Magic can explain the way the world works. It can be a Faustian bargain for knowledge and power that carries tragic consequences. Magic can be a lens that sheds new light on or reinvigorates an old story. It can serve the simple purpose of moving the plot along. Historically, it explained the unknown, the feared. Today it is used as a metaphor for the acquisition of power, or the abuse of it. Mummery, too, has a long and glorious history in the arts. Sleight of hand tricks allowed the Pharaoh's wisemen to transfigure rods into snakes, but they couldn't stop the snakes from being eaten in the end. Yet, fakirs and their tricks, while less powerful than their magical kin, would seem to be less indebted to other worldly powers. Human skill and ingenuity pitted against its gullibility and inattention achieve the same goals as real magic. Of the thousands of fantasy tales, from the most outlandish fables to the groundedness of magical realism, we have but ten stories here to tell. We couldn't hope to encompass the full breadth and width of the genre, but we have tried to make tack in that direction against the mainstream winds and through well charted territories. We have the mythic feel of fairy tales and the mundane magics of urban fantasy. We have the broken thief, the rogue passed his prime, the scholar in over his head, the innocent looking for lost love, and the thug who seeks redemption. We have the grieving sister desperate to keep some part of her brother alive, the temptation of shortcuts, and the meeting of magic and the modern world. We have here the costs and benefits of magic laid bare for you, the reader, to weigh and judge.

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• Science Fiction & FantasyFantasyParanormal & UrbanContemporary

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• Print Length: 173 Pages
• File Size: 496 KB