Oddball and loner Oliver Quinn was raised by his uncle, the proprietor of New York's most bizarre emporium of Oriental rugs, Ozymandias & Son. Zoned out more than he's zoned in, Oliver perceives patterns in everything - from fallen autumn leaves in Central Park, to the freckles on a stranger's face. When his uncle gives him a mysterious paperweight - said to have been in the family for centuries - since it was discovered by a farmer on the Mongolian Steppes - Oliver's life changes in the most extraordinary way. Gaining entry into the secret Realm that shrouds all our lives, he learns what he imagines to be reality is no more than a fragment of what actually exists. In a multiverse, where every permutation is not only possible but certain, our world is an insignificant backwater. With the veil lifted, Oliver is introduced to a parallel life form with which we share the multiverse... The mysterious and all-powerful race of Jinn. Far from the loveable blue-skinned giants projected by Hollywood, Jinn are capable of wreaking terror on an unknown scale. When they go rogue, as they frequently do, they must be captured. This perilous task is entrusted to the bravest fraternity of warriors in existence - The Jinn Hunters. Stumbling into the secret heart of the Realm, Oliver learns of the Prism. A vast penitentiary fashioned from sheets of impregnable glass, it contains legions of incarcerated Jinn. But, as Oliver soon comes to understand, his arrival is no accident. Having brooded for an eternity - since being imprisoned by King Solomon - the most evil Jinn in all existence has just escaped... Nequissimus. The future of the Realm rests on Oliver Quinn, whose ancestral bloodline is primed to capture the great Jinn, thereby saving not only humanity, but the entire multiverse. A cross between The Thousand and One Nights and The Men in Black, THE PRISM is the first awe-inspiring novel in Tahir Shah's much-awaited JINN HUNTER series. Quite possibly the most original book of its age, it lures the reader into a Twilight Zone conjured from pure imagination.

Oddball and loner Oliver Quinn was raised by his uncle, the proprietor of Ozymandias & Son, New York's most bizarre emporium of Oriental rugs. Through a series of what he believes to be coincidences, Oliver discovers a portal in the basement of the shop - a portal to a magical world called Zonus. Gradually, Oliver begins to understand that everything he'd ever considered fact is fantasy, and that if he is to survive, he'll have to start thinking in an entirely new way. In reality, our world is nothing but a backwater in a colossal multiverse, where every permutation is not only possible, but certain. With the veil lifted, Oliver is introduced to the parallel life form with which we share the multiverse - the mysterious and all-powerful race of jinn. Far from the loveable blue-skinned giants projected by Hollywood, jinn are capable of wreaking terror on an unknown scale. When they go rogue, as they frequently do, they must be captured and incarcerated in the Prism, a vast penitentiary. Trapping rogue jinn is a perilous task entrusted to the Jinn Hunters, the bravest fraternity of warriors in existence. Having been accepted into the Cadenta, the training academy of Jinn Hunters, Oliver is pitted against the gravest new reality: the fact that Nequissimus, the most evil jinn in all existence, has just escaped... Born into the hallowed ancestry of the Jinnslayers, Oliver Quinn is the only man alive with a chance at defeating the great jinn, and returning him to his cell in the Prism. A cross between A Thousand and One Nights and Men in Black, THE JINNSLAYER is the second awe-inspiring novel in Tahir Shah's much-celebrated JINN HUNTER series. One of the most original books of its age, it lures the reader into a twilight zone conjured from pure imagination.

An oddball and loner, Oliver Quinn was raised by his uncle, the proprietor of Ozymandias & Son - New York's most bizarre emporium of Oriental rugs. Through a series of what he believes to be coincidences, Oliver discovers a portal in the basement of the shop - a portal to a magical world called Zonus. Gradually, Oliver comes to understand that anything he had ever considered to be fact is actually fantasy, and that if he's to survive, he'll have to start thinking in an entirely new way. Most importantly, he grasps that another life form exists - overlaid atop our own - that of the jinns. Far from being the loveable blue genies of Hollywood, they are terrifying in the extreme. Learning that he's descended from an ancestral line of Jinnslayers, and that the greatest jinn in existence has escaped, Oliver Quinn is enrolled into the Cadenta, the Academy of Jinn Hunters - the legion of defenders who protect us all from rogue jinns. Through trials and tribulations, Oliver is made ready to take on the great jinn, Nequissimus, as life as we know it spirals out of control. With nothing as it seems, and with every route a potential danger zone, the young Jinnslayer has no choice but to grapple with uncanny, ever-changing versions of reality. A cross between A Thousand and One Nights and Men in Black, THE PERPLEXITY is the third extraordinary novel in Tahir Shah's much-acclaimed JINN HUNTER series. As bizarre as it is compelling, it sucks the reader deep into a realm conjured from the farthest limits of fantastical imagination.

"Belcher's volume contains a much needed and extremely well-integrated overview and discussion of a vast inter-related West African culture complex that deserves and requires the kind of original, insightful treatment it receives here." —David Conrad Epic Traditions of Africa crosses boundaries of language, distance, and time to gather material from diverse African oral epic traditions. Stephen Belcher explores the rich past and poetic force of African epics and places them in historical and social, as well as artistic contexts. Colorful narratives from Central and West African traditions are illuminated along with texts that are more widely available to Western readers—the Mande Sunjata and the Bamana Segou. Belcher also takes up questions about European influences on African epic poetry and the possibility of mutual influence through out the genre. This lively and informative volume will inspire an appreciation for the distinctive qualities of this uniquely African form of verbal art.

Death Explained: A Ghost Hunter's Guide to the Afterlife offers a unique new theory about the nature of ghosts and what happens to us after we die. Author Michael Dupler weaves together strands from physics, anthropology, history, philosophy and religion to create a tapestry telling the story of humanity - and providing a possible answer to one of our greatest questions. The book also draws on his personal experiences as a ghost hunter in the Midwest and offers tips and advice to others just beginning their own journey into the paranormal.

..". a major addition to the literature on oral traditions." -- Journal of Religion in Africa This 750-year-old epic celebrates the exploits of the legendary founder of the Empire of Old Mali. It constitutes a virtual social, political, and cultural charter and embodies deep-rooted aspects of Mande cosmology. The fully annotated translation is accompanied by an introduction that provides a historical and contextual framework for understanding the recitation of this African epic.