Unexpected Magic is a short story collection by Diana Wynne Jones. It contains a good portion of her short fiction, if not all of them, and one novella. Some are reprinted from earlier collections such asBelieving Is Seeing. The first tale is also the only nonfiction one in the lot.
Magic can be anywhere. It can also not work according to plan.
The Girl Jones - (1998) - short story
Nad and Dan adn Quaffy - (1990) - novelette
The Plague of Peacocks - (1984) - short story
The Master - (1989) - short story
Enna Hittims - (1999) - short story
The Girl Who Loved the Sun - (1990) - short story
The Fluffy Pink Toadstool - (1979) - short story
Auntie Bea's Day Out - (1979) - short story
Carruthers - (1978) - novelette
What the Cat Told Me - (1994) - novelette
The Green Stone - (1988) - short story
The Fat Wizard - (1987) - short story
No One - (1984) - novelette
Dragon Reserve, Home Eight - (1984) - novelette
Little Dot - (2003) - novelette
Everard's Ride - (1995) - novella
Tropes for this collection include:
- Deadpan Snarker:
- Happens in "The Plague of Peacocks". After Daniel Emmanuel has a run-in with a tree, a rope, and some nails, the Platts don't realize it was telling him and Linda the story of Jesus and petition to have the tree chopped down. Mrs. Willis snarkily asks why not just take Daniel Emmanuel to the vet to put him down, as they did with a good portion of the neighbor's pets.
- The butcher and baker respond to Mother's questions this way in "The Fluffy Pink Toadstool". They tell her that the bread is not stone-ground but wheat-ground, and the animals have a life as natural as that of a human. Mother then stops buying bread and meat, to her kids' dismay.
- The Dog Bites Back: Mrs. Willis is the Platt couple's Butt-Monkey more so than anyone else; they barge in on her typing time, interrupt her, and try to insist they "correct" Daniel Emmanuel. When Daniel Emmanuel sets the peacocks on them, Mrs. Willis types news reports on how hard the Platts are trying to get rid of the birds, based on the updates that the kids receive.
- The Dreaded: Mr. Platt and Daniel Emmanuel agree on one thing in "The Plague of Peacocks": the boy's dad Mr. O'Flaherty is absolutely terrifying. He has a consistently bad temper.
- Giftedly Bad: "The Fluffy Pink Toadstool" ends with Mother taking up the violin. When she practices, the family shuts the door to keep things quiet.
- Lethal Chef: The kids find out that no, their mother cannot cook mushrooms, wild onions, or sloes when she insists on making dinner.
- Missing Child: "The Fluffy Pink Toadstool" has a moment where Tim goes missing in the woods.
- Pet the Dog: The little figure in the bushes gives Timmy a mushroom that multiplies like Tribbles, on seeing how much the family is suffering from Mother's obsessions. It ends up doing the trick: Father puts his foot down and threatens to leave Mother and take the kids because her obsessions are getting out of hand, and she can do them on her own.
