| "Birdwitching" | |
|---|---|
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| Author | Harry Turtledove |
| First Appearance | Witch Way to the Mall |
| Publisher | Baen |
| Editor | Esther Friesner |
| Collected | We Install and Other Stories |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy |
| Publication date | 2009 |
"Birdwitching" is a fantasy short story by Harry Turtledove written specifically for the short story collection Witch Way to the Mall edited by Esther Friesner and published by Baen in 2009. The story has been collected in We Install and Other Stories. It can also be read on Baen's website.
It takes place in a world much like our own except that magic works and a large proportion of the population are witches who are able to control it. Lucy Parker was such a witch and also a birder. Every Yule Day, Sunset Grove, California the small town she lived in, had a friendly competition with its neighbor of Fernwood to see whose residents could spot the most types of birds that day. Friendly, but with witches involved, intense.
Literary comment
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Witch Way to the Mall is part of the "supernatural suburbanites" trilogy, along with Strip Mauled (2009, werewolves) and Fangs for the Mammaries (2010, vampires). Witch is the only volume with a Turtledove story.
The premise of a United States much like our own except that magic works, is shared with Turtledove's earlier The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump and his later The House of Daniel. The rules of magic vary greatly among the three universes.
"The Thing in the Woods" is an urban fantasy revolving around classic horror-movie monsters.
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