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Angio333 Regular user 130 Posts |
Can anyone reccomend any good fiction books that use magic in the plot? Something along the lines of "The Illusionist," "The Prestige," or "Carter Beats The Devil" Thanks.
- C
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stoneunhinged Inner circle 3067 Posts |
Why must it be fiction? Jim Steinmeyer's books are much better reads(IMO) than "Carter Beats the Devil". They have "plots" (like all good books do), and the Chung Ling Soo book reads like a novel. I highly recommend them.
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Jonathan Townsend Eternal Order Ossining, NY 27297 Posts |
Here's an easy answer before getting into something more educational:
http://www.amazon.com/Magicians-Novel-Le......70020559 If you want magic - Gaiman's The Books of Magic is a good start. It's a "get a clue what magic is and what people believe about magic" primer. Can't go wrong with that and you get to choose whether or not you really want to explore magic as well . You can research the characters that appear in that story backwards through the DC Comics universe. Gaiman's The Sandman? Morrison's Kid Eternity? The Millhauser story from which the movie "The Illusionist" comes is not quite so magic-shop magician stereotype as you might imagine and Chris Priest's book The Prestige is not a trivial read or as simple a story as the movie might suggest. Back through Borges and Hoffmann perhaps? Have you read the Charles Stross stories which combine Lovecraft (and magic) with the spy genre? There are a few online available for free reading and a new novel due this year. Just a word of advice - the overdressed dolt and his tricks is a modern device and even in real literature - say E. L. Doctorow's book Ragtime ,Houdini is handled in context rather than as central figure. And there are several good reasons for this. For example The Tempest is not Prospero's story where he entertains some lost sailors. If you're serious about magic in literature these days - the Gaiman story and also perhaps Alan Moore's Promethea may offer some rich background - and the Stross stories might offer some avenues to explore for presentations. I guess you could imagine an Alistair Reynolds approach to a magic-shop magician breaking into J. K. Rowlings Hogwarts and how well they got along as a student or perhaps teacher. Or a Peter Watts take on real wizards hiding out in our world have fun
...to all the coins I've dropped here
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stoneunhinged Inner circle 3067 Posts |
Jon, you may be the world's leading expert on magic in literature. Truly. Have you ever published an article on the subject? You should.
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Jonathan Townsend Eternal Order Ossining, NY 27297 Posts |
Me an expert? I just happen to have read a few books and found a few items that could help us in this craft to serve as guide, inspiration or just a reference to what and how others believe as regards the subject of magic.
Maybe I could get a few notes together after I get the short writeup about the Clarke quote about technology and magic done. A tough one as I'm working with the original, second and latest editions of the book and ... slow going to get the right quotes out and also try not to miss it if he makes any other remark about magic beyond just the one in that second edition. Others including Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman have done much more research for their writings than I have. Alan Moore is due to publish a huge book on magic in the near future. Still others including Virginia Satir and later on Richard Bandler have written things that apply directly to magic - essentially examples of how sometimes the tail wags the dog. In the mean time I just found out today that Sartre looked at magic via phenomenology. Consider the Aesop fable with the fox and the grapes. The fox makes the grapes he could not reach sour in his version of the world. No promises on a JT's book on magic in books, but in the mean time you're all welcome to look at the works cited and I hope you find them of use.
...to all the coins I've dropped here
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ed rhodes Inner circle Rhode Island 2885 Posts |
I can't give you a title, but thee was a period when I was reading a lot of "childrens mysteries." One of them had a young boy stop an old man from crossing against the light. The old man turns out to be a retired magician and he teaches the kid some tricks (which are explained in the storyline of the book) The old man is also concerned about the rate of deaths at the nursing home he lives in and the kid and his pal end up investigating.
"...and if you're too afraid of goin' astray, you won't go anywhere." - Granny Weatherwax
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S2000magician Inner circle Yorba Linda, CA 3465 Posts |
A student of mine recommended Jeffery Deaver's The Vanished Man. It's fairly good, but awefully long.
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MickeyPainless Inner circle California 6065 Posts |
Hmmmmmmm.... My wife and I are both Deaver fans (mostly the Lincoln Rhyme series) but I haven't read "The Vanished Man".
Thanks for the tip Bill, I think I'll swing by Barnes and Noble tomorrow! This may not be of interest but James Swain is a magician and also one hell of an author of gambling/cheater novels! I think I've read em all! MMc |
alexander_may Loyal user South Africa 296 Posts |
Will Goldman's novel 'Magic' uses a magician and his vent puppet as the cental characters.
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ringmaster Inner circle Memphis, Down in Dixie 1974 Posts |
We've done this topic before but:
Cast a Spell by Betty Pesetsky The Vanished Man by Jeffery Deaver The Magician's Wife by Brian Moore Magic by Wm. Goldman The Magician's Assistant by Ann Patchett The Magician's Tale by David Hunt Talels of the Impossible by David Copperfield (ed.) The Spirit Cabinet by Paul Quarrington Grift Sense by James Swain - First of the Tony Valintine series Since I posted this list last year, I' ve added two more: "The Wench is Dead by Colin Dexter "Lost Empires" by J.B. Priestly Highly recomened
One of the last living 10-in-one performers. I wanted to be in show business the worst way, and that was it.
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