Short fantasy stories with magic systems
October 28, 2023 9:54 AM Subscribe
I'm going to have my 12th graders dabble with writing fantasy and creates stories with magic systems. I think I have the concepts in hand. Can you recommend short fantasy stories, especially ones with magic involved?
I know three things that I want to be stubborn about:
- Sci-fi short stories are way more common than fantasy short stories. But sci-fi is its own rabbit hole.
- Fantasy really blooms in novels, so maybe excerpts? But I think the odds of a non-confusing novel excerpt are very slim.
- Yes, "magic" can be defined expansively, all the way to including literary fiction, or at least Borges, etc. I'm taking a short break from literary fiction with this and really do want magic magic. The supernatural happens and someone knows how to use it.
Many thanks as ever.
I know three things that I want to be stubborn about:
- Sci-fi short stories are way more common than fantasy short stories. But sci-fi is its own rabbit hole.
- Fantasy really blooms in novels, so maybe excerpts? But I think the odds of a non-confusing novel excerpt are very slim.
- Yes, "magic" can be defined expansively, all the way to including literary fiction, or at least Borges, etc. I'm taking a short break from literary fiction with this and really do want magic magic. The supernatural happens and someone knows how to use it.
Many thanks as ever.
Ursula K. Le Guin's "The Rule of Names", set in the universe of her Earthsea books, is the first thing that comes to mind.
posted by teraflop at 10:21 AM on October 28, 2023 [8 favorites]
posted by teraflop at 10:21 AM on October 28, 2023 [8 favorites]
Response by poster: xenization:
Explicitly detailed systems are good. I do plan on using some of Sanderson's thoughts on this matter; dunno about his actual fiction.
With young writers in a classroom, I think having them work explicitly is good, as opposed to having them make more subtle inferences. Not having written much fiction in our school system, they seem quite stuck in an elementary-school model of one amazing/weird thing happening after another, and-then-and-then-and-then.
The idea is to foreground the notion of constraints on characters' powers. (Removing powers altogether and asking them to write like Raymond Carver or Alice Munro is the deadest of dead ends; trust me.)
posted by argybarg at 10:43 AM on October 28, 2023
Explicitly detailed systems are good. I do plan on using some of Sanderson's thoughts on this matter; dunno about his actual fiction.
With young writers in a classroom, I think having them work explicitly is good, as opposed to having them make more subtle inferences. Not having written much fiction in our school system, they seem quite stuck in an elementary-school model of one amazing/weird thing happening after another, and-then-and-then-and-then.
The idea is to foreground the notion of constraints on characters' powers. (Removing powers altogether and asking them to write like Raymond Carver or Alice Munro is the deadest of dead ends; trust me.)
posted by argybarg at 10:43 AM on October 28, 2023
T. Kingfisher has a great story called "Toad Words," which is the fairy tale retelling about the girl who has toads and bugs fall from her lips whenever she speaks. Her story "The Tomato Thief" is also explicitly about magic. She's got a bunch of other stuff, too.
posted by gideonfrog at 11:18 AM on October 28, 2023 [7 favorites]
posted by gideonfrog at 11:18 AM on October 28, 2023 [7 favorites]
I just read Babel by R. F. Kuang and it would fit the bill, except that it's a long novel. It has a system of magic that involves inscribing two related words or terms in different languages on a bar of silver, then reading it. (it's also an extended critique of colonialism)
posted by the antecedent of that pronoun at 12:27 PM on October 28, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by the antecedent of that pronoun at 12:27 PM on October 28, 2023 [1 favorite]
Tor.com doesn't have an explicit magical genre but it does have a good number of short stories set in magical worlds.
Edit: I lied. There is a whole category for Magical Realism.
posted by DarlingBri at 12:36 PM on October 28, 2023 [2 favorites]
Edit: I lied. There is a whole category for Magical Realism.
posted by DarlingBri at 12:36 PM on October 28, 2023 [2 favorites]
Too long I think, but this question immediately made me think of the Rivers of London series by Ben Aaranovitvch.
I always liked the magical system and because the protagonist is only apprentice, he’s often left improvising and falling back to non-magical solutions.
Just avoid any bits where his mentor has to save the day.
posted by jonrob at 12:54 PM on October 28, 2023 [1 favorite]
I always liked the magical system and because the protagonist is only apprentice, he’s often left improvising and falling back to non-magical solutions.
Just avoid any bits where his mentor has to save the day.
posted by jonrob at 12:54 PM on October 28, 2023 [1 favorite]
Fairy tales. I recommend fairy tales.
I worry that magic systems on their own will not solve the problem you're hoping to solve--you run the risk of a bunch of variations on "Everyone's magic has a color, but purple is the most special color, so Maria uses her purple sword to defeat red, green, and teal enemies, the end." Fairy tale rules are often plot rules (people who are cruel to animals will meet bad ends, be polite to strangers, the third try succeeds, the prince marries the princess, etc.), so if you ask your students to analyze and engage with fairy tale rules, you will be steering them in the direction of plot.
The modern fairy tale I have personally used when trying to explain plot creation is Marie Brennan's Silver Necklace, Golden Ring, but you should be able to find all sorts of modern riffs on fairy tales!
posted by yarntheory at 1:21 PM on October 28, 2023 [5 favorites]
I worry that magic systems on their own will not solve the problem you're hoping to solve--you run the risk of a bunch of variations on "Everyone's magic has a color, but purple is the most special color, so Maria uses her purple sword to defeat red, green, and teal enemies, the end." Fairy tale rules are often plot rules (people who are cruel to animals will meet bad ends, be polite to strangers, the third try succeeds, the prince marries the princess, etc.), so if you ask your students to analyze and engage with fairy tale rules, you will be steering them in the direction of plot.
The modern fairy tale I have personally used when trying to explain plot creation is Marie Brennan's Silver Necklace, Golden Ring, but you should be able to find all sorts of modern riffs on fairy tales!
posted by yarntheory at 1:21 PM on October 28, 2023 [5 favorites]
As a conworlder, I kind of dislike magic systems. They're good for D&D and video games, but they encourage a pseudo-physics thinking that, to me, loses the sense of the uncanny. Plus I think it'd be hard to make a whole system work in a short story.
But i think what you're after, and what your students will benefit from, is limitations. You don't just invent a new power every time the protagonist faces a new problem.
Neil Gaiman has written a bunch of short stories. He has a knack for not explaining his magic, and makes that work somehow, but he is always conscious of limitations.
Diane Duane's Wizard series is, IIRC, a coherent magic system. They're novels but there may be a chapter you can use.
Stanislaw Lem's Cyberiad has some stories you could use. The trappings are sf, but they are really fantasy fables. E.g. the machine that can do anything with the letter N, but only that letter, is a fantasy concept, and very much based on the idea of limitations.
posted by zompist at 2:45 PM on October 28, 2023 [4 favorites]
But i think what you're after, and what your students will benefit from, is limitations. You don't just invent a new power every time the protagonist faces a new problem.
Neil Gaiman has written a bunch of short stories. He has a knack for not explaining his magic, and makes that work somehow, but he is always conscious of limitations.
Diane Duane's Wizard series is, IIRC, a coherent magic system. They're novels but there may be a chapter you can use.
Stanislaw Lem's Cyberiad has some stories you could use. The trappings are sf, but they are really fantasy fables. E.g. the machine that can do anything with the letter N, but only that letter, is a fantasy concept, and very much based on the idea of limitations.
posted by zompist at 2:45 PM on October 28, 2023 [4 favorites]
Following the idea of limitations, Niven's What Good Is A Glass Dagger? posits magic as a non-renewable resource.
posted by SPrintF at 3:31 PM on October 28, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by SPrintF at 3:31 PM on October 28, 2023 [1 favorite]
Sir Terry Pratchett wrote short stories, including several "lost" works (appeared in newspapers, under a pseudonym, in the '70s and '80s) collected and published earlier this month as A Stroke of the Pen.
posted by Iris Gambol at 3:36 PM on October 28, 2023
posted by Iris Gambol at 3:36 PM on October 28, 2023
Back to Brandon Sanderson, his short story collection Arcanum Unbound is full of great magic systems often well explained.
posted by moonmoth at 4:09 PM on October 28, 2023
posted by moonmoth at 4:09 PM on October 28, 2023
The single best example for this purpose is I know is "The Rule of Names", an Ursula K. LeGuin Earthsea story that covers the basics of her world's magic system, including the ability to shapeshift, the ease of (implied?) illusions, and the power of true names to force things to their true form. It's short, fun, a revolves around the way magic works.
posted by mark k at 4:18 PM on October 28, 2023 [7 favorites]
posted by mark k at 4:18 PM on October 28, 2023 [7 favorites]
Best answer: Here's a good handful free on the web that might work--only one or two really explain a system, but all of them highlight some pretty specific way magic happens:
Lesley Nneka Arimah, "Who Will Greet You at Home?"
Ken Liu, "Paper Menagerie"
Morris Tanafon, "The Last Spell of the Raven"
A.C. Wise, "The Practical Witch's Guide to Acquiring Real Estate"
Sophie Wereley, "Unconventional Advice for the Discerning Reader"
Ursula Vernon, "Toad Words"
Iona Datt Sharma, "All Worlds Left Behind"
K.M. Ferebee, "The Earth and Everything Under"
posted by Wobbuffet at 4:24 PM on October 28, 2023 [8 favorites]
Lesley Nneka Arimah, "Who Will Greet You at Home?"
Ken Liu, "Paper Menagerie"
Morris Tanafon, "The Last Spell of the Raven"
A.C. Wise, "The Practical Witch's Guide to Acquiring Real Estate"
Sophie Wereley, "Unconventional Advice for the Discerning Reader"
Ursula Vernon, "Toad Words"
Iona Datt Sharma, "All Worlds Left Behind"
K.M. Ferebee, "The Earth and Everything Under"
posted by Wobbuffet at 4:24 PM on October 28, 2023 [8 favorites]
Do something by Isaac Bashevis Singer. Maybe "Henne Fire." SO GREAT.
posted by ojocaliente at 5:24 PM on October 28, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by ojocaliente at 5:24 PM on October 28, 2023 [1 favorite]
Paper magician is a novella but I think the early chapters detail the magic system well.
posted by edbles at 5:51 AM on October 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by edbles at 5:51 AM on October 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
I suspect you'll find something at Caffeine and Magix that would suit your needs well.
posted by solotoro at 9:15 AM on October 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by solotoro at 9:15 AM on October 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
Kelly Link's writing, but it allows for magic and mundane to function in complex eco systems which also push limitaitons. Anything in her Magic for Beginners, but also esp The Faery Handbag: here
Angela Carter too, bt may be too mature.
posted by PinkMoose at 2:39 PM on October 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
Angela Carter too, bt may be too mature.
posted by PinkMoose at 2:39 PM on October 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
Magic? How about the Deryni novels by K. Kurtz? As I recall, the books were pretty short, and packed with fantasy magic.
posted by james33 at 4:41 AM on October 30, 2023
posted by james33 at 4:41 AM on October 30, 2023
This thread is closed to new comments.
While I'm not really sure about the former, there's tons of the latter. Not all magazines make visible distinctions between science fiction and fantasy, but here are a few that focus on fantasy rather than SF.
Fantasy Magazine
Beneath Ceaseless Skies
PodCastle (the venue each piece originally appeared in print is listed)
Tales & Feathers
There are multiple Year's Best Fantasy anthologies, Datlow & Windling's various fairy-tale and folklore anthologies, and doubtless more I'm forgetting.
If you're looking for more specific recommendations, I can dig up some, but it really does hinge on what kind of magic you're after.
posted by xenization at 10:17 AM on October 28, 2023