The stories in order of publication:
"Third Time Lucky", first published in AMAZING STORIES, November 1986 (reprinted ON SPEC Fall 1995, collected in Stealing Magic, 1999 & 2005)
"And Who Is Joah?", first published AMAZING STORIES, November 1987 (reprinted ON SPEC Winter 1995, collected in Stealing Magic 1999 & 2005)
"The Last Lesson", first published AMAZING STORIES, September 1989 (reprinted ON SPEC Summer 1996, collected in Stealing Magic 1999 & 2005)
"Be It Ever So Humble", first published MZB's FANTASY MAGAZINE, Winter 1991 (reprinted Best of MZB's FANTASY MAGAZINE, Warner October 1994, collected in Stealing Magic 1999 & 2005)
"Nothing Up Her Sleeve", first published AMAZING STORIES, 1991 (collected in Stealing Magic 1999 & 2005)
"Mirror, Mirror, on the Lam", first published WIZARD FANTASTIC, DAW Books Inc., November 1997 (collected in Stealing Magic 1999 & 2005)
"We Two May Meet", first published DAW 30th ANNIVERSARY ANTHOLOGY, 2002 (collected in Stealing Magic 2005 and Finding Magic 2007)
Tropes:
General tropes
- Action Girl: Magdelene prefers to avoid fighting (and indeed much activity in general). When faced with danger though, she's very capable, as the most powerful wizard in the world. Most enemies can't hope to face up against her, and she isn't bad at using her bare hands either in a pinch.
- Aerith and Bob: The stories intersperse the ordinary names like Magdelene, Tristan or Juan along with invented ones including Joah, Herrick and so on.
- Amazing Technicolor Population: Demons have bright skins in different colors. Kali, Magdelene's housekeeper, is green.
- The Apprentice:
- In "And Who Is Joah?" Magdelene accepts Joah as hers, as she recognizes her as having great power in magic like herself, so that not being trained would leave her very dangerous.
- "The Last Lesson" delves into Magdelene's time as apprentice to her master in the past learning magic.
- The Archmage: Magdelene, the most powerful wizard in the world. She can instantly transform things, teleport hundreds of miles (but only to places she's been) and completely shrug off weaker wizards' spells without being harmed.
- Arc Words: "The most powerful wizard in the world". Magdelene's this, as the stories often mention, and it's also a part of the collection's whole title.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: Magdelene is the most powerful wizard in the world. She's not interested in doing much with her power though, living a comfortable life in her house by the sea, enjoying music, reading books and having sex with handsome men sometimes.
- Bullying a Dragon: Multiple people have no idea who they're dealing with when they try to make Magdelene do something or harm another person she cares about. She then shows her status as the most powerful wizard in the world by doing things such as turning them into an animal, trapping them inside of a mirror or if they really angered her, simply killing them with a word.
- Child Mage: Magdelene at twelve already showed incredible magical strength, and apprenticed to train. Joah, a thirteen year old girl, later apprentices to Magdelene and has great power too.
- Comically Invincible Hero: Much of the humor in the stories is due to the fact Magdelene can do almost any feat with her magic, though she generally doesn't, being a lazy hedonist. When she does face any enemies though, the result is pretty humorously one-sided, with many fleeing in dread of her.
- Court Mage:
- In "Third Time Lucky" Magdelene's son Tristan served as court wizard for a northern king.
- In "The Last Lesson" her master Adar served another king this way too.
- In "Be It Ever So Humble" Warlord Herrick attempts to coerce Magdelene herself into being his. It goes poorly for him.
- Curb-Stomp Battle:
- In "Be It Ever So Humble" Magdelene defeats the group of riders who come to extort a village in seconds.
- In "Nothing Up Her Sleeve" she takes on a horde of demons all by herself, killing half without being harmed before the rest flee in terror.
- In "We Two May Meet" she defeats another demonic invasion herself almost instantly.
- Distracted by the Sexy: Magdelene frequently has her gaze and mind wander on seeing attractive men, whom she then usually flirts with at the least, if not beds.
- The Dreaded: Magdelene, as the most powerful wizard in the world, is widely feared as a result of her vast power. She's capable of frightening a dragon and huge demons enough so they flee without even lifting a finger due to her reputation alone.
- Female Gaze: Magdelene is frequently described staring appreciatively at men whom she finds good-looking, enjoying the sight of their muscles especially.
- First-Name Basis: Magdelene rejects honorifics like Lady Wizard for her, having people call her by her first name instead.
- Forced Sleep:
- In "Mirror, Mirror, on the Lam", Magdelene puts the Tarzabad-har governor's guards to sleep by magic so she can talk with him.
- In "We Two May Meet", she puts two bodyguards of a doctor to sleep when they try removing her.
- Fountain of Youth:
- Magdelene keeps herself young (about forty) with magic, and easily could do the same for other people.
- In "Third Time Lucky" too Magdelene turns her son back into a baby after he tries to kill her.
- In "And Who Is Joah?" Magdelene starts teaching Joah to turn parts of herself younger or older first thing. After being rescued, she's managed it.
- Has a Type: Magdelene is attracted to young, muscular men, and especially musicians.
- The Hedonist: Magdelene is a naturally lazy and pleasure-seeking woman. She's content to lounge out in the sun by the sea, have sex with handsome young men and enjoy music usually, mostly getting into wider affairs only when they intrude on her. This avoids having her be a boring Invincible Hero given her vast power, as author Tanya Huff explains, since Magdelene's her own preventative for it.
- Hellgate: Magdelene has stairs leading right down into the Netherworld (or Netherhells) where demons dwell, in her sub-basement. It's convenient for her, as she can enter there easily, and also foil demonic invasions (being the most powerful wizard in the world) when they occur.
- Horned Humanoid: Magdelene has a housekeeper, Kali, who's a female demon with red eyes and horns. Later on Magdelene's son sends a demon against her who's horned as well, and much bigger than humans.
- Mage Tower: Magdelene is a wizard and does have a tower, though it's part of her house rather than solely where she lives. She trains Joah as her apprentice inside. It's bigger than it first appears on entering, as Joah observes. Depending on the house's current structure, it often changes location.
- Magical Incantation: Wizards sometimes cast spells by incantations. However, most aren't done using this, and Magdelene (given her incredible power) simply does them by thought alone.
- Mayfly–December Romance: Magdelene's centuries old by the time the stories are set mostly. She keeps having sex with young men (most of whom likely aren't aware of her true age). In most cases though calling it "romance" is stretching the word. She mostly has just brief trysts.
- Muggle–Mage Romance: Magdelene has been with many men over the centuries. So far as we see, none could do magic, unlike her.
- Mysterious Past: We never learn much of Magdelene's past, just how she was a thirteen year old apprenticed to a wizard at the beginning, with no information on her parents or background otherwise.
- Nice Girl: Although generally lazy and indifferent to the world's affairs beyond her house, Magdelene's a kind woman overall, coming out to help others periodically.
- Non-Linear Sequel: The stories were not published in chronological order, but the collection lists them this way too so the reader can read that way if they would like to.
- No-Sell:
- The spells which Tristan casts against Magdelene are completely ineffective due to her power.
- Five wizards attempt to remove her magic. Magdelene's unaffected, but acts like she has been, even not using it for six weeks, since this sets a trap for attacking demons.
- One-Woman Army: Multiple times Magdelene defeats a large demon army all by herself, in the first case killing half with the survivors fleeing. That's what comes with being the most powerful wizard in the world.
- Our Demons Are Different: They are corporeal beings, portrayed as horned humanoids usually, with ivory horns, talons and their native habitat being the Netherworld, a hellish underground realm. Ivory hurts them, but doesn't kill them itself. When they die, they're turned into ashes. They also have different vividly colored skins.
- Phantom-Zone Picture: H'sak, a demon, is trapped by Magdelene inside a shattered mirror for attacking her, where he remains nearly two hunded years. Magdelene banishes him to the Netherworld after the mirror gets stolen and he's nearly used in an evil ritual.
- Really Gets Around: Magdelene is cheerfully promiscuous, and beds handsome men in almost every story of the collection.
- Really 700 Years Old: Magdelene looks forty, while she's actually been alive for centuries now without aging in the least as a result of her magic.
- Reduced to Dust:
- Demons crumble into ashes when they die.
- Adar gets burned to ashes when his spell backfires and kills him.
- Robe and Wizard Hat: The fact that wizards usually wear robes, and hats sometimes, is well known in this world. People repeatedly express astonishment because Magdelene, who's a wizard, doesn't wear them (she finds wearing a robe silly). She even gets chastised by other wizards over the lack of proper wizard attire, not that she's concered with what they think.
- Running Gag: Most of the stories open with a lizard observing or reacting to things near Magdelene's house in a humorous way. It turns out that she can see all that these lizards do.
- Sex Goddess: Magdelene is apparently a fantastic lover. After they have sex off page, the captain in "Third Time Lucky" is quite drained and impressed, with her other lovers showing equally satisfied reactions.
- Sexy Discretion Shot: Magdelene gets it on often with men, though never explicitly.
- She seduces the captain in 'Third Time Lucky', then the scene cuts to after they've had sex with them lying in bed together.
- "And Who Is Joah" ends just before she's about to have sex with Zayd.
- In "The Last Lesson" scenes change as Magdelene starts moving toward having sex with Adar, then shows them again after.
- Spell Book:
- In "The Last Lesson" Magdelene breaks the locking spell which prevents her reading her master's when the story opens, and it turns out he killed his own master for the book.
- In "Mirror, Mirror, on the Lam" Magdelene stops the Tarzabad-har from summoning demons using a rare spell book (only a few copies are left).
- Token Minority: Most of the characters are white (though they're not all explicitly described in many cases), though with some exceptions (certain people appear to be olive-skinned, though it's not very clear if they're equivalent to some other ethnicities).
- Joah and Zayd in "And Who Is Joah?" are described as black people, coming from a country much further south from the main setting.
- One of the wizards in "Nothing Up Her Sleeve" it seems has an East Asian appearance.
- Weaksauce Weakness: Demons are especially hurt by ivory, it turns out.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Magdelene's son is de-aged into an infant when she beats him at the end of the "Third Time Lucky". It's unsaid what is done with him after that, but he isn't in her care later with the next stories.
- Wizards Live Longer: Magdelene is the most powerful wizard in the world. She's lived for centuries. Her son, a wizard too, has also lived for centuries now. In her case, it's due to her magic stopping her aging. We can infer it likely was for him too.
Third Time Lucky
- Do Not Call Me "Paul": Magdelene's son hates his birth name Tristan, renaming himself Polsarr.
- Forced Transformation: Magdelene transforms a rude soldier into a tree frog, then back again.
- Hates Their Parent: Magdelene's son Tristan loathes her, denies he was born to her, and also tries to kill her. It appears to result from her being a bad mother.
- Matricide: Magdelene's son Tristan really wants to kill her, and tries but fails since she's just too powerful for him.
- No Name Given: The captain is only referred to using his rank, including by Magdelene once they become lovers. She just calls him Captain along with everyone else.
And Who Is Joah?
- Bigger on the Inside: Magdelene's tower, as Joah discovers on going in.
- Blood Magic: Magdelene crafts a Tracking Spell Zayd can use to find Joah in the Netherworld by using the bond of their shared father's blood. It appears like a red line stretching away before him.
- Did We Just Have Tea with Cthulhu?: Magdelene is close friends with Death herself, as Zayd learns after going into the Netherworld with her. They embrace heartily, with War, Famine and Pestilence looking on. Zayd just comments that Magdelene's got some weird friends.
- Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Zayd takes down a demon prince with an ivory knife, as it turns out demons are vulnerable to ivory, though it isn't fatal.
- Eldritch Location: Magdelene's house shifts its structure around frequently, which confuses and scares Joah as a result.
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Magdelene and Joah run into them while in the Netherworld. As Magdelene's good friends with Death, it's quite the happy meeting.
- Magic Mirror: Magdelene has one which lets her see Zayd from miles away as he comes for Joah.
- Overnight Age-Up: Joah is a thirteen year old girl. The demon prince Rak'vol ages her up by a decade after he's captured her so that, it's implied, she's attractive to him.
- Polyamory: Joah tells Magdelene how her father has six wives. Given this, she has many half-siblings. Her older half-brother Zayd is another character in the story as he comes to find her.
- Practically Different Generations: Joah is a thirteen year old girl, with her half-brother Zayd at least twice her age.
- Title Drop: Magdelene replies with this question after Joah gives her name.
- Tracking Spell: Magdelene casts one for Zayd to locate Joah using their shared father's blood as a bond between them.
- Training the Gift of Magic: Magdelene can tell Joah has vast magical power, like her, but without any training she'll be hugely dangerous. So she takes Joah as her apprentice, something Magdelene would never do usually.
The Last Lesson
- Child Prodigy: At twelve years old Magdelene could already see through a spell her master Adar used to disguise himself that several fully qualified wizards could not.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Adar's spell to drain Magdelene's magic backfires, killing him and leaving her his magic instead.
- Origins Episode: This story relates Magdelene's origin while a girl of sixteen with great magical power apprenticed to a wizard.
- Power Parasite: Adar tries to take Magdelene's magic using a spell. However, it proves too strong for him, with the spell rebounding, killing him, and she gets his magic afterward instead.
- Teacher/Student Romance: Magdelene starts to find her master Adar attractive, and loses her virginity with him. Adar is equally into it, but somewhat taken aback by her eagerness. They don't have anything beyond this however.
- Their First Time: Magdelene eagerly loses her virginity through having sex with Adar, her master, basically throwing herself on him.
- Virgin Power: Taking Magdelene's virginity fuels a spell her master Adar uses to take away her magic.
- Wizard Classic: Adar makes himself look old, wrinkled and with a long white beard by a spell, to fit this as it's more impressive to other people (he's really only twenty six), alongside the usual garb.
Be It Ever So Humble
- Back from the Dead: Magdelene restored Juan after he's murdered, and then Warlord Herrick (whom she killed for this) too when the villagers insist. Death is annoyed by this, and chides her for it.
- Came Back Wrong: Magdelene raises Warlord Herrick when the villagers insist, but leaves him with the mind of a toddler so he's no longer a threat. This is a special case, since raising people otherwise doesn't appear to affect them negatively, as she does Juan too, who's fine.
- Compelling Voice: Magdelene has only to order that Warlord Herrick die, and he does.
- Don't Fear the Reaper: Death is a friendly woman (though annoyed by Magdelene raising people) and takes Carlos kindly away.
- I Have Your Wife: Warlord Herrick attempts to coerce Magdelene into serving him by holding Juan as a hostage. It doesn't work.
- Incompatible Orientation: Magdelene notices that a man whose eye she's trying to catch is looking in the same way at another man, giving up after she sees this.
- Neck Snap: Warlord Herrick is holding Juan and demanding that Magdelene serve him. She refuses, and Herrick murders Juan this way.
- One-Hit Kill: Magdelene is able to kill Warlord Herrick with one word: "Die".
- Thou Shalt Not Kill: The villagers don't believe anyone can rightfully kill, so Magdelene raises Warlord Herrick at their insistence after she killed him when he'd murdered Juan.
- Would Hurt a Child: Warlord Herrick casually murders Juan, a nine year old boy, when Magdelene refuses to serve him.
Nothing Up Her Sleeve
- Beyond the Impossible: Other wizards had concluded that a flying carpet was impossible, but Magdelene (who's the most powerful wizard in the world) makes one anyway right after they say this (or still do while seeing it).
- Felony Misdemeanor: The second charge against Magdelene by the Council of Wizards is that she once "consorted with a bard" (therefore bearing a son he sired), which they think is a grave offense for some unexplained reason.
- Flat-Earth Atheist: Gillian insists flying carpets are impossible even when Magdelene's touches down right in front of her on one. Magdelene is perplexed hearing this.
- Flying Carpet: Magdelene enchants a garishly ugly one to fly, which other wizards concluded was impossible before this.
- I Owe You My Life: It turns out Kali is Magdelene's servant as Magdelene had saved her life. By demon law therefore, her life belongs to Magdelene.
- Magical Society: The Council of Wizards claims authority over all the world's wizards. Magdelene, who's the most powerful, gets summoned for violating the rules they set down. She could easily refuse, but goes anyway mostly for amusement, violating other rules while on the trip.
- Obstructive Bureaucracy: The Council of Wizards forbids wizard interference with muggle affairs, even to save them (e.g. from a disastrous flood). Magdelene's unimpressed by this and helps anyway as she sees fit.
- Vapor Wear: Magdelene's shift is soaked with sweat and clings to her when she and Nicholas first meet. He can see through the cloth because of this, which discomforts him.
Mirror, Mirror, on the Lam
- Animal Eye Spy: It turns out Magdelene can see through the lizards' eyes who live near her house, so she saw Ciro leaving after he stole her mirror.
- Evil Sorcerer: The Tarzabad-har governor turns out to be one, performing a ritual to summon demons that he's hoping can give him world domination.
- Land of One City: Magdelene goes to Tarzabad-har, the Third of the Five Cities. Each of them are independent city-states in a loose alliance for mutual benefit.
- Magically-Binding Contract: Ciro can't tell Magdelene anything about who hired him to steal her mirror since he made a blood oath not to, which is unbreakable.
- Unwanted False Faith: Magdelene gets mistaken for a returning goddess on teleporting into Tarzabad-har, one of the Five Cities, beside her shrine. She has to dodge worshippers for the rest of the story.
We Two May Meet
- Driven to Suicide: Antonio jumps into a lava flow after learning his entire people were killed by the volcanic eruption which left this.
- It's All My Fault: Magdelene felt extremely guilty at not arriving in time to save Antonio's people. They died in a volcanic eruption because of this. She blames herself, saying she's too lazy to respond when things like this go on in the world. It turns out this is why she split apart, from self-loathing.
- Literal Split Personality: Magdelene discovers she's been split into two people. One is her carefree, promiscuous, relaxed self. The other (Magdelene two) is her nagging, prudish and reserved aspects which don't usually show at all. Naturally, they get along poorly, but team up to learn what happened.
- Mirror Match: Magdelene one and two finally get into a fight after butting heads often, though it's soon interrupted so the pair stop.
- Slut-Shaming: Magdelene two frequently insults Magdelene one for being a slut. She just fires back that Magdelene two is a prude.
