| "The Magic Goes Away" | |
|---|---|
| Short story byLarry Niven | |
 Cover for the illustrated edition, art byBoris Vallejo. | |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Fantasy |
| Publication | |
| Publication date | 1976 |
The Magic Goes Away is afantasy novella written byLarry Niven in 1976 and published in book form in 1978 with illustrations byEsteban Maroto. The name is also used to refer to the series containing this story. Written after the1973 oil crisis, the series is an allegory for the modern-dayenergy crisis.[citation needed]
| Title | Sub-series | Published | Original publication |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Not Long Before the End" | Warlock | 1969 | Fantasy and Science Fiction, April 1969 |
| "Unfinished Story" | Warlock | 1970 | Fantasy and Science Fiction, December 1970[1][2] |
| "What Good Is a Glass Dagger?" | Warlock | 1972 | Fantasy and Science Fiction, September 1972 |
| The Magic Goes Away (novella) | Warlock | 1976 / 1978 | Odyssey, Summer 1976 / Trade paperback,Ace Books |
| The Magic May Return (multi-author anthology) | (none) | 1981 | Trade paperback,Ace Books |
| "Talisman" (with Dian Girard) | (none) | 1981 | Fantasy and Science Fiction, November 1981 |
| "The Lion in His Attic" | (none) | 1982 | Fantasy and Science Fiction, July 1982 |
| More Magic (multi-author anthology) | (none) | 1984 | Trade paperback,Ace Books |
| "The Wishing Game" | Warlock | 1989 | Aboriginal Science Fiction, May/June 1989 |
| "The Portrait of Daryanree the King" | (none) | 1989 | Aboriginal Science Fiction, September/October 1989 |
| The Burning City | Golden Road | 2000 | Hardcover,Pocket Books |
| "Chicxulub" | (none) | 2004 | Asimov's Science Fiction, April/May 2004 |
| "Boomerang" | (none) | 2004 | Flights: Extreme Visions of Fantasy |
| "Rhinemaidens" | (none) | 2005 | Asimov's Science Fiction, January 2005 |
| Burning Tower | Golden Road | 2005 | Hardcover,Pocket Books |
| The Seascape Tattoo | (none) | 2016 | Hardcover, Tor Books |
In "Not Long Before the End", the Warlock, a very powerful sorcerer at least 200 years old,[3] observes that when he stays in one place too long, his powers dwindle, and they return only when he leaves that place.[4] Experimentation leads him to create an apparatus consisting of a metal disc enchanted to spinperpetually.[5] The enchantment eventually consumes all of the mana in the vicinity, which causes a localized failure in all magic.[6] The Warlock realizes that magic is fueled by anon-renewable resource, which would cause great concern among the magicians.
InThe Magic Goes Away, the widespread diminishing of magical power triggers a quest on the part of the most powerful of the magicians of the time to harness a new source of magic, the Moon.
InThe Magic May Return, it is discovered that mana was originally carried to Earth and the other bodies of theSolar System on the solar wind, which replenishes mana slowly over time. At some point, a god created an invisible shield between Earth and Sun that intercepted the solar mana and caused the eventual decline of magic on Earth.
Richard A. Lupoff reviewed the 1978 novella unfavorably, saying that although the story "bristles with amusing devices", the writing itself was unsatisfactory; he felt that there was not a spark of humanity in the book, and that the writer used "flat", "dull", "sterile" narrative prose.[7]
In her afterword to the novella,Sandra Miesel identified a number of influences on the setting: "The Wheels of If",The Incomplete Enchanter,The Blue Star,Operation Chaos,Too Many Magicians,The Dragon and the George, as well as Niven's earlier works "All the Myriad Ways" and theSvetz series.[8]
There are also several references to the works ofH. P. Lovecraft, such as the reference of a mad magician namedAlhazred and an amorphous god called theCrawling Chaos.
The Magic Goes Away was adapted byPaul Kupperberg andJan Duursema as agraphic novel in 1986, as the sixth in theDC Science Fiction Graphic Novel series.
These card games use a card called "Nevinyrral" ("Larry Niven" spelled backwards), which reference elements fromThe Magic Goes Away:
'Everyone in the village knows your age', said Hap. 'You're two hundred years old, if not more'.
He found that when he had been ten to fifteen years in a place, using his magic as whim dictated, his powers would weaken. If he moved away, they returned.
His last experiment involved a simple kinetic sorcery set to spin a metal disc in midair.
'The disc? I told you. A kinetic sorcery with no upper limit. The disc keeps accelerating until all themana in the locality has been used up'.
