WILLIAM TENN • WILLIAM LEE • A.E. van VOGT • JAMES H. SCHMITZ • BARRY N. MALZBERG • MURRAY LEINSTER • RUFUS KING • POUL ANDERSON • ANDRE NORTON • ROBERT BLOCH • MADELINE L’ENGLE • MARGARET MANNERS • RANDALL GARRETT • H. RIDER HAGGARD

From colonial America to the witch world of Karres to a lovely estate where all the money in the world couldn’t keep a terrifying prophecy from coming true, here are tales that frighten and stories of magic used only for good. From demons and crones ready to prey on the unsuspecting to “innocent” children weaving spells of incredible power to a place where incantation is a police detective’s strongest weapon, these are adventures to bewitch your imagination as you enter the secret realm of—

ISAAC ASIMOV’S

MAGICAL WORLDS OF FANTASY

Although this anthology about—well, about witches, actually—has some very nice stories in it (e.g., William Tenn’s “My Mother was a Witch,” William M. Lee’s “A Message from Charity,” James H. Schmitz’ “The Witches of Karres,” Poul Anderson’s “Operation Salamander,” Madeleine L’Engle’s “Poor Little Saturday” and Randall Garrett’s “The Ipswich Phial”), it has the rather long and dull “Wizard’s World” by Andre Norton and then compounds the error by including one of those stories which Asimov and/or Greenberg liked a lot (because they anthologize it a lot) but which I absolutely loathe and detest, namely H. Rider Haggard’s dull, dull, dull “Black Heart and White Heart.” (It is almost unnecessary to add that no stories by Asimov himself appear in this volume.)

If one can stomach the Haggard, then this anthology is quite nice. Personally, I’d rather never read it again unless "Black Heart and White Heart" were to magically vanish from my copy. Hmm. Anybody know a nice witch who might be willing to do me a favor?