I can see why this ended up winning the Hugo. It was diverting, fun and well suited to the short story format. I liked this a lot more than the Ten Thousand Doors of January.

perfect!https://apex-magazine.com/a-witchs-gu...

(I could've sworn that I've written up a review of this story before... alas, I don't know where it's gone, but on the upside, it means that I can re-read it :D)I LOVE this story so much. You know how reading is an escape for some, into another world? Well, in what seems to be a precursor to The Ten Thousand Doors of January, Alix E. Harrow had done just that here.What if a librarian is also a witch, and can tell what kind of book you need just from the aura you emanate? And what if a child desp...

I'm not crying, you're crying...What an absolutely wonderful story that brings back so many memories of spending hours in my local library, getting my hands on a new book, the trepidation of opening the first page and escaping into a wonderful new world. I remember how it feels when you are young, alone, and adrift in this world that seems so bleak and hopeless that any other world would be better than this. I remember yearning for escape and I still remember fondly all the books that gifted me

Oh, this story has its own listing now? Reposting review here (since I don’t know which posting will get hit by the next round of deletions: this or Apex Magazine one):————This story is told by the second kind of a librarian. Come again — which kind, you ask? Well, here you go: “(There have only ever been two kinds of librarians in the history of the world: the prudish, bitter ones with lipstick running into the cracks around their lips who believe the books are their personal property and pat...

All the stars! There have been a few books, fewer short stories, that I really feel deserve every star in the sky and this was one of those. I have been a user of libraries my whole life. When I was a child we couldn't afford books, so not only did I spend as much time in the library as possible, but I looked forward to the Book Mobile coming to our hollow monthly. If it couldn't for some reason, weather, flat tire, sick call, I was bereft.This little gem gives us the slant that there are librar...

This was beautiful and I'm trying not to cry in the used book store I work at.

I love Alix E Harrow’s writing. I actually read this story first a couple of years ago, when I was deciding if I wanted to pick up a copy of The Ten Thousand Doors of January without borrowing it from the library first, as I usually do. I loved this story enough to just go for it, and I loved it (have since read her second book too and loved it also), and decided to go back and read all of her short stories I could get my hands on. It helps that this now has a Goodreads entry, so I can review it...

Curation as narration. Lithe overlaps of race, gender, youth, and authority; life breathed into old stacks. Confessional without sin, contrite yet mortal. Available free.

(There have only ever been two kinds of librarians in the history of the world: the prudish, bitter ones with lipstick running into the cracks around their lips who believe the books are their personal property and patrons are dangerous delinquents come to steal them; and witches).oh, man YES!!!i MEANT to spend the day reviewing this author's full-length novel The Ten Thousand Doors of January, which i finished last week and LOVED, but Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ beseeched me to read this story immediat...

This isn’t how it is meant to be. I awake without the alarm, it is dark and it is raining heavily. I wander downstairs and make coffee and decide to read a few reviews and then get a few pages in of my present book before heading on the insufferable freeway to go to work. Thunder starts and I check the radar. There is rain aplenty. I sip the coffee and the first review is of this short story. It seems promising, so I hit the link offered and read along with the audio. I have never done that befo...

oh my. oh my, my, my, my. This is how it's done.read for free here

I don't always review short stories, but people need to know about this one, which I was lucky to stumble upon a link to in a GR friend's review of something else. This is one of the best things I read all year. Like goosebumps, mixed with trying to pick out key quotes that kept spiraling from a sentence to a paragraph to a page of amazing prose. This very light fantasy story is about what books mean to us -- how they can speak to our emotions and how the right book can guide us through hard tim...

Another short story I’ve been meaning to get to and I’m so glad that I finally did — A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies by Alix E. Harrow. You can read it here: https://apex-magazine.com/a-witchs-gu... After reading The Once and Future Witches by Harrow, I’ll read anything she writes!In this short story, Harrow lets readers in on a little secret: most librarians are witches. The librarian in this story cares about her patrons, taking special notice of those in

This short story about a rogue librarian, who is also a witch, was absolutely magical. One day a boy wanders into the library, and over the course of the summer, she suggests different books for him based on what she senses about him- sometimes portal fantasies, sometimes classics like The Count of Monte Cristo. I enjoyed the descriptions of the books and just the idea of witchy librarians!

A delightful tale of librarians, books, and their purposes for readers. I smiled, laughed out loud, felt my heart constrict (metaphorically speaking), and sighed satisfactorily at the end. Librarians having all these special powers to help readers is such a thrilling thought, and helping readers is exactly what good library workers and librarians always hope to do. The books having personalities of their own and sensing things about potential readers is also fun. There's a book out there for eve...