The Magic Goes Away
| "The Magic Goes Away" | |
|---|---|
| Short story by Larry Niven | |
 Cover for the illustrated edition, art by Boris Vallejo. | |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy |
| Publication | |
| Publication date | 1976 |
The Magic Goes Away is a fantasy novella written by Larry Niven in 1976 and published in book form in 1978 with illustrations by Esteban Moroto. The name is also used to refer to the series containing this story. Written after the 1973 oil crisis, the series is an allegory for the modern-day energy crisis.[citation needed]
List of works in the series
[edit]| Title | Sub-series | Published | Original publication |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Not Long Before the End" | Warlock | 1969 | Fantasy and Science Fiction, April 1969 |
| "Unfinished Story" | Warlock | 1969 | Fantasy and Science Fiction, December 1969 |
| "What Good Is a Glass Dagger?" | Warlock | 1972 | Fantasy and Science Fiction, September 1972 |
| The Magic Goes Away (novella) | Warlock | 1976 / 1978 |
Odyssey, Summer 1976 / Trade paperback, Ace Books |
| The Magic May Return (multi-author anthology) |
(none) | 1981 | Trade paperback, Ace Books |
| "Talisman" (with Dian Girard) | (none) | 1981 | Fantasy and Science Fiction, November 1981 |
| "The Lion in His Attic" | (none) | 1982 | Fantasy and Science Fiction, July 1982 |
| More Magic (multi-author anthology) |
(none) | 1984 | Trade paperback, Ace Books |
| "The Wishing Game" | Warlock | 1989 | Aboriginal Science Fiction, May/June 1989 |
| "The Portrait of Daryanree the King" | (none) | 1989 | Aboriginal Science Fiction, September/October 1989 |
| The Burning City | Golden Road | 2000 | Hardcover, Pocket Books |
| "Chicxulub" | (none) | 2004 | Asimov's Science Fiction, April/May 2004 |
| "Boomerang" | (none) | 2004 | Flights: Extreme Visions of Fantasy |
| "Rhinemaidens" | (none) | 2005 | Asimov's Science Fiction, January 2005 |
| Burning Tower | Golden Road | 2005 | Hardcover, Pocket Books |
| The Seascape Tattoo | (none) | 2016 | Hardcover, Tor Books |
Background
[edit]In "Not Long Before the End", the Warlock, a very powerful sorcerer at least 200 years old,[1] observes that when he stays in one place too long, his powers dwindle, and they return only when he leaves that place.[2] Experimentation leads him to create an apparatus consisting of a metal disc enchanted to spin perpetually.[3] The enchantment eventually consumes all of the mana in the vicinity, which causes a localized failure in all magic.[4] The Warlock realizes that magic is fueled by a non-renewable resource, which would cause great concern among the magicians.
In The Magic Goes Away, the widespread diminishing of magical power triggers a quest on the part of the most powerful of the magicians of the time to harness a new source of magic, the Moon.
In The Magic May Return, it is discovered that mana was originally carried to Earth and the other bodies of the solar system on the solar wind, which replenishes mana slowly over time. At some point, a god created an invisible shield between Earth and Sun that intercepted the solar mana and caused the eventual decline of magic on Earth.
Reception
[edit]Richard A. Lupoff reviewed the 1978 novella unfavorably, saying that although the story "bristles with amusing devices", the writing itself was unsatisfactory; he felt that there was not a spark of humanity in the book, and that the writer used "flat", "dull", "sterile" narrative prose.[5]
Influences
[edit]In her afterword to the novella, Sandra Miesel identified a number of influences on the setting: "The Wheels of If", The Incomplete Enchanter, The Blue Star, Operation Chaos, Too Many Magicians, The Dragon and the George, as well as Niven's earlier works "All the Myriad Ways" and the Svetz series.[6]
There are also several references to the works of H. P. Lovecraft, such as the reference of a mad magician named Alhazred and an amorphous god called the Crawling Chaos.
Graphic novel adaptation
[edit]The Magic Goes Away was adapted by Paul Kupperberg and Jan Duursema as a graphic novel in 1986, as the sixth in the DC Science Fiction Graphic Novel series.
In popular culture
[edit]These card games use a card called "Nevinyrral" ("Larry Niven" spelled backwards), which reference elements from The Magic Goes Away:
- The collectible card game Magic: The Gathering (by Richard Garfield) has a card called "Nevinyrral's Disk", which is a reference to the Warlock's spinning metal disk. This card roughly has the effect of removing the effects of players' spells from play, while leaving their lands intact.
- The collectible card game Netrunner (also by Richard Garfield) has a card called "Nevinyrral" which has the effect of giving the Corporate player an extra action each turn, but if this card goes away the Corporate player loses.
References
[edit]- ^ Niven, Larry (2005). The Magic Goes Away Collection. New York: Pocket Books. p. 102. ISBN 0-7434-1693-7.
'Everyone in the village knows your age', said Hap. 'You're two hundred years old, if not more'.
- ^ Niven, Larry (2005). The Magic Goes Away Collection. New York: Pocket Books. p. 98. ISBN 0-7434-1693-7.
He found that when he had been ten to fifteen years in a place, using his magic as whim dictated, his powers would weaken. If he moved away, they returned.
- ^ Niven, Larry (2005). The Magic Goes Away Collection. New York: Pocket Books. p. 99. ISBN 0-7434-1693-7.
His last experiment involved a simple kinetic sorcery set to spin a metal disc in midair.
- ^ Niven, Larry (2005). The Magic Goes Away Collection. New York: Pocket Books. p. 107. ISBN 0-7434-1693-7.
'The disc? I told you. A kinetic sorcery with no upper limit. The disc keeps accelerating until all the mana in the locality has been used up'.
- ^ "Lupoff's Book Week", Starship 35, 1979, p. 76.
- ^ Sandra Miesel, "The Mana Crisis", The Magic Goes Away, pp. 196–97, Ace Books, 1978.
External links
[edit]- The novella: The Magic Goes Away title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- The series: The Magic Goes Away series listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database