Heh.

I just finished A Thousand Deaths, a collection of Sandar Courine stories (including the amazing and long-out-of-print novel The Wolves of Memory). Like anything by Effinger, it's a delight. Every other page makes me want to call 'song over and have her read a passage, but since she's reading the book next, I've spared her the constant interruption.

I'm sparing my LJ readers, mostly, but here's one passage that made me snarf. It's from the 1993 short story "The Wicked Old Witch." Enjoy:

"Union? Witches have a union?"

The witch scowled. "We're supposed to. I pay my dues every year. The promised all kinds of benefits, but I never seen 'em. Still, it's an organization that allows for a certain amount of communication among the member witches, communication that wouldn't happen otherwise. I just wish the officers would worry more about what unions in other trades have fought for and won, instead of matters like, 'Who is rightwise a witch and who deserves to belong to the WSFA?'"

"It's the same all over," contributed Courine sagely.

"First you get the old, hard-line witches. They're annoyed by the young, disrespectful newcomers who want to change everything. I can understand the point of view of the longtime members. Na'theless, listening to the kids' arguments, sometimes I can sympathize with their feelings, too. Especially when they say the hardliners no longer represent what is meant today by 'witch' and 'witchcraft.'"