Magic by the Numbers
6 primary works
Book 1
To master five greats arts of magic and win a queen was not enough for Alodar the apprentice. He must do what no man dared!
Alodar was a mere apprentice thaumaturge, learning the least of the five great arts of magic. As such, he had no right to aspire to the hand of the fair lady, Queen Vendora, not even when he saved her during the demon-inspired siege of her frontier castle. But aspire he did.
His quest forced him from one exacting branch of magic to another, with the rewards he earned always going to others. Finally, only the branch of wizardry remained - the great, almost lost art of controlling demons.
It was then he learned of the ancient plot behind his rise - and faced the greatest danger any man could dare!
Book 2
The laws of the five magics were being set aside. If the world was to be saved it was up to Jason, the wordsmith. But what was he to do? He had writer's block and suffered from agoraphobia. He was not a hero for the sagas.
Without quite knowing how he was doing it, time and again, Jason, aided by the slave girl, Delia, thwarted a mysterious wizard from somewhere else—a kingdom farther away than anyone could even imagine existed. Finally, as total mayhem ensues, the wordsmith discovers secret wisdom that explains the truly fundamental laws upon which every other one is based.
The second volume in the Magic by the Numbers series. Can be read without reading the first novel first.
Book 3
The worst of the mess they were in, Kestrel knew, was that it was all his own fault. It all began when he'd tried to cheat the lady Wizard Phoebe with a load of worthless wood. When she insisted on testing his anvilwood sample, the demon Astron had burst through the fire with some wild tale of a mission to the archmage to save his master from a dread enemy. Then Kestrel had decided, with Astron's naive help, to bilk the other wizards of their gold. So they were pursued by eleven raging wizards and uncounted imps.
Drifting across the border in a lead balloon brought them to the archmage Alodar. But instead of calling off the pursuit, he had sent them into the perilous realm of the fey. And now they were being shuttled madly across universe after universe, each more dangerous than the last. It wasn't fair, Kestrel thought, even if it was his fault!
Book 4
Briana knew she should obey her father, Alodar, the Archimage. She did not have any experience for the job, but adventure beckoned. How hard could it be?
Quite hard, it turns out. Learning centers called colleges rather than magician palaces. The stock market. Erupting volcanoes. Underground aliens plotting to escape from their frigid prison. Three brothers, each with his own agenda on how best to proceed. One has a plan to destroy all native life in a very simple way.
Book 5
Is time immutable?
Can stepping on a butterfly in the Jurassic change human history?
Might denizens of the realm of demons have something to do with it?
You bet!
Fig stumbled a step backward. No towering devil stood before him as he had imagined … and feared. No great beast with a hideous smile of anticipation. Instead, he gazed at a female about the same height as himself. The face more alluring than any artist’s rendering of beauty could be. A petite upturned nose. Come-hither eyes. Red and sensuous lips contrasting with pale green skin. What must be the tops of wings appeared over her shoulders.
“I am Lilith, what you on Earth call a succubus. Kiss me. That will be but a first hint of what delights await when you submit your will to mine.”
Demonic love, parallel universes, female spies, and time travel all woven together in one exciting tale.
Book 6
A black hole and primitive space ships
A race to save the entire galaxy from certain engulfment
Wait a minute! This is supposed to be a fantasy, right?
Right!
Sylvia was a serving wench for a wizard well past his prime. She wanted escape from her dreary existence, perhaps even as a practitioner of magic herself. But before she could strike out on her own, she was swept up into the middle of palace intrigue. An adventure that pulled her deeper and deeper into a struggle in which far more was at stake than who would be the noble landholder of a rural fief.
Besides the traditional old magic of five crafts, a new magic had appeared, one based on physics, chemistry, engineering, and mathematics. Unable to cope, the very fabric of society was transforming at a far too rapid rate.
Volume 6 of the Magic by the Numbers series. Can be enjoyed without having to read any of the volumes previously published first. For readers of both fantasy and hard science fiction.