Magic

A lot of people, especially those who have read my books, will be aware of Clarke's Third Law: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. The flipside of this, sometimes attributed to Larry Niven, sometimes to Terry Pratchett, is that magic is indistinguishable from sufficiently advanced technology.

Most magic in Fantasy never gets that far. Nor is there any reason it should, given that the 'sufficiently advanced' in this context means advanced beyond the current technology of the milieu of the work. So in a fantasy universe where there is no overt technology it has no place and no meaning.

In my latest book I have intentionally blurred the point by offering both explanations. The main point is to show that it doesn't actually matter. Both fantasy and science fiction deal with the currently impossible. There are obvious exceptions to this such as truly 'hard' SF where every technology exists and is quantified (frequently far too quantified), and also really 'low' fantasy where there is no magic. I've had one or two discussions with people about my Far Coast books which are that kind of low fantasy and some people would rather find another genre to stick them in, as if fantasy requires magic at a basic level. But they are set in an imagined world unlike our own. That means they are not alternate history of the 'what if X had won the Battle of Y' variety. It isn't a worthwhile argument and half the reason I self-publish is because the publishing industry demands clear-cut genres.

But I digress, and, at the risk of upsetting witchcraft enthusiasts everywhere, have written a book about witches and magic. An entirely (so far as I am aware) new form of magic that may or may not be. I leave that up to the reader to decide. Like any first book in what may become a series it has a lot of heavy lifting to do in introducing the people and the concepts and the world they live in. Initially that is the UK in 2025 which makes it easy, if vulnerable to changes over time. But once you've found your footing I promise you get whisked away to places that I hope you haven't dreamed of.

My biggest problem with this book was that nobody would just sit still and talk to me. They were always dashing from one place to the next. I am hoping that since they have finally found a place where they can get their breath back, the next one may be more of an adventure and less of a road trip.