Marble Witch

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

It is San Francisco, December 1941. Cleo Caine, a ten year old witch, has her dreams of being an apprentice jazz trumpeter dashed when the Applesauce Club rejects her apprenticeship. The next morning, she learns that the United States has entered World War II and enlists herself in the United States Army Air Force as a warwitch. What's more, a powerful witch trapped in a crow's body, Alexandria, offers to take her as an apprentice. While honing her skills in magic and flying, Cleo experiences World War II on the front lines.

Can be read here: http://marblewitch.blogspot.com/

Tropes used in Marble Witch include:
  • Alliterative Name: Cleo Caine
  • Alternate History: Because the South developed the dragonrider system and was more tolerant of witches decades before the North did, they won the Civil War. At the time of the story, WWII, there exist the United States of America and the Confederate States of America.
  • Blondes Are Evil: Anneliese both plays this straight and subverts it
  • Child Soldiers: Cleo, the rest of the Butterflies; and Snow, Anneliese, and Hans, to some extent
  • Cruel and Unusual Death: Fyodor gets the skin on his torso licked off, his legs broken off and thrown at him, and then gets eaten alive.
  • Cute Witch: Cleo, more than any other warwitch, qualifies
  • Dark Action Girl: Anneliese
  • Eyepatch of Power: Cleo
  • Ghostapo: the Nazis use warwitches and dragons. So do the rest of the belligerents, though.
  • Gorn: it is set in WWII, but, the passage where Hans and Niklas or Snow and Strawberry eat are especially gorny
  • Ice Queen: Anneliese, most of the time
  • Our Dragons Are Different: dragons hatch only when they have found their Rider, dragon racing is as popular as thoroughbred racing, dragons are effective weapons against fighter planes, dragons can turn into people, dragons can do magic, dragons are as intelligent as humans, dragons can talk, etc...and Strawberry's pretty different from most of the dragons anyways
  • Rich Bitch: Triane
  • Small Girl, Big Gun: most of the warwitches, but especially Cleo, who is, at the beginning, 4'6" and 60 lbs
  • Southern Belle: Snow is a variation of this
  • Talking Animal: Alexandria, dragons, and other familiars