Finding Magic

by Tanya Huff

Cover by Jody A. Lee

Tanya Huff has personally selected these seventeen pieces for Finding Magic, her fourth short story collection. They showcase her amazing versatility as she effortlessly moves from the science fiction of "I Knew a Guy Once" to the vampiric "After School Specials" to the fantastic in "Brock" to the humorous "A Woman's Work...."

The variety is really not surprising, considering that since her 1988 debut fantasy novel, Child of the Grove, Huff has written about space marines, private investigators, and the Keeper of the Balance of Good and Evil (and an elderly cat with attitude). And today her work involves the world of vampires and television shows.

Her wonderful tales shine with spot-on dialog, real characters we could meet any day (well, almost any day) and compelling situations not all that different from our own. And, at the same time, she reveals worlds of magic and power we can only dream of. Choice and responsibility are her main themes. Not always obvious, Tanya Huff's characters (and by implication, all of us as well) make both meaningful and seemingly trivial choices, and must take responsibility for the good or evil results. As Able Harris says "You name a boy Strawberry, there are always consequences."

Finding Magic includes the previously uncollected stories:

• "I Knew a Guy Once" about a bartender, who may be more than just a bartender who knew lots of guys.
• "He Said, Sidhe Said," a retelling of a classic fairy tale, with a skateboarding Tam Lin.
• "Slow Poison," featuring a chef who exemplifies the hidden dangers of good cooking.
• "The Demon's Den" with a very differently abled heroine.

In addition to Tanya Huff's fiction, Finding Magic includes an introduction by Julie Czerneda and an insightful essay by Erica Neely.

Table of Contents for Finding Magic:

• I Knew a Guy Once
• Choice of Ending
• He Said, Sidhe Said
• After School Specials
• Finding Marcus
• Jack
• Slow Poison
• Tuesday Evening Six Thirty to Seven
• Blood in the Water
• Not That Kind of War
• Under Summons
• A Woman's Work...
• The Things Everyone Knows
• We Two May Meet
• The Demon's Den
• Brock
• All the Ages of Men

Comments on Tanya Huff's work:

"This book is entertainment pure and simple. If you want to have a good chuckle and keep yourself amused while sitting on the beach, then pick up this gem of a book."

— Margo McDonald, SF Site
on Summon the Keeper

"One of the reasons that I have consistently enjoyed Huff's works is the thoughtfulness evident when she crafts her plots."

—Robert Francis, SF Site
on Wizard of the Grove

"Tanya Huff's attempt to make Smoke and Shadows look effortless can't hide the fact she writes well and obviously had almost as much fun as her characters."

—The Guardian (UK)

"Howlingly funny and very suspenseful. I enjoyed every word."

—A.M. Dellamonica, SciFi.com
on Valor's Choice

"As with all of Tanya Huff's other 'Victory Nelson' novels, Blood Debt is well-written and action-packed. The villains are so suitably vile that you'll be rooting for them to 'get what's coming to 'em.' "

—Carl Cipra, Lambda Sci-Fi
on Blood Debt

"When Huff does it, we have not only entertaining genre fiction, which may appeal particularly to young people (who wallow in the material culture and hence make it a good defining characteristic of adolescent literature — another whole topic), but also an exciting mode of thinking about the future."

—Donald M. Hassler, NYRSF
on The Better Part of Valor

"Once again, Tanya Huff produces another enjoyable book, proving that her talents, normally reserved for fantasy, lend themselves quite well to science fiction."

—Mike Jones, Absolute Magnitude
on The Better Part of Valor

"A highly entertaining, but almost schizophrenic, mix of fantasy, detection, humor, and even romance."

—Carolyn Cushman, Locus
on Blood Price

Tanya Huff is a native Canadian, born in Nova Scotia and raised in Ontario. While working for Bakka, a science fiction bookstore in Toronto, Huff wrote her first seven novels and nine short stories. Her books include the Blood Ties series, The Keeper's Chronicles series, the Quarters series, Gate of Darkness, Circle of Light, the Valor series, and The Fire's Stone, among others. She has also published four collections of short stories. Huff won the Aurora Award for her short story "Who is Joah?" and her novel No Quarter made the James Tiptree, Jr. Memorial Award long list. Her Blood Ties novels have been turned into a television series for Lifetime Television.

Jody A. Lee has been illustrating professionally since 1981. Her work has centered primarily on illustrating book covers, but she also does commissioned portraits and work for galleries. Her clients have included the publishing companies of Tor, Bantam Doubleday Dell, Warner, and DAW Books. Her work in fantasy and science fiction art has been shown at the Society of Illustrators' Museum of Illustration in New York and the Delaware Art Museum. She received the Chesley Award for Best Paperback Cover for The Oathbound in 1988.