The Alchemist

Hardcover, 96 pages

English language

Published Jan. 31, 2011 by Subterranean Press.

ISBN:
978-1-59606-353-2
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OCLC Number:
657600364

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Magic has a price. But someone else will pay.

Every time a spell is cast, a bit of bramble sprouts, sending up tangling vines, bloody thorns, and threatening a poisonous sleep. It sprouts in tilled fields and in neighbors’ roof beams, thrusts up from between street cobbles, and bursts forth from sacks of powdered spice. A bit of magic, and bramble follows. A little at first, and then more— until whole cities are dragged down under tangling vines and empires lie dead, ruins choked by bramble forest. Monuments to people who loved magic too much.

In paired novellas, award-winning authors Tobias Buckell and Paolo Bacigalupi explore a shared world where magic is forbidden and its use is rewarded with the axe. A world of glittering memories and a desperate present, where everyone uses a little magic, and someone else always pays the price.

In the beleaguered city of Khaim, a …

2 editions

Subjects

  • Regression (Civilization)
  • Magic
  • Science and civilization
  • Alchemists
  • Plants and civilization
  • Fiction