 | The Way of the Wizard is a collection of stories featuring sorcery in various forms. The anthology opens with George R.R. Martin’s “In the Lost Lands,” a haunting tale recently made into a movie by the same title. The story originally appeared in the excellent anthology Amazons II. The opening lines: “You can buy anything you might desire from Gray Alys. But it is better not to.” A beautiful queen pays Gray Alys to get a werewolf pelt for her—and the queen’s lover pays Alys to fail. The witch agrees to both bargains. I’ll confess I had to Google an explanation of the ending as I’m not great at deciphering subtlety, but the explanation made the story even more satisfying. |
“The Magician, the Maid, and Other Stories” by Christie Yant blends the power of fairy tales with romance. A woman stalks the sorcerer who stole her beloved, an aspiring wizard who disappeared when attempting a powerful spell to earn his place as the King’s Magician. The woman is determined to bring her sweetheart home, whatever the cost.
The romance unravels slowly and the ending is completely satisfying~
The romance unravels slowly and the ending is completely satisfying~
 | Krista Hoeppner Leahy pens a tale about one of the men with Odysseus (from the Greek tale The Odyssey), changed into a pig by the sorceress Circe in “Too Fatal a Poison.” The opening line: “Being a pig changed me.” Throughout the story, the narrator struggles with the simplicity and immediacy of his life as a pig versus his human grief for a deceased friend. The pig-centric passages are immersive: “The smells like fists punching my snout, the pent-up power in my haunches, the ground right there, inches from my chin, begging me to plow it with my snout.” “Too Fatal a Poison” is a powerful exploration of our animal nature and the pain of mourning. |
“Winter Solstice” by Mike Resnik is an interesting take on the Merlin myth. Merlin lives backwards in time, and as he grows younger, his memories of the future fade. The author notes the story was his exploration of Alzheimer's Disease. The closing lines:
“Everything is slipping away, drifting on the wind.
Please, somebody help me.
I’m frightened.”
“Everything is slipping away, drifting on the wind.
Please, somebody help me.
I’m frightened.”
 | Kelly Link’s “The Wizards of Perfil” is a great take on sibling rivalry, the devastation of war, and the resiliency of love. A family fleeing ahead of an advancing army is given the opportunity to “sell” one child to the famed Wizards of Perfil. Instead of the obvious choice, the day-dreaming cousin, the nasty older sister is chosen. She resents every moment of backbreaking chores she performs in the wizard’s service, and worse, begins to have premonitions of impending doom for her family, who are on a train headed west. She’s able to get a message to her dreamy cousin, but he isn’t sure how to get the adults to listen. During the course of the story, the older sister grows in compassion and comes to embrace her ability to help change the course of the world. The actual identity of the wizards is another memorable element of the story. |
Cinda Williams Chima offers a compelling story of an enslaved enchantress working for a trader in magical artifacts in “The Trader and the Slave.” When a wizard arrives looking to barter a powerful artifact, the trader orders the enchantress to seduce and poison him—but the wizard sees through the scheme.
The enchantress’s emotional journey through resentment, fear, revulsion, and hope is the most powerful element of the story.
The enchantress’s emotional journey through resentment, fear, revulsion, and hope is the most powerful element of the story.
 | Vylar Kaftan’s “The Orange-Tree Sacrifice” is an intense exploration of spiritual sacrifice with echoes of Indigenous North American Sun Dance ceremonies. A peasant girl hangs suspended and dying, surrounded by eleven wizard lords waiting eagerly to use her death to fuel their magic. The men, bored and complaining of sore backs from sitting so long, try to hurry the process by torturing her, but the girl has made a vow of service to her goddess—who has her own plans. The brutal yet transformative story is only two pages long, but resonated long after I finished reading it. |
“One-Click Banishment” by Jeremiah Tolbert equates computer code with magic. The story is told through online posts by a character who uses sprogs (spells + programs) to work his magic. Things go awry when the cyber-security authorities arrest him then draft him to fight a demon who is stealing souls through an online user agreement clause. It’s delightfully clever and the ending is a hoot.
There are thirty-two stories total in The Way of the Wizard. I enjoyed the anthology as a whole, but few of the stories were as impactful as those I highlighted in this review. Still worth the read and grateful my library had the book to lend.
Other worthy short story anthologies:
The Best of World SF, The Mammoth Book of SF Stories by Women, Best New Romantic Fantasy
The Best of World SF, The Mammoth Book of SF Stories by Women, Best New Romantic Fantasy
