Fractured Fairy Tales by Alma Alexander Fairy tales – new-told, re-told, re-invented, rebuilt, new-visioned. Fairy tales are the building blocks not just of fantasy but of all fiction, the original Story, the thing we all grew up on. This is … Continue reading
Spy Princess by Sherwood Smith 12-year-old aristo Lilah asks, Why are the kingdom’s magic spells are fading? But her uncle the king only wants a stronger army. Why are the kids outside the palace gates ragged and hungry? But the king … Continue reading
The Spirit Gate by Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff The magic of Polia is broken, the delicate connection between its male and female elements, sundered. Blame for this and other calamities both natural and political has long been laid at the feet … Continue reading
The Spirit Gate by Maya Bohnhoff The magic of Polia is broken, the delicate connection between its male and female elements, sundered. Blame for this and other calamities both natural and political has long been laid at the feet of … Continue reading
Evergreen by Marissa Doyle A deadly power walks the forest…but a worse one stalks her. It’s 1901–a brave new century–and seventeen-year-old Grace Boisvert thinks it’s high time to forget that she’s a dryad; being able to talk to trees just … Continue reading
On the podcast Our Opinions Are Correct, Charlie Jane Anders and Annalee Newitz were discussing Arthur C. Clarke’s third law, the one about any sufficiently advanced science being indistinguishable from magic. They were frustrated with the way some interpretations of … Continue reading
I continue to ponder inequality. Or perhaps it’s more than that, an endless history of things unchallenged or questioned. First, witches. My erstwhile significant other asked me the question: “Why are the males called ‘wizards’ and the females called ‘witches’?” … Continue reading
Arthur C. Clarke posited long ago that any significantly advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. I’d like to turn that aphorism on its head and suggest that any significantly advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology. Simply put, the magic of … Continue reading
Calendula Isadora (Callie) is an uncommonly powerful witch with a mind for science. But her independent ways run afoul of her San Francisco coven house, especially when she creates life in the form of a massive golem. And her unseemly affection for her human boyfriend? Such things are simply not done among respectable witchkind.
Continue readingOnce upon a time (as the story goes), I had an idea for a novel. I sketched out the concept, and I sent an email to my agent with a two paragraph summary that began, “Jane Madison has a problem. … Continue reading
