The Unwelcome Warlock

The Calling. Sooner or later, it claimed every powerful warlock . . . a growing magical compulsion to go north to the mysterious land of Aldagmor that nothing could stop. None ever returned. Hanner the Warlock knew his days were numbered. The Calling pulled at him ceaselessly now, and his ability to resist had begun to crumble. So he determined to find a place where the Calling couldn’t reach him . . . another world, located through a magic tapestry. Every warlock knew that the farther he was from Aldagmor, the weaker the Calling was — and the weaker his magic was, as well, but that was only a secondary consideration. That weakening had given Hanner the idea to find, or make, a place so distant from Aldagmor that the Call couldn’t reach it at all. Unfortunately, the Call took him anyway. And that’s where his story really gets interesting. Because the Calling wasn’t what everyone believed. And when the warlocks who had been Called over the decades suddenly woke up again at the object doing the calling — and found themselves without their powers — their world may never be the same!

Every wizard in Ethshar knew that if you needed something special, something difficult to find, that Gresh the Supplier was the man to see. He was expensive, but always delivered. So when the Wizards' Guild finally got fed up with the little green nuisances that called themselves "spriggans," the Guild hired Gresh to fetch them the magic mirror that created the troublesome imps. The wizards thought finding it looked impossible. Gresh thought his methods would do the job. But no one had asked the spriggans what they thought!

Despite several years of study, Kilisha, an aspiring young apprentice wizard, has much to learn. After gathering ingredients for a lesson, she returns home to find her master, Ithanalin the Wise, transformed into a statue. A tax collector interrupted Ithanalin while working on a spell, a magic mirror tells her, with the result that the wizard's soul has been distributed among the various household objects. "The dish had run away with the spoon" is literally the case here, as all the furnishings have become animated and escaped out the door. In her efforts to track down the runaway objects and restore her petrified master to his former self, a quest that will eventually take her to the Overlord of Ethshar's fortress, Kilisha first tries to involve the Wizards' Guild but ultimately must rely on the few spells she knows and her master's spell book-as well as her own imagination, initiative and ingenuity. "Excellent pacing and naive charm make this good-natured fantasy especially suitable for teens." -- Publishers Weekly "Ebullient fantasy featuring sympathetic characters, fantastic sorceries, and a fairytale plot." -- Library Journal "Lawrence Watt-Evans delivers worlds brimming over with magic, mystery, and danger; fast-paced, action-packed, and thoroughly entertaining." --Realms of Fantasy

Once, not so long ago, A warlock named Vond built an empire in the southern part of the Small Kingdoms. Vond is gone, but his empire survives under the rule of a seven-person Imperial Council and a young regent named Sterren. The Empire of Vond was hardly trouble-free after Vond's departure. Its neighbors are understandably wary of further expansion, there are questions about how Vond's magic became so potent, and so on. Most of the World, though, doesn't care -- Vond is off there in the southeastern corner of the World, far away from anywhere important. But one day a dockworker named Emmis watches a Vondish ship arrive in Ethshar of the Spices and finds himself hired as native guide and aide to someone who claims to be Vond's ambassador plenipotentiary to the overlords of the Hegemony of the Three Ethshars. But who is the Vondish ambassador, really, and what is his true business in Ethshar? And who has followed him to the city?

DigiCat presents to you this unique collection, designed and formatted to the highest digital standards and adjusted for readability on all devices. Content: Mary Shelley: Frankenstein The Mortal Immortal... John William Polidori: The Vampyre Bram Stoker: Dracula The Jewel of Seven Stars... Gaston Leroux: The Phantom of the Opera Marjorie Bowen: Black Magic James Malcolm Rymer & Thomas Peckett Prest: Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street Washington Irving: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Charles Dickens: The Mystery of Edwin Drood Oscar Wilde: The Picture of Dorian Gray Edgar Allan Poe: The Tell-Tale Heart The Murders in the Rue Morgue The Black Cat... Henry James: The Turn of the Screw The Ghostly Rental... H. P. Lovecraft: The Dunwich Horror The Shunned House... Algernon Blackwood: The Willows A Haunted Island Ancient Sorceries... Théophile Gautier: Clarimonde The Mummy's Foot Richard Marsh: The Beetle Arthur Conan Doyle: The Hound of the Baskervilles The Silver Hatchet... Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu: Carmilla Uncle Silas... Ann Radcliffe: The Mysteries of Udolpho The Italian M. R. James: Ghost Stories of an Antiquary A Thin Ghost and Others Wilkie Collins: The Haunted Hotel The Devil's Spectacles Émile Erckmann & Alexandre Chatrian: The Man-Wolf The Waters of Death... Amelia B. Edwards: Monsieur Maurice The Phantom Coach... Mary E. Wilkins Freeman: The Wind in the Rose-bush The Shadows on the Wall Arthur Machen: The Great God Pan The Terror... William Hope Hodgson: The House on the Borderland The Night Land M. P. Shiel: Shapes in the Fire Ralph Adams Cram: Black Spirits and White Grant Allen: The Reverend John Creedy Wilhelm Hauff: The Severed Hand Adelbert von Chamisso: Shadowless Man Edward Bulwer-Lytton: The Haunted and the Haunters... Robert E. Howard: Beyond the Black River Devil in Iron People of the Dark David Lindsay: The Haunted Woman Marie Belloc Lowndes: From Out the Vast Deep Edward Bellamy: Dr. Heidenhoff's Process

The long-awaited return to the magical world of Ethshar begins on the Night of Madness when a mysterious object falls from the heavens, sending out a wave of magic in the form of a dream. All who have the dream awaken in panic, but some of them awaken to the power of Warlockry. The power-hungry Lord Faran sees opportunity in this chaos, and seeks to overthrow the government.

The old wizard wasn't exactly happy with Valder, who'd led his enemy to his hut. Now hut and magical supplies were destroyed. But he'd promised the young scout a magic sword to get him safely back to his own lines -- and a much-enchanted sword Valder would get! The resulting sword gave perfect protection -- sometimes! It could kill any man -- or even half demon. In fact, once drawn, it had to kill before it could be put down or sheathed. Army wizards told Valder that the sword would keep him alive until he'd drawn it 100 times; then it would kill him! It wouldn't prevent his being wounded, maimed or cut to pieces, but it wouldn't let him die. If his new job as Chief Assassin for the army didn't make him use up the spell, he'd be practically immortal. Not bad, it seemed. There had to be a catch somewhere. There was -- and it was a lulu!