{"id":424,"date":"2007-08-23T17:47:23","date_gmt":"2007-08-24T00:47:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/424"},"modified":"2021-06-02T19:20:46","modified_gmt":"2021-06-02T23:20:46","slug":"children-of-magic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/424","title":{"rendered":"Children of Magic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Children of Magic<\/a><\/em> (2006) edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Kerrie Hughes<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>As I have mentioned on many previous occasions, I am a huge fan of short stories. Occasionally I have been disappointed, but for the most part the anthologies I have read have good, especially the one edited by Martin H. Greenberg.<\/p>\n

The theme of Children of Magic<\/em> is (as you would guess from the title) children with magic and the ability to change the world around them. The major problem with this review, however, is that I only read a one or two stories at a time, and then left the book on the headboard for a few weeks while I was reading something else (anthologies are good for that). So it actually took me several months to read Children of Magic<\/em> as it dropped to the bottom of the pile in favor of whatever I was currently reading during the day (or sometimes something more boring, to put me to sleep.)<\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly (at least to me), my favorite story in the anthology was Nina Kiriki Hoffman’s story “The Weight of Wishes” (in fact, the fact she had a story in this anthology was part of the reason I picked up this book). Will and Beth have two children, one of whom is a magic user and is barely under control. But on Christmas, Lisa’s powers create unexpected gifts for her entire family, that may change not only Lisa’s ability to control her magic, but also the family’s ability to deal with Lisa.<\/p>\n

“Touching Faith” by Alexander Potter was another story I liked, especially when the boy decides that his path will require a Southern accent.<\/p>\n

Another very good story was Brenda Cooper’s “The Horses of the Wild Hills”. Carly tries to protect her mother–from herself as much as far everyone discovering her drinking, but she also has to protect and care for herself–something an eleven year old girl is not necessarily capable of doing. What I particularly liked was Carly’s discoveries not only about the world, but also about her self and her strengths and weaknesses.<\/p>\n

When I started reading Karina Summer Smith’s story “An End to All Things” I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. However, once I got into the story and figured out what was going on (in some ways it was as much science fiction as fantasy, and adjusting to strange technology is sometimes difficult for me) I quite enjoyed it. Although I never did quite understand why she didn’t “register.”<\/p>\n

“Titan” by Sarah A. Hoyt was another story I very much enjoyed. It tells how Leonardo da Vinci gained his powers, from the point of view of one of Leonardo’s childhood friends.<\/p>\n

I found the rest of the stories adequate, but not anything particularly I’d go out of my way for. Some of that may have been that several stories were about teenagers, and I tend to dislike stories about teenagers unless those characters are very well written. (I remember all to well what it was like to be a teenager, and dislike reliving those feelings.)<\/p>\n

So if you like anthologies, you may want to pick up this collection. Or you could wait and see if any of these stories ends up in a “Year’s Best” collection.
\nRating: 6\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Children of Magic (2006) edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Kerrie Hughes As I have mentioned on many previous occasions, I am a huge fan of short stories. Occasionally I have been disappointed, but for the most part the anthologies I have read have good, especially the one edited by Martin H. Greenberg. The theme […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[18,2,291],"tags":[357,80],"class_list":["post-424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anthology","category-fantasy","category-paper","tag-martin-h-greenberg","tag-nina-kiriki-hoffman"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-6Q","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3247,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/3247","url_meta":{"origin":424,"position":0},"title":"Between the Dark and the Daylight","author":"Michelle","date":"November 4, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Between the Dark and the Daylight: And 27 More of the Best Crime and Mystery Stories of the Year (2009) edited by Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg I generally love mystery anthologies, but I had a hard time with this one. First and foremost, the collection is full of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Anthology"","block_context":{"text":"Anthology","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/anthology"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Between-the-Dark-and-the-Daylight.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1380,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/1380","url_meta":{"origin":424,"position":1},"title":"Better Off Undead","author":"Michelle","date":"September 29, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Better Off Undead (2008) edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Daniel M. Hoyt Anthologies edited by Martin H. Greenberg are usually ones I can pick up knowing that I'll like the majority of stories within. This volume? Not so much. There were a handful of stories I thought were good,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Anthology"","block_context":{"text":"Anthology","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/anthology"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/Better-Off-Undead.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":131,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/131","url_meta":{"origin":424,"position":2},"title":"Maiden, Matron, Crone","author":"Michelle","date":"September 21, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Maiden, Matron, Crone (2005) Kerrie Hughes and Martin H. Greenberg I try to pick up fantasy anthologies when I see them, since chances are they won't be there the next time I look. I picked up Maiden, Matron, Crone while ago, but saved it to read during the school year,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Anthology"","block_context":{"text":"Anthology","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/anthology"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/09\/Maiden-Matron-Crone.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":436,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/436","url_meta":{"origin":424,"position":3},"title":"Places to Be, People to Kill","author":"Michelle","date":"September 15, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Places to Be, People to Kill (2007) Edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Brittany A. Koren I really like short stories, so I'm a sucker for anthologies. I've been burned a couple of times, but for the most part, anything that Martin H Greenberg has a hand in will most\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Anthology"","block_context":{"text":"Anthology","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/anthology"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/09\/Place-to-Be-People-to-Kill.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2627,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2627","url_meta":{"origin":424,"position":4},"title":"The Best Paranormal Crime Stories Ever Told","author":"Michelle","date":"November 14, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The Best Paranormal Crime Stories Ever Told (2010) edited by Martin H. Greenberg and John Helfers I wouldn't say the best necessarily, but it's not a bad selection of stories. And the fact that I got to read it for free probably helped. \"Appetite for Murder\" is Simon R. Green\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Anthology"","block_context":{"text":"Anthology","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/anthology"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Best-Paranormal-Crime-Stories.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":377,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/377","url_meta":{"origin":424,"position":5},"title":"The Repentant","author":"Michelle","date":"May 21, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The Repentant (2003) edited by Brian M. Thomsen and Martin H. Greenberg I love short stories, so I tend to pick up anthologies when I come across them--assuming they look even remotely interesting. The Repentant looked particularly interesting, since it had several authors I particularly like: Tanya Huff, P.N. Elrod,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Anthology"","block_context":{"text":"Anthology","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/anthology"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/Repentant.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}