The Never Never Wizard of Apalachicola-- Jason Sanford

As a child I spent many happy summers in Apalachicola, a small town on a small bay on the Florida panhandle. While I was too young to remember all the specifics of the my visits, general impressions of the bay and nearby pine forests remain. Mixed with these memories are the good feelings evoked by the sing-song quality of the word Apalachicola. To this day the name reminds me of the innocent and hopeful times all children should experience.

I tried to capture this innocent and hopeful quality with my story. However, the story is more than that. As we grow up we realize the world isn't all happiness and child-like wonder--that dark deeds and times exist alongside the good. My story is an attempt to contrast this duality with the split between magic and science. Because of what many people see as humanity's mundane existence, people often imagine that it would be a great thing if magic really existed in our world. But I doubt this would be a good thing, for reasons expressed in my story.

--Jason Sanford