Magic for Beginners



"Not that she would believe him. Not that you should believe this story. Promise me that you won’t believe a word."

Nine stories by Kelly Link which link speculative fiction (mainly horror, but there is also more than a pinch of fantasy) with Post Modernism but are still not overdone stylistically and nice to read. Stock elements of fantasy and horror are introduced and arranged in accordance with the pattern of Magical Realism rather than in a way it is usually done in horror genre, which makes all stories positively SCARY in a non-typical way. In the stories there appear zombies, ghosts, shapeshifters and talking animals, but also supermarkets and soap operas, which results in the effect similar to that in the fiction of Philip K. Dick (and allows the author to comment on reality from time to time). The first story begins with the reference to Lewis's Narnia series. And all this is done in non-parodist way. In short: yummy. (That is, if you don't care about not knowing what caused what and why even after reading the whole book. It is even hard to tell if all the stories take place in the same universe.)


 * "The Faery Handbag" - about the handbag through which one can enter another world.
 * "The Hortlak" - about two guys living in the supermarket visited by zombies.
 * "The Cannon" - about the Cannon, whatever it is (if you've read the story, you know what I mean).
 * "Stone Animals" - about the house haunted by stone rabbits. No, really.
 * "Catskin" - about the adventures of the witch's children and the same witch's cats.
 * "Some Zombie Contingency Plans" - about the man obsessed by the said plans. Better than it sounds.
 * "The Great Divorce" - about the man who married a dead woman.
 * "Magic for Beginners" - about a TV series slowly absorbing reality.
 * "Lull" - about the people who got trapped in time.


 * Action Girl: Fox.
 * Cats Are Magic: to the degree that they are.
 * Cats Are Mean: if, that is.
 * Cool Old Lady: Zofia.
 * Corpse Land: near the Supermarket.
 * Daylight Horror: in most stories.
 * Dead to Begin With: Lavvie, when she and Alan meet.
 * Dude in Distress: Prince Wing to Fox.
 * Divorce Requires Death: averted with Alan and Lavvie.
 * Everything's Deader with Zombies: especially supermarkets.
 * Evil Orphan: three children of the witch (but they are also subject to Orphan's Ordeal).
 * Handbag of Hurt: done in a very non-classical way.
 * Hair-Raising Hare: stone rabbits.
 * I Love the Dead: only it is not FOR the said dead's body but rather in spite of its absence.
 * Lunacy: that of Tilly makes her a Creepy Child.
 * I'm Going to Disney World: even the dead children want it.
 * Haunted House: there are no ghosts, but this is the exact word used.
 * The Library of Babel: it's even called The Free People's World Tree Library.
 * Love Triangle: a couple of them.
 * The Mall: the District Garment and the Supermarket.
 * Married to the Job: Henry. Not that he likes it.
 * Meanwhile in the Future: a very complicated example in the last story.
 * Meta Fiction: more than once.
 * The Multiverse: it's hard to tell if there is only one.
 * Narnia Time: in the Baldeziwurlekistan.
 * Our Ghosts Are Different: The Great Divorce
 * Our Zombies Are Different: type O.
 * Pet the Dog: Charley does this (to literal dogs), but it has not the usual effect, as everyone knows that she will have to shoot them later.
 * Pocket Dimension: Zofia's handbag contains at least two of them.
 * Post Modernism.
 * Revenge: for the death of the witch.
 * Rule of Scary: especially the first formula, but sometimes also the second one.
 * Surreal Horror: most of the time.
 * Trapped in Another World: Jake.
 * Trapped in TV Land: Jeremy Mars.
 * Wild Teen Party (and a A Party - Also Known as an Orgy): this is where Soap discusses his zombie contingency plan with Carly.