In the figure of the witch, our ancestors summed up their fears of nature, women, and social outsiders. Today, this archetype still possesses the power to disturb and unnerve us--especially in the hands of such masters of the horror genre as Saki, M. R. James, and Stephen King, all of whom are represented in this collection of seventeen tales.

Each story skillfully explores the psyche's night side. Jessica Amanda Salmonson's "The Toad Witch" concerns a girl who believes her dead brother has been changed into a toad. In taking revenge on the recluse she holds responsible, she is initiated into realities more terrible than any witchery. Ron Weighell's "Carven of Onyx," written for this collection, is set in the Middle Ages. Renovations at a convent lead to the discovery of a strange altar--and the unleashing of an obscene, irresistible supernatural force. Even surer to trouble reader's sleep is Stephen King's "Gramma," in which a boy left home alone with his dying grandmother suspects she is a still-powerful witch--"an ancient she-bear that might have one good swipe left in her paws."

After reading Tales of Witchcraft, even skeptics will have second thoughts about sleeping alone in the house on a dark, rainy night.