#magic university

Fair Winds and Fortune from Scholarly Pursuits: A Queer Anthology of Cozy Academia Stories A @duckprintspress project - Crowdfunding now!

Summary:

Bastian, a knight errant, is convalescing at the University of Vismark's Halls of Healing following a wyvern attack that severely damaged his left wing. Because wyvern claws are one source of a rare material needed to craft magic-nullifying potions and objects, the wounds they inflict leave a magical deadzone that takes months to fade. Tending to Bastian’s wounds successfully requires an extended stay as a medical ward, waiting for his wing membrane to heal. And waiting to see if his pinion feathers can be regrown once healing magic can again take effect. But Bastian is not good at remaining idle. Losing the ability to fly, even temporarily (so he hopes), has profoundly unsettled Bastian, which exacerbates his restlessness. Luckily for him, his assigned healer, Zara, has patience enough for two. Her skill at soothing Bastian’s stress seems as remarkable to him as the medical methods used to repair his physical ills. Zara has kept him occupied and calm during the long weeks of his recovery, allowing the two of them to grow close. Now that Bastian is well enough to venture outside, Zara introduces Bastian to her friend, Emory, intuiting that they will get along. Emory, a mage adept, is researching and experimenting with teleportation, attempting to distill the power into reusable charms that have the same efficacy as his own natural ability. Success would open up unheard-of opportunities for travel, even to those without magic. Bastian is happy to help with testing Emory's prototypes. In their free time, Bastian, Zara, and Emory quickly become inseparable. Underneath her professionalism, Zara has a sense of humor and mischief that complements Emory’s bold and adventurous nature. Together, they explore the ancient beauty of Vismark’s campus on foot and by boat, play games, read books, share meals, and support one another in learning. Spending time with Zara and Emory makes Bastian feel more vibrantly alive than he has in years, which leads him to confront truths he's been avoiding for just as long. Bastian couldn't ask for better companions in this unexpected chapter of his life. As time ticks closer to the deadline that will reveal if Bastian's wing has been permanently damaged, the three of them realize that none of them wants the connection they've formed to end.

Here’s what’s keeping me super-busy this month… I'm running a Kickstarter.

Can you believe it’s been 15 years since Magic University hit the (digital) shelves?

It feels like a different era of history. In 2010, Obama was president, the Kindle was still a newfangled thing, and Twitter still felt niche (at 40 million users). And the final Harry Potter book had come out only 3 years earlier, and the final movie was still to come…!

At the time I didn’t know that writing a trans-inclusive magic school book was going to become such a political statement. I mostly wanted to write a magic school series where we knew up front lots of the characters were queer and that would actually pay off a rivals-to-lovers trope/plot line. I wanted to write original fic that my fanfic-loving friends would love to read.

I didn’t include a trans mentor for my hero to spite J.K. Rowling. At the time she hadn’t yet voiced her anti-trans views. I included trans characters because trans people exist.

I also include some characters who change gender magically. While I wouldn’t call that “spite,” it did always feel like a missed opportunity to me (and many fanfic writers) that none of the many ways a wizard could change gender in the Harry Potter books (Polyjuice, animorphmagus, etc) are ever explored.

But here we are, in 2025, with JKR leading a brigade of anti-trans voices in the UK, and the USA devolving fast into a book-banning fascist nation trying to legislate trans people out of existence.

It’s why now seems the right time for me to produce a hardcover omnibus edition of Magic University. So I’m running a Kickstarter to do just that.

I launched last week and it took off like a rocket! The more people who back it, the fancier I can make the hardcover edition, too, so if I can nerd out about books for a minute: it’s already slated to have a really nifty fore-edge design on the pages, a Wibalin buckram binding, and a foil-stamped or debossed title on the cover. If the campaign continues to do well, well reach the custom designed endpapers goal next, and at $10,000 we can add a ribbon bookmark! (I really really want to get to the ribbon bookmark…!)

I have such an incredible, intense fondness for this series.

I fell in love with it from the first book (also, picked my ship VERY early on, and was delighted with how the series went after that :D ).

I wrote fic for this series--multiple times.

It was everything I was looking for--a magical school in a university setting, with fantastic characters. Also queerness and gender.

Each student has to learn three A-Level subjects of their choice. The University, of course, offers a handful of other courses for the students to pick from. Here you can learn about which ones each student picked.