Magic Lies

Outside Lies Magic is a book about the acute observation of ordinary things, about becoming aware in everyday places, about seeing in utterly new ways, about enriching your life unexpectedly. For more than 20 years, John R. Stilgoe has developed and practiced the art of exploring the everyday world around us, where so much lies hidden just beneath the surface, offering uncommon knowledge if we but know what to look for. In this remarkable book, Stilgoe inspires us to become explorers on our own-on foot or on bicycle-and by so doing to reap the benefits of escaping, even temporarily, the traps of our programmed lives. "Exploration encourages creativity, serendipity, invention," he writes. And while sharing his insights on how to explore, Stilgoe provides a fascinating pocket history of the American landscape, as striking in its originality as it is revealing. Stilgoe dissects our visual surroundings; his observations will transform the way you see everything. Through his eyes, an abandoned railroad line is redolent of history and future promise; front lawns recall our agrarian past; vacant lots hold cathedrals of potential. From the electrical grid overhead to fences, malls, and main streets, Stilgoe offers a fresh understanding of the links and fractures in our society. After reading Outside Lies Magic, your world will never look the same again.

Daisy Ellery’s pies have a secret ingredient: The magical ability to avenge women done wrong by men. But Daisy finds herself on the receiving end in Misha Popp’s cozy series debut, a sweet-as-buttercream treat for fans of Ellery Adams and Mary Maxwell. The first time Daisy Ellery killed a man with a pie, it was an accident. Now, it’s her calling. Daisy bakes sweet vengeance into her pastries, which she and her dog Zoe deliver to the men who’ve done dirty deeds to the town’s women. But if she can’t solve the one crime that’s not of her own baking, she’ll be out of the pie pan and into the oven. Parking her Pies Before Guys mobile bakery van outside the local diner, Daisy is informed by Frank, the crusty diner owner, that someone’s been prowling around the van—and not just to inhale the delectable aroma. Already on thin icing with Frank, she finds a letter on her door, threatening to reveal her unsavory secret sideline of pie a la murder. Blackmail? But who whipped up this half-baked plot to cut a slice out of Daisy’s business? Purple-haired campus do-gooder Melly? Noel, the tender—if flaky—farm boy? Or one of the abusive men who prefer their pie without a deadly scoop of payback? The upcoming statewide pie contest could be Daisy’s big chance to help wronged women everywhere…if she doesn’t meet a sticky end first. Because Daisy knows the blackmailer won’t stop until her business is in crumbles.

I failed. My dearest friend has lost everything and the monster from my nightmares is back and wants me. My new trainer hates me and hopes I fail, so he can haul me off to the Guild Jail. Zander is missing, Callie, and Sterling are resentful and blame our current situation on me. My life sucks because I made it this way. I need to solve the case of the missing girl, help the three of us gain independence, fix Jennica, and find Zander before he's imprisoned or worse. A runaway girl leads me to unexpected places and new enemies as I come against a twisted cult. Along the way, I discover a hidden power. It's dark, dangerous, and forbidden – and it calls to me. If I can't hold on, I just might prove to be my father's daughter. The world couldn't survive it, but a part of me doesn't care.

Princess Eirian Altira has always walked on a knife’s edge with flowers chasing her footsteps. Born with magic, she struggles to balance her ability to give life with the desire to kill. Raised by mages, the day comes when she must return home to a kingdom she left as a child, and a father she has not seen in 20 years. Surrounded by a strange court with expectations she was not prepared for, Eirian hides her magic until she’s faced with the choice between becoming queen or returning to the mages. With secrets around every corner and war with a neighboring kingdom on the horizon, Eirian discovers her power means more than she realized. As does her long-standing friendship with the crown prince of the elven nation they’ve been allied with for generations. But the whispers in her mind and the rumors spreading through her court threaten everything Eirian holds dear, and she will do anything to protect the ones she loves. With assassination attempts and rumors of war, Eirian proves to those around her that she is not one to hide from confrontation. Even when it risks her life. PRAISE & REVIEWS "A compelling, well thought out story which leaves you wanting more." —Early Reader Review "Magic of Lies is fast-paced, witty, and was instantly my new favorite fantasy series. Joyce Gee built a beautifully rich and diverse world. The Altira Series deserves a home on any fantasy lovers' bookshelf alongside George R.R. Martin, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Sarah J. Maas. With so many enchanting characters, you'll be rooting for them all. I highly recommend reading it!" —Alex Williams, editor

Exploration of fairy-tale movies that blur the line between reality and magic.

Reality, Magic, and Other Lies: Fairy-Tale Film Truths explores connections and discontinuities between lies and truths in fairy-tale films to directly address the current politics of fairy tale and reality. Since the Enlightenment, notions of magic and wonder have been relegated to the realm of the fanciful, with science and reality understood as objective and true. But the skepticism associated with postmodern thought and critiques from diverse perspectives--including but not limited to anti-racist, decolonial, disability, and feminist theorizing--renders this binary distinction questionable. Further, the precise content of magic and science has shifted through history and across location. Pauline Greenhill offers the idea that fairy tales, particularly through the medium of film, often address those distinctions by making magic real and reality magical. Reality, Magic, and Other Lies consists of an introduction, two sections, and a conclusion, with the first section, "Studio, Director, and Writer Oeuvres," addressing how fairy-tale films engage with and challenge scientific or factual approaches to truth and reality, drawing on films from the stop-motion animation company LAIKA, the independent filmmaker Tarsem, and the storyteller and writer Fred Pellerin. The second section, "Themes and Issues from Three Fairy Tales," shows fairy-tale film magic exploring real-life issues and experiences using the stories of "Hansel and Gretel," "The Juniper Tree," and "Cinderella." The concluding section, "Moving Forward?" suggests that the key to facing the reality of contemporary issues is to invest in fairy tales as a guide, rather than a means of escape, by gathering your community and never forgetting to believe. Reality, Magic, and Other Lies--which will be of interest to film and fairy-tale scholars and students--considers the ways in which fairy tales in their mediated forms deconstruct the world and offer alternative views for peaceful, appropriate, just, and intersectionally multifaceted encounters with humans, non-human animals, and the rest of the environment.

"The first section in Magic Lies examines Mitchell's fiction; the second, his writings for radio, television, and theatre; and the third is composed of interviews and personal recollections. Contributors include literary scholars, novelists, theatre and television directors, an actor, and a popular radio host and journalist. Together their essays invite further creative readings and critical dialogue, and deepen our understanding of a writer whose sense of community and locality has influenced a national literary tradition." "Given the broad appeal of Mitchell's work and the interdisciplinary nature of this collection, Magic Lies will interest both general readers and scholars in the areas of English literature, drama, broadcasting, Canadian studies, and popular culture."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Magic realism has long been treated as a phenomenon restricted to postcolonial literature. Drawing on works from Britain, Lies that Tell the Truth compellingly shows how magic realist fiction can be produced also at what is usually considered to be the cultural centre without forfeiting the mode’s postcolonial attitude and aims. A close analysis of works by Angela Carter, Salman Rushdie, Jeanette Winterson, Robert Nye and others reveals how the techniques of magic realism generate a complex critique of the West’s rational-empirical worldview from within a Western context itself. Understanding magic realism as a fictional analogue of anthropology and sociology, Lies that Tell the Truth reads the mode as a frequently humorous but at the same time critical investigation into people’s attempts to make sense of their world. By laying bare the manifold strategies employed to make meaning, magic realist fiction indicates that knowledge and reality cannot be reduced to hard facts, but that people’s dreams and fears, ideas, stories and beliefs must equally be taken into account.