Tales of the Witch World 2

Rating:
Summary: A delightful collections of shorts!
Review: I never tire of Ms. Nortons collections of shorts. All of the authors are very talented and stick to the basic WW theme so well. Again, it is a steping stone for beginning authors as well as beginning readers and fun for both as well as a delight for long time Norton fans!

Rating:
Summary: A delightful collections of shorts!
Review: I never tire of Ms. Nortons collections of shorts. All of the authors are very talented and stick to the basic WW theme so well. Again, it is a steping stone for beginning authors as well as beginning readers and fun for both as well as a delight for long time Norton fans!

Rating:
Summary: a mixed bag, covering many periods of history
Review: Ms. Norton didn't write *any* of the stories in this volume.

Bell, Claire: "The Hunting of Lord Estalian's Daughter" Megarti, a witch-maid raped by a drunken noble, has asked to be shapechanged in her quest for revenge.

Curry, Ginger Simpson: "Sea-Serpents of Domnudale" - The Wise Woman prophesies that twins will be born, one of the Dark to conquer and rule as overlord of many Dales, and one of the light - one evil, the other the true-born son of Lady Zvetta and her lord. But which is which? The 'bad seed' idea may not appeal, and the manner of presentation may distract you at first, but a good story.

Gravel, Geary: "Old Toad" - Ander and Berry, young brother and sister, dwell in Mountain Gate on the Estcarp border - but *he's * the one with Witch power, while she has a talent for asking questions - like why the Council has transferred their resident Witch, and why the Borderers seem to be pulling out of the mountains bordering Karsten...

Lewitt, S.N.: "The Judgment of Neave" - A tale of the Fane of Neave in Arvon and its search for a new guardian.

Lichtenberg, Jaqueline: "Through the Moon Gate" - Remora, a tough youngster fed up with being laughed at for her dreams of the Old Ones, has struck out across the Waste to find Arvon. Instead, she finds a gate - and Dorian St. Just ("Good God, this isn't Denver, is it?") But he's not as out of place as one might think...

Linaweaver, Brad & Cynthia: "Dream Pirates' Jewel" - After the destruction of Sulcarkeep in the Kolder War, leaving radioactive ruins, a small expedition finds a bay in southern High Hallack (separated by mountains from the chaos of the Invaders' War) that seems eminently suitable for a new keep. So the Sulcar have a settlement again, including some flotsam from the war, such as the witch-gifted girlchild Myrna, and her strange dreams of the sea.

Major, A.R.: "La Verdad: The Magic Sword" - Gunnora sends an emissary to Abbey Halstead, furthest north of the convents of those who worship Those Who Set The Flames, asking alliance against the toads at Grimmerdale, to open a gate and bring forth a champion. (See _Lore of the Witch World_ if you're not familiar with Grimmerdale. Its chronology in the Invaders' War and that of the sword's origin don't seem to mesh at first, but the author has it covered.)

Mathews, Patricia Shaw: "Darkness Over Mirhold" - Rovagh of Mirhold became lord by being a berserker fighting man in a hold desperate to have someone take over and start running the place. Derris, the narrator, is his newly-wed lady - one of the many orphans in the care of the Duke of Karsten, in these days after the war, chosen because she seemed the only one strong enough to help rebuild a ruined hold.

Meier, Shirley: "Peacock Eyes" - Shallon, the narrator, was once human - she speaks of the days when the road through the Dales to the Gate, now crossing part of the Waste, was new, not old.

Miesel, Sandra: "The Salt Garden" Orel, last survivor of Estindale after Alizon blasted it into slag with Kolder weapons, and after his father fell to ambush days ago, has fled into the Waste, determined at least to die while exploring new things. (His father's killers have their maps, so there's really nowhere else to go). The lifeless city he comes to reminded me at first of Charn (in Lewis' _The Magician's Nephew_) - a city where only one woman, apparently an Old One, still lives, crafting flowers out of metal and gems where no water flows to give real flowers life. But is she the destroyer of the city, a victim, or neither?

Miller, Ann: "The Stones of Sharnon" - A Mineral and Energy Scout from a high-tech civilization strays into Estcarp on an innocent survey.

Paxson, Diana: "Heroes" Aelvan, only living son of a refugee from Karsten and her Borderer husband, follows the House of Dhulmat when they answer Kyllan Tregarth's call into Escore.

Schwartz, Susan: "Rite of Failure" Aurek, marked as the successor to the Pack's shaman, has undertaken his ordeal early, in these first days of their exile from Arvon. But what will happen to him now that he's failed?

Snodgrass, Melinda: "Futures Yet Unseen" Sytry, the narrator, can't be a conventional warrior, with his malformed hip; he's that rarity in Escore, a student of chemistry, who turns it to practical use.

Swallow, Lisa: "S'Olcarias's Sons" An old grandfather of the Sulcar tells a story of their origins over the evening fire.

Wind, David: "The Sentinel at the Edge of the World" - Set before the Kolder War. Vadim, the narrator, is a blank shield of Estcarp, offered service by a man seeking, not a mere mercenary, but a hero, to accompany him to the end of the world - eastward.

Wolf, Rose: "Tall Dames Go Walking" - A story of Jorge Petronius, the mysterious Guardian who opened Simon Tregarth's Gate into Estcarp, on an archaeological dig between Glastonbury and Tintagel in Britain. The references to how Petronius came into his guardianship don't seem consistent with the little we know from _Witch World_. The narration is somewhat awkward, as the author isn't content to let the reader do some of the work of understanding the story, e.g. "...her interest was at least purely (again, in a literal sense) academic", providing explicit literary allusion wherever possible rather than more subtle references. (Nothing's as dead as a pun treated this way.)