Read excerpts from Katharine Kerr and Martin H. Greenberg’s anthologies below:
Anthologies
Weird Tales from Shakespeare
Enchanted Forests
The Shimmering Door
Table of Contents
- Alas, Me Bleedin… Dennis L. McKiernan
- An Augmentation of Dust Diana L. Paxson
- Aweary of the Sun Gregory Feeley
- The Elements So Mixed Adrienne Martine-Barnes
- Else the Isle with Calibans Brian W. Aldiss
- Face Value Nina Kiriki Hoffman
- It Comes from Nothing Barry N. Malzberg
- The Mercury of the Wise Kevin A. Murphy
- The Muse Afire Laura Resnick
- My Voice Is in My Sword Kate Elliott
- No Sooner Signed Katherine Lawrence
- Not of an Age Gregory Benford
- Playbill Bill Daniel
- Queen Lyr Mark Kreighbaum
- The Summer of My Discontent Mike Resnick
- Swear Not By the Moon Lawrence Schimel
- A Tempest in Her Eyes Charles de Lint
- Titania, or the Celestial Bed Teresa Edgerton
- Titus! Esther M. Friesner
- The Tragedy of Gertrude, Queen of Denmark Kate Daniel
- The Tragedy of Kl Jack Oakley
- The Will Barbara A. Denz
Table of Contents
- Benbow Nancy Etchemendy
- The Clearing Lois Tilton
- Everything Has a Place Barbara A. Denz
- Fiat Silva Jack Oakley
- The Force That Through the Green Fuse Mark Kreighbaum
- The Forest’s Not for Burning Katherine Lawrence
- Ghostwood Michelle West
- The Heart of the Forest Dave Smeds
- Holy Ground Thomas S. Roche
- How the Ant Made a Bargain Karawynn Long
- I’ll Give You Three Wishes Kevin Andrew Murphy
- In Fear of Little Nell Gregory Feeley
- The Memory of Peace Kate Elliott
- The Monsters of Mill Creek Park Susan Shwartz
- My Soul Into the Boughs Teresa Edgerton
- Out of the Woods Lawrence Watt-Evans
- The Prism of Memory Jo Clayton
- These Shoes Strangers Have Died of Bruce Holland Rogers
- Ties of Love Lawrence Schimel
- Trees Perpetual of Sleep Nina Kiriki Hoffman
- The Triple Death Ken St. Andre
- Virginia Woods Janni Lee Simner
- Viridescence Connie Hirsch
- Weeds Julia and Brook West
- Wood Song Kate Daniel
Dedication
This book owes a great deal to Jo Clayton. When, last year, I was drowning in personal problems, she took this particular project in hand and kept it alive. Without all her help I might never have finished it at all. Thanks, Jo. I owe you a lot myself. Here’s the book. Please do consider it yours.
When I was editing this volume, I defined sorcery in a way that set it apart from witchcraft and various kinds of “wild magic.” Sorcery thus becomes a written system of magic, that is, magic which has rules, a tradition, a method of study or a procedure that’s based on the intellect, not on Nature or genetic mutations (like SF psionics). This definition’s very flexible — if someone came up with an elaborate system of Nature Magic, I didn’t say no — and these Sorceries could be either historically based or utterly invented. Gender is not an issue; our sorcerers can be male, female, or some alien Other. The tone varies, too, the horrific to the action-oriented to the introspective and finally the humorous — whatever the authors wished.
From the Introduction
by Katharine Kerr
Twenty thousand years ago, deep in the shaft of the Lascaux caves, they recorded his death. His arms flung out, he lies stiffly on the ground in front of the bison that has just gored him. He still wears his bird mask, and beside him lies his staff, topped with the image of a bird. His magic failed, it seems, at the last moment. Seven thousand years later, in another cave, the one we call Les Trois Freres, they show us another shaman. Draped in animal skins, tailed like a wolf, wearing the mask and antlers of a stag, he stares out at us while he dances at the edge of the herd. They painted Bison Man in the same cave, too.
They? Who? For all of us who hail from Europe, they are the ancestors. At the dawn of what makes us ourselves, there were sorcerers.
Or so I like to define these motifs, as a magic staff, as a shaman whose totem or fetch was a bird. Despite the overconfident pronouncements of some archaelogists, we really cannot be certain that the man with the head of a bird or the one draped with a deer’s whole hide are sorcerers. Priests, some say, but again, can we be certain? We cannot even know if the ancestors separated religion from magic, if they saw any difference between sorcerer and priest, wise woman and priestess. The evidence gathered in studies like Mircea Eliade’s Shamanism makes it unlikely that they did. Others call the figures gods, but had European humanity created gods to love and worship then, back in our own Dreamtime? We cannot know.
One thing, however, that Bird Man and Stag Dancer cannot possibly be is ordinary human beings. When they donned their masks and skins, they were marking themselves as something separate, someone set apart. They were partaking of an experience different from that of the ordinary hunters who cluster in the cave paintings, little figures hastily sketched beside their prey. I cannot help but think, even though I’m thinking with my heart, that if we call them sorcerers and shamans, we won’t be far wrong . . .
. . . There’s certainly no doubt that magic is enjoying something of a revival these days, both in the form of New Age ideas (most of which are ancient, actually,) and in fantasy literature. Tales of magic intrigue and enchant us once again. Sorcerers once more stand at the edge of the village to remind us that a strange world lies outside its walls. For those of you who find them and their craft fascinating, I have assembled this book of tales.
Table of Contents
PART I: MORNING
- Water Patterns – Jo Clayton
- Water Everywhere – Nina Kiriki Noffman
- La Curandera – Margaret Ball
- The Bloodstone – Lawrence Watt-Evans
- Riddle in Nine Syllables – Karawynn Long
- Wicked Cool – Connie Hirsch
- The Drowning Cell – Gregory Feeley
- The Sorcerer’s Apprentice – Dennis L. McKiernan
- The String Game – Barbara Denz
- The Kin of Rig – Diana L. Paxson
- Family Ties – Lawrence Schimel
- The Voice of a God – Kate Daniel
PART II: AFTERNOON
- A Time for Heroes – Richard Parks
- Dance of the Python – Janet Berliner
- Mrs. Langdon’s Diary – Constance Ash
- One Late Night, With Jackal – Josepha Sherman
- Dead & Gone – Kevin Andrew Murphy
- The Hanged Man – Lisa Mason
- The Silicon Sword – Katherine Lawrence
- Tea – Esther Friesner
- Wall Street Wizards – Laura Resnick
- Swallow – Simon Ings
- The Most Beautiful Girl Alive – Mike Resnick & Nicholas DiChario
PART III: NIGHT
- Birds – Charles de Lint
- Dust and Sand – Dave Smeds
- Looking into the Heart of Light, The Silence – Mark Kreighbaum
- A Simple Act of Kindness – Kate Elliot
- The Peachwood Flute – Brook and Julia West
- The Tenth Painting – Thomas S. Roche
- A Wreath of Pale Flowers for Vitri – Teresa Edgerton
- Hunters – Susan Shwartz
- Seven Guesses of the Heart – M. John Harrison