Magic For Beginners.

[ethereal_lad]

Magic For Beginners, by Kelly Link.

MFB is the first Link collection I read. (Her earlier collection, Stranger Things Happen, was a victim of a leaky roof, and was ruined). While not all of the novellas included here are perfect, all of them are worth reading for the clever turns of phrase, strong characterizations, and truly odd happenings.

Comments

[gregmce]

You've reminded me that I need to pick up MAGIC FOR BEGINNERS; I absolutely adored STRANGER THINGS HAPPEN and having read "The Fairy Handbag" I need to have a permanent copy of it.

[ethereal_lad]

Link is also a sweetheart in person.

[catvalente]

How do you feel about the endings of The Faery Handbag and The Hortlak?

[ethereal_lad]

I loves FH--I thought the whole tale was amazing in how it fit together.

THE HORTLAK's ending left me a little cold, but I loved the wording of the image so much, that I could ignore it.

[catvalente]

See, FH's ending really upset me, as it did what so many short stories seem to do--simply stop in the middle of action and give no resolution. I loved the story, but it seemed like an aborted novel. But I don't meet to many others who have a problem with that format, as it's fairly standard these days. Grr.

[wild_irises]

It's hard to figure why the fiction works, but it does.