A Wind From Nowhere by Nicholas Stuart Gray #WitchWeek2023

Title: A Wind From Nowhere
Author: Nicholas Stuart Gray
Publication: Faber & Faber, hardcover, 1978
Genre: Juvenile fantasy/short stories

My Impression: I have been a big fan of Gray’s fantasy since I found The Apple Stone in the local children’s library when I was ten, but obtaining affordable copies of his books can be challenging. This collection of nine short stories is set in the real world where ordinary characters are surprised by their encounters with unexpected magical beings, some of whom are well-intentioned and some decidedly not! If there is a theme, it is that humans should be respectful of magic and of those with knowledge they do not possess. I am reminded of a quote from The Lord of the Rings, "Do not meddle in the affairs of Wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger."

In the title story, a young girl picking mushrooms for her mother accidentally disturbs a magical fungus that puts a spell on her:

“Handle magic, even briefly, you will never be the same:

From the darkness, from the shadow, somebody will call your name!”

(I bet you didn't have 'magic fungus' on your WitchWeek scorecard!)  All too soon, a creature is calling her name, and Tamsin barely escapes with the help of a witch’s disgruntled broom that she brings home, having no other option, but which turns out to be very demanding. And the witch wants it back!

Gray with friend

In Bright Silver Nothing, told from the perspective of a demon, exasperated by a rich, acquisitive (is this redundant?) prince and a sorcerer named Sillifant, who is providing feeble, ineffective spells. The prince wants a love spell for a woman who has turned him down while the sorcerer wants help providing the spell. The demon makes the man sign away his soul and the sorcerer renounce what little magic he possesses, and he then provides the spell. Eventually, when the demon goes to check in on his victims, he finds the wizard has set himself up as a vet – “some wisps of magic still clung to his tiny mind and he used them, unknowingly, to calm the beasts and make them trust him.” The demon feels this is a better use of his powers than misleading humans and allows him to continue, even providing a spell that allows the wizard to continue healing. With the prince, he is less forbearing. He sneers and says to give up everything the prince owns, not expecting him to obey. The prince does it, hoping to escape hell to be reunited with his now-deceased wife. At first, the demon just laughs in his face, but then the wretched prince laughs:

“Poor Trilloby,” said he, “you’ve got the worst of the bargain, after all. You gave me the lode-star of my life, and I signed away a second-rate soul.”

The demon is – reluctantly – capable of sympathy and perhaps a tiny bit of admiration and he does not collect the soul.

Other stories in the collection involve witches, a Magus, magical cats (Gray loved cats), a Warlock, a frustrated king who rejects good advice from a dwarf, more demons, a dragon, and a usurping uncle who has no reflection (always a sign of true evil or a monster or both!). Gray’s gift is to be warm, serious, imaginative, frightening, and even reveal a sly humor in the same narrative. While this collection is not as captivating as his longer fiction – all very sadly out of print – his message is clear: magic can be dangerous and to avoid it, if you want to be happy – and to escape and forget about it, if avoidance is impossible.  If you can find any of his books, you are in for a treat. I’d really like to read The Stone Cage but it is very elusive. Even the Library of Congress doesn’t own a copy. I tried to check the British Library but, apparently, a cybersecurity snafu has sent that institution back to the Dark Ages! Hackers may destroy our world before Trump and his ilk stop arguing long enough to do so!

I read this for WitchWeek2023, hosted annually by Calmgrove and LizzieRossWriter. I did not remember it was coming in time to read their chosen book, The Changeling by Victor LaValle, but this book has monsters, demons, and other fantastic beasts galore.  

Other Nicholas Stuart Gray Reviews: 

The Apple Stone

Down in the Cellar

Source: Personal copy