The editor of Creature Fantastic (2001) and similar anthologies proffers 15 original stories featuring a pleasing assortment of magical familiars, or companions, not all of which are animals. Among the contributors are Jody Lynn Nye, Laura Resnick, Andre Norton, Bill McCay, John Helfers, and Josepha Sherman. Story subjects include a familiar with its own familiar; First Cat Socks; a college student who regresses to a previous life as a dog; the desperate struggle of a warlock and his dog against Cotton Mather; a California valley girl trapped in a sword; a Mae West Highland White dog; and a cutthroat saleswoman who is reincarnated as a rat to atone for her wrong-doings. The book concludes with an intricate, exciting novelette in which virtual and actual reality come into conflict. Although the emphasis is on humor throughout the collection, there is enough variety in it to please a broad range of fantasy readers.
Great collection of short stories. My favorite was the last in the collection--an extended story about cyber mages / cyber magic.
----Delightful collection/anthology of 15 'familiar' tales----
The word familiars immediately evokes images of witches and black cats, but fantasy writers have too much imagination to allow themselves to be confined to such a stereotype, and their minds instantly begin to conjure up stories in which not only cats, but dogs, humans, and even insects can become key assistants in the raising and working of arcane powers. In some instances, humans are not even the masters to whom these familiars belong . . .
Here are tales by top writers, ranging from a humorous look at the role played by the Clinton's cat, Socks, in the troubles that occurred during Bill's administration to the challenge a minor wizard faces when he seeks a way to save his own cat familiar and stop the mysterious enemy who has been targeting familiars for death; to the desperate battle for survival and justice waged by a warlock and his dog when Cotton Mather targets them for judgment, to the incredible odyssey of a college student who undergoes life regression only to discover that he was not even human in his past life. . .
The word familiars immediately evokes images of witches and black cats, but fantasy writers have too much imagination to allow themselves to be confined to such a stereotype, and their minds instantly begin to conjure up stories in which not only cats, but dogs, humans, and even insects can become key assistants in the raising and working of arcane powers. In some instances, humans are not even the masters to whom these familiars belong . . .
Here are tales by top writers, ranging from a humorous look at the role played by the Clinton's cat, Socks, in the troubles that occurred during Bill's administration to the challenge a minor wizard faces when he seeks a way to save his own cat familiar and stop the mysterious enemy who has been targeting familiars for death; to the desperate battle for survival and justice waged by a warlock and his dog when Cotton Mather targets them for judgment, to the incredible odyssey of a college student who undergoes life regression only to discover that he was not even human in his past life. . .
