Black Magic Woman and Narrative Film examines the transformation of the stereotypical 'tragic mulatto' from tragic to empowered, as represented in independent and mainstream cinema. The author suggests that this transformation is through the character's journey towards African-based religions.

Black Magic Woman and Narrative Film examines the transformation of the stereotypical 'tragic mulatto' from tragic to empowered, as represented in independent and mainstream cinema. The author suggests that this transformation is through the character's journey towards African-based religions.

Occult investigator Quincey Morris and his “consultant,” white witch Libby Chastain, are hired to free a family from a deadly curse that appears to date back to the Salem witch trials. Fraught with danger, the trail finds them stalking the mysterious occult underworlds of Boston, San Francisco, New Orleans and New York, searching out the root of the curse. After surviving a series of terrifying attempts on their lives, the two find themselves drawn inexorably towards Salem itself – and the very heart of darkness.

Burdened by spring floods, malaria and yellow fever, citizens of New Orleans often turned to voodoo practitioners-African Rosalie, Sanite Dede, Bras Coupe-for protection. None was more powerful, or feared, than Doctor John or Marie Laveau. After P.I. Wyatt Thomas encounters a ghost during a hospital visit, he tells the story to his sometimes business partner, voodoo mambo Mama Mulate. She puts him in a trance and channels the ghost, soon learning a curse connects him and a long-dead French aristocrat. They are doomed to remain connected forever, unless Wyatt can return to old New Orleans and lift the curse before midnight on New Year's Eve.

Many writers in the recent past have acquainted the rest of India to the composite culture of this north-eastern state through their writings. Black Magic Women makes a similar attempt with a stark difference! Moushumi Kandal brings her characters out of Assam and places them in the mainstream, capturing their struggle to retain their inherent 'Assameseness' as they try to assimilate at the same time into a larger picture. The title story, Black Magic Women, is about how the mainstream India perceives the Assamese women, who powered with the art of seduction and black magic, are made to endure social discrimination that can range from racial slurs to physical abuse. Juxtaposing two different eras, it is a historic-fictional re-telling of gender bias chronicled in the early nineteenth century colonial reportage by a British officer. The stories make one pause, think and debate issues that range from racial discrimination to the politics in the entertainment industry to sexual harassment to the existential and ideological dilemma induced by the complex sociopolitical scenario of the late eighties. Using a generous sprinkle of fable, myth and various metaphors, they deliver a powerful punch to the reader.

«Connecting history, public discourse, and literary and filmic renditions of 'occult.

Best Book of the Year NPR • The Washington Post • Boston Globe • TIME • USA Today • Entertainment Weekly • Real Simple • Parade • Buzzfeed • Electric Literature • LitHub • BookRiot • PopSugar • Goop • Library Journal • BookBub • KCRW • Finalist for the National Book Award • One of the New York Times Notable Books of the Year • One of the New York Times Best Historical Fiction of the Year • Instant New York Times Bestseller A singular and stunning debut novel about the forbidden union between two enslaved young men on a Deep South plantation, the refuge they find in each other, and a betrayal that threatens their existence. Isaiah was Samuel's and Samuel was Isaiah's. That was the way it was since the beginning, and the way it was to be until the end. In the barn they tended to the animals, but also to each other, transforming the hollowed-out shed into a place of human refuge, a source of intimacy and hope in a world ruled by vicious masters. But when an older man—a fellow slave—seeks to gain favor by preaching the master's gospel on the plantation, the enslaved begin to turn on their own. Isaiah and Samuel's love, which was once so simple, is seen as sinful and a clear danger to the plantation's harmony. With a lyricism reminiscent of Toni Morrison, Robert Jones, Jr., fiercely summons the voices of slaver and enslaved alike, from Isaiah and Samuel to the calculating slave master to the long line of women that surround them, women who have carried the soul of the plantation on their shoulders. As tensions build and the weight of centuries—of ancestors and future generations to come—culminates in a climactic reckoning, The Prophets fearlessly reveals the pain and suffering of inheritance, but is also shot through with hope, beauty, and truth, portraying the enormous, heroic power of love.