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Wandmaking 101: A Sunshine Mystery Magic Club Adventure
Earth, but an Earth with Magic--It's 1963, Things have been peaceful in the Republic since the Avalon War seven years ago. Sarah, Jonnie and Katie formed the Sunshine Mystery Magic Club in Brookhaven Middle School in Virginia with the idea that since they couldn't afford to buy a magic wand from Avalon, they'd try to make one. No one bothered to mention it couldn't be done. What could three middle school girls do that the scientists and mages of Earth's most brilliant colleges hadn't already tried in the years since Newton codified magic?
Major Accipiter looks older than dirt. Half the time he feels like it, too. He's the last operational Sorceror of the Republic's Special Forces, once again told he can't retire just yet because his country needs him, something he's heard before. He's been asked to discover just who, or what, the "school teachers" of the Spiritavit School of Magic really are--and what they're up to.
She's old--she doesn't know how old, but she can remember things from eons ago: the time before the dragon came to Avalon, even the time before humans walked on Earth and Avalon. She can almost remember those who built her-their language was something no human throat could reproduce. As the years pass, she is awakened for a day when she is needed, then sleeps again. She remembers clearly loaning Excalibur to Arthur to save Avalon, and being given it back. All she wants is to walk her own path, but her stone circle wasn't designed for that-it was designed to guard the weapons she loans until some nearby world needs one. Tonight, she'll fall asleep again–but now, she's off to rescue three girls who're in more trouble than anyone else would believe. Will she be forced to go back to sleep while someone else rescues humanity?
Wandmaking 101 is:
Three parts coming of age
Two parts parents running to keep up
One part military backdrop
Two pinches of Lovecraft
One shake of a dragon
Mix well with an Arthurian legend
A recipe for Adventure
No one told them the worlds were the stakes
Major Accipiter looks older than dirt. Half the time he feels like it, too. He's the last operational Sorceror of the Republic's Special Forces, once again told he can't retire just yet because his country needs him, something he's heard before. He's been asked to discover just who, or what, the "school teachers" of the Spiritavit School of Magic really are--and what they're up to.
She's old--she doesn't know how old, but she can remember things from eons ago: the time before the dragon came to Avalon, even the time before humans walked on Earth and Avalon. She can almost remember those who built her-their language was something no human throat could reproduce. As the years pass, she is awakened for a day when she is needed, then sleeps again. She remembers clearly loaning Excalibur to Arthur to save Avalon, and being given it back. All she wants is to walk her own path, but her stone circle wasn't designed for that-it was designed to guard the weapons she loans until some nearby world needs one. Tonight, she'll fall asleep again–but now, she's off to rescue three girls who're in more trouble than anyone else would believe. Will she be forced to go back to sleep while someone else rescues humanity?
Wandmaking 101 is:
Three parts coming of age
Two parts parents running to keep up
One part military backdrop
Two pinches of Lovecraft
One shake of a dragon
Mix well with an Arthurian legend
A recipe for Adventure
No one told them the worlds were the stakes
554 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 16, 2019
21 people are currently reading
28 people want to read
About the author
David Hochhalter
13 books109 followersBy day David Hochhalter is an optical engineer who has designed some of the longest terrestrial systems in the world. Since he was given the 2:00am middle of the night idea brain instead of the 9:00am brain, he decided to try writing instead of reading technical manuals. Besides, imaging stories is more fun than reading about amplifiers. His published books are Wandmaking 101, Wandmaking 201 and the Healer’s series starting with Healer’s Awakening. Currently he is working on another series in the same universe.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 4, 2020
This looks like a children's book. "Sunshine Mystery Magic Club" just screams that it'll be terminally cutesy. The cover art (young girls, carrying stylized, possibly-magical implements, walking through a forest) reinforces the expectation. In fact, this adult reader read it with pleasure.
Wandmaking 101 does have some of the characteristics of juvenile fiction. The protagonists are young, and the ethical challenges they face are appropriate for their ages. Less-typically for juvenile fiction, their story is firmly embedded within a larger world.
The year is 1963, and the Confederacy (it seems to have broken from England successfully in the nineteenth century) is in contact with Avalon - a world of effective magic and less-effective technology. They are on good terms, because forces from Earth helped save Avalon from an invasion (from yet another world) a few years earlier, but the connection is still tentative. When three girls at a middle-school "magic club" manage to actually create a wand, their success turns out to have world-shaking implications.
A lot of story is crammed into five-hundred-odd pages - and I didn't notice until it was pointed out in passing, but the entire story takes place over a few hours.
Wandmaking 101 does have some of the characteristics of juvenile fiction. The protagonists are young, and the ethical challenges they face are appropriate for their ages. Less-typically for juvenile fiction, their story is firmly embedded within a larger world.
The year is 1963, and the Confederacy (it seems to have broken from England successfully in the nineteenth century) is in contact with Avalon - a world of effective magic and less-effective technology. They are on good terms, because forces from Earth helped save Avalon from an invasion (from yet another world) a few years earlier, but the connection is still tentative. When three girls at a middle-school "magic club" manage to actually create a wand, their success turns out to have world-shaking implications.
A lot of story is crammed into five-hundred-odd pages - and I didn't notice until it was pointed out in passing, but the entire story takes place over a few hours.
November 14, 2022
Chaotic
It's an ok read. At points it is a bit chaotic as super powerful characters are added at random. Too many in my opinion but then I'm not a writer.
I have read 4 of the other book and found something that disturbs me. The fact that teenagers with large breasts are the measure of beauty as a theme in all the books I've read so far is not how I feel 13 and 14 year old girls should be characterized. At least let them grow up a bit before starting to mess with body image.
It's an ok read. At points it is a bit chaotic as super powerful characters are added at random. Too many in my opinion but then I'm not a writer.
I have read 4 of the other book and found something that disturbs me. The fact that teenagers with large breasts are the measure of beauty as a theme in all the books I've read so far is not how I feel 13 and 14 year old girls should be characterized. At least let them grow up a bit before starting to mess with body image.
September 23, 2019
I’m already eager for the next installment.
This book is peopled with engaging and intelligent characters. Liking each of them came very easy to me. The authors drew me in to the story almost immediately and I found myself rooting for the
characters despite myself. I also found I had a difficult time putting the book down for wanting to know what happens next.
The setting is not our earth but the society and history is close enough for any reader to feel at home in this world. I hope to visit again and again.
This book is peopled with engaging and intelligent characters. Liking each of them came very easy to me. The authors drew me in to the story almost immediately and I found myself rooting for the
characters despite myself. I also found I had a difficult time putting the book down for wanting to know what happens next.
The setting is not our earth but the society and history is close enough for any reader to feel at home in this world. I hope to visit again and again.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews