James Patrick Kelly’s “The Rose Witch” is a dark adult or YA retelling of a (faux) Hungarian fairytale, in the style of Jane Yolen’s “Briar Rose”. It’s the story of a young girl, Julianja, who was the mostly untrained apprentice to a witch, Tijuana. Tijuana has died as the story opens, leaving her apprentices to make do as best they can.
Juliana, continuing to tend Tijuana’s rose garden, is visited by a ‘knotted man’, Miklos, more boy than man, who seeks a vision to guide him in a quest to end a family curse and reclaim his treasure. She performs blood magic to give him a vision of his future, where he sees his curse, his treasure- and Julianja. She joins him on his quest, traveling (along with the bones of his ‘uncles’) to his castle to lift the curse. She performs blood magic to give him a vision of his future, where he sees his curse, his treasure- and Julianja. She joins him on his quest, traveling (along with the bones of his ‘uncles’) to his castle to lift the curse.
Julianja is a well-drawn character, who takes a chance, and after breaking the curse Miklos carried with him, may well have decided to take another one.
Kelly uses an omniscient point of view, at times talking directly to the reader, which fits this story surprisingly well.
All the stories in this issue are well written; “The Rose Witch” is, in my opinion, the best of the lot. Also recommended is Kat Howard’s “The Saint of the Sidewalks”.