Webmage series

WebMage (Webmage -1) by Kelly McCullough — WebMage (Webmage #1) by Kelly McCullough

Webmage series, also called Ravirn, by Kelly McCullough.

Genres and Sub-Genres[]

Urban Fantasy / Fantasy-cyberpunk hybrid (per author) / Sci–UF

Series Description or Overview[]

WebMage: A fantasy-cyberpunk hybrid that revolves around Ravirn, a grandson of the Greek Fate Lachesis. In order to keep up with an ever increasing number of life threads, the Fates have upgraded to a computerized system that blends magic with programming. Of course where there are computers, there are also hackers. In the process of “testing” his Great-Aunt Atropos’s security, Ravirn, a hacker/sorcerer, and his laptop familiar, Melchior, uncover a plot that could shake the foundations of Olympus and change humanity’s relationship with Fate forever. ~ WebMage | Kelly McCullough

Lead's Species[]

Hacker Sorcerer

Primary Supe[]

Mages, gods

What Sets it Apart[]

A Greek demi-god sorcerer as a magic-based computer hacker and spy, assassin-type

Narrative Type and Narrators[]

First person told by Ravirn—protagonist

Books in Series[]

WebMage series:

WebMage (2006)
Cybermancy (2007)
CodeSpell (2008)
MythOS (2009)
SpellCrash (2010)

Shorts, Anthologies and Guides[]

none

Other Series[]

Fallen Blade (5 books) ~ Fantasy

Themes[]

World Building[]

Setting[]

Hades, Ahllan, Asgard

Supernatural Elements[]

Webmage, web goblin, Fates, sorcerers, webgoblin, mages, minor demigod, Hades, Hell, Greek Mythology, shape-changing, goblin and a laptop, Norse pantheon, Underworld/Hades,

Nemesis: Goddess of Vengeance
Necessity: sentient computer that runs the universe

World[]

In the 21st century, magic has advanced with the times and gone digital,

Protagonist[]

Ravirn, the great-grandson of one of the three Fates, is a talented sorcerer, a computer hacker extraordinaire, and in the process of becoming a minor demigod. His best friend and familiar is both a goblin and a laptop, changing from one shape to the other as needed. ~ Shelfari, bk4

Sidekick[]

Name: — What: — Sidekick-to: — About: — Book First Seen In:

Character Chart[]

Ravirn Series ~ Shelfari (Character lists)

Characters	What	About
Ravirn	computer geek	child of the Fates; Great to the nth degree Grandson of the Fate Lachesis;
Atropos	Fate, Ravirn's Great Aunt	tries to end human free will
Melchior	Ravirn's familiar
Cerice	Ravirn's girlfriend
Lachesis	Greek Fate	Ravirn is her grandson;
Necessity	sentient computer	runs the multiverse

Author[]

Kelly McCullough

Website: Kelly McCullough
Genres: Urban Rantsy, Sci-Fantasy, Fantasy, Fantasy-cyberpunk

Bio: Kelly David McCullough is a contemporary American author of Fantasy and Science Fiction novels living in Wisconsin. His critically acclaimed WebMage was released in 2006, followed by Cybermancy in 2007 CodeSpell in 2008, MythOS in 2009, and Spellcrash in 2010. Some of his 20 published short stories include The Uncola and When Jabberwocks Attack; he also has written a number of poems, including The Bees: An Edgar Allan Pooh Poem. His non-fiction work includes an illustrated collection that is part of a robust middle school physical science curriculum that was funded by the National Science Foundation and has been adopted by several state boards of education, the Interactions in Physical Science curriculum.Before succeeding as a published author, McCullough acted in the Minnesota Renaissance Festival, the Colorado Renaissance Festival, and the Arizona Renaissance Festival. He lives with his wife, Laura, and a number of cats.Awards include the 2000 "Writers of the Future" winner, an international competition begun by L. Ron Hubbard.In 2008, he donated his archive to the department of Rare Books and Special Collections at Northern Illinois University. ~ Kelly McCullough - FF

Cover Artist[]

Artist: Chris McGrath (bk 1 only)

Source: McGrath's website: christianmcgrath.com

Publishing Information[]

Publisher: Ace Books
Author Page:
Bk-1: Paperback, 310 pages, Pub Aug 25-2006—ISBN: 0441014259
Bk-2: Paperback, 278 pages, Pub: Oct 25th 2007—ISBN: 0441015387
Bk-3: Paperback, 288 pages, Pub: May 27th 2008—ISBN: 0441016030
Bk-4: Paperback, 289 pages, Pub: May 26th 2009—ISBN: 044101724X
BK-5: Paperback, 304 pages, Pub: May 25th 2010—ISBN: 0441018882

Book Cover Blurbs[]

✤ BOOK ONE BLURB—Webmage: Ravirn is not your average computer geek. A child of the Fates—literally—he’s a hacker extraordinaire who can zero in on the fatal flaw in any program. Now that twenty-first-century magic has gone digital that makes him a very talented sorcerer. But a world of problems is about to be downloaded on Ravirn—who’s just trying to pass his college midterms. Great Aunt Atropos, one of the three Fates, decides that humans having free will is really overrated and plans to rid herself of the annoyance—by coding a spell into the Fate Core, the server that rules destiny. As a hacker, Ravirn is a big believer in free will, and when he not only refuses to debug her spell but actively opposes her, all hell breaks loose. Even with the help of his familiar Melchior, a sexy sorceress (who’s also a mean programmer), and the webgoblin underground, it’s going to be a close call. ~ Goodreads | WebMage

✤ BOOK TWO BLURB—Cybermancy: Not just any computer geek can hack into Hades. But Ravirn (please don't call him Raven), a direct descendant of one of the three Fates, is no ordinary hacker. Magic has gone digital in the twenty-first century, and Ravirn is a sorcerer with a laptop—otherwise known as his shape-changing best friend. These days, Ravirn's crashing at his girlfriend's place while she works on her doctorate in computer science. Only one problem: all of her research is in her webgoblin's memory, which is now in Hades along with its soul. To save Cerice's webgoblin (and her Ph.D.), Ravirn must brave Hell itself. But can he do it without corrupting the mweb--the magical Internet--and without facing down the Lord of the Dead himself? ~ Cybermancy (Ravirn 2) by Kelly McCullough - Shelfari

✤ BOOK THREE BLURB—Codespell: The universe needs a reboot... In the twenty-first century magic has advanced with the times and gone digital, and Ravirn, a direct descendant of one of the three Fates, is a talented sorcerer and computer hacker extraordinaire. Now that Ravirn has come into his own as a minor chaos power, hes partying with Zeus, playing hard to get with a gorgeous Fury...and trying to stay one step ahead of Nemesis, the unstoppable Goddess of Vengeance. But now, Necessity, the sentient computer that runs the universe, has caught a virus that crashes most of the magical Internet, and Ravirn is tasked with fixing it. He hasn't missed the fact that whoever repairs Necessity will, for that moment, run the universe and be able to remake the worlds (and everything else) to his liking. Unfortunately for the sorcerer, some very dangerous beings have figured that out, too. ~ Codespell (Ravirn 3) by Kelly McCullough ~ Shelfari

✤ BOOK FOUR BLURB—MythOS: In the 21st century, magic has advanced with the times and gone digital, and Ravirn, the great-grandson of one of the three Fates, is a talented sorcerer, a computer hacker extraordinaire, and in the process of becoming a minor demigod. His best friend and familiar is both a goblin and a laptop, changing from one shape to the other as needed. While repairing Necessity (the badly broken sentient computer that runs the multiverse), Ravirn is thrown into a very different place: a parallel world where the Greek gods are only myths. This strange realm is ruled by the Norse pantheon—Odin, Thor, and other fun-loving brutes—and their magic uses a completely different operating system. A system that Ravirn will have to hack if he ever wants to get out of Asgard. Alive. ~ MythOS (Ravirn 4) ~ Shelfari

✤ BOOK FIVE BLURB—Spellcrash (2010): Ravirn is the best hacker around. But when the system controlling the multiverse needs a massive reboot, Ravirn must utilize all of his skills as a mage and prevent complete chaos-even if it costs him his life. ~ Goodreads | Spellcrash (Webmage, #5)

Excerpt[]

"I was raised and educated by hippies. Not the long hair and beads variety, but certainly unconventional thinkers. At home I was encouraged to follow my interests and believe I could be whatever I wanted, and I went to a school that was founded on the same principles.

The funny thing about growing up like that is that you come to believe it. So, along about the time the rest of my peers from the real world were finishing college and thinking about normal jobs, I decided I wanted to be a science fiction and fantasy author. It took a while, but here I am. For which much thanks also goes to my wife, the physicist with the stable job and both feet firmly on the ground.

My driving passion as a writer has always been world. Some of that has to do with that counter-cultural upbringing, I think. I was raised in a world that was attached to the normal one but that ran on fundamentally different rules. And if I lived in a world with different rules… Add in the enormous quantities of SFF I imbibed at the foot of a mother and grandmother who were both long-time genre fans, and I ended up with a fascination for the unspoken things that underpin a society.

One way to get that out in the open and examine it is to build completely different worlds, where you can push thing to extremes and then see what happens. So I tend to approach my work by trying to build an alternate world to ours, make it as real as possible, and then demolition test it by setting stories there and pushing the extremes to see what breaks. It’s tremendously fun, and people seem to enjoy reading the results." ~ Kelly McCullough – Interview | Fantasy Faction

First Sentence[]

Book #1: "Nothing here," said Melchior, his voice echoing from the depths of an ancient citrus-wood chest.
Book #2:
Book #3:
Book #4: "This is a really bad idea," I murmered into my headset.
Book #5:

Quotes:[]

Goodreads | Kelly McCullough Quotes (Author of WebMage)

“Then she threw her head back and laughed like all the windows of hell shattering.” ~ Bk1

“You could swallow a pint of nitroglycerin and try to escape by pogo stick, and it wouldn’t make things worse.” ~ Bk1

You could swallow a pint of nitroglycerin and try to escape by pogo stick, and it wouldn’t make things worse.” ~ Bk1

I closed my eyes and let the morphine carry me away to a place where everything was quiet bliss. It was also pink. Not my favorite color, but I didn’t feel like arguing. ~ Bk1

Honestly, I don’t think you have the sense of a lobotomized tree sloth.” ~ Bk1

“Now I’m going to do something extremely stupid and dangerous.” “Since when is that newsworthy enough to announce?” ~ Bk1

“Idealists are some of my favorite people. They’re so committed to achieving perfection of one sort or another they’ll turn down opportunities for incremental changes that go in their direction. ~ Bk1

~ Shelfari