# Ordinary mortal stumbles into magical world **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 10, 2014, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ordinary-mortal-stumbles-into-magical-world/692786 "2014-07-10T19:55:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ordinary-mortal-stumbles-into-magical-world/692786/41 "2014-07-11T16:05:22Z")
> [@ExTank](#): > > Also: John DeChancie’s _Castle_ series (unrelated to the TV show). I followed it for a while, but started having a hard time getting the books and lost track of the series. > > Basically, a guy (and eventually other characters, too) is rummaging around in the back of his closet, and as he digs deeper, gets lost and winds up in a fantasy world. Over time, each character develops unique, magically-endowed skills from being in that fantasy world (the main character becomes an excellent swordsman). Thanks, you just reminded me of this series. I need to go find a set of e-books… ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ordinary-mortal-stumbles-into-magical-world/692786/42 "2014-07-11T16:07:08Z")
Jonathan Carroll and Charles de Lint often use this trope. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ordinary-mortal-stumbles-into-magical-world/692786/43 "2014-07-11T16:21:42Z")
> [@Elemenopy](#): > > I just read “Midnight Riot” by Ben Aaronovitch. It’s a sort of Harry Potterish story about a cop who discovers basic magic and minor deities hanging about London, and has to solve a murder mystery in the midst of it. It wasn’t \*quite \*my cuppa, and I’m not sure exactly why, but not bad at all. I came to the thread to recommend this series. There are now 4 books in the series. However, it is quite British in its style and humour. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ordinary-mortal-stumbles-into-magical-world/692786/44 "2014-07-11T16:27:17Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Or another twist on the premise: Mary Gently’s _Orcs_ focuses mostly on orcs who are and have always been denizens of a magical world… but who come into possession of a cache of US Marines equipment and weapons, under a dragon’s curse of “You will become what you steal”, resulting in an army of orcish jarheads… One of the worst pieces of crap I ever read, it makes jokes about raping a child to death, etc. Har. ---
**Author:** ![Barking\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Barking\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barking_Dog)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ordinary-mortal-stumbles-into-magical-world/692786/45 "2014-07-11T18:18:27Z")
[The Secret History of Moscow](http://www.amazon.com/Secret-History-Moscow-Ekaterina-Sedia/dp/B005Q6329Y), by Ekaterina Sedia, about a girl in modern Moscow who finds her way to an underground place populated by figures from russian myth and folklore, in search of her sister who has turned into a jackdaw. [Enchantment](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enchantment_%28novel%29), by Orson Scott Card, where an american linguist visiting Ukraine wakes a woman he finds in the forest with a kiss, sleeping beauty style, and finds himself transported to 10th century and must fight Baba Yaga with the princess he just woke. It’s better than it sounds. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ordinary-mortal-stumbles-into-magical-world/692786/46 "2014-07-11T19:39:13Z")
How about an ordinary mortal who learns that she isn’t an ordinary mortal? If that’s ok, I highly recommend Daniel O’Malley’s _**[The Rook](http://www.amazon.com/Rook-Novel-Daniel-OMalley/dp/0316098809/)**_. _“Myfanwy Thomas awakes in a London park surrounded by dead bodies. With her memory gone, her only hope of survival is to trust the instructions left in her pocket by her former self. She quickly learns that she is a Rook, a high-level operative in a secret agency that protects the world from supernatural threats. But there is a mole inside the organization and this person wants her dead.”_ ---
**Author:** ![Truman\_Burbank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@Truman\_Burbank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Truman_Burbank)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ordinary-mortal-stumbles-into-magical-world/692786/47 "2014-07-11T19:53:36Z")
Gaiman’s _American Gods_ has a mortal coming into contact with magic, and is one of my favorite books of all times. Zelazny’s Amber series moves back and forth between magical alternate universes and “the real” world, and features “The Pattern”, which is gate-like. (The protagonist in Amber isn’t exactly an ordinary mortal, however, as it turns out…) ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ordinary-mortal-stumbles-into-magical-world/692786/48 "2014-07-11T20:31:31Z")
_The Beginning Place_, by Ursula Le Guin. _Steel Magic_, and _Quag Keep_, by Andre Norton. Norton had a whole series of books on this theme: \*Steel Magic Octagon Magic Fur Magic Dragon Magic Lavender-Green Magic Red Hart Magic Dragon Mage: A Sequel to Dragon Magic. \* I loved _Steel Magic_, but have not read the rest. In _Quag Keep_, people find themselves in a D&D game. I was not that impressed with this one, but it was popular enough to spawn a sequel, _Return to Quag Keep._ ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ordinary-mortal-stumbles-into-magical-world/692786/49 "2014-07-11T20:33:42Z")
Thinking about it, the Apprentice Adept trilogy also fits the description but it is set in the far future on another planet so the base setting is Sci Fi which is not very “ordinary”. ---
**Author:** ![Apocalypso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Apocalypso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apocalypso)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ordinary-mortal-stumbles-into-magical-world/692786/50 "2014-07-11T23:35:34Z")
I just mentioned this series in another thread, but **Barbara Hambly’s Darwath Trilogy (Time of the Dark, The Walls of Air, and The Armies of Daylight**) is about 2 Californians who who travel to another world, but are then unable to travel back because it is too dangerous. One is a tattooist and a motorcyle mechanic, the other is a historian. Rudy (the biker) discovers that he has a talent for magic (which is pretty low-key in this series), and Gil (the scholar) joins the Guard as a warrior, as the remains of humanity bands together in a desperate battle against strange and vicious creatures. It’s pretty gritty and has a very realistic feel considering that it’s filled with ghost like creatures and wizards. ---
**Author:** ![Barking\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Barking\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barking_Dog)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ordinary-mortal-stumbles-into-magical-world/692786/51 "2014-07-11T23:37:03Z")
I just remembered another one I recently read. [Off to be the Wizard](http://www.amazon.com/Off-Be-Wizard-Scott-Meyer/dp/0615786596), by Scott Meyer ([of webcomic fame)](http://basicinstructions.net/), about a computer nerd who discovers a file that allows him to control reality as if it were a simulation. He then flees to 12 century England to escape bank fraud and discovers other time traveling programmers who have found the same file and set themselves up as wizards. Staves and pointy hats and everything. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ordinary-mortal-stumbles-into-magical-world/692786/52 "2014-07-12T03:59:20Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **Kimstu** : > > I think you mean Smith of Wootton Major, where a boy receives a special charm that allows him to enter the land of Faerie. D’oh, yes, that’s what I meant. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ordinary-mortal-stumbles-into-magical-world/692786/53 "2014-07-12T04:07:46Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Thanks, you just reminded me of this series. I need to go find a set of e-books… He’s writing a new installment, his first fiction in years. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2014, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ordinary-mortal-stumbles-into-magical-world/692786/54 "2014-07-13T16:03:50Z")
Just thought of another one, the [Harold Shea](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Shea) novels by L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt. They don’t exactly accidentally stumble into other worlds (they’re deliberately trying to reach alternate realities) but don’t always wind up where they think they’re going. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2014, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ordinary-mortal-stumbles-into-magical-world/692786/55 "2014-07-13T19:11:53Z")
> [@Misnomer](#): > > How about an ordinary mortal who learns that she isn’t an ordinary mortal? If that’s ok, I highly recommend Daniel O’Malley’s _**[The Rook](http://www.amazon.com/Rook-Novel-Daniel-OMalley/dp/0316098809/)**_. I love “The Rook” (and I’m re-reading it currently) but it’s straight-up urban fantasy, imo. I was actually going to start a thread on the trope you mention - books with amnesiacs as protagonists. I’ve liked such books since reading the first of the Amber series by Zelazny. ---
**Author:** ![singular1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@singular1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/singular1)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2014, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ordinary-mortal-stumbles-into-magical-world/692786/56 "2014-07-13T21:25:08Z")
> [@Enola\_Straight](#): > > An online novel about a human somehow transported to a world of sentient bobcats. > [http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~howellg/stories/stories.html](http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~howellg/stories/stories.html) Several works there - which title are you describing? ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2014, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ordinary-mortal-stumbles-into-magical-world/692786/57 "2014-07-14T00:32:17Z")
There is the Dragon Knight series (book 1 “Dragon and the George”) by Gordon R. Dickson There is Magic Kingdom of Landover series by Terry Brooks There is the Wizardry series by Rich Cook (where programmer folks use tiny spells like a programming language Brian ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2014, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ordinary-mortal-stumbles-into-magical-world/692786/58 "2014-07-14T02:14:34Z")
I just remembered a really good one that I don’t think has been mentioned yet: [The Book of Lost Things](http://www.amazon.com/Book-Lost-Things-John-Connolly-ebook/dp/B000JMKVJE/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1405303953&sr=1-1) by John Connolly. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2014, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ordinary-mortal-stumbles-into-magical-world/692786/59 "2014-07-14T08:30:27Z")
Has [Brigadoon](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigadoon) (a musical) been mentioned? ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ordinary-mortal-stumbles-into-magical-world/692786/60 "2014-07-15T03:19:44Z")
> [@singular1](#): > > Several works there - which title are you describing? Light on Shattered Water [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ordinary-mortal-stumbles-into-magical-world/692786.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ordinary-mortal-stumbles-into-magical-world/692786.md?page=4)