This month the Signature Background feature was Andy78's Magic in the Air. Have you seen the background yet or downloaded your copy? Man in kilt... YEAH! Have you read the story yet? Here's my review, just in case you need a little extra incentive.

Reviewer: Cia
Status: Complete
Length: 5,039

Well I think I’m long overdue to review this story! I can’t believe I missed it in the anthologies last year. Magic in the Air was written for the 2014 Summer Anthology: The Backup Plan. And boy what a backup plan the main character, Angus, has when he asks his so-not-ready-to-be-pry-open-the-closet boyfriend of two years, Jason, to the school formal, only to be shot down. Pretty sure that sent their relationship on the skids. But Jason is the only other gay guy in his school that Angus knows, so he resorts to an old family trait: magic.

Specifically, Angus conjures up the ideal guy for him. He has to dig up some family heirlooms; both sides of his family have been magical—even to the point of influencing well-known magical events in history—and he has a lot of tools at his disposal, including a magical amulet and the family Book of Shadows. But does he have the huge amount power he needs? Even he’s not sure, since he’s never flexed his magical muscles like the spell would need.

Does it work? Can Angus conjure up his dream man? Or is the result of tampering with magic more of a nightmare? Did he ever have control of the spell, or does it take on a life of its own?

Well, I’m not going to tell you!

You’ll have to read the story to find that out. Andy’s writing has great flow, and there is a twist at the end that I really enjoyed. I’m not a big fan of teen fiction, but Magic in the Air has just enough emotional drama to make the characters feel realistic without being so dramatic it feels tediously juvenile. I definitely appreciated that, because teens do have a lot of hormones and craziness going on, but there's a line that just feels unbelievable if the author crosses it. And while my visual, or mental, appreciation for men usually goes for someone a bit older—you can NOT go wrong with a guy in a kilt!

At just over five thousand words, this is a good little bite of a story—just enough to satisfy, but quick to read—so why haven’t you read it yet?