The Witch and Warlock MEGAPACK ®: 25 Tales of Magic-Users Read online

  Table of Contents

  COPYRIGHT INFO

  A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER

  The MEGAPACK® Ebook Series

  WITCHES, by Janet Fox

  THE TRAP, by Henry S. Whitehead and H.P. Lovecraft

  ELOMA’S SECOND CAREER, by Lorie Calkins

  SALEM’S CHILDREN, by Mary Leader

  THE INN OF THE TWO WITCHES: A FIND, by Joseph Conrad

  THE WITCH OF FAITH LANE, by Skadi meic Beorh

  YOU SHALL HAVE THIS DELICACY, by Mark McLaughlin

  THE CRIMES OF LADY FOWLIS, by Eliza Lynn Linton

  THE HORNED WOMEN, by Lady Wilde

  THE VOICE IN THE NIGHT, by William J. Wintle

  AD GEHENNAM TECUM, by Robert Reginald

  LOIS THE WITCH, by Elizabeth Gaskell

  THE SIX SKILLS OF MADAME LUMIERE, by Marissa Lingen

  THE HOLLOW OF THE THREE HILLS, by Nathaniel Hawthorne

  SMALL MAGIC, by Janet Fox

  OLD DEB AND OTHER OLD COLONY WITCHES, by William Root Bliss

  THE LEGEND OF THE PIPE, by Launcelot

  THE JUSTICE-BEARER, by Cynthia Ward

  DEMONS ARE A GHOUL’S BEST FRIEND, by M.E. Brines

  THE SORCERER EVORAGDOU, by Darrell Schweitzer

  SCREAMING IN SILENCE, by C.J. Henderson & Bruce Gehweiler

  THE UNBELIEVER, by Janet Fox

  THE ROBBERY, by Cynthia Ward

  KEEPING UP APPEARANCES, by Lawrence Watt-Evans

  BRIGHT STREETS OF AIR, by Nina Kiriki Hoffman

  ABOUT THE AUTHORS

  COPYRIGHT INFO

  The Witch and Warlock MEGAPACK® is copyright © 2015 by Wildside Press, LLC. All rights reserved.

  * * * *

  The MEGAPACK® ebook series name is a trademark of Wildside Press, LLC. All rights reserved.

  * * * *

  “Witches,” by Janet Fox, was originally published in Tales By Moonlight (1983). Copyright © 1983 by Janet Fox. Reprinted by permission of the author’s estate.

  “The Trap, by Henry S. Whitehead and H.P. Lovecraft, was originally published in Strange Tales of Mystery and Terror, March 1932.

  “Eloma’s Second Career,” by Lorie Calkins, originally appeared in Sword and Sorceress XIX. Copyright © 2002 by Lorie Calkins. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  Salem’s Children, by Mary Leader, is copyright © 1979 by Mary Leader. Reprinted by permission of the estate of Mary Leader.

  “The Inn of the Two Witches: A Find,” by Joseph Conrad, originally appeared in 1913.

  “The Witch of Faith Lane,” by Skadi meic Beorh originally appeared in Morpheus Tales Magazine #5, July 2009. Copyright © 2009 by Skadi meic Beorh. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “You Shall Have This Delicacy,” by Mark McLaughlin originally appeared in Motivational Shrieker. Copyright © 2004 by Mark McLaughlin. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “The Crimes of Lady Fowlis,” by Eliza Lynn Linton, was originally published in Witch Stories (1861).

  “The Horned Women, by Lady Wilde, was originally published in Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms & Superstitions of Ireland (1887).

  “The Voice in the Night, by William J. Wintle, was originally published in Ghost Gleams (1921).

  “Ad Gehennam Tecum,” by Robert Reginald, originally appeared in Katydid & Other Critters: Tales of Fantasy and Mystery, by Robert Reginald (Riverside, CA: Ariadne Press, 2001). This version has been slightly edited. Copyright © 2001, 2011 by Robert Reginald. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Lois the Witch,” by Elizabeth Gaskell, is taken from her collection Curious, if True: Strange Tales.

  “The Six Skills of Madame Lumiere,” by Marissa Lingen, was originally published in Beneath Ceaseless Skies #46, July 2010. Copyright © 2010 by Marissa Lingen. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “The Hollow of the Three Hills,” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is taken from his classic collection Twice-Told Tales.

  “Small Magic,” by Janet Fox, originally appeared in Amazing Stories Vol. 28 No. 4, Copyright © 1981 by Ultimate Publishing Company, Inc. Reprinted by permission of the author’s estate.

  “Old Deb and Other Old Colony Witches,” by William Root Bliss, was originally published in The Old Colony Town and Other Sketches (1893).

  “The Legend of the Pipe,” by Launcelot, was originally published in The Hesperus and Western Miscellany, July 1828.

  “The Justice-Bearer,” by Cynthia Ward, was originally published in Galaxy #6, Nov. 1994. Copyright © 1994 by Cynthia Ward. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Demons Are a Ghoul’s Best Friend,” by M.E. Brines, was originally published in Tales of the Talisman, Summer 2010. Copyright © 2919 by M.E. Brines. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “The Sorcerer Evoragdou,” by Darrell Schweitzer, was originally published in The Ultimate Witch. Copyright © 1993 by Darrell Schweitzer. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Screaming in Silence, by C.J. Henderson & Bruce Gehweiler, was originally published in The Occult Detectives of C. J. Henderson. Copyright © 2002 by C.J. Henderson & Bruce Gehweiler. Reprinted by permission of C.J. Henderson.

  “The Unbeliever,” by Janet Fox, was originally published in Haunted, June 1968. Copyright © 1968 by Janet Fox. Reprinted by permission of the author’s estate.

  “The Robbery,” by Cynthia Ward, was originally published in 100 Wicked Little Witch Stories (1995). Copyright © 1995 by Cynthia Ward. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Bright Streets of Air,” by Nina Kiriki Hoffman, was originally published in Battle Magic (1998). Copyright © 1998 by Nina Kiriki Hoffman. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Keeping Up Appearances,” by Lawrence Watt-Evans, was originally published in Did You Say Chicks? (1988). Copyright © 1998 by Lawrence Watt-Evans. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER

  Witches and warlocks have been part of the fantasy field since its beginning. After all, you need someone to actually use magic if you’re going to have it in your story. And magic-users can appear in any setting, from ancient Rome to the modern world, from imaginary kingdoms to the old Salem colony.

  Here are 25 tales spanning every time and place, with only one things in common (aside from great storytelling): witches and warlocks. Enjoy!

  —John Betancourt

  Publisher, Wildside Press LLC

  www.wildsidepress.com

  ABOUT THE SERIES

  Over the last few years, our MEGAPACK® ebook series has grown to be our most popular endeavor. (Maybe it helps that we sometimes offer them as premiums to our mailing list!) One question we keep getting asked is, “Who’s the editor?”

  The MEGAPACK® ebook series (except where specifically credited) are a group effort. Everyone at Wildside works on them. This includes John Betancourt (me), Carla Coupe, Steve Coupe, Shawn Garrett, Helen McGee, Bonner Menking, Sam Cooper, Helen McGee and many of Wildside’s authors…who often suggest stories to include (and not just their own!)

  RECOMMEND A FAVORITE STORY?

  Do you know a great classic science fiction story, or have a favorite author whom you believe is perfect for the MEGAPACK® ebook series? We’d love your suggestions! You can post them on o
ur message board at http://movies.ning.com/forum (there is an area for Wildside Press comments).

  Note: we only consider stories that have already been professionally published. This is not a market for new works.

  TYPOS

  Unfortunately, as hard as we try, a few typos do slip through. We update our ebooks periodically, so make sure you have the current version (or download a fresh copy if it’s been sitting in your ebook reader for months.) It may have already been updated.

  If you spot a new typo, please let us know. We’ll fix it for everyone. You can email the publisher at [email protected] or use the message boards above.

  The MEGAPACK® Ebook Series

  If you enjoyed this ebook, you might want to see some of our other volumes.

  HORROR

  The 2014 Halloween Horrors MEGAPACK®

  The 2015 Halloween Horrors MEGAPACK®

  The Horror MEGAPACK®

  The Second Horror MEGAPACK®

  The Achmed Abdullah MEGAPACK®

  The Second Achmed Abdullah MEGAPACK®

  The E.F. Benson MEGAPACK®

  The Second E.F. Benson MEGAPACK®

  The Algernon Blackwood MEGAPACK®

  The Second Algernon Blackwood MEGAPACK®

  The Cthulhu Mythos MEGAPACK®

  The Devils & Demons MEGAPACK®

  The Elliott O’Donnell Supernatural MEGAPACK®

  The Erckmann-Chatrian MEGAPACK®

  The Ghost Story MEGAPACK®

  The Second Ghost Story MEGAPACK®

  The Third Ghost Story MEGAPACK®

  The Fourth Ghost Story MEGAPACK®

  The Fifth Ghost Story MEGAPACK®

  The Sixth Ghost Story MEGAPACK®

  The Gothic Terror MEGAPACK®

  The Haunts & Horrors MEGAPACK®

  The Lon Williams Weird Western MEGAPACK®

  The M.R. James MEGAPACK®

  The Macabre MEGAPACK®

  The Second Macabre MEGAPACK®

  The Third Macabre MEGAPACK®

  The Arthur Machen MEGAPACK®**

  The Monster MEGAPACK®

  The Mummy MEGAPACK®

  The Occult Detective MEGAPACK®

  The Penny Dreadfuls MEGAPACK®

  The Darrell Schweitzer MEGAPACK®

  The Uncanny Stories MEGAPACK®**

  The Vampire MEGAPACK®

  The Victorian Ghost Story MEGAPACK®

  The Weird Fiction MEGAPACK®

  The Werewolf MEGAPACK®

  The William Hope Hodgson MEGAPACK®

  The Witch and Warlock MEGAPACK®

  The Zombie MEGAPACK®

  MYSTERY

  The First Mystery MEGAPACK®

  The Second Mystery MEGAPACK®

  The Third Mystery MEGAPACK®

  The First Mystery Novel MEGAPACK®

  The Achmed Abdullah MEGAPACK®

  The Anna Katharine Green Mystery MEGAPACK®

  The Arthur Train Crime & Mystery MEGAPACK®

  The Boy Detectives MEGAPACK®

  The Bulldog Drummond MEGAPACK®*

  The Carolyn Wells Mystery MEGAPACK®

  The Charlie Chan MEGAPACK®*

  The Craig Kennedy Scientific Detective MEGAPACK®

  The Detective MEGAPACK®

  The Dickson McCunn MEGAPACK®,* by John Buchan

  The E. Hoffmann Price Spicy Story MEGAPACK®

  The Father Brown MEGAPACK®

  The Johnston McCulley Mystery MEGAPACK®

  The Lady Sleuth MEGAPACK®

  The Mary Fortune Mystery & Suspense MEGAPACK®

  The First R. Austin Freeman MEGAPACK®

  The Second R. Austin Freeman MEGAPACK®*

  The Third R. Austin Freeman MEGAPACK®*

  The Jacques Futrelle MEGAPACK®

  James Holding’s Conmen & Cutthroats MEGAPACK®

  James Holding’s Murder & Mayhem MEGAPACK®

  The George Allan England MEGAPACK®

  The Girl Detective MEGAPACK®

  The Second Girl Detective MEGAPACK®

  The Gothic Terror MEGAPACK®

  The Hardboiled Mystery MEGAPACK®

  The Mahboob Chaudri Mystery MEGAPACK®

  The Library Fuzz MEGAPACK®

  The Noir Mystery MEGAPACK®

  The Noir Novel MEGAPACK®

  The Penny Parker MEGAPACK®

  The Philo Vance MEGAPACK®*

  The Pulp Fiction MEGAPACK®

  The Raffles MEGAPACK®

  The Red Finger Pulp Mystery MEGAPACK®, by Arthur Leo Zagat*

  The Richard Deming Mystery MEGAPACK®

  The Richard Hannay Spy MEGAPACK®*, by John Buchan

  The Roy J. Snell Mystery MEGAPACK®

  The Sherlock Holmes MEGAPACK®

  The Singer Batts Mystery MEGAPACK®: The Complete Series, by Thomas B. Dewey

  The Sky Detectives MEGAPACK®

  The Spicy Mystery MEGAPACK®

  The Suspense Novel MEGAPACK®

  The Talmage Powell Crime MEGAPACK®

  The Second Talmage Powell Crime MEGAPACK®

  The Thubway Tham Mystery MEGAPACK®

  The Victorian Mystery MEGAPACK®

  The Second Victorian Mystery MEGAPACK®

  The Victorian Rogues MEGAPACK®

  The Victorian Villains MEGAPACK®

  The Weird Crime MEGAPACK®

  The Wilkie Collins MEGAPACK®

  GENERAL INTEREST

  The Adventure MEGAPACK®

  The Anne of Green Gables MEGAPACK®

  The Baseball MEGAPACK®

  The Cat Story MEGAPACK®

  The Second Cat Story MEGAPACK®

  The Third Cat Story MEGAPACK®

  The Christmas MEGAPACK®

  The Second Christmas MEGAPACK®

  The Charles Dickens Christmas MEGAPACK®

  The Classic American Short Stories MEGAPACK®, Vol. 1.

  The Classic Humor MEGAPACK®

  The Dog Story MEGAPACK®

  The Doll Story MEGAPACK®

  The Horse Story MEGAPACK®

  The Lesbian Pulp MEGAPACK®

  The Military MEGAPACK®

  The Peck’s Bad Boy MEGAPACK®

  The Pirate Story MEGAPACK®

  The Sea-Story MEGAPACK®

  The Thanksgiving MEGAPACK®

  The Utopia MEGAPACK®

  The Walt Whitman MEGAPACK®

  THE GOLDEN AGE OF PULP FICTION

  1. George Allan England

  THE GOLDEN AGE OF MYSTER AND CRIME

  1. Fletcher Flora

  2. Ruth Chessman

  THE GOLDEN AGE OF SCIENCE FICTION

  1. Winston K. Marks

  2. Mark Clifton

  3. Poul Anderson

  4. Clifford D. Simak

  5. Lester del Rey (vol. 1)

  6. Charles L. Fontenay

  7. H.B. Fyfe (vol. 1)

  8. Milton Lesser (Stephen Marlowe)

  9. Dave Dryfoos

  10. Carl Jacobi

  11. F.L. Wallace

  12. David H. Keller, M.D.

  13. Lester del Rey (vol. 2)

  14. Charles De Vet

  15. H.B. Fyfe (vol. 2)

  16. William C. Gault

  17. Alan E. Nourse

  18. Jerome Bixby

  19. Charles De Vet (Vo. 2)

  20. Evelyn E. Smith

  21. Edward Wellen

  22. Robert Moore Williams

  23. Richard Wils
on

  24. H.B. Fyfe (vol. 3)

  25. Raymond Z. Gallun

  26. Homer Eon Flint

  THE GOLDEN AGE OF WEIRD FICTION

  1. Henry S. Whitehead

  2. George T. Wetzel

  3. Emil Petaja

  4. Nictzin Dyalhis

  5. David H. Keller

  6. Clark Ashton Smith

  SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY

  The First Science Fiction MEGAPACK®

  The Second Science Fiction MEGAPACK®

  The Third Science Fiction MEGAPACK®

  The Fourth Science Fiction MEGAPACK®

  The Fifth Science Fiction MEGAPACK®

  The Sixth Science Fiction MEGAPACK®

  The Seventh Science Fiction MEGAPACK®

  The Eighth Science Fiction MEGAPACK®

  The Ninth Science Fiction MEGAPACK®

  The 10th Science Fiction MEGAPACK®

  The 11th Science Fiction MEGAPACK®

  The A. Merritt MEGAPACK®*

  The A.R. Morlan MEGAPACK®

  The Andre Norton MEGAPACK®

  The C.J. Henderson MEGAPACK®

  The Charles Dickens Christmas MEGAPACK®

  The Darrell Schweitzer MEGAPACK®

  The Dragon MEGAPACK®

  The E. E. “Doc” Smith MEGAPACK®

  The E. Nesbit MEGAPACK®

  The Edmond Hamilton MEGAPACK®

  The Edward Bellamy MEGAPACK®

  The First Reginald Bretnor MEGAPACK®

  The First Theodore Cogswell MEGAPACK®

  The Fred M. White Disaster MEGAPACK®

  The Fredric Brown MEGAPACK®

  The H. Beam Piper MEGAPACK®

  The Jack London Science Fiction MEGAPACK®

  The Lloyd Biggle, Jr. MEGAPACK®

  The Lost Worlds MEGAPACK®

  The Mack Reynolds MEGAPACK®

  The Mad Scientist MEGAPACK®

  The Martian MEGAPACK®

  The Milton A. Rothman Science Fiction MEGAPACK®

  The Miss Pickerell MEGAPACK®

  The First Murray Leinster MEGAPACK®

  The Second Murray Leinster MEGAPACK®***

  The Philip K. Dick MEGAPACK®

  The Second Philip K. Dick MEGAPACK®

  The Plague, Pestilence, & Apocalypse MEGAPACK®

  The Pulp Fiction MEGAPACK®