Witch World

Extract: My mother-in-law is a huge Andre Norton fan. She's living with us now, and because of our tight living quarters, a lot of her and our stuff is in storage. So when I told her I thought I'd read "Witch World" for my WOGF challenge, we took a trip to our storage unit, opened about six boxes of books until she found it, as well as the next three books in the series.

"Witch World" is iconic fantasy with some SF mystery thrown in. It's about a man, Simon Tregarth, from the post-WWII present who's offered a chance to be transported from a dangerously difficult situation to a world that is more suited to who he really is. Taking the offer, he is whisked away to the Witch World. There he immediately rescues a damsel in distress, who turns out to be a witch, is welcomed into her culture, learns their language, and joins their forces to fight a growing menace in the west. There are hawkers who can communicate with their raptors, shape-shifting, an evil zombie army, and a strange hi-tech invading force behind the evil.

Sounds kind of standard fantasy, no? Well, yes and no….