Magic for Beginners (novella)

Last updated

"Magic for Beginners" is a fantasy novella by American writer Kelly Link. It was first published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction in September 2005. It was subsequently published in Link's collection of the same name, [1] as well as in her collection Pretty Monsters, [2] in the 2007 Nebula Award Showcase, [3] and in the John Joseph Adams-edited anthology Other Worlds Than These. [4]

Contents

Setting

Jeremy Mars is a young teenager who (like many of his friends) is a fan of — and also a character in — a mysterious television program called The Library. The story follows his life, and those of his friends and family, as various episodes of The Library are broadcast at irregular intervals.

Reception

"Magic for Beginners" won the 2006 Nebula Award for Best Novella, [5] the 2005 BSFA Award for Short Fiction, [6] and the 2006 Locus Award for Best Novella, [7] and was nominated for the 2006 Hugo Award for Best Novella, [8] the 2006 World Fantasy Award—Novella, [9] and the 2006 Theodore Sturgeon Award. [10]

Nancy Pearl compared "Magic for Beginners" to M. C. Escher's Drawing Hands , saying that it is "intricate, wildly imaginative and totally wonderful". [11] Cory Doctorow called it the "standout" story in Link's 2006 eponymous collection, describing it as "absurdist magic realism, like Douglas Coupland wandering through a Márquez novel". [12] Niall Harrison described it as being about "how stories differ from real life" and "what it feels like to love stories." [13]

At the SF Site , Rich Horton stated that "Magic for Beginners" was "one of [his] favorite stories of this decade", and "a delight", [14] while at Subterranean Press Magazine , Dorman T. Shindler compared it to being mildly intoxicated. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ken MacLeod</span> Scottish science fiction writer

Kenneth Macrae MacLeod is a Scottish science fiction writer. His novels The Sky Road and The Night Sessions won the BSFA Award. MacLeod's novels have been nominated for the Arthur C. Clarke, Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and Campbell Memorial awards for best novel on multiple occasions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tim Powers</span> American science fiction and fantasy author (born 1952)

Timothy Thomas Powers is an American science fiction and fantasy author. His first major novel was The Drawing of the Dark (1979), but the novel that earned him wide praise was The Anubis Gates (1983), which won the Philip K. Dick Award, and has since been published in many other languages. His other written work include Dinner at Deviant's Palace (1985), Last Call (1992), Expiration Date (1996), Earthquake Weather (1997), Declare (2000), and Three Days to Never (2006). Powers has won the World Fantasy Award twice for his critically acclaimed novels Last Call and Declare. His 1987 novel On Stranger Tides served as inspiration for the Monkey Island franchise of video games and was partly adapted into the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gene Wolfe</span> American SF and fantasy writer (1931–2019)

Gene Rodman Wolfe was an American science fiction and fantasy writer. He was noted for his dense, allusive prose as well as the strong influence of his Catholic faith. He was a prolific short story writer and novelist, and won many literary awards. Wolfe has been called "the Melville of science fiction", and was honored as a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cory Doctorow</span> Canadian-British blogger, journalist and author (born 1971)

Cory Efram Doctorow is a Canadian-British blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who served as co-editor of the blog Boing Boing. He is an activist in favour of liberalising copyright laws and a proponent of the Creative Commons organization, using some of its licences for his books. Some common themes of his work include digital rights management, file sharing, and post-scarcity economics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Connie Willis</span> American science fiction writer

Constance Elaine Trimmer Willis, commonly known as Connie Willis, is an American science fiction and fantasy writer. She has won eleven Hugo Awards and seven Nebula Awards for particular works—more major SF awards than any other writer—most recently the "Best Novel" Hugo and Nebula Awards for Blackout/All Clear (2010). She was inducted by the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2009 and the Science Fiction Writers of America named her its 28th SFWA Grand Master in 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ian McDonald (British author)</span> British science fiction novelist

Ian McDonald is a British science fiction novelist, living in Belfast. His themes include nanotechnology, postcyberpunk settings, and the impact of rapid social and technological change on non-Western societies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kelly Link</span> American editor and author

Kelly Link is an American editor and writer. Mainly known as an author of short stories, she published her first novel The Book of Love in 2024. While some of her fiction falls more clearly within genre categories, many of her stories might be described as slipstream or magic realism: a combination of science fiction, fantasy, horror, mystery, and literary fiction. Among other honors, she has won a Hugo Award, three Nebula Awards, and a World Fantasy Award for her fiction, and she was one of the recipients of the 2018 MacArthur "Genius" Grant.

<i>Black Gate</i> (magazine)

Black Gate is a fantasy magazine published by New Epoch Press. It was published in glossy print until 2011, after which it shifted online.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martha Wells</span> American speculative fiction writer (born 1964)

Martha Wells is an American writer of speculative fiction. She has published a number of fantasy novels, young adult novels, media tie-ins, short stories, and nonfiction essays on fantasy and science fiction subjects. Her novels have been translated into twelve languages. Wells has won four Hugo Awards, two Nebula Awards and three Locus Awards for her science fiction series The Murderbot Diaries. She is also known for her fantasy series Ile-Rien and The Books of the Raksura. Wells is praised for the complex, realistically detailed societies she creates; this is often credited to her academic background in anthropology.

<i>Magic for Beginners</i> (short story collection) 2005 collection of short fiction works by Kelly Link

Magic for Beginners is a collection of nine works of fantasy and light horror short fiction by American writer Kelly Link, released by Small Beer Press in 2005. The stories were all previously published in other venues from 2002 to 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jason Sanford</span> American science fiction author

Jason Sanford is an American science fiction author whose 2022 novel Plague Birds was a finalist for the Nebula and Philip K. Dick Awards. He's also known for his short fiction, which has been published in Interzone, Asimov's Science Fiction, Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Year's Best SF 14, InterGalactic Medicine Show and other magazines and anthologies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aliette de Bodard</span> French-American speculative fiction writer

Aliette de Bodard is a French-American speculative fiction writer.

Rachel Swirsky is an American literary, speculative fiction and fantasy writer, poet, and editor living in Oregon. She was the founding editor of the PodCastle podcast and served as editor from 2008 to 2010. She served as vice president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ken Liu</span> Chinese-American writer

Ken Liu is an American author of science fiction and fantasy. Liu has won multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards for his novel translations and original short fiction, which has appeared in F&SF, Asimov's, Analog, Lightspeed, Clarkesworld, and multiple "Year's Best" anthologies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ann Leckie</span> American science fiction author (born 1966)

Ann Leckie is an American author of science fiction and fantasy. Her 2013 debut novel Ancillary Justice, which features artificial consciousness and gender-blindness, won the 2014 Hugo Award for "Best Novel", as well as the Nebula Award, the Arthur C. Clarke Award, and the BSFA Award. The sequels, Ancillary Sword and Ancillary Mercy, each won the Locus Award and were nominated for the Nebula Award. Provenance, published in 2017, and Translation State, published in 2023, are also set in the Imperial Radch universe. Leckie's first fantasy novel, The Raven Tower, was published in February 2019.

This is a list of the published works of Aliette de Bodard.

"The Maiden Flight of McCauley's Bellerophon" is a science fiction/magical realism novella by the American writer Elizabeth Hand. It was first published in the Neil Gaiman/Al Sarrantonio-edited anthology Stories: All-New Tales, in 2010, and subsequently republished in Hand's 2012 anthology Errantry: Strange Stories from Small Beer Press.

<i>Nebula Awards Showcase 2007</i> 2007 anthology edited by Mike Resnick

Nebula Awards Showcase 2007 is an anthology of award winning science fiction short works edited by Mike Resnick. It was first published in trade paperback by Roc/New American Library in March 2007.

List of works by or about the British author Ian McDonald.

References

  1. ↑ Magic for Beginners at KellyLink.net; retrieved 15 May 2014
  2. ↑ Pretty Monsters, at KellyLink.net; retrieved 15 May 2014
  3. 1 2 Review: Nebula Awards Showcase 2007 edited by Mike Resnick, by Dorman T. Shindler, at Subterranean Press; published Spring 2007; retrieved May 15, 2014; "“Magic For Beginners” is a bemused, slightly distant narrative (in an I got a great buzz from that beer/joint or whatever way)"
  4. ↑ Table of Contents: Other Worlds Than These, at JohnJosephAdams.com; retrieved May 15, 2014
  5. ↑ Nebula Awards Winners, at Locus ; published 6 May 2006; retrieved 15 May 2014
  6. ↑ BSFA Awards, at the British Science Fiction Association; retrieved May 15, 2014
  7. ↑ Locus Awards Winners, at Locus ; published 17 June 2006; retrieved 15 May 2014
  8. ↑ 2006 Hugo Awards Nominations, at SF Signal, by John DeNardo; published 22 March 2006; retrieved 15 March 2014
  9. ↑ 2006 World Fantasy Awards Ballot Archived 2007-07-22 at the Wayback Machine , at the World Fantasy Convention, published 2006; retrieved 15 May 2014
  10. ↑ The Theodore Sturgeon Award, at the Center for the Study of Science Fiction; published no later than Archived 2012-10-01 at the Wayback Machine ; retrieved May 15, 2014
  11. ↑ Under the Radar: Books Not to Miss, by Nancy Pearl; at National Public Radio; published 8 May 2007; retrieved 15 May 2014
  12. ↑ Kelly Link's "Magic for Beginners" - knockout short story collection, by Cory Doctorow, at Boing Boing ; published February 7, 2006; retrieved May 15, 2014
  13. ↑ "Magic for Beginners, by Kelly Link", reviewed by Niall Harrison, in Vector #243 (September/October 2005); archived in All These Worlds: Reviews and Essays (p. 33); published 2023 by Briardene Books
  14. ↑ Featured Review: Pretty Monsters, by Rich Horton, at the SF Site; published 2009; retrieved May 15, 2014
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.