Before the Magic Fades

For centuries the remote land of Beta was an oasis of peace, protected by a mysterious source of magic. Now, the magic is fading away and Beta has been invaded by its rapacious neighbour, Shan. Tova spends her days herding goats and dreaming of adventure. But one night her grandmother has a prophetic dream, and Tova finds herself on a quest which will change her life – and perhaps the future of her country. "Before the Magic Fades" is a work of fiction, loosely based on the real and tragic story of the occupation of Tibet. For hundreds of years Tibet was a secretive, isolated land with a reputation for mystery and the supernatural. So, what if those magical forces really existed? "Before the Magic Fades" is the story of a country that is a little like Tibet, but with more magic, in another dimension entirely.

For centuries the remote land of Beta was an oasis of peace, protected by a mysterious source of magic. Now, the magic is fading away and Beta has been invaded by its rapacious neighbour, Shan. Tova spends her days herding goats and dreaming of adventure. But one night her grandmother has a prophetic dream, and Tova finds herself on a quest which will change her life – and perhaps the future of her country. "Before the Magic Fades" is a work of fiction, loosely based on the real and tragic story of the occupation of Tibet. For hundreds of years Tibet was a secretive, isolated land with a reputation for mystery and the supernatural. So, what if those magical forces really existed? "Before the Magic Fades" is the story of a country that is a little like Tibet, but with more magic, in another dimension entirely.

Gill Winter spent eleven years working at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Zealand's premier contemporary art museum. She left the art world in 1999 to create Flying Piglets, a touring agency for folk and blues musicians. During the next few years she also worked as marketing manager for the Lake Taupo and Taranaki Arts Festivals, helped on the family pig farm and was a regular volunteer for Trade Aid, New Zealand's largest fair-trade organisation. In 2009, she wound up Flying Piglets and completed a CELTA course in teaching English as a second language. In 2010, she saw a notice on the Jobs page of Dave's ESL Café website, advertising for volunteer teachers to work at Tibet Charity in Dharamshala, India. In 2011 she published "Between Monks and Monkeys", describing her experiences in India. She returned to Dharamshala for another teaching stint at Tibet Charity in 2012, after which she wrote "The Yeti in the Library". She taught for the third time at Tibet Charity in 2013. In 2015 and 2016 she took an English conversation class with the nuns at Jamyang Choling Institute of Buddhist Dialectics in Gharoh, near Dharamshala. Gill is married with two adult children and four grandchildren, and lives in Taranaki, New Zealand.