Do you believe in magic? What is the definition, the substance of it? From the moment that humans began to tell stories around fires, through to the current form of the novel, magic has always been with us. There is no tangible proof of its existence, only hearsay and coincidence, yet in the storytellers art it is there in full evidence. I believe that the true talent of a writer is their ability to not only immerse the reader in the world of their imagining, but to also give us pause and think, Could this possibly be true? Could this idea, this world, these characters, really exist? For a moment the reader doubts the true nature of their reality—that is magic right there.

    Having said that, John Crowley is one of these wizards of words. The basic premise of his novel Aegypt is this: Could there be a secret history to the world? A hidden genesis and underlying explanation of time’s more well-known passage? Something smuggled between the lines of our history books? Pierce Moffett is the creator is this theory and, despondent and disillusioned with teaching history, he takes up this idea that haunts him and decides to turn it into a book. He moves to the Faraway Hills in upstate New York where he begins to write. It is here where Pierce’s life begins to weave and shift with subtle coincidences and minor epiphanies. Rosie Rasmussen’s life has turned as well. Newly divorced she finds herself jobless, caring for her young daughter Sam. It is when she agrees to handle the estate of a deceased writer that her life begins to merge with Moffett’s. Together, unwittingly, they set off on a journey towards finding the answers to Pierce’s theory.

    Aegypt is a treat because it is so grounded and calm, yet it is fantasy, but fantasy of the best kind; the squint-your-eyes-and-you-just-might-see-something-where- there-isn’t kind. You are lulled into the rhythms of these character’s lives, and slowly the plot takes shape around you. John Dee, Shakspeare, small town life and summer barbeques, Christian mystics, angels, sacred books, casual conversations on a porch, heretics and secrets, a rattling station wagon moving over a dusty country road, and a man hunched over a most startling manuscript. Aegypt easily moves between big ideas and essential human truths, building a story that stays in the mind long after you finish the book. And the story does not end there. It is followed by Love and Sleep (currently out of print), and Daemonomania (to be published this August). These are books well worth hunting down. -Vladimir Verano 2000

(Editor’s Update: As of Summer 2005, many of John Crowley’s works have been re-released, Otherwise (comprising The Deep, Beasts, & Engine Summer, Harper Perennial), Little, Big (Harper Perennial), Novelties and Souvenirs: Collected Short Fiction (Harper Perennial). His latest novels are The Translator (Harper Perennial), and Lord Byron’s Novel: The Evening Land (William Morrow, to be published June, 2005). A plethora of Crowley-magic to keep you enthralled for months and months. Go out there and find them!)