from a black comedy team on the radio. Not all the stories were great, but they were mostly good. The above were outstanding, as was Neil Gaiman's and Ursula K. Le Guin's, of course.

[Amelia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a solid anthology with some surprises. I was in the mood for a mix of witch-themed short stories with a variety of approaches and authorial voices and it delivered. I particularly liked "The World is Cruel, My Daughter" by Cory Skerry and "Lessons with Miss Gray" by Theodora Goss. One criticism: All of the stories were either European or American settings and drew primarily on European folklore about witches (with one exception). I would have liked more variety of settings and sources for an anthology like this.

[Ron · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a decent collection of short tales all dealing with witches. As with any collection, the style, focus, intensity and enjoyability varies. I ran across a Witch World tale I had not read and others that I enjoyed. Part of the reason I read anthologies is to expose myself to authors that I would not otherwise encounter since I do not buy (for various reasons) as many novels as I did earlier. Enjoy dipping into the tales.

[Caitlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of witch stories, where the witches range from protective guardians to the sort of person you don't turn your back on. Some traditional stories retold, and new ones with an imaginative spin. The stories range from light-hearted and funny to dark and truly grotesque, so they're likely to be hit-or-miss for readers who want a particular tone.
Avid fantasy readers are likely to find a favorite author, though, and you can always skip a story that doesn't appeal.

[Eliza · Rating 1 out of 5]

Most of the stories didn't seem complete. I picked this book up because of one author and hers was about the only story I liked. I had to force myself to finish the book. Each story had an introduction explaining why the witch was presented the way it was. This took a lot of the enjoyment out of the book for me. There was no drawing your own conclusions. Everything was laid out bare for you.

[Kathy Sebesta · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I pick up a book of short stories, I expect to read stories I've never seen before. Not here. 20+ stories and only two of them new. Moreover, I didn't care for many of the selections, which seemed to have been made to illustrate a "form" of witchcraft over the ages, rather than being good reads. Even stories by my favorite authors weren't the ones I would've chosen.

[Erica · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with most anthologies, there were some stories I enjoyed a great deal, some I couldn't really stomach, and most of the rest fell somewhere in between.
I'd read stuff by many of the featured authors but some of the ones I didn't know intrigued me so I have made a note to look into the works of Ellen Klages, Cory Kerry, Richard Parks, Cynthia Ward, and Margo Lanagan.

[Jage · Rating 2 out of 5]

I go into anthologies expecting there to be hit and misses but I usually leave with a few authors I want to check out. this did the opposite of that. I had to make a note to not look at author's names because I refuse to think this is their best work.

Everything felt very off, and not in a good way for me.

[Clare K. R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was a bit disappointed by the number of reprints in this collection (Leah Bobet's story was one I had just read a couple of weeks before, catching up on old Realms of Fantasy magazines; I was, however, happy to reread Neil Gaiman's "The Witch's Headstone"), but the overall quality was fairly high. It definitely skews toward horror at the end, and that horror was definitely up my alley.

[Doris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed several of the stories in this collection, except the last one. Witches getting power by pulling on the skins of the dead, Baba Yaga, witches in the modern world, making your way through the world after the witch is dead (multiple stories here) and other themes. Overall interesting but not page turning.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.

This book is full of so many different kinds of magical beings! I love that the idea of being a 'witch' has so much range. These authors are all so creative!

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I give most of the stories in this book at least a 4 out of 5. However, the last two stories really weren't my cup of tea.

My new favorite quote is from Neil Gaiman's contribution. "Wherever you go, you take yourself with you." Totally need to read the book this is an excerpt from.

[Joanna Chaplin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought that this was going to be a story about empowered women, and it was. But many of the stories were also about evil women, either inherently that way or because the world had been horrible to them first.

[Tristan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite a few stories in here I had already read and that I consider fan-favorites that you find in books about witches or perhaps I had read the book before, I'm not sure. Either way a solid collection about witches and the world around them.