Wizards: Magical Tales From the Masters of Modern Fantasy

✍ Scribed by Dann, Jack; Dozois, Gardner

• Book ID: 108953603
• Publisher: Ace Trade
• Year: 2008
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 294 KB
• Series: Ace Anthology 2
• Category: Fiction
• ISBN: 1429535148

✦ Synopsis

Neil Gaiman, Eoin Colfer, and many more join ?this magical brew [that] will enchant young adult readers and their elders as well.? (Publishers Weekly)

In Wizards , today?s master fantasists turn their hands to tales of these magical beings, living in both ancient and modern times, as well as in fantasy realms that never were.

Featuring stories by New York Times bestselling authors Neil Gaiman, Eoin Colfer and Garth Nix as well as tales from Kage Baker, Peter S. Beagle, Terry Bisson, Orson Scott Card, Terry Dowling, Andy Duncan, Jeffrey Ford, Elizabeth Hand, Nancy Kress, Tanith Lee, Patricia A. McKillip, Mary Rosenblum, Tad Williams, Gene Wolfe, and Jane Yolen.

From Publishers Weekly

Veteran fantasists weave a variety of imaginative spells in this fine anthology of 18 original wizardry-themed tales. Neil Gaiman's charming opener, "The Witch's Headstone," introduces a boy raised by the dead and offers a sneak peek at a novel-in-progress. An Icelandic bride in modern Maine makes magic in Elizabeth Hand's outstanding "Winter's Wife." Mary Rosenblum, Patricia A. McKillip, Nancy Kress, Terry Dowling and Gene Wolfe notably conjure up diverse and indelible, coming-of-age stories featuring contemporary teens discovering their true natures. Garth Nix successfully mixes English legends in "Holly and Iron." The prophet Elijah appears as the "wizard" of Jane Yolen's "Slipping Sideways Through Eternity." What goes around comes around, even for wizards and monsters in Jeffrey Ford's "The Manticore Spell." Tad Williams, Peter S. Beagle and Orson Scott Card contribute indifferent stories, but overall this magical brew will enchant young adult readers and their elders as well. (May)
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From Booklist

Wizards have been popular in fantasy at least from Oz to Earthsea, occupying venerated positions as shamans and medicine men in aboriginal cultures stretching back to the Stone Age and forward to fin de siecle Kansas and beyond. In this collection of first-published tales, wizards are the puppet masters of schemes ranging from the amusing to the diabolical. Contributors include such venerable masters as Jane Yolen, Peter S. Beagle, and Gene Wolfe as well as such relative newcomers as Andy Duncan and Jeffrey Ford. Neil Gaiman offers the story of a boy able to communicate with the dead, who assigns himself the obligation of securing a headstone for a deceased witch. In Eoin Colfer's whimsical "A Fowl Tale," a talking dove begs for its next meal by explaining how Merlin gave him a con-artist's sensibilities. Terry Bisson's "Billy and the Wizard" describes an eight-year-old's encounter with a wizard sandwiched between the pages of a magazine. A creative spectrum of tantalizing themes makes the volume versatile and compelling reading for all fantasy fans. Carl Hays
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