David Hufford's work exploring the experiential basis for belief in the supernatural, focusing here on the so-called Old Hag experience, a psychologically disturbing event in which a victim claims to have encountered some form of malign entity while dreaming (or awake). Sufferers report feeling suffocated, held down by some "force," paralyzed, and extremely afraid. The experience is surprisingly common: the author estimates that approximately 15 percent of people undergo this event at some point in their lives. Various cultures have their own name for the phenomenon and have constructed their own mythology around it; the supernatural tenor of many Old Hag stories is unavoidable. Hufford, as a folklorist, is well-placed to investigate this puzzling occurrence.

SOMETIMES YOU CHOOSE YOUR BATTLES. AND SOMETIMES, THEY CHOOSE YOU... Once, Max dreamed of a career, a home, a loving family. Now all she wants is freedom...and revenge. A witch named Giselle transformed Max into a warrior with extraordinary strength, speed, and endurance. Bound by spellcraft, Max has no choice but to fight as Giselle's personal magic weapon -- a Shadowblade -- and she's lethally good at it. But her skills are about to be put to the test as they never have before.... The ancient Guardians of the earth are preparing to unleash widespread destruction on the mortal world, and they want the witches to help them. If the witches refuse, their covens will be destroyed, including Horngate, the place Max has grudgingly come to think of as home. Max thinks she can find a way to help Horngate stand against the Guardians, but doing so will mean forging dangerous alliances -- including one with a rival witch's Shadowblade, who is as drawn to Max as she is to him -- and standing with the witch she despises. Max will have to choose between the old life she still dreams of and the warrior she has become, and take her place on the side of right -- if she survives long enough to figure out which side that is....

There was no nonsense about old Mr Cumlock. When he decided to die, he died, maliciously leaving his fortune to an unknown son as an act of revenge. 'I can't live without a woman, and I can't live with one,' his heir, Valentine Belmont, an artist, used to complain; this difficulty that had dogged him throughout his life was to bring everything tumbling about him in a blaze of disorder. The events in his life had a fearful symmetry enacted, it seems, solely by the light of falling stars ... 'A first-rate study of malice, death and ancient feuds stewing in a small town' Birmingham Evening Mail

From the creator of the popular blog The Monsters Know What They’re Doing comes a compilation of villainous battle plans for Dungeon Masters. In the course of a Dungeons & Dragons game, a Dungeon Master has to make one decision after another in response to player behavior—and the better the players, the more unpredictable their behavior! It’s easy for even an experienced DM to get bogged down in on-the-spot decision-making or to let combat devolve into a boring slugfest, with enemies running directly at the player characters and biting, bashing, and slashing away. In The Monsters Know What They’re Doing, Keith Ammann lightens the DM’s burden by helping you understand your monsters’ abilities and develop battle plans before your fifth edition D&D game session begins. Just as soldiers don’t whip out their field manuals for the first time when they’re already under fire, a DM shouldn’t wait until the PCs have just encountered a dozen bullywugs to figure out how they advance, fight, and retreat. Easy to read and apply, The Monsters Know What They're Doing is essential reading for every DM.

Enjoy this dark and spicy historical fantasy series starter by British author S.G. Slade. England, 1606. For young witch Sarah Stone, the power of foresight sometimes seems like more of a curse than a gift. Young witch Sarah Stone has seen the evil coming – dark forces that will lay waste to all she loves. But her warnings go unheeded and for the first time in her life, the power of foresight seems more like a curse than a gift. Sometimes, it’s just better not to know. Aspiring magician Tom Wynter spends his nights in the taverns and brothels of Bankside, searching for arcane knowledge. When his cousin Sarah comes to him for help, they embark together on a path to forbidden magic. As dark desires are awoken, the lines between good and evil start to blur. But magic always comes at a cost, and when others start to fall under the shadow of its power, whispers of witchcraft begin to echo through the streets. Then Sarah is arrested. Awaiting her end in a prison cell, there seems to be no escape from her fate. In the last few days that are left to her, can she find a way to turn the curse aside? And what price is she willing to pay? Touch of a Witch is the first novel in the seductive Darkness Rising Series, although all books in the series can be read as standalones. For fans of Luanne G. Smith, Elena Collins, and Deborah Harkness, this a sexy, dark, and unexpected fantasy. Content warning: strong sex scenes and the occult. An earlier version of this novel was published previously as Shakespeare’s Witch

The first in a thrilling line of novels set in Eberron, a fantasy world ravaged by endless war and full of magic, danger, and adventure Hardened by the Last War, four soldiers have come to Sharn—fabled City of Towers, capital of adventure, home to the best and worst that Eberron has to offer. After a lifetime of fighting, war is all they know. Kingdoms lie shattered, armies are broken, and an entire country has been laid to waste. Now, in a time of uneasy peace, they must struggle to survive. But then people start turning up dead. The battle-weary heroes—Daine, Jode, Lei, and Pierce—soon find themselves caught in a plot that will take them from the highest reaches of power to the most sordid depths of the city of wonder, shadow, and adventure.