Magic for Beginners

223 Pages·2005·1.57 MB·English

by  Kelly Link

24.00 U.S.
“A new collection by Kelly Link—and once more, for a little while, the world is
worth saving.”—Michael Chabon, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay 33.00 Can.
Praise for Kelly Link’s first collection, Stranger Things Happen: MMaaggiicC Magic for Beginners is the highly
K
anticipated second collection by Kelly
Kelly Link is the editor of the anthol-
e Link (Stranger Things Happen). Link’s
ogy Trampoline, and co-editor of
“Her stories have the vibrancy, the “My favorite fantasy writer.” l stories are engaging and funny—call
the zine Lady Churchill’s Rosebud
buzzing resonance and the oddly —Alan Cheuse, All Things l them kitchen-sink magical realism.
Wristlet. With Ellen Datlow and y
insistent quality of dreams.” Considered They riff on haunted convenience
Gavin J. Grant, she edits The Year’s —The New York Times Book Review ffoorr BBeeggiinnnneerrss
k L stores, husbands and wives, rabbits,
Best Fantasy & Horror (St. Martin’s
e i zombies, weekly apocalyptic poker
Press). She once won a free trip “Sinister. Dreamy. Supernatural. n parties, witches, superheroes, mar-
around the world by answering the “Link’s exquisite stories mix the Link’s stories dazzle even as they
k riage, and cannons. Link is an original
aggravations and epiphanies of every-
question “Why do you want to go unsettle.”
day life with the stuff that myths, voice—no one else writes stories quite
around the world?” (“Because you —Miami Herald
dreams and nightmares are made of.” like these.
can’t go through it.”) j
—Laura Miller, Salon Magic for Beginners includes
Link’s stories have won the J “I think she is the most impressive U “These stories several new stories as well as work
World Fantasy, James Tiptree, Jr., will come alive,
writer of her generation.” previously published in McSweeney’s
and Nebula Awards. Her first collec- “Dazzling, funny, scary, and sexy, but put on zoot suits,
—Peter Straub, In the Night Room Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales,
tion, Stranger Things Happen, was only when they’re not all of these and wrestle you
U Conjunctions, and The Dark. “Stone
a Firecracker nominee, and a 2001 at once. Kelly Link has strangeness, to the ground.”
M Animals” is forthcoming in The Best
charm and spin to spare. Writers bet- —Alice Sebold,
Village Voice and Salon Favorite “There’s no mistaking Link’s
ter than this don’t happen.” The Lovely Bones American Short Stories.
Book. unique voice, at once sly and a
—Karen Joy Fowler,
She lives in Northampton, MA. charming, tart and wise.” g
The Jane Austen Book Club Advance praise for Magic for Begin-
Her website is www.kellylink.net —San Francisco Chronicle
i i ners:
W c
“The exact best and strangest and “A tremendously appealing book, f H “Highly original.”—Publishers
Shelley Jackson has illustrated many funniest short story writer on earth
and lovers of short fiction should o Weekly (Starred Review)
children’s books including her own that you have never heard of at the
exact moment you are reading these fall over themselves getting out the r
The Old Woman and The Wave.
words and making them slightly door to find a copy.” “Spellbinding.”—Time Out Chicago
When wearing her writing hat, she B
—Washington Post
inexact. Now pay for the book.”
is the author of The Melancholy of —Jonathan Lethem, j e “A complete delight.”—Locus
Anatomy, Patchwork Girl, and Skin, a
The Fortress of Solitude g
story told in tattoos. “Fuses storytelling smarts with
O i “An eagerly-awaited new collection
www.ineradicablestain.com postmodern flair, Nancy Drew
n of thoughtfully strange tales that
“A joy. I’ve not been so with Philip K. Dick.”
n sprinkle the mundane with pixie dust,
moved and affected—and —The Village Voice KELLY
a dash of old-fashioned tragedy and a
dammit, yes, inspired—by a e
bit of gallows humor.”
book for a long time.” r
LINK —The Ruminator Review
—China Miéville, Iron Council s
k
“Hilarious, sometimes disconcerting,
Jacket painting by Shelley Jackson: based on “A delightful collection.” Link’s stories demonstrate her wicked
“Lady with an Ermine” by Leonardo da Vinci, held —Cleveland Plain Dealer Author of sense of humor and genius wit.”
in The Czartoryskich Museum, Krakow.
Small Stranger Things —BookPage
Small Beer Press Beer Happen
Distributed by SCB Distributors Press “Link is the purest, most distinctive
www.smallbeerpress.com
surrealist in America.”—Booklist
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Praise for Kelly Link’s stories:
A new Fountains of Wayne album, a new Wes Anderson movie, a new short story collection by
Kelly Link—and once more, for a little while, the world is worth saving.
Kelly Link owns the most darkly playful voice in American fiction since Donald Barthelme.
She is pushing the American short story into places that it hasn’t yet been pushed, while some-
how managing to maintain a powerful connection to traditional forms and storytelling values.
—Michael Chabon, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
The dream-logic of Magic for Beginners is intoxicating. These stories will come alive, put on zoot
suits, and wrestle you to the ground. They want you and you will be theirs.
—Alice Sebold, The Lovely Bones
Kelly Link’s exquisite stories mix the aggravations and epiphanies of everyday life with the
stuff that myths, dreams and nightmares are made of. Some of them are very scary, others are
immensely sad, many are funny and all of them are written in prose so flawless you almost for-
get how much elemental human chaos they contain.
—Laura Miller, Salon Book of the Year
Kelly Link’s debut collection fuses storytelling smarts with postmodern flair, Nancy Drew with
Philip K. Dick. . . . A great pop coup, part tabloid headlines, part Joycean “Ithaca.”
—The Village Voice (Favorite Books of )
My favorite fantasy writer.
—Alan Cheuse, NPR All Things Considered
Her stories have the vibrancy, the buzzing resonance and the oddly insistent quality of dreams.
—Andrew O’Hehir, New York Times Book Review
Her rare and beautiful strangeness provides the real rapture.
—Daniel Mendelsohn, New York Magazine
Stranger Things Happen is a tremendously appealing book, and lovers of short fiction should fall
over themselves getting out the door to find a copy.
—Gregory Feeley, Washington Post Book World
Link’s stories defy explanation, or at least, brief summary, instead working on the plane
between dream and cognitive dissonance. They are true to themselves: witty, beautiful, funny,
and startling.
—Rain Taxi
Sly and charming, tart and wise.
—Michael Berry, San Francisco Chronicle
Quirky and exuberantly imagined . . . the best shed a warm, weird light on their worlds, illumi-
nating fresh perspectives and fantastic possibilities.
—Publishers Weekly
00-mfb-front 1 7/25/05, 11:38 AM
Strange and tantalizing stories . . . blurring the distinctions between the mundane and the
fantastic to tease out the underlying meanings of modern life.
—Booklist
Satisfying, bizarre, hilarious and beautiful.
—Juliet Waters, Montreal Mirror
“Catskin” is a fascinating fairy tale that finds its own complex internal logic and spins out a
lively, visceral, unpredictable plot.
—The Onion
A dexterous use of language. . . . Link references fairy tales, mythology, and bits of our com-
mon contemporary cultural experience, not to offer commentary but to take off on her own
original riffs. Stylistic pyrotechnics light up a bizarre but emotionally truthful landscape.
Link’s a writer to watch.
—Kirkus Reviews
Stranger Things Happen is one of the very best books I have ever read. These stories will amaze,
provoke, and intrigue. Best of all, they will delight.
—Fred Chappell, Family Gathering
Kelly Link’s stories . . . will sit in my library on that very short shelf of books I read again
and again. For those who think Fantasy tired, Stranger Things Happen is a wake-up call.
—Jeffrey Ford, The Girl in the Glass
Dazzling, funny, scary, and sexy, but only when they’re not all of these at once. Kelly Link has
strangeness, charm and spin to spare. Writers better than this don’t happen.
—Karen Joy Fowler, The Jane Austen Book Club
Link’s writing is gorgeous, mischievous, sexy and unsettling.
—Nalo Hopkinson, The Salt Roads
Kelly Link is the exact best and strangest and funniest short story writer on earth that you
have never heard of at the exact moment you are reading these words and making them
slightly inexact. Now pay for the book.
—Jonathan Lethem, The Fortress of Solitude
I’ve not been so moved and affected—and dammit, yes, inspired—by a book for a long time.
—China Miéville, Iron Council
Few writers render the textures of daily life, the terrible entwine of its ordinariness and its
marvels, as well as Link.
—James Sallis, Cypress Grove
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Small Beer Press
Northampton, MA
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This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed
in this book are either fictitious or used fictitiously.
Copyright ©  by Kelly Link. Some rights reserved.
Creative Commons License Summary:
Creative Commons License
Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share
Alike 3.0 Unported License.
Creative Commons may be contacted at www.creativecommons.org
This book is governed by Creative Commons licenses that permit its unlimited noncommercial redistribution,
which means that you’re welcome to share them with anyone you think will want to see them. If you do some-
thing with the book you think we’d be interested in please email ([email protected]) and tell us.
Kelly Link and Small Beer Press would like to thank Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (USA) and HarperPerennial
(UK) for their willingness to particpate in making these stories available online. Due to contractual obligations,
“The Faery Handbag” and “Magic for Beginners” are not included in this download.
Small Beer Press
 Pleasant St., #306
Easthampton, MA 7
www.smallbeerpress.com
[email protected]
Distributed to the trade by Consortium.
www.kellylink.net
Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Link, Kelly.
Magic for beginners / by Kelly Link.
p. cm.
ISBN 1-931520-15-1 (alk. paper)
I. Title.
PS3612.I553M34 2005
813’.6--dc22
2005005394
ISBN-: 7----7
ISBN-: ---
A Jelly Ink book. Jelly Ink is an imprint of Small Beer Press.
Printed on # Natures Natural Recycled Paper by Thomson-Shore of Dexter, MI.
Text set in Centaur 
Cover painting ©  by Shelley Jackson.
www.ineradicablestain.com