Book cover of Off to Be the Wizard

Book description

An io9 Can't Miss Science Fiction and Fantasy title in March 2014.

Martin Banks is just a normal guy who has made an abnormal discovery: he can manipulate reality, thanks to reality being nothing more than a computer program. With every use of this ability, though, Martin finds his little…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked Off to Be the Wizard as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

What if there was a computer program that reduced every single thing in the world down to a set of numbers? Sounds mathematically boring. But what if by changing one number you could suddenly be six feet tall? Or levitate? Martin Banks has, by spending far too much time on the internet, discovered that program. And made himself rich. Which gets the authorities snooping around and next thing you know he’s fleeing to the middle ages, where several other mathematical types have taken up residence. They know the secret of the program and have made themselves wizards. And Martin becomes…

From Arthur's list on fantasy to tickle your funny bone.

There is something to be said about Dragons and sorcery. But throw in time travel and a bit of computer wizardry you end up with Off to Be the Wizard. This is one of those books that sticks with you and you end up recommending it to people constantly because it is so original, so witty, so stupidly fun that you end up thinking everyone will like it.

I like this one because it blends a bit of sci-fi into the mix, but you still get the classic Middle Ages adventure. I would be hard-pressed to find something wittier…

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December on 5C4 by Adam Strassberg,

Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!

On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…

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