By A Hair

Title attributed to Andre Norton

By a Hair ~ Short Story

Bibliography ~

¯ * Phantom Magazine (July 1958), (UK), pgs. 32-40

¯ High Sorcery (1970) * Published by ACE, PB, 0-441-33701-, $0.60, 156pg ~ cover by Gray Morrow

¯ Wizards’ Worlds (1989) * Edited by Ingrid Zierhut, Published by TOR, HC, 0-312-93191-3, $17.95, 500pg ~ cover by Lucy Synk

Synopsis ~

During World War II, the old Count was shot and his wife was sent to a concentration camp ~ and Ivor and his men took to the hills to fight. After the war, Ivor married a woman in the mold of la belle dame sans merci ~ beautiful, ambitious, and cold-hearted; she married him because in the immediate wake of World War II, he was a hero, with the highest status in the valley. The countess came home ~ her body so twisted and broken from the Nazis' tortures that few remembered that she was still a young woman. It seemed that life would go on...then the last, crushing blow fell. The Russians came, and this time, the little valley was left to fight alone, without the world's help. The Russians killed any authority figures they could catch that the Nazis hadn't killed already ~ except Ivor, who took what fighting men were left and headed into the hills again, and the Countess, who also faded into hiding. Among those killed was the priest ~ and in their despair, the valley folk began to seek help from other sources.

(Click on image to enlarge)

ѪӁѪ

Email me with suggestions or additional data at lotsawatts@live.com - Please reference this site in the subject line.