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Waldo and Magic, Inc
294 pages
A delightfully pragmatic romp where brilliant curmudgeons use engineering and sheer stubbornness to outwit both corporate monopolies and the laws of physics.
What it feels like
Reading this collection feels like stepping into a bustling mid-century laboratory where the impossible is just another engineering problem waiting to be solved. The pace is brisk and idea-driven, pulling you through a retro-futuristic landscape where magic and mechanics are treated with the same wry, matter-of-fact pragmatism. It is a deeply satisfying exercise in competence fiction, where the joy comes not from deep emotional introspection, but from watching brilliant, slightly misanthropic minds dismantle complex problems, whether they involve failing spacecraft or demonic monopolies. The prose is utilitarian and sharp, serving as a clear window into wildly inventive concepts. It will absolutely delight fans of classic golden-age science fiction who love watching clever people outsmart the universe.
- Mood
- retro-futuristic
- industrious
- quirky
- Tone
- pragmatic
- wry
- inventive
- matter-of-fact
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- triumph of ingenuity · science as magic · corporate bureaucracy · overcoming limitations
- The writing
- Direct, utilitarian, and idea-driven, prioritizing the clear mechanics of the world over lyrical flourish.
- The arc
- Moves from cynical isolation and bureaucratic frustration to the satisfying triumph of clever, engineered solutions.
- Who it's for
- Readers who delight in classic competence fiction where brilliant, slightly cranky protagonists outsmart the system.
Content notes
- dated cultural attitudes
- ableist language
About the book
Waldo: North Power-Air was in trouble. Their aircraft had begun to crash at an alarming rate, and no one could figure out what was going wrong. Desperate for an answer, they turned to Waldo, the crippled genius who lived in a zero-g home in orbit around Earth. But Waldo had little reason to want to help the rest of humanity -- until he learned that the solution to their problems also held the key to his own...
Magic, Inc.: Under the guise of an agency for magicians, Magic, Inc. was systematically squeezing out the small independent magicians. Then one businessman stood firm. With the help of an Oxford-educated African shaman and a little old lady adept at black magic, he went straight to the demons of Hell to resolve the problem -- once and for all!
Description from Open Library.
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