What Makes a Good Magical System: How to throw a fireball?

Great fantasy has great explanations for where magic comes from. It's not just a matter of having a system, but that system reflecting truths about the origins of power, good and evil. In Tolkien magical power correlates with knowledge- Gandalf, Sauron andGaladriel know more than anyone else  in Middle Earth, and this knowledge is whence their magic springs. For Gandalf and Galadriel, their desire to protect that which is good is also an origin of their power.

Harry Potter with its fun and school references has magical power reside in wand form and Latin pronunciation, as well as knowing the right Latin. Magic corresponds to a number of classes much like Muggle school. In the later books magic also has mystical origins that come from deep relationship and character. Harry is protected by the love of his mother; Voldemort is protected by his willingness to divide his own soul. Still, it should be said that the Potter books have one of the least sensible, or explained, magic. In some sense this fits the books though, which are endlessly full of possibility, and at some points logic and system limits the multiplication of the fantastical.

Ursula Le Guin, in her Wizard of Earthsea created the most resonant magical system. In it, magic is the power to speak with creatures and objects by their true names. This relates to the knowledge of Tolkien but it has a clear line with both science, in which true knowledge of a thing allows humans to garner energy from it, and poetry, the idea that language is power.

The Name of the Wind is a new book that builds on Le Guin, but creates a complexity, with multiple branches of study. It would not be a stretch to say that Patrick Rothfuss wrote out a desire to take what is good in Potter and The Wizard of Earthsea and create the best magical system there is. One critique of his magic though would be that it, like Harry Potter, is about study and skill, but it also has no origins so it offers no explanation as to where the power comes for, or worse, asserts that the only meaningful power is one's self.

Fantasy from the real world- Thoughts on "The Game of Thrones"

I recently read through George R. R. Martins series, "The Game of Thrones". The first and the third book are really good reads. Feel free to skip through the fourth and fifth until you find it interesting--the story develops slowly in them.

Martins books depict war and its struggles with realism that is unsavory. There are multiple rapes, and other abuses of power. The book series; title "The Game of Thrones" points out that power is something that is sought for its own sake, without real meaning. In the books, the most contemptible people are those who are weak or irrational. Tywin Lannister, for all his grim butchery of people and his own son's heart, is still to be admired for his strength and logic. Indeed, his death is caused because he overlooked things.




Cersei is despised in the end not because of her incest or her regicide, but because of her paranoia and ineptitude with people management. 

The most despised characters are those that are emotional and physically weak, like Lisa Arryn and her son.

Ultimately, we are given a world where dragons and magic are possible, but also where the strong take advantage of the weak, and there is little hope for justice. In fact, the definition of justice is the big fish eat the little ones.

This raises the question about fantasy. Is fantasy just an opportunity to add some cool things to the way of our world, swords, dragons, and the law of might? Or is fantasy a chance to re-envision our world not just in its creatures and physical possibility, but also in its social values? Most theorists agree that Karl Marx's belief that history inevitably would end in communism is just fantasy. Yet it had much more value, as it sought to re-envision our world as a better place, than Martin's hopeless fantasy.

Review of Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link

I wish I could give "Magic for Beginners" both 2 and 5 stars but this is not a goodreads option. It reads likes Jorge Borges teamed up with the Brother's Grimm, (maybe add Joss Whedon in there) and adopted contemporary US, with its vast array of mythologies as their topic. Borges added halls to the labyrinth of metaphysics, leaving the reader with a desire to re-read to actually understand, but also a fear and knowledge that perhaps not understanding was the closest thing to understanding. His work is mostly cerebral though, where Brothers Grimm get at the desire and fears in the pits of our stomaches and the apex of our nethers. 

Kelly Link does both of these, while consisting failing to follow the modern rules of story-telling. Her stories have no established conflict, but follow as many old fairy tales do, a wandering path, switching protagonists, and stories, mid story, multiple times. Symbols are left unexplained, over-used. A search of the interwebs quickly reveals that this medley of Dionysian fairy tale, sci-fi, fantasy interspliced with our time and people is a conscience choice by Link. It is clear from her art that she could do the Raymond Chandler, New Yorker style realism that progresses into epiphany, if she wanted to. 
She says that it is boring. 

But Link's writing also is different from most science fiction and fantasy. She consistently disappoints with her ability to create expectation and then wander off in another direction. The stories have little eternal logic. 

Dionysius, the god or drunk high poets, has found a priestess in Link. Her stories are votives to the unknown, casual attacks on our carefully constructed rules of narrative that we guard so jealously. We would believe, and every story that we allow ourselves to tell reinforces this, that we control our world, that it progresses through logic toward justice. In Link's stories we find a whimsy that if we are honest we must confess is a truth that is other. 

For me a contemporary application of this is the upcoming American election. Both candidates talk about their plan for the economy. They patiently explain how they will fix it, working out their logic in steps, promising progress, a victory through right policy. Nobody says the truth. The economy is a monster we pretend is our pet. When it bites us we make explanations, when it beshitteth all, we explain why, but we cannot teach him not to bite or train him to our household. No-one understands him, but he can destroy us. It is fickle, immensely complex, and gambols through our houses and floats in amongst the clouds. 

Which is just to say, Link is right to roughshod over our stories that insist on control, happy or at least logical endings. We don't know anything. Sometimes that can be a lot of fun.

Hands, the Pickpocket, Meets the Real World

I wrote a fantasy novel, and I feel like I owe the world an explanation. There's a real world all around us, full of gripping problems in need of compassion, and wisdom, and instead of writing about that, I wrote about a place that only exists inside my head.

I worked in a behavioral facility for a year, back in 2005. The idea of the place was that we'd take kids with self-destructive behavior, show them it was destructive, and that they would change. These kids had seen stuff that made Sandusky seem like Santa Claus. They were untrusting and relentlessly combative. Then I got myself into a North Philly high school, where many of the kids were the same, though a little more resourceful. I watched those kids, ready to curse someone out if they felt something was unfair, ready to fight in response to perceived insult, untrusting, and ready to grab your attention by acting like a fool. I kept asking myself, "How are they going to make it? How are they going to become something beside a drug dealer or addict?"

Those kids, in some form, show up in my book. Hands, the neighborhood thief, insults the dead father of another kid, then gets beat up, and keeps talking trash. When Hands gets caught up in kingdom level drama, his toughness helps him but his pugnacious attitude keeps getting him in trouble.

As I was writing, there were a couple of take-aways I worked in. Kids make it cause they find people they can trust; basically it takes one person caring. Also, I believe that there is higher power who cares about these kids, even if society ignores them. We ought to care, and we will be judged based on our compassion. Sometimes, that part of the story that seems the most fantastical is not the imaginary creatures, or magical powers, but that there will be justice in the end, that the forgotten will be remembered. I love that part of the story.

Today one of my neighbors, a former student of mine, knocked on my door, and asked me to tie his tie. He's been out of school for a couple of years, living the trap life, and is trying to get back into school. I help him with the tie; I pray that he finds the a school were his humanness is honored, and his mind respected. There aren't a lot of places with the people, the money, or the heart for it.

Genre Writing vs. Literary Fiction

Having recently published a fantasy novel, I scroll through the covers of the titles that amazon groups with mine. Some sell well, some not so much, but they all have covers whose sense of style is a bit 1970s. Their covers also tell a lot of story. Mine is reserved. I realize it probably won't grab the fantasy nerds who might browse here for titles. As I look at the many genres and sub genres of fantasy, I have to use wikipedia to figure out what mine is- you've got urban fantasy, high fantasy, paranormal, epic fantasy, young adult, and sword and sorcery. Turns out my lil' opus is young adult high fantasy with a dash of urban.

These readers are voracious (since I graduated college I have not read so much). They are willing, to satisfy their appetite, to risk buying, and reading, what could by nothing but the blather of some egotist. I do not read this way. I wait on recommendations from friends, or, the NY Times Book Section. I figure a book is an investment of three to ten hours, and I'm not wasting time on risk. What it all comes down to is that I've just written a novel in a genre that I don't know the ins and outs of, like I know literary fiction.

Why write fantasy and science-fiction, mystery, and paranormal when plain old literary fiction is the genre of masters? James Joyce and Virginnia Woolf stayed away from dragons and spaceships. My favorite living authors are Marilynne Robinson, who may not know of the existence of genre fiction, Cormac McCarthy, who writes only literary fiction.

One thing that has always made novels worthwhile to me is the story-telling. Story telling, going back to Homer, has two prized social purposes. One, after a long day, it gives you something to enjoy while drinking your evening beverage of choice. Story-telling doesn't lie, it reduces life to the essential moments, the moments out of which defeat and triumph grow- and this magical reduction makes it better than life, while still being life.

Secondly, story telling instructs. It gives meaning to life. Now, story-telling is a popularly beloved art. Shakespeare and Homer shared this appeal with J. K. Rowling. Some authors that I love and admire now write for a small portion of our population. Marilynne Robinson is not read by anyone not an intellectual. I always believed that great books could be for everybody. That's not completely true, but it is something authors can work toward. Genre writing does tell stories. It doesn't let art overrun the entertainment value of the work.

That's why I'm writing genre stuff.

I interview me

I was filling out an author interview at a website, the Mad Ones,, and figured I'd post my thoughts here. It's sort of amazing when you talk about where a book came from, how much there is to say.


I'm a teacher in Philly's public schools. You can see that in the "Illumen's Children" and how it focuses on young people and the challenges that they face. I've always loved books, especially those with strong story, good characters, and truth. Beyond that, I love my wife and the game of soccer.

TMO: What genera do you write and why?
That's a hard one. I love reading literary fiction, but it bothers me that it reaches such a small audience. I've written a literary thriller, a hard boiled mystery, a sci-fi novel, and now this is a fantasy novel. I love fantasy's exuberant world building. I admire Ursula Le Guin's ability to create cultures. I admire Tolkien's vast world and his characters. He mixes  humor, human weakness, and honor into almost every character.

TMO: Tell us about your book….

In the fantastical kingdom of Regna, a pickpocket learns of a plot to kill his king. He lives in an outer ring, Subagora District, of the city, separated from Citans like the king by two walls and class laws, so how will he warn his leader? In his efforts he enlists the help of two Citans, one of whom is actually the princess, daughter to the king. The Citans demand the respect that is their due, but the orphan pickpocket respects no-one. An antagonist relationship develops, and the princess is intrigued by the street-wise, fight-ready attitude of the Subagoran.

Meanwhile, a cleric acquaintance of the pickpocket comes to wield Illumen’s fire for the forest people he once hated. Will he be the next manusignis, prophet of legend whose blue fire protects the weak and mistreated? Another friend from Subagora District learns the ways of the wendigo, the forest people. He runs with the forest creatures, and wields a bow that was wrestled from the grove of the fearsome forest spirit.

Diverging roads lead each one to confront the evil of the world, and their own weakness, but will they be able to fight against the armies of the Citans?

TMO: What was your inspiration for this book?

I taught in North Philly, a really tough neighborhood, for four years. I was amazed at the kids there, how much they wanted attention, how angry they were, how hard they found it to trust anyone. All of that goes into the character of Hands, an orphan pickpocket in this fantasy world.

Another inspiration is growing up from someone who was self-righteously religious and prudish, into being challenged by faith to be more compassionate. That is evident in the Shyheem subplot. A young cleric thinks he's better than everyone, until a heretic kidnaps him, and treats him to endless harangues and takes him among the people whom Shyheem judged.

The last inspiration is the American wilderness, its greenness, its life. I also love Hiyao Miyazaki's portrayal of the forest spirit, and I think any reader familiar with that will see parts of it in Mishipeshu, the terrifying and beautiful forest creature that runs the woods.

TMO: Do you have a favorite character and why that one?

I'd say it's Hands. I want him to succeed so much, but he makes everyone so angry with his attitude; he keeps pushing away people when they try to help him.


TMO: What project(s) are you currently working on?

The sequel, tenatively entitled, "Subagoran Rising", and a book called "Super Hero Laundry List, in which a nerd uses newly acquired super powers to gain popularity and the attention of girls. It's whimsical and fun.

TMO: Do you have any advice for writers out there?

The obvious stuff. Work hard, finish what you start- even when you fear it's worthless, make it the best you can, before moving on. The discipline will make the next project successful. Less obvious, but still important is pursue truth, wrestle for it. We all now when we're reading something that a writer's soul worked for, and we appreciate that.

TMO: Where can we find you? (facebook, twitter, blog, website, etc)

Well, I water-color and used it to represent some of my ideas. I used those skills to make a book trailer. I know people say these are a dumb idea, and I don't think I'm reading any books based on them, but it was fun to make and you'll enjoy it.