The Imagicators

The Imagicators is a fantasy novel by Brad Marshland, published in 2006. The premise is that magic is the application of acute imagination. This form of magic is known in the book as imagication.

In the novel, the world of Windemere was created eighty years ago by a girl from our world, who imagined it so completely that it became real. Now, eighty years later, the world she created is in turmoil. Spenser and Elaine, two young people from our world are drawn to Windemere to try to heal it. To do so, they must learn to use their own powers of imagication.

The book carries strong themes of personal responsibility. Part of why Windemere is in chaos is that the King and Queen are fighting. These disputes mirror the strife within Spenser and Elaine's families. In all cases, the young people learn to realize that while they have little control over the actions of others, they can take control over their own lives and do their part to heal the world.

The Imagicators also puts into a fictional realm the idea of subjective reality, the idea that thought is able to influence the universe directly.

Magic

Magic in The Imagicators requires no spells or magic words. Instead, it is the application of acute imagination. If one can imagine something in absolute detail, then it will become real. Like any skill, one may have some innate talent, but anyone may improve their powers by exercising their imaginations. As one high Imagicator puts it, any child can learn a few songs, but only a few become great composers. Still, just as with music, anyone may improve with practice.

Imagication is both simple and difficult. It is simple to imagine something, but difficult to imagine every detail. When imagicating fire, for example, one must imagine not just what it looks like, but how it feels, sounds and smells. Imagicating food may be among the most difficult tasks. One must not only imagine the look, taste, feel and smells, but also imagicate how the nutritive value will affect the body.

Once an object is imagicated, it must be sustained. Sustenance in The Imagicators refers to endowing an imagicated object with a certain permanence, so that it will continue to exist after the imagicator turns his or her mind to something else. It is like placing an object in short-term or long-term memory. Imagicated creations will degrade at varying rates depending on the skill of the imagicator.

Limitations

There are two basic categories of limitations on the uses of imagication: internal limitations and legal limitations. Every imagicator has their own internal limitations on their ability to imagicate, based on their ability to imagine in full detail. Moreover, the ability to sustain a creation depends on a combination of innate ability and training. Imagication is a creative art, and while creations decay over time, imagicators do not have the power to destroy in the sense of making another's creation vanish from existence, but one imagicator may create water to douse another's fire. An imagicator could theoretically transform himself into a rock, but since a rock is not able to imagicate, doing so would be suicide. Teleportation is not possible, because one cannot be in two places at once and therefore would need to disappear from one place before reappearing in another. In that instant, one would cease to be. One cannot directly change the thoughts, feelings, or desires of another.

Legal limitations are set forth in the Windham Convention on Moral Uses of Imagication. Among other prohibitions, imagicators are barred from creating creatures with wills of their own.

Sequel

A sequel, The Imagicators and the Wind Between the Worlds, was published in 2008.