The Wizard That Wasn't: Book One of Mechanized Wizardry

By Ben Rovik

Never trust a wizard.

They’re all filthy, addle-brained con artists peddling superstitious nonsense. Horace Lundin doesn’t believe in their magic. The Petronaut technician works with steel and steam in the workshop, maintaining the mechanical suits of armor his masters wear. There’s nothing magic can do that technology can’t do better.

So he thinks, until he witnesses the power of wizardry first-hand.

That fateful day gives Lundin and his Petronaut colleagues an idea. What if magic didn’t have to be chaotic and messy and unreliable, like the wizards who practice it? What if it could be as simple as throwing a switch? Putting their resources and their reputation on the line, the technicians cobble together a music-box magician, programmed to speak the arcane words punched out on its disks...

...and it works.

But the Petronauts can't hide their discovery in the workshop for long. There’s danger brewing in the city of Delia. When Princess Naomi is laid low by dark magic, her only hope for survival may rest with Horace Lundin and:

"The Wizard That Wasn’t."

A novella-length adventure full of action, magic and humor.

Reader reviews from www.FictionPress.com:
"Very smart."
"Continually intriguing..."
"The dialogue is hysterical."
"You keep me wanting more..."
"Your incorporation of female characters is top notch."
"Steampunk, explosions, action, cool machines-- basically all my favorite things in one go."
"Well, so far I'm hooked... you've certainly drawn me in!"

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ben Rovik
• Release date: Jun 6, 2011
• ISBN: 9781458167095

Ben Rovik

Ben Rovik is the scrappy young author of the "Mechanized Wizardry" series. The Petronauts, a cadre of gas-powered knights and visionary inventors, upend the way their world works when they build machines that can cast magic spells at the flick of a switch. Suddenly, magic's not just for wizards anymore. Can the Petronauts control the technology they've created and make their city, Delia, more powerful than ever? Or will the new technology create a magical arms race and destabilize the world?"The Wizard That Wasn't" and "The Mask And The Master" are Books One and Two of the series, available as ebooks here on Smashwords.He lives outside of Washington, D.C. with his wife, two cats, and a great deal of wine. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Johns Hopkins University.

Book preview

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