The Magic Battery

The sixteenth century is a time of change. Luther has challenged the Church's authority; Copernicus has revolutionized astronomy. Mages — by law, all male and Christian — have a profitable, tightly controlled trade, but Thomas Lorenz is changing that too. His pushbutton devices let anyone use spells when they want. Heinrich Gottesmann, a lawyer and witch hunter, sees deadly danger in the proliferation of magic and wants Thomas stopped. But Thomas has studied under a mage who reputedly made a pact with the Devil, and his wife Frieda passionately promotes the cause of magical freedom. The future of Germany and of magic hangs in the balance.

You won't find any dragons or orcs here. What you'll find is a struggle between dogmatism and innovation, between authority and freedom, between superstition and science. Thomas shows that magic can and must be scientific. Anyone, male or female, Christian or heathen, can use the magical devices he creates. This makes him a heretic like Galileo. He may change the world, or he may burn at the stake.