A portentous song sparks an unlikely adventure in this lighthearted contemporary fantasy by the Nebula Award–winning author of The Healer’s War. Colin Songsmith sings a song to an old witch who takes an unlikely revenge. The witch’s granddaughter rescues him from the dire threat of being eaten alive by the cat. She hears the song, which happens to concern her recently married sister and a gypsy. Convinced that she has to save her sister, she takes the minstrel, the cat, and her magical resources to Rowan Castle. The story is rich with descriptive details of setting and encounters with magical and fantastic creatures such as a talking cat, a lovesick dragon, and a bear prince. The characters speak in contemporary slang, which plays nicely against the traditional fantastic settings.

Popular Witchcraft: Straight from the Witch's Mouth, inspired by the British Gerald Gardner's Witchcraft Today, was the first book to be published on popular American witchcraft and remains the classic survey of white and black magic. Newly revised and updated for twenty-first-century readers, the author--an ordained but marvelously fallen exorcist--tells all about the evil eye, the queer eye, women and witch trials, the Old Religion, magic Christianity, Satanism, and New Age self-help. Jack Fritscher sifts through legends of sorcery and the twisted history of witchcraft, including the casting of spells and incantations, with a focus on the growing role of witchcraft in popular culture and its mainstream commercialization through popular music, Broadway, Hollywood, and politics. As seriously historical as it is fun to read, there is no other book like it.

The curanderos of northern Peru, traditional healing specialists who invoke Jesus Christ and the saints with a mescaline sacrament and a shamanic rattle, are not vestigial curiosities nor are their patients rural illiterates without access to "modern medicine." Instead, many of these shamans have thriving urban practices with clients from all levels of society. Sorcery and Shamanism documents the lives and rituals of twelve curanderos, offering a perspective on their curing role and shared knowledge. Authors Donald Joralemon and Douglas Sharon also consider the therapeutic experiences of over one hundred patients, including case histories and follow-ups. They offer a broad view of the shamans' work in modern Peruvian society, particularly in connection with gender-based conflicts. The significant work goes a long way toward dispelling the stereotype of shamans as enigmatic and wise, showing them to be pragmatic curers confronting the health effects of everyday aggressions and betrayals.

Discover the secrets of Saxon sorcery, and learn how to craft rune charms, brew potions, cast effective spells, and use magical techniques to find love and prosperity. Exploring the practices and customs of the Anglo-Saxons hidden in English folk traditions, this book shares techniques for making wands and staffs, consecrating and using a ritual knife, healing with herbs (wortcunning), soothsaying, and creating your own set of runes. The meaning and magical properties of the thirty-three Old English Futhorc runes are classified by theme, helping you in your quest to know yourself and influence your world for the better. Previously published with the title Wyrdworking.

Science fiction constitutes one of the largest and most widely read genres in literature, and this reference provides bibliographical data on some 20,000 science fiction, fantasy, and horror fiction books, as well as nonfiction monographs about the literature. A companion to Reginald's Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature, 1700-1974 (Gale, 1979), the present volume is alphabetically arranged by approximately 10,000 author names. The entry for each individual work includes title, publisher, date and place published, number of pages, hardbound or paperback format, and type of book (novel, anthology, etc.). Where appropriate, entries also provide translation notes, series information, pseudonyms, and remarks on special features (such as celebrity introductions). Includes indexes of titles, series, awards, and "doubles" (for locating volumes containing two novels). Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.

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When Carla heads off to attend the annual “gathering of the witches,” Thane declares that he will accompany her. His motive seems to be tied to the foresight witch—the root of his distaste for witches in the first place. Although Carla reluctantly agrees to let Thane tag along, the arrangement leads to an unexpected job! It turns out they must help one of Ange’s clients with their divorce in order to meet the foresight witch. Will Carla take the case to help out the man she can’t stand? Find out in the second volume of this workplace fantasy, featuring the contrary couple of a witch who dislikes knights and a knight who despises witches!