The Government Manual for New Wizards - Tapa blanda

The Government Manual for New Wizards is a hilarious, mock-official handbook for wannabe witches and warlocks who need advice on recognizing the onset of wizardolescence, understanding the laws of magic (and the magic of laws), choosing (or being chosen by) the right magical items and enchanted artifacts, dealing with the dead (grateful and otherwise), successfully hosting magical exhibitions, and the proper care and feeding of magical creatures.Wands, charms, cloaks of invisibility, shoes of stealth (or "sneakers"), and other otherworldly accoutrements-it's all here, discussed tongue-in-cheek but with the utmost Governmental authority.This entertaining guide offers such sage advice as: " A demon is just as afraid of you as you are of it-provided, of course, that you are eight feet tall, composed of living fire, and capable of destroying a small village with a single angry thought. Otherwise, it doesn't find you frightening at all. " When selecting educational programs, do not be tempted by solicitations from wizardry parchment mills. A so-called degree from such a place is not worth the scroll on which it appears to be inscribed. The ink will disappear not long after the school itself does.The Government Manual for New Wizards is a sidesplitting spoof of all things wizard-y.

Matthew David Brozik lives on Long Island, N.Y. He has studied writing with Joyce Carol Oates, Russell Banks, Leslie Epstein, and Steven Wright and has written for a number of literary publications.

Jacob Sager Weinstein has written for The New Yorker, McSweeney's, and Cracked.com, and is a former contributor to The Onion. He's also written for HBO, NBC, and the BBC.

Jacob and his wife live in London with their two children, neither of whom has ever been lost at sea or stuck in the middle of a buffalo stampede. Also, that one time he wasn't paying attention and the baby carriage rolled into the Regent's Park Duck Pond, neither of his kids was in it. What more could you want from a parenting expert?