Familiars

Rating:
Summary: powerful witch?s brew anthology
Review: Based on the most unscientific survey, most readers within a mean plus or minus three standard deviations will state unequivocally that a familiar is a magical cat that is a companion to a witch. Obviously tales like Bell, Book, and Candle conjure up felines as companions to the Kim Novaks of the world. However, the fifteen contributors to this anthology demonstrate a wider girth of sidekicks to include the expected cats (including former White House resident Socks), dogs (feels at first like heresy, but it works), people (not just husbands), and insects (don't ask). Each tale as far as this reviewer understands is new, but what this reader knows is that each contribution is well written, remains within the theme, and provides fans with a powerful witch's brew anthology. Now let me take a closer look at my menagerie (dogs and cats not my spouse silly) who obviously have bewitched me as they can do no wrong (that's how one perceives exclusion of the husband).

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: powerful witch¿s brew anthology
Review: Based on the most unscientific survey, most readers within a mean plus or minus three standard deviations will state unequivocally that a familiar is a magical cat that is a companion to a witch. Obviously tales like Bell, Book, and Candle conjure up felines as companions to the Kim Novaks of the world. However, the fifteen contributors to this anthology demonstrate a wider girth of sidekicks to include the expected cats (including former White House resident Socks), dogs (feels at first like heresy, but it works), people (not just husbands), and insects (don't ask). Each tale as far as this reviewer understands is new, but what this reader knows is that each contribution is well written, remains within the theme, and provides fans with a powerful witch's brew anthology. Now let me take a closer look at my menagerie (dogs and cats not my spouse silly) who obviously have bewitched me as they can do no wrong (that's how one perceives exclusion of the husband).

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: 15 tales of familiars ranging from toys to cats to humans
Review: Braunbeck, Gary A.: "Modoc Rising" The narrator's friendship with his 27-year-old nephew Carson is cemented by a shared love of comics. But Carson lately has turned up with _MODOC: Land of the First Beast_, which seems to be giving him messages from elsewhere. Then as mass die-offs of many animal species strike worldwide, the Down's-syndrome-afflicted Carson goes missing...

Elrod, P.N.: "Dog Spelled Backward" Sasha (who with Megan, her sister, is a terrier/miniature-Doberman cross) knew she'd inherit Mighty Mite's pack leader role when the elderly Pomeranian abandoned her arthritic body. But none of the 3 realized how much their human "mom" would grieve, being unable to perceive the Mite's spirit. The *dogs* have the out-of-body experiences and so on, not the human; they protect her from Otherside vampiric things that would feed on her misery - things that take squirrel-shape. :)

Gilman, Laura Anne: The unnamed narrator gives a "Catseye" view of the abuser married to a lady with a healer's touch. 'He thought she was alone. That was his worst mistake.'

Helfers, John: Sevronai and his apprentice have had hard times, as the aging Sevronai's control over his spellcasting has deteriorated (rain spells that won't stop, for instance). When "Thieves in the Night" - a pack of little forstchen - steal the last of the travellers' food, Sevronai gives chase only to be caught by their master, a hedge-wizard who tired of his role as wildlife-protector.

Jocks, Von: (The title of "This Dog Watched" is taken from an Elizabeth Barrett Browning poem about her dog.) The narrator consults a psychic about his English Lit problems - who says 'no WAY' as soon as she consults her crystal ball. Madame Eglantine says he has issues from a life as a *dog* - but there are technical problems with past-life regression to something that can't talk.

McCay, Bill: "Alliance" Setting: Egypt (but not that of McCay's StarGate novels; see also _A Constellation of Cats_). Tanit, village healer, finds it odd that only young children are afflicted with fever, and that the new deity establishing a cult in the area should declare cats anathema. Narrative alternates between Tanit and Bast, a stray whose feline senses give her a different perspective on the problem.

Norton, Andre: "The Familiar" From Fossi the familiar's point of view, who has been passing as a child's toy handed down from mother to daughter for generations - and who considers the current human charge, Jeseca [sic] to be the familiar. Fossi, unfortunately, has lazily waiting for Jeseca to grow up a little before trying to educate her; now they may both pay, as they flee enemy soldiers invading their native city.

Nye, Jody Lynn: "And So, Ad Infinitum" Mira is a weekend witch: a middle-aged mom whose 'pet' cat Zoomer doubles as her familiar. Zoomer seems pretty normal - obsessed with his favourite food, testing mattresses, acquiring fleas. However, he's good at his job, and she wouldn't dream of trying to contact great-aunt Violet on the other side to complete her family history without him.

Rabe, Jean: "On the Scent of the Witch" John Bradstreet is the only *real* witch in Massachusetts, let alone Salem. Against the modern trend of witches in fiction, he's actually guilty of many of the evils Cotton Mather attributes to witches - playing with others' lives for fun and profit, using his elderly dog to manipulate children with an eye to future immortality. Good characterization; he doesn't see himself as evil, but isn't about to put his neck on the line to save those falsely accused of his crimes.

Resnick, Laura: "First Familiars" - a series of memos between Socks the Cat and his infernal masters; he just can't make headway with the Clintons. Then Socks receives a *dog* as backup. (Socks complains to his union rep.) He even tangles with the IRS ("your threat to send me back to the Fifth Circle for my failure to file a tax return while I was *there* for 180 years is so depraved that even the Dark Powers are impressed.")

Rusch, Kristine Kathryn: Winston, a timid, underpowered wizard, is "Searching for the Familiar" after his cat falls victim to a rash of familiar-kidnappings. His advantage is that one of his friends is a cop, who needs no magic to investigate kidnappings.

Sherman, Josepha: "Swordplay" Marko, as his father's second - and second-best - son, has been nicknamed 'Luckless' so long he believes it, but he's determined to tackle the dragon who crippled his father and killed his older brother. In a fit of self-pitying sarcasm, he 'conjures' a spirit into his sword - Stacie, a Valley-girl who simultaneously cast her own 'spell'. She'll cooperate, but has her own opinions to contribute.

Sizemore, Susan: "Goodness Had Nothing to Do with It" Told in an unusual style: all dialogue, without even 'he said/she said', and only 4 characters: Marcie and Kim opening their new phone-psychic business, an undercover cop seeking a missing person, and Mae - who hadn't known until she first saw a mirror that this time she'd reincarnated as a ratlike Chihuahua rather than a white Persian. :)

Stuckart, Diane A.S.: "Business as Usual" Jane Riverspoon is no magician, even as a saleswoman, having inherited a corner office from the late unlamented Tiffany Glass only under a lottery system. Nevertheless, a rat shows up to act as her mentor: the reincarnated Tiffany, required to compensate for not having helped others in life. (Tiffany, far from being remorseful, resents the situation, and Jane's phobic about rats.)

West, Michelle: "Legacy" occupies a full quarter of the book. Callie unexpectedly gains a familiar during a weird glitch in a online role-playing game in this near-future: a tiny dragon, apparently the same helper program that once served as familiar to one of the system's founders. ('Legacy' here has several senses, including the computer sense, as the game progresses on many levels.)