The Un-Magician by Christopher Golden (English) Paperback Book

Description: The Un-Magician by Christopher Golden, Thomas E. Sniegoski The most dangerous boy in the world? Timothy is a freak, a weakling, an impossibility. Hes the only person in existence without magical powers and has spent his entire life hidden on a remote island. Ages 10+. FORMAT Paperback LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description The most dangerous boy in the world? Timothy is a freak, a weakling, an impossibility. Hes the only person in existence without magical powers and has spent his entire life hidden on a remote island. When Timothy is finally taken back to the city of this birth, he is fascinated by the current of magic that fuels the world, and mesmerized by the buildings and orbs that hang weightlessly in the sky. But he is also marked for death. Assassins are watching his every move, and the government wants him destroyed. Timothy cant imagine what threat he could possible pose; after all, he wields no power in this world. Or does he? Author Biography Christopher Golden is the award-winning author of numerous dark fantasy novels and comic book mini-series for both adults and teens. He lives with his wife and family in Massachusetts. Visit him at Thomas E. Sniegoski is the author of more than two dozen novels for adults, teens, and children. His books for teens include Legacy, Sleeper Code, Sleeper Agenda, and Force Majeure, as well as the series The Brimstone Network. As a comic book writer, Sniegoskis work includes Stupid, Stupid Rat Tails, a prequel miniseries to international hit, Bone. Sniegoski collaborated with Bone creator Jeff Smith on the project, making him the only writer Smith has ever asked to work on those characters. He was born and raised in Massachusetts, where he still lives with his wife LeeAnne and their French Bulldog, Kirby. Visit him on the web at Sniegoski.com. Long Description The most dangerous boy in the world?Timothy is a freak, a weakling, an impossibility. Hes the only person in existence without magical powers and has spent his entire life hidden on a remote island. When Timothy is finally taken back to the city of this birth, he is fascinated by the current of magic that fuels the world, and mesmerized by the buildings and orbs that hang weightlessly in the sky. But he is also marked for death.Assassins are watching his every move, and the government wants him destroyed. Timothy cant imagine what threat he could possible pose; after all, he wields no power in this world.Or does he? Excerpt from Book Chapter One The city of Arcanum was in mourning. Black bunting unfurled from open windows, and the flags of every magical guild had been lowered to half-mast. The ghostfire that burned inside the citys spherical street lanterns had been altered in hue; once golden, it was now scarlet, and would remain so for one full week. Many shops and offices were closed, and thousands of the citys mages had turned out to observe the funeral pyre that raged in the center of Temple Square -- all to witness the ritual burning, all to mark the passing of Argus Cade. In that grieving city, very few others were out and about this night, and those who were gave no notice to the ornate silver carriage that swept through the streets. It floated silently along, crimson lantern light splashing upon its surface, taking the twists and turns of its route with a deftness that revealed the skill of its driver. The silver vehicle whispered through the city several feet above the cobblestones. The carriage doors were emblazoned with a lion about to pounce, the family crest of its occupant. At each of the four corners of the carriage was an image of a silver dragon curled in a mysterious repose. Perched upon the carriages high seat was a man draped in deep blue robes, a heavy veil covering his face. His hands were held out in front of him and from his fingertips tendrils of crackling cobalt energy sparked toward the ground far below, fingers of cerulean fire investigating the road ahead of the carriage. He was a navigation mage, just as his father had been, two generations spent perfecting the sorcery of transportation. It was a worthy endeavor. Honest work for an honest man. Inside the vehicle was Leander Maddox, the man whose family crest adorned its doors. The carriage made the slightest of hums -- generated by the navigators magic -- but it was little more than white noise to him. Leander was lost in thought, adrift in the aching sadness left behind in the wake of the death of his mentor and greatest friend. He forced himself to focus on the task that lay before him. As Argus Cades apprentice, it fell to him to close down the old sorcerers residence and to collect whatever papers or journals he might have left behind. "Argus," Leander whispered to himself, raising a massive hand and covering his face with it. A sigh escaped him and he shuddered, settling more deeply into the velvet seat within the carriage. The loss pained him deeply. Argus Cade had been the greatest sorcerer of his generation, a master of the magical sciences, an adviser to kings and prime ministers, but to Leander all of those things paled beside the mans kindness and courage. He had been more than a mentor. He had been an example. Leander had lost his own father as a boy, and Argus had always given him the guidance he would have wished for from a father. And in the midst of the political games and power struggles of the Parliament of Mages, Argus had never compromised his beliefs, never allied himself with anyone who did not share them, and never kept silent to avoid controversy. He was his own man, and had earned great respect for that position. Leander glanced out the window at the street lanterns, scarlet ghostlights throwing red shadows on the nearby homes and shops as the carriage climbed through the winding street that led up into August Hill, the most exclusive neighborhood in Arcanum. How often as a young man had he trod the cobblestones and steps of this hill on his way to Arguss home? Still each doorway, each sign hanging outside the window of a pub, was familiar. The navigator slowed the carriage as the street twisted once more, rising up toward the pinnacle of August Hill, where homes hung alongside the ground itself, magic woven into every bit of architecture to keep them aloft. Lower down, the buildings were constructed upon the ground, but as the terrain became steeper, the houses were merely anchored to the earth, jutting out at level angles from the side of the hill. The sadness in his heart made Leander close his eyes again. He had been here only three nights past...the very night that Argus had died. With his eyes closed he could not stop his mind from slipping back in time, from reliving again those tragic final hours of a great man. Argus had been in his bed, the lamps burning low, a gloom settling upon his chamber. He had always been thin, but Argus had become almost skeletal. His long, hooked nose even more prominent than usual, jutted from his sallow, weathered face. From time to time Argus would open his eyes and there would be a light in them, a spark, and he would laugh and reminisce about the days when he had first met Leander. As a professor at the University of Saint Germain, Argus had taken the burly, leonine man under his wing, and when they were seen together, other mages would remark on what an odd pair they made. In later years, well after the death of Arguss beloved wife, Norah, the mage had grown withdrawn, keeping his own counsel, and allowing only Leander into his private thoughts. Other than his household servants, the outside world saw Argus only rarely, though he made his opinions known to Parliament and to the heads of the guilds often enough. Leander was a professor at the university himself, now, in the very chair Argus had once held. He had been the great sorcerers student, his apprentice, and his only real friend. Leander felt blessed to have had Argus Cade in his life. But there were things other than grief haunting him now, though all of them connected to Arguss death. Not all of the old mages ramblings had been sensible, not all of them accompanied by that spark in his eyes. Indeed, some of the things he had said as his spirit was slipping away, as his body and mind were failing him, had confounded Leander greatly. The hum of the carriage grew louder and the world outside its windows darker, with only the faintest hint of red hues. There were only a few homes this high upon August Hill and, this far from the ground, it required great effort and magical skill for the navigator to carry them here. Leander barely noticed. His thoughts had been in turmoil ever since Arguss death, but in among that jumble there was something more subtle that was bothering him. Though it was nonsense, it haunted him more with each passing hour. In his rambling Argus had said things that were...simply impossible. The ravings of a fevered brain. They had to be. Several times Argus had seemed to be on the verge of sleep, eyelids fluttering, only to have his eyes snap open and stare into the dim bedchamber and to whisper, as if afraid someone would hear: "The boy. I must see to the boy." At the end, when every breath came in a rattling rasp and seemed likely to be his last, the old sorcerer had let his head loll to one side and, spying Leander, had thrust out a hand and clutched his arm with a ferocious, preternatural strength. In that moment, though he had tried to deny it to himself, Leander had seen utter clarity in Arguss eyes. Total focus. "Timothy," the old man had rasped. "I have kept him well hidden these years, but the secret must be revealed now. To you, Leander, and only to you. You must promise to look after him. Pon this one thing more than any other, I must have your vow." Despite the clarity he saw in Arguss eyes, Leander had told himself that it must be the nearness of death talking. Norah Cade had died while giving birth to their only child, Timothy, and the trauma of his entrance into the world had been too much for the infant; Timothy himself had died within an hour of his mother. It seemed to Leander that Argus had woven an intricate fantasy for himself in which the boy had lived. Argus had been dying, and all Leander had wanted was to comfort him. The aged mage had asked for his vow, and to give him solace Leander had agreed, promising that he would look after Timothy as if the boy were his very own son. One final, rattling breath had been Arguss only response, and then the sorcerer had succumbed to the one enemy magic could never overcome. Death had whispered through Argus Cades bedchamber. The old mans eyes were dull, his chest still, and the light in the room, even in the world itself, had diminished. In the rush of details that followed, the many things necessary to prepare a suitable memorial, Leander had pushed his grief aside. It lingered, though, a hollow ache in his chest and the pit of his stomach, and Arguss final words also lingered, echoing, coming back again and again. Impossible, Leander thought. Yet it was with a certain dread curiosity that he glanced now through the window as the carriage drew up in front of the Cade estate. The house was enormous. It had been shaped and reshaped many times upon the whim of its master. Gables jutted from the roof and vine-covered latticework spilled down the sides, dangling below. Only the southernmost side, where the house faced the peak of August Hill, was anchored to the ground. Otherwise it sprang from the hill at an angle that seemed, in comparison to the level homes in most areas of the city, to be a spectacle of strange geometry. The navigator moored the carriage at the base of the grand staircase at the front of the house. "Shall I wait for you, Master Maddox?" the navigator called down to him. Leander pushed open the door and stepped out over the sheer drop down August Hill, onto the staircase that lay in the shadow of Cade mansion. He glanced up at the navigators veiled face. Details ISBN0689866615 Author Thomas E. Sniegoski Short Title OUTCAST UN-MAGICIAN Pages 240 Language English ISBN-10 0689866615 ISBN-13 9780689866616 Media Book Format Paperback Series Number 01 Year 2004 Country of Publication United States Place of Publication New York, NY Residence Bradford, MA, US Birth 1962 Audience Age 10-14 DOI 10.1604/9780689866616 UK Release Date 2004-08-01 NZ Release Date 2004-08-01 US Release Date 2004-08-01 Illustrations f-c cvr Publisher Simon & Schuster Series OutCast Publication Date 2004-08-01 Alternative 9781442473119 DEWEY 813 Audience Children / Juvenile AU Release Date 2004-11-22 Imprint Aladdin We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:8361750;

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