Twelve-year-old Josephine DeLune can’t take the heat this sweltering summer of 1955, and she was out of the kitchen long ago. An awful cook, she ruins recipes left and right, and she certainly can’t compete with her family’s reputation for extraordinary food. Her daddy’s parents ran one of the best restaurants in all of Paris, but Josephine lives in Paris, Missouri. On her mama’s side, she’s up against a long tradition of sinfully delicious soul food. Rumor has it, her Creole ancestors cooked up some voodoo to make tasty even tastier. Josephine knows the secret ingredient: she comes from a long line of conjure witches with spellbinding culinary skills. Disenchanted, Josephine works as a carhop at Carl and Earl’s Drive-In. Just plain old hamburgers, hot dogs, and curly fries, nothing magical about them. She’s got bigger fish to fry, though, when a grease fire erupts into a devilish creature who hisses her name with desire. Turns out he’s the Ravenous One, the granddaddy of all voodoo spirits, and he’s hungry for her soul. Josephine thinks he’s got the wrong girl–she’s no witch–but a gorgeous, dangerous night-skinned lady named Shaula sets her straight. Josephine is one of the most powerful witches alive, so overflowing with conjure that her out-of-control cooking simply catches fire. Josephine would love to laugh this off, but Shaula warns her that she must learn to master her magic before the Ravenous One devours her soul. Spurred into action, Josephine breaks out her grandma’s old conjure cookbook and starts cooking. Nothing grand, just the usual recipes for undying friendship and revenge. But soon Josephine can’t escape the consequences of her conjure. When the people of Paris start turning into zombies with a strange fondness for cake, Josephine looks pretty responsible for their undead reawakening…

What is love if not one continual dig into the shards and fragments, the moments and pieces we collect to make sense of our lives? In Archeology, I juxtapose poems based on real archeological finds with poems about a variety of modern-day experiences that serve to reconnect people, both dead and living, and renew family bonds. In the writing of these poems, I was amazed at what can be learned about love from the unearthing of side-by-side skeletons in an ancient Italian town. Or how easy it is to feel the concern of a prehistoric gatherer when her mate hasn't returned from the hunt. I was equally surprised to discover that eating a plum or losing sight of a child in a busy store or the simple act of replicating a family recipe could be the way in to primal feelings and experiences?what I believe makes us human.

Phillips was born in Madison, Indiana. After graduating high school Phillips entered Asbury College following which he degreed from College of New Jersey in 1887. After completing his education, Phillips worked as a newspaper reporter in Cincinnati, Ohio before moving on to New York City where he was employed as a columnist and editor with the New York World until 1902. In his spare time, he wrote a novel, The Great God Success that was published in 1901. The book sold well enough that his royalty income was sufficient enough to allow him to work as a freelance journalist while dedicating himself to writing fiction. Writing articles for various prominent magazines, he began to develop a reputation as a competent investigative journalist. Considered a progressive, Phillips' novels often commented on social issues of the day and frequently chronicled events based on his real-life journalistic experiences.

This exploration of author Laurell K. Hamilton's work examines the many novels of her series and shows how her writing has been a major influence on contemporary visions of the vampire—an ideal reference text for book club leaders. Long before Twilight achieved epic levels of popularity, Laurell K. Hamilton was reshaping the image of the vampire with her own take on the vampire mythos in her Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter fantasy novel series. While Hamilton's work draws on traditional vampire and fairy lore, her interpretation of these subjects brought new dimensions to the genres, influencing the direction of urban fantasy over the past two decades. Reading Laurell K. Hamilton focuses upon Hamilton's two bestselling series, the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series and the Merry Gentry series. The volume is intended as a resource for leaders of book clubs or discussion groups, containing chapters that examine Hamilton's role in the current vampire literature craze, the themes and characters in her work, and responses to Hamilton on the Internet. The book also provides a brief overview of Hamilton's life.