A Short History of Magic: Short Story by Trevor Hopkins

A story set far away in space and time, when people have lived long and spread over the entire galaxy. It is also a time when humans have forgotton their past. But what have they forgotton and, more importantly, why have they forgotton it?

This story was one suggested by its title, rather than the more normal process - in my experience, anyway - of a title emerging from the text of the story itself.

Of course it's an echo of several other well-known works, including A Brief History of Time by Professor Stephen Hawking and A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.

I spent quite a lot of time mulling over the structure and presentation of this tale, which I do appreciate is somewhat unusual. Do let me know what you think of the approach.

The story was also shaped by the handful of quotations which accompany the text - a useful and amusing focus, I found.

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