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Small Magics: A Short Story
A young woman in fantasy Victorian London looks forward to showing off her magical etching skills to the head of the Society of Natural Scientists. This e-book includes the original short story as well as "The Princess with Butterfly Wings," an essay about the origins of the idea for this tale. (ages 12 & up)
34 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 11, 2011
About the author
Alethea Kontis
152 books1,490 followers"A veritable badass fairy princess." --Jim Butcher
"The faerie princess of the worlds of weird." --Jonathan Maberry
"Alethea Kontis IS fairy tales." --Jim C. Hines, author of Libriomancer
"Alethea Kontis: Awesome, racks up award nominations, wears tiaras." --SF author Ferrett Steinmetz
"I want to live in [Alethea's] head because I think that might be the most interesting place in the world!!!!" --Ellen Oh, author of Prophecy
"Alethea Kontis, the woman who writes like Shakespeare would if he were alive today." --Aaron Pound
"The beauty of a princess, the confidence of a queen, the brilliance of a writer, and the demeanor of a cheerful fairy comedian!" --Cheyenne Z.
"This was the story before all of the other stories, and it was the other tales that were changed over time." --Nerdophiles, on ENCHANTED
"The faerie princess of the worlds of weird." --Jonathan Maberry
"Alethea Kontis IS fairy tales." --Jim C. Hines, author of Libriomancer
"Alethea Kontis: Awesome, racks up award nominations, wears tiaras." --SF author Ferrett Steinmetz
"I want to live in [Alethea's] head because I think that might be the most interesting place in the world!!!!" --Ellen Oh, author of Prophecy
"Alethea Kontis, the woman who writes like Shakespeare would if he were alive today." --Aaron Pound
"The beauty of a princess, the confidence of a queen, the brilliance of a writer, and the demeanor of a cheerful fairy comedian!" --Cheyenne Z.
"This was the story before all of the other stories, and it was the other tales that were changed over time." --Nerdophiles, on ENCHANTED
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 15, 2024
Absolutely lovely. This is a great short story and clearly demonstrates the author's imagination and proficiency.
March 29, 2015
This was the first story I read by Alethea Kontis, way back in 2003. I loved the rough draft back then, which she wrote in less than 24 hours by the way, and this is one of the rare times when a text lives up to nostalgia. The final published story retaining all the magic of that quick first draft. She has the great knack of making stories that you can wrap yourself up in and sigh about how beautiful they are and how wonderful life seems afterward. This piece about power versus responsibility, makes everything feel right with the world at the end, despite the hard left turn given to the protagonist. Her essay on the inspirations at the end, fills out the story and adds to the feeling of beauty and closeness. This short story that you can read in a single sitting is the literary equivalent of a warm fuzzy and I'm so happy to have found that it exists in published form.
June 30, 2013
A lovely short story about a heroine who feels she can rise to greater abilities in her etching magic through apprenticeship in the natural sciences. She must face the uncertainties of this male-dominated field in the Victorian Era. This of course comes with some surprises, and the questioning of magic's use that seems almost like it might be parablesque. I liked reading on about the story's origins; and agree that it definitely feels like it could be a full Victorian fantasy novel or series.
March 7, 2015
An excellent very short story that promises so much more. There is a whole new world waiting to be revealed here. Hoping I get to read about it one day. Great stuff
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews