Magic for Beginners (complete)

Best of the Decade: Salon, The A.V. Club"If I had to pick the most powerfully original voice in fantasy today, it would be Kelly Link. Her stories begin in a world very much like our own, but then, following some mysterious alien geometry, they twist themselves into something fantastic and, frequently, horrific. You won’t come out the same person you went in."—Lev Grossman, The Week"Highly original."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)"Dazzling."—Entertainment Weekly (grade: A, Editor’s Choice)"Darkly playful."—Michael ChabonBest of the Year: Time Magazine, Salon, Boldtype, PopMatters.Kelly Link’s engaging and funny stories riff on haunted convenience stores, husbands and wives, rabbits, zombies, weekly apocalyptic poker parties, witches, and cannons. Includes Hugo, Nebula, and Locus award winners. A Best of the Year pick from TIME, Salon.com, and Book Sense. Illustrated by Shelley Jackson.Kelly Link is the author of three collections of short fiction Stranger Things Happen, Magic for Beginners, and Pretty Monsters. Her short stories have won three Nebula, a Hugo, and a World Fantasy Award. She was born in Miami, Florida, and once won a free trip around the world by answering the question “Why do you want to go through the world?” (”Because you can’t go through it.”)Link lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, where she and her husband, Gavin J. Grant, run Small Beer Press, co-edit the fantasy half of The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror, and play ping-pong. In 1996 they started the occasional zine Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet. Perfect for readers of George Saunders, Karen Russell, Neil Gaiman, and Aimee Bender, Magic for Beginners is an exquisite, dreamlike dispatch from a virtuoso storyteller who can do seemingly anything. Kelly Link reconstructs modern life through an intoxicating prism, conjuring up unforgettable worlds with humor and humanity. These stories are at once ingenious and deeply moving. They leave the reader astonished and exhilarated. Includes an exclusive conversation between Kelly Link and Joe Hill Praise for Magic for Beginners “A sorceress to be reckoned with.” — The New York Times Book Review “[Kelly] Link’s stories . . . play in a place few writers go, a netherworld between literature and fantasy, Alice Munro and J. K. Rowling, and Link finds truths there that most authors wouldn’t dare touch.” —Lev Grossman, Time “She is unique and should be declared a national treasure.” —Neil Gaiman “Funny, scary, surprising and powerfully moving within the span of a single story or even a single sentence.” —Karen Russell, The Miami Herald “This is what certain readers live for: fiction that makes the world instead of merely mimicking it.” —Audrey Niffenegger “[These] exquisite stories mix the aggravations and epiphanies of everyday life with the stuff that legends, dreams and nightmares are made of.” —Laura Miller, Salon, Best Books of the Decade “A major talent . . . Like George Saunders, [Link] can’t dismiss the hidden things that tap on our windows at night.” — The Boston Globe “The most darkly playful voice in American fiction.” —Michael Chabon “I think she is the most impressive writer of her generation.” —Peter Straub “Link’s world is one to savor. [Grade:] A” — Entertainment Weekly “Intricate, wildly imaginative and totally wonderful . . . will fill you with awe and joy.” —NPR From MacArthur “Genius Grant” fellow Kelly Link, bestselling author of White Cat, Black Dog and The Book of Love, an “eerie and engrossing” (The Washington Post), “dazzling” (The New York Times Book Review) collection of short stories “[These] exquisite stories mix the aggravations and epiphanies of everyday life with the stuff that legends, dreams and nightmares are made of.”—Laura Miller, Salon, “Best Books of the Decade” LOCUS AWARD WINNER • A TIME AND SEATTLE TIMES BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR One of the most critically acclaimed collections of our time, Magic for Beginners is an exquisite, dreamlike dispatch from a virtuoso storyteller who can do seemingly anything. Kelly Link reconstructs modern life through an intoxicating prism, conjuring up unforgettable worlds with humor and humanity. These stories are at once ingenious and deeply moving. They leave the reader astonished and exhilarated.Includes an exclusive conversation between Kelly Link and Joe Hill Kelly Link riffs on haunted convenience stores, husbands and wives, rabbits, zombies, weekly apocalyptic poker parties, witches, superheroes, marriage, and cannons in her new collection. Each story is illustrated by artist Shelley Jackson, and Jackson's cover illustration is modeled on Leonardo Da Vinci's painting "Lady with an Ermine." Magic for Beginners was selected as a Best Book of the Year by Time Magazine, BookSense, and Salon , and as a Best of the Decade by Salon, The Onion, HTML Giant, and the Village Voice . Link's stories have been awarded the Tiptree, Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and World Fantasy Awards. Her stories have been published in A Public Space, One Story, McSweeney's, and Conjunctions , as well as translated into Japanese, German, Czech, Korean, French, and Greek. She lives with her family in Northampton, MA, although she can often be found driving across the country. The faery handbag The hortlak The cannon Stone animals Catskin Some zombie contingency plans The great divorce Magic for beginners Lull. All-new collection of magical stories from slapstick comedy to Gothic horror.--Résumé de léditeur The hortlak The cannon The faery handbag Stone animals Catskin Some zombie contingency plans Lull.