The neglected histories of 19th-century NYC’s maligned working-class fortune tellers and the man who set out to discredit them Under the pseudonym Q. K. Philander Doesticks, P. B., humor writer Mortimer Thomson went undercover to investigate and report on the fortune tellers of New York City’s tenements and slums. When his articles were published in book form in 1858, they catalyzed a series of arrests that both scandalized and delighted the public. But Mortimer was guarding some secrets of his own, and in many ways, his own life paralleled the lives of the women he both visited and vilified. In Mortimer and the Witches, author Marie Carter examines the lives of these marginalized fortune tellers while also detailing Mortimer Thomson’s peculiar and complicated biography. Living primarily in the poor section of the Lower East Side, nineteenth-century fortune tellers offered their clients answers to all questions in astrology, love, and law matters. They promised to cure ailments. They spoke of loved ones from beyond the grave. Yet Doesticks saw them as the worst of the worst evil-doers. His investigative reporting aimed to stop unsuspecting young women from seeking the corrupt soothsaying advice of these so-called clairvoyants and to expose the absurd and woefully inaccurate predictions of these “witches.” Marie Carter views these stories of working-class, immigrant women with more depth than Doesticks’s mocking articles would allow. In her analysis and discussion, she presents them as three-dimensional figures rather than the caricatures Doesticks made them out to be. What other professions at that time allowed women the kind of autonomy afforded by fortune-telling? Their eager customers, many of whom were newly arrived immigrants trying to navigate life in a new country, weren’t as naive and gullible as Doesticks made them out to be. They were often in need of guidance, seeking out the advice of someone who had life experience to offer or simply enjoying the entertainment and attention. Mortimer and the Witches offers new insight into the neglected histories of working-class fortune tellers and the creative ways that they tried to make a living when options were limited for them.

Fiction. Marie Carter graduated from Edinburgh University with an MA in English Literature. She also worked for a variety of literary organizations in Scotland including Chapman magazine. In 2000, she moved to New York City where she is currently an Associate Editor at Hanging Loose Press. She is the editor of Word Jig: New Fiction from Scotland (Hanging Loose, 2003) and co-editor of Voices of the City (Hanging Loose, 2004). In 2004, she ran the Planehopping: Scottish Writers in New York readings series at the New York Public Library. Her work has been published in Hanging Loose, The Brooklyn Rail, Bloom, Spectacle (circus magazine), turntablebluelight.com, among others, and in The Best Creative Nonfiction (W. W. Norton, 2007). She recently completed a residency at the MacDowell Colony. She studies fixed trapeze and yoga. "This is a brave and heartwarming book"--Donald Breckenridge.

_______________ Shortlisted for Waterstones Book of the Year _______________ In difficult times, what children really need is hope. And in that spirit, bestselling author Katherine Rundell emailed some of the children's writers and artists whose work she loved most: 'I asked them to write something very short, fiction or non-fiction, or draw something that would make the children reading it feel like possibility-ists: something that would make them laugh or wonder or snort or smile. The response was magnificent, which shouldn't have surprised me, because children's writers and illustrators are professional hunters of hope ... I hope that the imagination can be a place of shelter for children and that The Book of Hopes might be useful in that, even if only a little.' This collection, packed with short stories, poems and pictures from the very best children's authors and illustrators, aims to provide just that. Within its pages you'll find animal friends from insects to elephants, high-flying grandmas, a homesick sprite, the tooth fairy, and even extra-terrestrial life. There are 133 contributions from authors and illustrators, including Anthony Horowitz, Axel Scheffler, Catherine Johnson, Jacqueline Wilson, Katherine Rundell, Lauren Child, Michael Morpurgo and Onjali Q. Raúf. A donation from the sale of each book will go to NHS Charities Together, in gratitude for the incredible efforts of all those who worked in hospitals over the quarantine period. _______________ 'An anthology on the theme of hope ... it includes a rich range of images, poetry, stories and non-fiction' - Sunday Times, 'Stories to charm on endless days' Proceeds from this book will be donated to NHS Charities Together. In respect of UK sales, this will be £2.10 and in respect of sales in other territories this will be 16% of net receipts (at least 62p). NHS Charities Together is a charity registered in England and Wales (registered charity no. 1186569).

In the year 2040, Hurricane Diana descends on New York City. Holly Williams, an architect and immigrant from England flees to her home country, staying with her ailing stepdad in Boston, England. Her mother, who has Alzheimer's is living in a nursing home nearby. Holly's purpose in life, it seems, has been to design factories and offices for robotics companies while overseeing the demolition of historic New York buildings. While seeking refuge from the hurricane that has destroyed New York City to the point that is barely recognizable, Holly begins to have strange hallucinations in which a mysterious stranger guides her through some of the city's forgotten and dramatic past. "HOLLY'S HURRICANE, smartly set in the near future after a category 4 hurricane hits New York, will appeal to futurists and history buffs. An absorbing romantic novel that will make you think in new ways about the past, present and future of our most vulnerable cities as humankind battles climate change."-Laurie Gwen Shapiro, author of THE STOWAWAY "Here is New York City as we have never seen it, devastated by Hurricane Diana in 2040. Here too is our long overdue romantic heroine, Holly Williams, a sixty-year-old architect and immigrant struggling with ailing parents, unruly robotic aides, and an unexpected love interest twelve years her junior. Guided by a Virgil-like figure, Holly begins to realize at last her professional and personal potential as she embarks on a mission to preserve what's left of her adopted city. Prepare to be swept away by the sheer force of HOLLY'S HURRICANE-a fantastical ode to New York City's glorious and horrifying past, as well as a warning to us all for its future."-Molly Gaudry, author of WE TAKE ME APART "Be prepared to travel through dimensions in time and space in HOLLY'S HURRICANE. This is the kind of novel that haunts you, and you'll find yourself thinking about it for days to come. You'll become Holly, a brilliant architect, walking through the ruins of New York City in 2040 after a hurricane has devastated the city. Gorgeously written and incredibly wise, it's a page-turner that will leave you on the edge of your seat, wondering if you've just looked through the window of our very vulnerable future. But as Marie Carter asks, 'How could something so pretty and intricate emerge from some devastation?' Carter shows us that all is not lost, as she carves the beauty out of the destruction."-Liz Scheid, author of THE SHAPE OF BLUE

Examines the first generation of artists in Britain to define themselves as history painters, attempting what then was considered to be art's most exalted category. This book features more than 120 black-and-white illustrations.

Picking up where To Hell in a Handbasket left off, the fourth and final installment in the Halos & Horns fantasy series finds the angel Gabriel and the demon Asmodeus fighting for their lives against Baphomet and his demonic horde; Lucifer brought for judgment before the Eternals for the murder of Cholestra; and Samantha joining forces with her sisters Drusilla and Calliope against the sorceress supreme Morgana le Fay and the Dark Fae. Will Emma regret her decision to stand by Damien? Will Damien find a way to halt his rapid aging? Will Detective Mordecai survive? And if not, will he take the unrevealed secret of his daughters to the grave? An Empusae attack on Nosferatu, Inc.'s Japanese headquarters not only threatens Chiyoko's territory, but will change Kaya's life forever. Meanwhile, one character must journey back in time to 17th century Salem in search of the secret to defeating Morgana. But what other secrets does the Salem coven hold? No one is safe. As the Halos & Horns saga draws to its conclusion, who will survive? The Witches' Cauldron is the fourth book in the Halos & Horns saga. Readers may wish to begin with the first book, Paved with Good Intentions.