Customer Reviews

Something Magic This Way Comes

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This fantasy collection focuses on modern day magic in a world filled with technology and science, but as pointed out in the "The Power of Magic" introduction by Sarah A. Hoyt when our computers have "some inexplicable event" we say "Gremlins". The entries are solid with no clinkers as expected by the top tier contributors Like Harry Turtledove and the Resnicks (Mike and Laura - separate stories). Irene Radford opens the anthology at the Beltane Renaissance Fair with the palm reader warning Gabrielle that her lifeline is broken three times and then abruptly cuts short in "More to Truth than Proof." Dave Freer ends the collection with his humorous "Regency Sprite" in which the trapped Fay cannot threaten nor offer reward to the drunken human. In between are well written tales such as a wife fleeing spousal abuse helping an elf fleeing hunters in Kate Paulk's "Raining the Wild Hunt". There are all sorts of entries in between as Carolina "Lighthouse Surfer" and his friends test "Orygun" waves and more in Daniel M. Hoyt's East coast meets West Coast tale. Throw in "Houdini's Mirror" by Russell Davis along with all types of magical species like Charles Edgar Quinn's "The Star Cats" and locations like Esther Friesner's "In a Dark Wood, Dreaming". Fans will appreciate the wide cut of this fine magical compilation.

Harriet Klausner

The common motif of most of these 20 stories seems to be someone from our everyday mundane world going about his or her normal occasions and suddenly encountering something inexplicable and usually magical, be it the Wild Hunt, leprechauns, or sorcery. The authors include Sarah A. Hoyt (who also co-edited, her first attempt at that role), Harry Turtledove, Mike Resnick, Esther M. Friesner, Irene Radford, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Eric Flint, Dave Freer, and more. Among the entries I liked best were: Turtledove's "The Thing in the Woods," an O. Henry-esque short with an unexpected sting in the tail; "Something Virtual This Way Comes" (a classic gremlin invades the electronic nerve system of a modern building); "Tears of Gold" (after a magical event called the Changeover, a grieving widow learns that ther really is "a time to dance and a time to mourn"); "Angel in the Cabbages" (it's really a pixie, and it shows a shy young grocery clerk how to change her life); "Visitor's Night at Joey Chicago's" (in a Runyonesque world where magic works, a wizard's attempt to banish a pesky Otherthing from a bar gangs humorously agley); "Raining the Wild Hunt" (a woman fleeing an abusive husband meets an elf on the run from the Hunt); "Still Life, With Cats" (a traumatized combat journalist trying to settle down in the family mansion calls in a sorceress to help him deal with a plague of feral cats, only he doesn't know she is one); "Firebird and Shadow" (a 13-year-old Texas runaway finds herself caught between two sorcerers); "Night of the Wolf" (an ancient Celtic brooch has shape-changing powers); and "Regency Sprite" (a fashionable gentleman trying to deal with the desertion of his beloved helps and is helped by a faery). Altogether I marked 14 of the pieces as being good enough to read again, though as with all anthologies your mileage may vary. This is definitely a suitable read for anyone who enjoys seeing fantasy and the mundane cross paths.