The Witch Ball and Other Short Stories

I have read and studied all her Witchcraft books; I have read and enjoyed The Charge Of The Goddess and her other poems; now I've had the pleasure to read and enjoy her short stories. Doreen Valiente, you are wonderful! "The Witch Ball and other short stories" is a collection of her very interesting folk tales, including: Witch balls, a beautiful vampire, a fey romance, a corn dolly, and a curious Christmas eve. Please read and enjoy. (There are typographical errors - not too difficult.)

I loved this book, and the history behind it.Over the decades, Doreen Valiente has touched her readers like no other author.  Her voice is heard in ritual, in books we read as new-comers, and then re-read later in years.   And now, we can get to know Doreen on a whole new level, in a different genre as an author of fiction! The Witch Ball is yet another treasure for our community! True to her form, Doreen’s short stories are set in the supernatural.  With titles like Vampire Love, The Talisman of the Moon, and The Legend of the Grove – this collection of short stories will surely peak one’s curiosity. So, what approach did Doreen use for conjuring her works of fiction?  Doreen lived in Brighton, one of England’s more artistic and colorful cultural areas. In the 1970s and 1980s, Brighton antique dealers were part of the local ‘colour’, with their shops and markets in and around the famous Brighton Lanes. This scene was a bustling centre of commerce, dealing in all things exotic and unusual. Doreen surely would have bought and bartered for curious goods there, many of which are now part of her legacy. Like many of the best authors, Doreen wrote about facets of life she personally knew.  Perhaps a few of these “characters” who dealt in exotic goods helped shape the characters in her stories. The main protagonist is the wise and learned Charles Ashton, an antiques dealer with a twist, and a mentor to his younger protégé Jeremy Blake.  They lead us into detective-style stories with a magickal flair, full of the folklore and history which inspired Doreen’s passion for the unordinary.  They are surely people we would love to have known! This collection of stories would appeal to any fan of fiction, witchy and non-witchy readers alike.  Professor Ronald Hutton commented that “Doreen reveals herself to be a proficient, engaging and immensely readable author of fiction, producing occult detective tales on the level of those by Dion Fortune.”   Melissa Harrington says it perfectly in the book’s introduction:  “Even 18 years after her death, Doreen never ceases to amaze…”  Sadly, Doreen never got to see this posthumously published work in print.  She wanted to branch out as a writer and grow. How were these stories discovered?Doreen bequeathed many of her possessions to John Belham-Payne.  John, his wife Julie and others began going through Doreen’s vast collection of magickal artifacts, writing, tools, and more…  When they received an enormous pile of documents from Doreen’s flat in Brighton, The Centre For Pagan Studies team went through the materials.  “Imagine our surprise when a green ring binder was found with these short stories inside,” Julie Payne remembers. The ring binder was among a boxful of documents relating to publishing, and all the old manuscripts of Doreen’s books and such.

Very few fiction books have really absorbed me and got me so excited in recent years. I think the last time I was this enthralled by a work of fiction, I was about 6 or 7 years old, and had just discovered a copy of Enid Blyton's "Five on a Treasure Island". These short stories are brilliant, thoroughly-entertaining little pieces that are a joy to read. Whilst they have an old-fashioned charm to them, they also have a timeless quality too. That may seem somewhat of a paradoxical statement, but to illustrate what I mean, just watch a couple of episodes of the 1960s British TV series, "The Avengers", and you'll know what I mean.The opening story, which gives the collection its title, is a fantastic beginning. Even before Doreen has her narrating-character flippantly refer to M.R. James (another of my favourite authors), I was about to remark that it reminded me of his work. That's not to say that this work is a pale imitation. Far from it! Doreen Valiente has an extremely distinctive and immediately-recognisable style that is very-much her own. This work is unmistakably-Valiente, but contains numerous subtle polite nods towards other great authors throughout, which is thoroughly charming and makes me smile throughout.The stories focus on the friendship, anecdotes and experiences of two gentlemen. There is an older "mentor" type figure, and a younger man. Many of the stories involve the pair's activities prompting one of the characters to recount some fantastic tale from their past, normally finishing with a nice little twist or humorous/thought-provoking ending - but one or two stories are presented as a "present-day" experience of the two, which adds a nice element of variation and also shows the pair's great friendship and its development. The subject matter dealt with in each story also has a broad degree of variation too.Whilst many Pagan or occult authors spoil the flow of their stories by including too much ritual detail when their authors witness or participate in rites, these stories are firmly well-paced fiction that is accessible to all. After all, if you needed a lesson in casting a circle, you'd have bought one of Valiente's non-fiction books, wouldn't you? The stories involve several aspects of magic(k), Paganism, and the so-called "super"-natural, but the level of detail is just sufficient to peak one's interest or bring about a smile, without hindering the stories' progress.These stories are fantastic, riveting little gems. They range from the mildly-spooky to downright-chilling, and the latter would rival the works of many stalwarts of 19th and early-20th century Gothic literature. I simply can't understand why old Doreen never published them! I just hope the Doreen Valiente foundation finds more lost manuscripts to publish, to quench the insatiable thirst that this book seems to have caused in me. I can't recommend it enough.

The Witch Ball is a unique collection of short stories, each one as intriguing as the next. However, they aren’t just “stories,” they are wonderfully disguised guides to the craft. Doreen has expertly written each story with intent to share secrets for those who are open to seeing. Make of them what you will, but there are more to her stories than meets the eye.As with all of Doreen’s writings, they are easy to read, enjoyable as well as insightful. One of my favourites.

These are brilliant stories. I thoroughly enjoyed them. If you buy this book you are in for a treat.

This is a wonderful book, I couldn’t put it down.

Brilliant read