The magician revealed themselves
Justyn Edwards: The Great Fox Revealed (Walker Books 2024) Justyn Edwards graduated from the University of Southampton with a degree in Archaeology. Since then he has worked as a caravan park attendant, paperboy and software engineer, but never as an archaeologist. He always wanted to be a writer and drew inspiration for his books from magic shows. He realized that a magician’s trick is defined by the story they tell their audience. A story can also be a magic trick because the author chooses when to reveal their secrets to the reader. This is how Justyn’s debut novel The Great Fox Illusion was born. Flick Lions is still searching for answers, and with them his father. Now she has a chance to find him, but to do so she must uncover one of her father’s tricks. She and her best friend, Charlie, set out to search an abandoned mine for…
Félix, Net, Nika again and again
Rafał Kosik: Félix, Net, Nika and the Theoretically Possible Catastrophe (originally published in Powergraph in 2005) Félix, the inventor, Net, the IT genius and Nika, the strange girl, are still inseparable. It is spring and they finally have a break from the gang of invisible people, but now they have to deal with more than just their exams at school, because new strange events are happening. Félix’s father is called to the sea by the latest secret mission, which was launched because of the documents found by Félix and his friends. This comes in handy for the children, because they can spend their summer vacation by the sea. However, here they have an even greater chance of starting a process that could end in a theoretically possible catastrophe for them and the whole world. Compared to the first book, this story turns from a classic adventure novel into a large-scale…
Japan
Márton Moór: Maji-de (Underground Kiadó 2017) We’ve all seen something that made us say, “Is this serious?” Márton Moór experienced this about every ten minutes in Japan. Japanese slang has a good term for such situations: Maji-de. Márton Moór lived and worked in Japan between 2010 and 2017 as an English teacher. During his stay abroad, he wrote a blog about his experiences, and upon returning home, this book was published, which summarizes the seven years spent in Japan as seven days, supplemented at the end of the chapters with memorable, sometimes astonishing, sometimes funny and kind moments from his English lessons. I first read the book when it was published and it had a great impact on me. This year, I read several Japanese authors and thought I would refresh my knowledge about the country. I was impressed by the ruthless honesty of the book, the way it tells…