Strange Magic

by Catherine Jordan

In the late 1980s, I wrote a nifty little novel and signed on with a veteran agent who peddled it all over New York City. I papered the wall of my office with scores of rejection letters, licked my wounds, and went on to other pursuits. But I always wondered why my story went nowhere. Fast forward thirty years. In collaboration with the Perry County Council of the Arts, author Don Helin assembled a stellar faculty of successful, published authors to teach A Novel Idea, a year-long class for aspiring novelists. I signed on for that first year, half to represent PCCA, and half hoping I might learn what I did wrong three decades ago. A Novel Idea did not disappoint. I learned many reasons why my book never got out of the starting blocks, all the time wishing I could have avoided these pitfalls by taking such a course before I ever started writing. But there was an unanticipated bonus. My 18 classmates demonstrated a gift for the written word that made each session a joy. As they read aloud the fruits of their writing exercises, I marveled at their talent and inspiration. They made me laugh, pulled hard at my emotions, or transported me to places that I had never been. That is why I was so excited when author and facilitator Catherine Jordan and publisher Lawrence Knorr approached us with the idea of this anthology. I wanted to read the tales that my peers, and those from the class that followed, had to spin. Please relish them with the knowledge that they were written by ordinary people who believed they had a story to tell and had the courage to start writing. --Rog Smith, executive director Perry County Council of the Arts Stories from the Perry County Council of the Arts Writer's

170 pages, Paperback

Published December 17, 2016

Reviews

[Angel Leya · Rating 5 out of 5]

This eclectic collection of stories was certainly an entertaining read. Some stories I enjoyed more than others, as with any anthology, but overall they each contained a certain level of magic to them, as the title suggests. My favorites were:

Paint by Numbers by Maria V. Snyder: A girl with synesthesia learns where her gifts for math and color come from.
On of Full Moon Night by Rachel Sink: A woman wanting to escape a terrible home life finds the swamp waiting to fulfill her wish.
The Light of Night by Mark Boerma: Two drunks experience something strange in the desert on their way home from a Halloween party.
Scent and Scentability by Angela Binner: Half a bottle of perfume may have the ability to give one woman her heart's desire.
Little Whirlpools by Carrie Jacobs: I'll use the author's words for this - Don't go near the water! :)
Angel in the Mist by Laurie J. Edwards: A young Irish woman bound for the new world will do nearly anything to save the family she has to leave behind.
Aphrodite by J.A. Thomas: A magical boat makes one couple's day.

Definitely worth a read!

Thanks to author Carrie Jacobs, from whom I won the book. I received this book for free with no obligation to review, and this is my honest opinion.

[Charmaine Ohl · Rating 3 out of 5]

:/ rather meh... the amount of good stories sorely was outnumbered by the not as great stories. The magics mentioned were certainly strange but also sometimes seemed very absent. There was no real stand out story that stuck in my mind.

[Lawrence Knorr · Rating 5 out of 5]

An entertaining anthology from a very talented group.