"Magic for Beginners" is a fantasy novella by American writer Kelly Link. It was first published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction in September 2005. It was subsequently published in Link's collection of the same name,Magic for Beginners at KellyLink.net; retrieved 15 May 2014 as well as in her collection Pretty Monsters,Pretty Monsters, at KellyLink.net; retrieved 15 May 2014 in the 2007 Nebula Award Showcase, and in the John Joseph Adams-edited anthology Other Worlds Than These.Table of Contents: Other Worlds Than These, at JohnJosephAdams.com; retrieved May 15, 2014
Setting Jeremy Mars is a young teenager who (like many of his friends) is a fan of — and also a character in — a mysterious television program called The Library. The story follows his life, and those of his friends and family, as various episodes of The Library are broadcast at irregular intervals.
Reception "Magic for Beginners" won the 2005 Nebula Award for Best Novella, Retrieved 2026-04-28. the 2005 BSFA Award for Short Fiction,BSFA Awards, at the British Science Fiction Association; retrieved May 15, 2014 and the 2006 Locus Award for Best Novella,Locus Awards Winners, at Locus; published 17 June 2006; retrieved 15 May 2014 and was nominated for the 2006 Hugo Award for Best Novella,2006 Hugo Awards Nominations, at SF Signal, by John DeNardo; published 22 March 2006; retrieved 15 March 2014 the 2006 World Fantasy Award—Novella,2006 World Fantasy Awards Ballot , at the World Fantasy Convention, published 2006; retrieved 15 May 2014 and the 2006 Theodore Sturgeon Award.The Theodore Sturgeon Award, at the Center for the Study of Science Fiction; published no later than ; retrieved May 15, 2014
Nancy Pearl compared "Magic for Beginners" to M. C. Escher's Drawing Hands, saying that it is "intricate, wildly imaginative and totally wonderful".Under the Radar: Books Not to Miss, by Nancy Pearl; at National Public Radio; published 8 May 2007; retrieved 15 May 2014 Cory Doctorow called it the "standout" story in Link's 2005 eponymous collection, describing it as "absurdist magic realism, like Douglas Coupland wandering through a Márquez novel".Kelly Link's "Magic for Beginners" - knockout short story collection, by Cory Doctorow, at Boing Boing; published February 7, 2006; retrieved May 15, 2014 Niall Harrison described it as being about "how stories differ from real life" and "what it feels like to love stories.""Magic for Beginners, by Kelly Link", reviewed by Niall Harrison, in Vector #243 (September/October 2005); archived in All These Worlds: Reviews and Essays (p. 33); published 2023 by Briardene Books
At the SF Site, Rich Horton stated that "Magic for Beginners" was "one of [his] favorite stories of this decade", and "a delight",Featured Review: Pretty Monsters, by Rich Horton, at the SF Site; published 2009; retrieved May 15, 2014 while at Subterranean Press Magazine, Dorman T. Shindler compared it to being mildly intoxicated.Review: Nebula Awards Showcase 2007 edited by Mike Resnick, by Dorman T. Shindler, at Subterranean Press; published Spring 2007; retrieved May 15, 2014; "“Magic For Beginners” is a bemused, slightly distant narrative (in an I got a great buzz from that beer/joint or whatever way)"
References
External links Text of the story, in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction