Search - After Magic

I just finished this, and I'm still thinking it over. The story is about two people seeking to enhance their magic. One is a circus magician who longs for real magic and the other is a fake medium who has some real talent if only she could develope it. Their stories combine in a strange way. The characters are quirky, and some of the prose reads almost like poetry. The artwork is really interesting, too. It's been too long since I read a book with pictures ^_^.

I recommend it to anyone who likes Victorian England and fantasy. The story is both funny and thoughtful with interesting characters.

Could Madame Tutoni, toast of five continents including Lemuria, really talk with spirits? Will stage magician, Stefphan Yarrow, ever discover real magic and ascend to the stars? Is Laslo Strand destined to end his career playing Hamlet to a monkey? How much borsch can one dwarf eat? And who is the Duchess of Swindon, anyway?

After Magic is a quest, a love story, an adult fairy tale, an historical slapstick. Take your pick.

"...an offbeat fantasy tale about two magicians...variously exotic, amusing, and charming." –Locus

"...discover Boston's whimsical sense of humor and fancy for yourself...a delightful poke at a particular brand of fantasy as well as classic delusions. It's a pleasure." --Tom Easton, Analog

"After Magic is magic indeed, the kind of blend of wit and poetry, fantasy and occultism, one could find in the best years of the old Weird Tales." --Ray Faraday Nelson

"...a great story...sort of a Victorian grotesquerie...A wonderful cast of odd characters, strange doings, and a prose style that wanders between lyrical description and a common sense matter-of-factness that's really impossible to describe." --Charles de Lint