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Portable Magic
Books are magic. Lance knows this, which is why he wants to be a writer. His stories, however, never seem to quite capture that sorcery…until his uncle buys him an antique typewriter for his fifteenth birthday. When Lance sits down to create stories on the machine, he finds himself touching parts of his imagination he never knew existed. Tales of grief and loss, forgiveness and redemption, mortality and immortality, and, above all, the overwhelming power of stories. He begins to think of the typewriter itself as a magical relic, the muse from which the tales spring.Is he right, or has the typewriter merely helped him access the magic in himself? And ultimately, does the distinction even matter?
110 pages, Paperback
Published March 13, 2024
31 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 18, 2024
Unusual, nearly experimental, but captivating l
It's not often that I find myself at a loss for describing What a novel is about, and that's not the novel's fault, because it knows exactly what it is, it's that I can't find the right words, but I'll do my best.
Portable magic isn't a single narrative with a beginning middle and end as one would expect, It's more like a series of small stories, that, interconnected, Tell you what the creative process that goes in writing is, down to how people outside the writer perceive each step of the process. I particularly felt I could relay to when someone made little of the work that goes into writing and what it actually is, as if it were some hobby that we do for fun only.
It's a quick read and a fascinating glimpse into the mind of those of us that getting to this storytelling business because we feel like we have something to tell. Is the magic in our minds? In our hearts? In the keys that we use to type? Or is it something that piques our curiosity and suddenly awakens when we actually start doing it, like some kind of magic spell that we didn't know we cast?
I love it when authors start playing a little and growing outside the lines and that's what Gunnells is doing here. This feels cozy and interesting and uplifting, all at once.
Very recommended.
It's not often that I find myself at a loss for describing What a novel is about, and that's not the novel's fault, because it knows exactly what it is, it's that I can't find the right words, but I'll do my best.
Portable magic isn't a single narrative with a beginning middle and end as one would expect, It's more like a series of small stories, that, interconnected, Tell you what the creative process that goes in writing is, down to how people outside the writer perceive each step of the process. I particularly felt I could relay to when someone made little of the work that goes into writing and what it actually is, as if it were some hobby that we do for fun only.
It's a quick read and a fascinating glimpse into the mind of those of us that getting to this storytelling business because we feel like we have something to tell. Is the magic in our minds? In our hearts? In the keys that we use to type? Or is it something that piques our curiosity and suddenly awakens when we actually start doing it, like some kind of magic spell that we didn't know we cast?
I love it when authors start playing a little and growing outside the lines and that's what Gunnells is doing here. This feels cozy and interesting and uplifting, all at once.
Very recommended.
July 12, 2024
In his new story collection, Portable Magic, Mark Allan Gunnells explores a wide range of genres, including a post-apocalyptic tale, a ghost story, tales that blur the boundaries between reality and fiction, such as when a grieving fan at the mausoleum of his favorite writer, meet a grieving character, a journey into a dream, among others.
Gunnells, who is best known for his horror fiction, does not disappoint in this new collection which crossed more than one genre boundary. I especially liked that this story collection is about stories and storytelling. Gunnells sets this up with a frame story. Fifteen-year-old Lance receives as a birthday present from his uncle, an antique manual typewriter. When Lance, an aspiring writer, sits down to write, he feels an almost electrical jolt when he touches the typewriter keys. His stories change. It seems as if he has accessed imagination he didn’t know he had. His stories acquire a new power, and he is surprised at the stories that seem to be flowing out of his fingertips. He seems he has found his muse, or rather, the typewriter is helping find his own interior muse.
I want to look a little more closely at three of Lance’s unexpected stories. The first, “The End is the Beginning,” is a tale of a high school student, Kyle, waiting for that all-important letter: has he or has he not been accepted into the college he desperately wants to attend. The letter comes, but the letter has only has only two words, The End. Kyle is devastated, he wants to go to the school and find out what this means. His mother shakes her head and tells him their story is over. “You can’t leave this room,” she tells him. “You can’t even leave this moment. “We’re in a short story, not a novel.” Her face goes blank. She no longer seems human, but rather a mannequin. These are not the characters one expects. They know they are in a story; the reader has been invited into the story’s backstage. Kyle refuses to accept his ending and challenges his Creator, Malek, demanding a longer script, a bigger part. In essence, the reader is invited into the process of storytelling.
“The House That Dreams Built” takes the reader from story as theatre, story as the act of storytelling, to story as dream. Keith comes home to find an unexpected gift from his husband, Gene. Inside the package he finds a tiny “two-story house, brown, shingled roof, two attic windows,” a replica of the home of Keith’s favorite writer, Bradley Raymond. The replica was carved from a brick of Raymond’s home, now torn down. Raymond’s fiction was Keith’s escape from bullying and parental abuse. The gift triggers dreams, dreams of the real house and Raymond upstairs writing, and again, Keith has a gift from the writer. Yes, Bradley Raymond is meant to be a homage to Ray Bradbury, whose fantasy and science fiction can be said to be akin to dreams. This story is also about dreams as story, as the stuff of story. That Raymond’s stories helped Keith survive is a testament to the power of stories..
As much as we all dream, and have to dream, the last story I want to talk about asks us to consider how much we need stories. “The Library” takes place after the apocalypse. Books are rare, as many were used as fuel. Lowell and Dru are on the run, seeking a haven from the chaos. They come across The Community, where stories are be bought by making a trade. As Avery, a member of The Community, tells them, “no one knew how badly they missed stories” until they were hard to come by. “People gotta have stories.” They make their deal and are invited into the library. There are no books. Instead, they find a man, a writer whom Lowell recognizes. He tells them the stories they bought. This living library is being kept prisoner. What should Lowell and Dru do, if anything? Answering this question proves less straight forward than they imagined. This story attests to the power of stories and how essential they are. It reminds us that stories were oral first, told by people like this living library who tells stories he knew by heart.
When I finished this gem of a collection, I found myself thinking of Walter Fisher (1931-2018), Professor Emeritus at the USC Annenberg for Communication and Journalism, and his idea that humans should be “reconceptualized as Homo Narrans. Humans are the animals that tell stories. We are all storytellers. He argues in Human Communication as Narration: Toward a Philosophy of Reason, Value, and Action, among other things, that “all forms of human communication must be seen as stories …” Granted, the idea of stories here is a broad one, but it speaks to what Gunnells is exploring in this collection: the art and process of storytelling, storytelling as a creative act. We tell stories to entertain, yes, and we also tell them to make sense of, and interpret, human experience.
This collection celebrates this essential human act. That these tales are told through a queer lens, adds to the power of these tales I do find myself wishing the stories were longer, which again attests to their power.
Highly recommended.
Gunnells, who is best known for his horror fiction, does not disappoint in this new collection which crossed more than one genre boundary. I especially liked that this story collection is about stories and storytelling. Gunnells sets this up with a frame story. Fifteen-year-old Lance receives as a birthday present from his uncle, an antique manual typewriter. When Lance, an aspiring writer, sits down to write, he feels an almost electrical jolt when he touches the typewriter keys. His stories change. It seems as if he has accessed imagination he didn’t know he had. His stories acquire a new power, and he is surprised at the stories that seem to be flowing out of his fingertips. He seems he has found his muse, or rather, the typewriter is helping find his own interior muse.
I want to look a little more closely at three of Lance’s unexpected stories. The first, “The End is the Beginning,” is a tale of a high school student, Kyle, waiting for that all-important letter: has he or has he not been accepted into the college he desperately wants to attend. The letter comes, but the letter has only has only two words, The End. Kyle is devastated, he wants to go to the school and find out what this means. His mother shakes her head and tells him their story is over. “You can’t leave this room,” she tells him. “You can’t even leave this moment. “We’re in a short story, not a novel.” Her face goes blank. She no longer seems human, but rather a mannequin. These are not the characters one expects. They know they are in a story; the reader has been invited into the story’s backstage. Kyle refuses to accept his ending and challenges his Creator, Malek, demanding a longer script, a bigger part. In essence, the reader is invited into the process of storytelling.
“The House That Dreams Built” takes the reader from story as theatre, story as the act of storytelling, to story as dream. Keith comes home to find an unexpected gift from his husband, Gene. Inside the package he finds a tiny “two-story house, brown, shingled roof, two attic windows,” a replica of the home of Keith’s favorite writer, Bradley Raymond. The replica was carved from a brick of Raymond’s home, now torn down. Raymond’s fiction was Keith’s escape from bullying and parental abuse. The gift triggers dreams, dreams of the real house and Raymond upstairs writing, and again, Keith has a gift from the writer. Yes, Bradley Raymond is meant to be a homage to Ray Bradbury, whose fantasy and science fiction can be said to be akin to dreams. This story is also about dreams as story, as the stuff of story. That Raymond’s stories helped Keith survive is a testament to the power of stories..
As much as we all dream, and have to dream, the last story I want to talk about asks us to consider how much we need stories. “The Library” takes place after the apocalypse. Books are rare, as many were used as fuel. Lowell and Dru are on the run, seeking a haven from the chaos. They come across The Community, where stories are be bought by making a trade. As Avery, a member of The Community, tells them, “no one knew how badly they missed stories” until they were hard to come by. “People gotta have stories.” They make their deal and are invited into the library. There are no books. Instead, they find a man, a writer whom Lowell recognizes. He tells them the stories they bought. This living library is being kept prisoner. What should Lowell and Dru do, if anything? Answering this question proves less straight forward than they imagined. This story attests to the power of stories and how essential they are. It reminds us that stories were oral first, told by people like this living library who tells stories he knew by heart.
When I finished this gem of a collection, I found myself thinking of Walter Fisher (1931-2018), Professor Emeritus at the USC Annenberg for Communication and Journalism, and his idea that humans should be “reconceptualized as Homo Narrans. Humans are the animals that tell stories. We are all storytellers. He argues in Human Communication as Narration: Toward a Philosophy of Reason, Value, and Action, among other things, that “all forms of human communication must be seen as stories …” Granted, the idea of stories here is a broad one, but it speaks to what Gunnells is exploring in this collection: the art and process of storytelling, storytelling as a creative act. We tell stories to entertain, yes, and we also tell them to make sense of, and interpret, human experience.
This collection celebrates this essential human act. That these tales are told through a queer lens, adds to the power of these tales I do find myself wishing the stories were longer, which again attests to their power.
Highly recommended.
April 7, 2024
Portable Magic is the first story that I have read from Mark Allan Gunnells, but it won't be my last.
Portable Magic is about Lance, a teenager and aspiring author who receives an antique typewriter as a gift from his uncle. The typewriter used to belong to two well-known authors. Lance usually struggles to finish a story when he writes on his laptop. but the moment he begins to use the typewriter, he finds himself, not just inspired to write but almost addicted to the act of writing. What we get is stories within the story: basically, each chapter checks in with Lance, then gives us his latest short story. There is a recurring narrative where Lance wonders if this burst of creativity is his imagination, or if the stories are coming from the typewriter itself-like phantom stories passed down by the deceased authors who once owned the typewriter. The stories Lance writes vary by genre, but they are all short, profound, and melancholic. I absolutely loved most of the stories, and I was impressed by how Mark Allan could make each short story (and I do mean short) so impactful.
My one complaint about this book, and it is through no fault of the author, is that it is part of the Rewind or Die novella series, so I assumed that there would be more of a horror bend to Portable Magic, like each story getting more sinister or warped, but that is not what I got. To be fair to the author, nowhere in the synopsis does he suggest that Portable Magic is a horror story, so this is more of a case of me putting more weight into the series title than the synopsis, and that is entirely my fault.
I would implore anyone who loves quiet and moving short stories to give Portable Magic a chance. Just know that this is not a horror novella. It is what is advertised by the synopsis.
My favorite passage from the novel: "Imagination and creativity are a kind of magic, a portable kind that you can take with you wherever you go."
Portable Magic is about Lance, a teenager and aspiring author who receives an antique typewriter as a gift from his uncle. The typewriter used to belong to two well-known authors. Lance usually struggles to finish a story when he writes on his laptop. but the moment he begins to use the typewriter, he finds himself, not just inspired to write but almost addicted to the act of writing. What we get is stories within the story: basically, each chapter checks in with Lance, then gives us his latest short story. There is a recurring narrative where Lance wonders if this burst of creativity is his imagination, or if the stories are coming from the typewriter itself-like phantom stories passed down by the deceased authors who once owned the typewriter. The stories Lance writes vary by genre, but they are all short, profound, and melancholic. I absolutely loved most of the stories, and I was impressed by how Mark Allan could make each short story (and I do mean short) so impactful.
My one complaint about this book, and it is through no fault of the author, is that it is part of the Rewind or Die novella series, so I assumed that there would be more of a horror bend to Portable Magic, like each story getting more sinister or warped, but that is not what I got. To be fair to the author, nowhere in the synopsis does he suggest that Portable Magic is a horror story, so this is more of a case of me putting more weight into the series title than the synopsis, and that is entirely my fault.
I would implore anyone who loves quiet and moving short stories to give Portable Magic a chance. Just know that this is not a horror novella. It is what is advertised by the synopsis.
My favorite passage from the novel: "Imagination and creativity are a kind of magic, a portable kind that you can take with you wherever you go."
June 10, 2024
Portable Magic is a multilayered tale, a love letter to what it takes to be a writer. It’s sentimental, but not overly so, (I’ll admit to catching feels, esp. with Garth and Franklin and any Dad-involved stuff) and moves along quickly through a series of interlinked vignettes. These examine things like growing up as an outsider, being queer, family relations, and how writing can take over your life, eclipsing all other loves. I enjoyed all the unexpected twists and different characters, and though it became momentarily confusing at times (lots of character names!) it felt like the story held together through to the end. It’s an engaging book with subtle overtones of magical realism and some good insight. Will have to seek out more of Gunnels’ work.
April 12, 2025
This was one of the Rewind Or Die series books I really enjoyed as it had a few short stories wrapped up into a main short story. It explores not only the journey of being a writer but how things from the writers life often carry over into their stories.
Would definitely recommend this one if you're a writer!
Would definitely recommend this one if you're a writer!
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February 25, 20254 stars = I loved this book.
Other reviewers have already summarized the book, so I won't do that here. The thing I really want to add to the discussion is that this book has the gee-whiz sense of wonder that you'd find in a Ray Bradbury book. There may or may not be magic in the typewriter, but for sure there is magic in stories. "Portable Magic" was a delight to read.
Other reviewers have already summarized the book, so I won't do that here. The thing I really want to add to the discussion is that this book has the gee-whiz sense of wonder that you'd find in a Ray Bradbury book. There may or may not be magic in the typewriter, but for sure there is magic in stories. "Portable Magic" was a delight to read.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews