Magic Pride!

On this trip through recommendations for Pride Month, I’ve made quick stops with my the first two Triad books, so today I figured I’d round out the journey with Triad Magic, which closes the trilogy and focuses mainly on Curtis, my queer wizard whose plan to bond with a vampire and a demon—rather than sticking to a group of his own kind, wizards—and sets everything in motion from the beginning of the first short story featuring the characters.

Magic is queer. You can try to change my mind, but I doubt you’ll succeed. It bends the rules (or breaks them), changes the world, and is—very often—at best feared or misunderstood and at worst vilified. In fiction, I freaking love all things magic (or psychic, or other) and so today, I thought I’d conjure up some favourites where the magic is very queer indeed.

Join me for a spell?

It’s a Kind of Magic

Okay, so Craig Laurance Gidney’s Skin Deep Magic does so many things I cannot put into words well enough, but I’ll do my best. First: it’s a collection of short fiction that is truly among the best of all collections out there I’ve ever read. Second: the varied tones of the story still manage to tell a thematic whole in a way I would be jealous of if I weren’t instead so in awe. Third: the style of stories on display are just as varied, and I just loved that shift from the tale to tale, from a mosaic piece to a more linear narrative, from something romantic to something borderline horrific…

Gah. Just trust me on this one. This was my favourite book the year I read it. It could be yours this year.

Magic is more than skin-deep. It hides in the folds of a haunted quilt and illuminates the secret histories of Negro memorabilia.

Magic reveals the destiny of a great storyteller and emanates from a sculpture by an obscure Harlem Renaissance artist.

Magic lurks in the basement of an inner-city apartment building and flourishes in a city park.

Magic is more than skin-deep; it shimmers in the ten stories in this collection.

You’ve likely heard of David R. Slayton, but on the off chance you haven’t, there’s a whole freaking journey ahead of you (and multiple places to start) but I’m going to suggest you start your ride at White Trash Warlock.

Adam Binder is a character of a type I’ve rarely seen—a queer dude, yeah, but one with magic who comes from a part of the US rarely afforded more than a “I came from here and escaped” paragraph or two, but while Adam did indeed escape, it’s not so simple, and the past is coming calling on multiple fronts. Also, his family history is tangled and awful—not new—but his approach to them struck me as quite novel. I never really got the feeling he felt he owed them anything, but rather that his own direction in life was taking him somewhere aligning with a mission he’s already put himself on.

We all know how I feel about “because they’re family” garbage, so I was nervous while I listened to this one (which is a solid audiobook production, by the way), but the narrative never strays particularly closely to the clichés of forgiveness-no-matter-what.

I mean, Adam’s also a little busy dealing with demons and possessions and keeping people alive with his own life force (accidentally binding himself to someone do to so) to really put that on his plate anyway…

Not all magicians go to schools of magic.

Adam Binder has the Sight. It’s a power that runs in his bloodline: the ability to see beyond this world and into another, a realm of magic populated by elves, gnomes, and spirits of every kind. But for much of Adam’s life, that power has been a curse, hindering friendships, worrying his backwoods family, and fueling his abusive father’s rage.

Years after his brother, Bobby, had him committed to a psych ward, Adam is ready to come to grips with who he is, to live his life on his terms, to find love, and maybe even use his magic to do some good. Hoping to track down his missing father, Adam follows a trail of cursed artifacts to Denver, only to discover that an ancient and horrifying spirit has taken possession of Bobby’s wife.

It isn’t long before Adam becomes the spirit’s next target. To survive the confrontation, save his sister-in-law, and learn the truth about his father, Adam will have to risk bargaining with very dangerous beings … including his first love.

Hit me with your best and most loved tales of magic!