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Young Witches and Warlocks
Ten short stories by a variety of authors about young practitioners of witchcraft.
207 pages, Hardcover
First published July 1, 1987
3 people are currently reading
89 people want to read
About the author
Isaac Asimov
4,342 books27.9k followersWorks of prolific Russian-American writer Isaac Asimov include popular explanations of scientific principles,
The Foundation Trilogy
(1951-1953), and other volumes of fiction.
Isaac Asimov, a professor of biochemistry, wrote as a highly successful author, best known for his books.
Asimov, professor, generally considered of all time, edited more than five hundred books and ninety thousand letters and postcards. He published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey decimal classification but lacked only an entry in the category of philosophy (100).
People widely considered Asimov, a master of the genre alongside Robert Anson Heinlein and Arthur Charles Clarke as the "big three" during his lifetime. He later tied Galactic Empire and the Robot into the same universe as his most famous series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those that Heinlein pioneered and Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson previously produced. He penned "Nightfall," voted in 1964 as the best short story of all time; many persons still honor this title. He also produced well mysteries, fantasy, and a great quantity of nonfiction. Asimov used Paul French, the pen name, for the Lucky Starr, series of juvenile novels.
Most books of Asimov in a historical way go as far back to a time with possible question or concept at its simplest stage. He often provides and mentions well nationalities, birth, and death dates for persons and etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Guide to Science, the tripartite set Understanding Physics, and Chronology of Science and Discovery exemplify these books.
Asimov, a long-time member, reluctantly served as vice president of Mensa international and described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs." He took more pleasure as president of the humanist association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, an elementary school in Brooklyn in New York, and two different awards honor his name.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_As...
Isaac Asimov, a professor of biochemistry, wrote as a highly successful author, best known for his books.
Asimov, professor, generally considered of all time, edited more than five hundred books and ninety thousand letters and postcards. He published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey decimal classification but lacked only an entry in the category of philosophy (100).
People widely considered Asimov, a master of the genre alongside Robert Anson Heinlein and Arthur Charles Clarke as the "big three" during his lifetime. He later tied Galactic Empire and the Robot into the same universe as his most famous series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those that Heinlein pioneered and Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson previously produced. He penned "Nightfall," voted in 1964 as the best short story of all time; many persons still honor this title. He also produced well mysteries, fantasy, and a great quantity of nonfiction. Asimov used Paul French, the pen name, for the Lucky Starr, series of juvenile novels.
Most books of Asimov in a historical way go as far back to a time with possible question or concept at its simplest stage. He often provides and mentions well nationalities, birth, and death dates for persons and etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Guide to Science, the tripartite set Understanding Physics, and Chronology of Science and Discovery exemplify these books.
Asimov, a long-time member, reluctantly served as vice president of Mensa international and described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs." He took more pleasure as president of the humanist association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, an elementary school in Brooklyn in New York, and two different awards honor his name.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_As...
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
June 22, 2023
This book has been on my shelf a long time. I read through the third story and part way into the fourth years ago when I acquired it, but put it down to move on to something else and never resumed it. I recently read the first story of this anthology (by Ray Bradbury) in another story collection, which caused me to remember how much I liked the story. So I picked up this anthology to resume reading it starting over again with the second story. I was pleasantly surprised at just how good the anthology was.
Marketed for younger readers, I think the book misses its target. That or I'm younger at heart than I care to admit. Anyway, although most of the stories feature young protagonists I think adults will appreciate them more. Four of the ten stories I consider outstanding. Five others were really good. Only one was so-so. You may be thinking that should average out to a four-star rating, and you would be right.
The so-so story was the fourth one, the one I stopped in the middle of during my original reading, titled "With Four Lean Hounds" by Pat Murphy. The story starts well, with a street urchin trying to steal a loaf from a baker and being chased, but then quickly takes a wrong turn as the urchin flees into some vague fantasy land. The original premise of the story, flight from the baker disappears, to be replaced with some sort of quest to find out who her mother is and how she can relate to her, I think. The story is just a long jumble.
Enough about the mediocre story. What were the four outstanding stories? The first one was the first story of the anthology, "The April Witch," by Ray Bradbury. This story features a young witch protagonist with the ability to inhabit other people and take them over, only it's not that easy and the possessing is by no means complete. What does the young teenage witch want to do? Why, find true love, of course. What does the person whose body she inhabits have no interest in doing? Dating the person of the would-be possessor's interest. What results is a fascinating struggle and a strangely related relationship. It's a very original story, startlingly told, of a sort that makes me wonder why it has no plot cousins. It seems like the story should have elements of horror, yet doesn't, only pathos. This is a story that cannot be forgotten.
We have to read for a long while to get to the next outstanding story, which is the seventh, but then comes three in a row! "Stevie and the Dark" is the title of Zenna Henderson's entry. I was surprised this story was so good. I've tried to read Henderson's best novel, her magnum opus, Pilgrimage: The Book of the People, several times, but never been able to get into it; so expectations were low for this story. All of a sudden, I find myself in a horror story told from the perspective of a five-year-old boy, who uses terms to explain the horror a five-year-old would use that fail to convince adults around him of a hideous threat. The five-year-old then is left to fight the horror on his own resources. It's an amazing story of courage and the human spirit to be found however nascently in even the youngest of us. Another impressive part of the story is the deep, world-building magic the boy draws on to conduct his fight and the verisimilitude of the terms he uses to describe what he's doing.
The third outstanding story is "A Message from Charity" by William M. Lee, an author I've never heard of previously. The story is about a boy from the present (the 1960s in this case) and a girl from colonial New England forging a psychic link through time allowing them to see each other's world through the other's eyes. What makes the story so exceptional is the reactions each has to the differences in the other's world, and how truly and accurately Lee portrays what the reactions would be. The amazing part of the story is how the knowledge of the future (in the girl's case) and the detailed knowledge of the past (in the boy's case) comes to affect each of their actual lives in their presents. Events take unexpected and surprising turns in this too-short, suspenseful story. The ending was so powerful and unexpected I found myself misting up. I'll never forget this one either.
The last amazing story in this surprisingly strong collection was "The Entrance Exam" by Mary Cary, another author I'd never heard of. Examining further into the matter, the "Cary" is an internal misspelling for author Mary Carey (as it is spelled on the acknowledgements page), or M.V. Carey as she is best though not uniquely known here at GoodReads. The story read like an early version of a Harry Potter book in some ways, a prequel to the Sabrina series in others. The protagonist this time is a young girl of dubious non-witch origin trying to get into witch's school, but being blocked by the headmistress who does not want to admit her. The way our protagonist tries to overcome this obstacle was very cleverly and excitingly told. This fourth story probably wasn't as strong as the previous three I mentioned. I just want to give Mary Cary, whoever she is, cudos for being ahead of Harry Potter's time.
The five other stories in this anthology that I am not covering in detail were all good stories too. They are, in remaining order (2, 3, 5, 6 and 10):
"Witch Girl" by Elizabeth Coatsworth,
"The Wonderful Day" by Robert Arthur,
"Mistress Sary" by William Tenn,
"Teragram" by Evelyn E. Smith, and
"The Boy Who Drew Cats" by Lafcadio Hearn.
Marketed for younger readers, I think the book misses its target. That or I'm younger at heart than I care to admit. Anyway, although most of the stories feature young protagonists I think adults will appreciate them more. Four of the ten stories I consider outstanding. Five others were really good. Only one was so-so. You may be thinking that should average out to a four-star rating, and you would be right.
The so-so story was the fourth one, the one I stopped in the middle of during my original reading, titled "With Four Lean Hounds" by Pat Murphy. The story starts well, with a street urchin trying to steal a loaf from a baker and being chased, but then quickly takes a wrong turn as the urchin flees into some vague fantasy land. The original premise of the story, flight from the baker disappears, to be replaced with some sort of quest to find out who her mother is and how she can relate to her, I think. The story is just a long jumble.
Enough about the mediocre story. What were the four outstanding stories? The first one was the first story of the anthology, "The April Witch," by Ray Bradbury. This story features a young witch protagonist with the ability to inhabit other people and take them over, only it's not that easy and the possessing is by no means complete. What does the young teenage witch want to do? Why, find true love, of course. What does the person whose body she inhabits have no interest in doing? Dating the person of the would-be possessor's interest. What results is a fascinating struggle and a strangely related relationship. It's a very original story, startlingly told, of a sort that makes me wonder why it has no plot cousins. It seems like the story should have elements of horror, yet doesn't, only pathos. This is a story that cannot be forgotten.
We have to read for a long while to get to the next outstanding story, which is the seventh, but then comes three in a row! "Stevie and the Dark" is the title of Zenna Henderson's entry. I was surprised this story was so good. I've tried to read Henderson's best novel, her magnum opus, Pilgrimage: The Book of the People, several times, but never been able to get into it; so expectations were low for this story. All of a sudden, I find myself in a horror story told from the perspective of a five-year-old boy, who uses terms to explain the horror a five-year-old would use that fail to convince adults around him of a hideous threat. The five-year-old then is left to fight the horror on his own resources. It's an amazing story of courage and the human spirit to be found however nascently in even the youngest of us. Another impressive part of the story is the deep, world-building magic the boy draws on to conduct his fight and the verisimilitude of the terms he uses to describe what he's doing.
The third outstanding story is "A Message from Charity" by William M. Lee, an author I've never heard of previously. The story is about a boy from the present (the 1960s in this case) and a girl from colonial New England forging a psychic link through time allowing them to see each other's world through the other's eyes. What makes the story so exceptional is the reactions each has to the differences in the other's world, and how truly and accurately Lee portrays what the reactions would be. The amazing part of the story is how the knowledge of the future (in the girl's case) and the detailed knowledge of the past (in the boy's case) comes to affect each of their actual lives in their presents. Events take unexpected and surprising turns in this too-short, suspenseful story. The ending was so powerful and unexpected I found myself misting up. I'll never forget this one either.
The last amazing story in this surprisingly strong collection was "The Entrance Exam" by Mary Cary, another author I'd never heard of. Examining further into the matter, the "Cary" is an internal misspelling for author Mary Carey (as it is spelled on the acknowledgements page), or M.V. Carey as she is best though not uniquely known here at GoodReads. The story read like an early version of a Harry Potter book in some ways, a prequel to the Sabrina series in others. The protagonist this time is a young girl of dubious non-witch origin trying to get into witch's school, but being blocked by the headmistress who does not want to admit her. The way our protagonist tries to overcome this obstacle was very cleverly and excitingly told. This fourth story probably wasn't as strong as the previous three I mentioned. I just want to give Mary Cary, whoever she is, cudos for being ahead of Harry Potter's time.
The five other stories in this anthology that I am not covering in detail were all good stories too. They are, in remaining order (2, 3, 5, 6 and 10):
"Witch Girl" by Elizabeth Coatsworth,
"The Wonderful Day" by Robert Arthur,
"Mistress Sary" by William Tenn,
"Teragram" by Evelyn E. Smith, and
"The Boy Who Drew Cats" by Lafcadio Hearn.
April 12, 2020
Review in Italian: https://lalibreriadij.wordpress.com/2...
How hard it was to read this book!
I only took it because on the cover I read Asimov and I thought he was the author. Alas he was only the collector of these short stories by many different authors. I liked his preface very much, but the stories themselves are not very much for me. Some stand out but the average level is quite low (the last ones are the nicest).
Too bad, I expected much more (of course always for the fact that I should inquire more before buying a book 😉), but surely I will read more of Asimov (also because I have already purchased something). ^^
Recommended? Nah. The stories are well elaborated but they are nothing exceptional, and thinking that this book is part of a series for young boys...in my opinion there are more beautiful books to approach fantasy.
Ps movie? No
How hard it was to read this book!
I only took it because on the cover I read Asimov and I thought he was the author. Alas he was only the collector of these short stories by many different authors. I liked his preface very much, but the stories themselves are not very much for me. Some stand out but the average level is quite low (the last ones are the nicest).
Too bad, I expected much more (of course always for the fact that I should inquire more before buying a book 😉), but surely I will read more of Asimov (also because I have already purchased something). ^^
Recommended? Nah. The stories are well elaborated but they are nothing exceptional, and thinking that this book is part of a series for young boys...in my opinion there are more beautiful books to approach fantasy.
Ps movie? No
anthology
April 20, 2021Table of Contents:
The April Witch by Ray Bradbury / 1 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Witch Girl* by Elizabeth Coatsworth / 17 ⭐⭐⭐
A Wonderful Day* by Robert Arthur / 27
With Four Lean Hounds* by Pat Murphy / 72
Mistress Sary* by William Tenn / 107
Teragram by Evelyn E. Smith / 126 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Stevie and the Dark by Zena Henderson / 140 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
A Message from Charity* by William M. Lee / 147
The Entrance Exam* by Mary Cary / 170
The Boy Who Drew Cats by Lafcadio Hern / 202 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
* no G.R. listing
The April Witch by Ray Bradbury / 1 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Witch Girl* by Elizabeth Coatsworth / 17 ⭐⭐⭐
A Wonderful Day* by Robert Arthur / 27
With Four Lean Hounds* by Pat Murphy / 72
Mistress Sary* by William Tenn / 107
Teragram by Evelyn E. Smith / 126 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Stevie and the Dark by Zena Henderson / 140 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
A Message from Charity* by William M. Lee / 147
The Entrance Exam* by Mary Cary / 170
The Boy Who Drew Cats by Lafcadio Hern / 202 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
* no G.R. listing
December 28, 2021
I bought this book because when I was a kid I loved "storie di giovani alieni".
Maybe my tastes changed, maybe those short stories were not as good as the sci-fo ones, anyway I didn't enjoy the book that much. There are one or two nice short stories and a bunch of "just ok and soon be forgotten ones".
Btw, the translator failed her job, translating, for example, "word" with "parola" instead of "giuro" (I swear).
Maybe my tastes changed, maybe those short stories were not as good as the sci-fo ones, anyway I didn't enjoy the book that much. There are one or two nice short stories and a bunch of "just ok and soon be forgotten ones".
Btw, the translator failed her job, translating, for example, "word" with "parola" instead of "giuro" (I swear).
April 11, 2020
There was only one story that didn't really make much of an impression on me, but besides the one, I really enjoyed the rest of the book. I haven't read anything like these stories before. Going to have to look for some more old ones. I checked this book out of OpenLibrary.org.
August 2, 2023
Primo capitolo a parte, è molto bello.
L'autore ha dato il meglio di sé nell'ultimo capitolo.
L'autore ha dato il meglio di sé nell'ultimo capitolo.
March 17, 2025
I loved this book when I was a kid. I used to read it to my sister and cousins to freak them out.
December 28, 2014
L’AVVENTURIERO NELLA FORTEZZA di W. Wade Wellmann. Suonatore d’arpa, spadaccino, ultimo sopravvissuto di Atlantide... sarebbe mai stato capace di scoprire quel segreto che mai nessuno prima di lui era riuscito a scoprire, ossia la chiave per la cittadella segreta del Mago...?
E I MOSTRI CAMMINANO di John Jakes. Vagano per le strade di Londra, resuscitati da un antico incantesimo di origine diabolica. Chi mai avrebbe offerto il suo aiuto ad un uomo privo di qualsiasi potere magico per porre fine a quel regno di errore...?
LA PARETE INTORNO AL MONDO di Theodore Cogswell. Stava lì da tanto tempo che nessuno era in grado di poter ricordare quale fosse stata la sua origine. Ma era stata eretta per impedire che qualcuno potesse entrare oppure per impedire a quelli che vi erano racchiusi dentro di poter uscire...?
Questi sono solo alcuni degli stupendi racconti e romanzi presenti in questo nuovo affascinante volume de I MAGICI MONDI Dl ASIMOV.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews