- Paperback: 320 pages
- Publisher: DAW (Feb 3 2004)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0756401739
- ISBN-13: 978-0756401733
- Product Dimensions: 16.8 x 10.4 x 2.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 91 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,749,210 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Booklist
The 17 stories in this anthology on the theme of places to buy magic make up an exceptionally strong volume. In "Tarnished Linings," P. N. Elrod goes for the gruesome, while in "Dime Store Rings," Michelle West offers probably the most powerful story here--on aging, in children as well as parents. Mel Odom uses American Indian folklore in "The Serpent of the Lakes," while Kristine Katherine Rusch puts a corporate troubleshooter for a chain of magic shops in a position where the trouble at hand threatens to shoot (or stab) back. "The Fairest" by Von Jocks ingeniously varies the theme of the magic mirror, while India Edghill's "Winter Phoenix" (which nearly ties West's entry as best in the book) powerfully alters the theme of the fate of a certain Russian princess. Even the less compelling stories here feature gratifying grace notes. All told, singular testimony to how much originality, or at least good storytelling, a venerable theme can generate. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
What a waste!,
By "stinksap" (Alberta Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Magic Shop (Paperback)
Ok, I love anthologies. I have been reading them for the past 14 years. I like getting to know new authors alongside old ones. This anthology was a waste of my time. The stories were trite and cliche. One or two stories rises above the mediocre and is a pleasent enough read. I liked Von jocks " The Fairest". The story centers around a woman who becomes obsessed with her looks and lose herself in the process, but finds her again self after looking in to a magic mirror. The story was funny, intresting and well written. Sad to say this one was the only story to stand out in my mind. As an editor Denise Little can an usally do better, I guess thats what makes this collection so disapointing.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gret anthology,
By
This review is from: Magic Shop (Paperback)
The premise of this fifteen story collection is relatively simplistic: what would happen to a customer if the magic shop found in many cities sold real magic? The contributors, whom are a virtual who's who (though there is one new author for me), provided a wide range of tales with some classified as horror, others are fantasy and science fiction, and finally a few that cross the speculative plain. Even the tone vastly differs with some authors writing amusing fictions of getting what you ask for while others take a more somber pitch. Each tale is well written as if Denise Little used a magical editing device to raise the bar. Most interesting is that the simple concept is turned into complex effects as the purchaser should have paid close attention to the maxim "buyer beware" since no hazardous to your health warning label accompanied the goods. Readers will enjoy these fine new stories that cast a spell requiring a one sitting read. Aside to Ms. Little: is the magic store that ensorcelled you the one near NYU or the one in Times Square that hooked many of us boomers back in the 1960s-1970s (don't know if they are still there)?Harriet Klausner
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
3.9 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews) 4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent anthology,
By Barb Caffrey "writer-for-hire" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Magic Shop (Paperback)
"The Magic Shop" is one of the few anthologies I've read lately that has been entirely fulfilling. Denise Little, who edited this, did a superb job in finding seventeen writers to write about characters and their various experiences in various magic shops.
All seventeen stories were good, but the best three in my mind were these. First, Michelle West's "Dime Store Rings" was absolutely mind-blowing, partly because I don't like most of her writing and did like this, and partly because she managed to write a very sad story without undue pathos. Second, Rosemary Edghill's "A Winter's Tale" was another excellent Bast story; it's a story within a story, and the last few lines absolutely cause chills. Rosemary Edghill's short stories are always thought provoking, and almost always absolutely astonishing, and this one met or exceeded expectations. More Bast stories, please! And finally, India Edghill (yes, India and Rosemary are related) wrote a powerful story about Anastasia, the "lost princess" of Russia, and one which envisioned a happier and more positive future for her than she probably got (as no one knows for sure). India Edghill mostly writes historicals, and does a fabulous job with them; this story definitely reflects her skill and ability as a writer. I'd definitely recommend this book for anyone over the age of about 14 (as some of the images in various stories are perhaps a bit graphic) or anyone over about 10 with parental or guardian supervision. Five stars, highly recommended. Barb Caffrey
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Truly Enjoyable Anthology,
By Tina H. "Winter" - Published on Amazon.com
The stories here are very heartfelt and engaging. I greatly enjoy these anthologies edited by Denise Little. Ones that stand out for me are "Every Little Thing She Does" by Susan Sizemore, "Dime Store Rings" by Michelle West, and "The Fairest" by Von Jocks. Particular passages I feel are noteworthy: "There is a magic in childhood that slowly fades. Time hurts it, truth changes it, experience makes it something other than what it appeared to be. Magic is all in silence." "Silence is a way of hoarding things, and there are some magicks that die when hoarded, like cut flowers die." "Memory is kinder than reality, it always has been. We make our memories; we knit them together out of disparate events; we define ourselves by what we make."--Michelle West. "The People will learn to think of themselves as things apart from nature, which will lead them to self-destruction." "Love is the only thing that truly sets us apart from everything that has gone on before us. If not for love, we would be no more than the animals that exist in the forests, and swamps, and lakes." "Love is weakness. Love is strength also. You can't have the one without the other."--Mel Odom. "Perhaps a mirror's greatest power is that it lets you not just see yourself, but see how you see yourself."--Von Jocks. "The story had no proper end, but reality rarely does. It is the province of fiction to tie up loose ends, to punish the guilty and reward the good, to join the lovers together and answer all questions." "Belief is the most powerful-and sometimes the most dangerous-thing there is."--Rosemary Edghill
5.0 out of 5 stars
Entertaining and Humerous,
By DoxieMumx5 "DoxieMumx5" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Magic Shop (Paperback)
Great book with entertaining stories. If you like fiction with a good twist, these stories will not disappoint.
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