Utmost Magpie [Kindle Edition]

Richard Marsh (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

In Britain and Ireland, many people believe - though some pretend they don’t - that the sighting of one magpie presages bad luck, and two mean good luck. Here is the full range of magpie prophecies.

One for sorrow, two for joy,
Three for a girl, four for a boy,
(Or: Three for a wedding, four for to die)
Five for silver, six for gold,
Seven for a secret never to be told,
Eight for a wish, nine for a kiss,
Ten for a bird you must not miss.

The unnamed Captain of a flock of magpies has ended the tradition of Mortal Combat for leadership out of a respect for life, especially his own.
When the innovative Kawa mounts a successful - but bloodless - Challenge, Flock take a major step up the evolution ladder.
On Kawa’s heroic death, the compassionate Ghareel, the first female captain, elevates Flock from mere folklore into legend.
The Fall from such a height is precipitous. Can the elderly, crippled, deaf, nearly blind ex-Captain - now with a newly minted name - restore Flock to their former glory?

Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 149 KB
• Print Length: 80 pages
• Publisher: Mazgeen Press (September 30, 2009)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
• Language: English
• ASIN: B002V1H29I
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #772,076 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

More About the Author

A journalist and radio presenter in his native United States before moving to Ireland in 1980, Richard has been a tour guide and storyteller for the past 20 years. His Legendary Tours take people to the places in Ireland where the myths, legends and folk tales happened, and he tells the stories on location. He has imparted relevant accounts of magic, mystery, miracles and miscellaneous derring-do in Stone Age tombs, Bronze Age stone circles, Iron Age forts, and ruins of medieval churches.

Apart from the tours, Richard is a member of the Heritage in Schools and Writers in Schools programmes, through which he tells stories to children in schools and libraries in Ireland. He also travels frequently to the United States and Spain with his repertoire of Irish, Spanish, Basque and world stories.

Listeners to the Irish national radio station, RTE Radio One, will be familiar with Richard's voice on programmes such as Sunday Miscellany and various incarnations of Just A Thought. He was a presenter with stations WQRS-FM and WTIQ in Michigan in the 1950s and 60s.

During the 1970s in Key West, Florida, Richard established Pocket Poetry Press and Mazgeen Press and edited and published the magazine Pocket Poetry. He had worked as a coffee house poet in Detroit, Chicago and New York in 1958-59.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Magpie "Congress", January 12, 2010

By 

Lady Dragoness "Lady D." (Deep South, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Utmost Magpie (Kindle Edition)

Utmost Magpie
Richard Marsh
Mazgeen Press, (2009)
E-book, 54 pages
Rated 4 stars of 5 possible

Utmost Magpie is a story about magpies who, led by their captain, deliver messages to people. The messages foretell - by the number of magpies seen - what may happen to the people... The events foretold by the magpies are prophetic, but not entirely unavoidable.

I suspect the story is heavily laden with symbolism that I haven't stopped to analyze in it's entirety. The satire goes right over my head too... or at least, mostly it does. Despite that, I can still see the magpies as politicians and their messages as the rhetoric delivered by politicians in an attempt to convince their colleagues to vote for certain measures when the political body is in session.

On another level, Utmost Magpie is an entirely enjoyable fantasy tale about magpies and the "work" they do. Utmost Magpie can be read as "light and fluffy" or studied in depth. I can recommend this book, even to those who don't normally read satire.

This review has been simultaneously published on Amazon.com, Dragonviews, and LibraryThing. Utmost Magpie was given to me free in exchange for this review.