{"id":4610,"date":"2014-05-14T19:24:53","date_gmt":"2014-05-15T00:24:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=4610"},"modified":"2021-09-22T18:59:00","modified_gmt":"2021-09-22T22:59:00","slug":"gooseberry-bluff-community-college-of-magic-the-thirteenth-rib","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/4610","title":{"rendered":"Gooseberry Bluff Community College of Magic: The Thirteenth Rib"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gooseberry Bluff Community College of Magic: The Thirteenth Rib<\/a><\/em> (2013) David J. Schwartz<\/p>\n

\"gooseberrybluff\"<\/a>After I finished reading, I discovered this had originally been a kindle serial, which explains the pacing. But don’t take that as a negative, this is actually a pretty good story. <\/p>\n

Joy works for the Federal Bureau of Magical Affairs (FMBA) and is currently working undercover at Goseberry Bluff Community College of Magic. Her assignment is twofold–to discover where professor Carla Drake has gone, and discover who is trafficking demons through Gooseberry Bluff. Additionally, Joy suffers from face-blindness–she cannot recognize people from their faces, but she is able to recognize their auras.<\/p>\n

Yes, at times it’s all over the place, but not in a horrible way, and there are so many delightful things that more than make up for some of the stranger bits. <\/p>\n

For example:<\/p>\n

\u201cDating is like\u2026 it\u2019s like watching TV. Both place too much emphasis on appearances, both can be fun at first but quickly become tedious, and neither feels real. The main difference is that there isn\u2019t a magical remote control that enables you to switch men in the middle of a date.\u201d
\n\u201cNot yet,\u201d said Rosemary. \u201cInvent that. We\u2019ll split the profits.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

and this bit:<\/p>\n

Hector put up his hands. \u201cI feel like you\u2019re steamrolling me.\u201d
\n\u201cWe\u2019re the United States government, Mr. Ay. We\u2019re not the enemy\u2026 but yes, we\u2019re steamrolling you. Sign the paper, please.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There are lots of little tidbits like that strewn throughout the story.<\/p>\n

The story also has something else that’s very interesting: it has the full complement of humans you might come across in your day-to-day life, and these just appear without any fanfare, much like these individuals would appear in your own life. For instance, Andy.<\/p>\n

During Joy\u2019s orientation, Andy had shaken her hand and said: \u201cHi, I\u2019m Andy. I\u2019m genderqueer and I often wear women\u2019s clothes here in the office. I hope that won\u2019t make you uncomfortable.\u201d Joy wasn\u2019t sure what genderqueer meant\u2014 she’d since learned that it was an umbrella term for persons who identified outside of the male-female gender binary\u2014 but she had assured Andy that she had no problem with it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And from there on out, he’s just Andy.<\/p>\n

It’s the same way with other characters. They are described as being non-white or having non-white names, but those traits are incidental–what is important is the story and the mystery of what happened to Carla Drake, and why.<\/p>\n

ALSO, the story has L-Space. It’s not called that, but it’s precisely what it is:<\/p>\n

\u201cCan I ask you a question about the stacks?\u201d
\n\u201cGo right ahead.\u201d
\n\u201cWhere do they go to? There\u2019s some spatial distortion at work here, right?\u201d
\n\u201cOh, yes. It\u2019s the new wave in library magic. Why, I can walk straight from here to the National Archives, the Library of Congress, or the Smithsonian \u2014 I mean, you have to have the right clearances; I can\u2019t just roll into the White House, or Langley. But it\u2019s awful convenient. Lots of public libraries are doing it now, too.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

OOK!<\/p>\n

It’s just a fun read, with lots of surprises. Fun!
\nRating: 7\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

Published by 47North<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gooseberry Bluff Community College of Magic: The Thirteenth Rib (2013) David J. Schwartz After I finished reading, I discovered this had originally been a kindle serial, which explains the pacing. But don’t take that as a negative, this is actually a pretty good story. Joy works for the Federal Bureau of Magical Affairs (FMBA) and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2,8],"tags":[217],"class_list":["post-4610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fantasy","category-mystery","tag-witches"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-1cm","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2564,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2564","url_meta":{"origin":4610,"position":0},"title":"Thirteenth Child","author":"Michelle","date":"October 2, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Thirteenth Child (2009) Patricia C. Wrede I discovered Patricia C. Wrede's writing when I couldn't resist the title, Sorcery & Cecelia -OR- The Enchanted Chocolate Pot. I also read and enjoyed A Matter of Magic. Both are alternate histories where magic is an integral part of the world, however, in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Alternate History"","block_context":{"text":"Alternate History","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy\/alternate-history"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Thirteenth-Child.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5766,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/5766","url_meta":{"origin":4610,"position":1},"title":"Across the Great Barrier","author":"Michelle","date":"March 30, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Across the Great Barrier (2011) Patricia C. Wrede The sequel to Thirteenth Child finds Eff coming to terms with her magic, and slowly discovering her dream--to travel the West, beyond the Great Barrier, studying the wildlife in that untamed area. Luckily for her, the events of the previous book have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Across-the-Great-Barrier","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Across-the-Great-Barrier.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3241,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/3241","url_meta":{"origin":4610,"position":2},"title":"The Far West","author":"Michelle","date":"November 1, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The Far West (2012) Patricia C. Wrede This is the conclusion to the Frontier Magic Series, that started with Thirteenth Child. Eff is a thirteenth child, a fact which plagued her when she was younger, because her aunts and uncles and cousins believed that she was unluckly. The fact that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/The-Far-West.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3236,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/3236","url_meta":{"origin":4610,"position":3},"title":"Across the Great Barrier","author":"Michelle","date":"October 30, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Across the Great Barrier (2011) Patricia C. Wrede The sequel to Thirteenth Child, Across the Great Barrier continues the story of Eff Rothmer. Her twin brother is a seventh son of a seventh son, and a strong magician, but Eff--the old of the two--is the thirteenth child, and she grew\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Across the Great Barrier","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/across-the-great-barrier.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5760,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/5760","url_meta":{"origin":4610,"position":4},"title":"Thirteenth Child","author":"Michelle","date":"March 28, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Thirteenth Child (2009) Patricia C. Wrede Eff's twin brother Lan is a seventh son of a seventh son, and a natural magician. \u201cWow,\u201d Dick said, looking after Papa and Lan. He looked back at me. \u201cDoes that mean you\u2019re a natural, too? Because you\u2019re his twin?\u201d I stared at him.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Thirteenth-Child","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Thirteenth-Child.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9419,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/9419","url_meta":{"origin":4610,"position":5},"title":"Thirteenth Child","author":"Michelle","date":"November 11, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Thirteenth Child (2009) Patricia C. Wrede This story is set in an alternate US (North Columbia) in the mid-1800s. (T)he Columbian Presidents past the first five\u2014George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Eduard Baier, and Herman Augustus Morton. Eff is the twin of a seventh son, and also a thirteenth child.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Thirteenth-Child.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4610\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}