Rosie Strange doesn't believe in ghosts or witches or magic. No, not at all. It’s no surprise therefore when she inherits the ramshackle Essex Witch Museum, her first thought is to take the money and run. Still, the museum exerts a curious pull over Rosie. There’s the eccentric academic who bustles in to demand she help in a hunt for old bones, those of the notorious Ursula Cadence, a witch long since put to death. And there’s curator Sam Stone, a man about whom Rosie can’t decide if he’s tiresomely annoying or extremely captivating. It all adds up to looking like her plans to sell the museum might need to be delayed, just for a while. Finding herself and Sam embroiled in a most peculiar centuries-old mystery, Rosie is quickly expelled from her comfort zone, where to her horror, the secrets of the past come with their own real, and all too present, danger as a strange magic threatens to envelope them all.

Our foremost theorist of myth, fairytale, and folktale explores the magical realm of the imagination where carpets fly and genies grant prophetic wishes. Stranger Magic examines the profound impact of the Arabian Nights on the West, the progressive exoticization of magic, and the growing acceptance of myth and magic in contemporary experience.

In the late 1980s, I wrote a nifty little novel and signed on with a veteran agent who peddled it all over New York City. I papered the wall of my office with scores of rejection letters, licked my wounds, and went on to other pursuits. But I always wondered why my story went nowhere. Fast forward thirty years. In collaboration with the Perry County Council of the Arts, author Don Helin assembled a stellar faculty of successful, published authors to teach A Novel Idea, a year-long class for aspiring novelists. I signed on for that first year, half to represent PCCA, and half hoping I might learn what I did wrong three decades ago. A Novel Idea did not disappoint. I learned many reasons why my book never got out of the starting blocks, all the time wishing I could have avoided these pitfalls by taking such a course before I ever started writing. But there was an unanticipated bonus. My 18 classmates demonstrated a gift for the written word that made each session a joy. As they read aloud the fruits of their writing exercises, I marveled at their talent and inspiration. They made me laugh, pulled hard at my emotions, or transported me to places that I had never been. That is why I was so excited when author and facilitator Catherine Jordan and publisher Lawrence Knorr approached us with the idea of this anthology. I wanted to read the tales that my peers, and those from the class that followed, had to spin. Please relish them with the knowledge that they were written by ordinary people who believed they had a story to tell and had the courage to start writing. --Rog Smith, executive director Perry County Council of the Arts Stories from the Perry County Council of the Arts Writer's Workshop: Paint by Numbers, Maria V. Snyder On a Full Moon Night, Rachel Sink The Dragon's Eye, Samantha Coons Haunting in Shipoke, Lori M. Myers The Lollipop Angel, Brenda Tadych The Black Dress, Donna Leiss The Candy Factory, Catherine Jordan The Light of Night, Mark Boerma A Logical Man, Sandy Nork Breakfast, Interrupted, Ann Elia Stewart Scent and Scentability, Angela Binner Feral, Lynne Reeder Murder in the Upper Galery, Don Helin Little Whirlpools, Carrie Jacobs Angel in the Midst, Laurie J. Edwards Petrus of Aldrintown, Tom Galvin Terra's Eyes, Teddy Maurer Aphrodite, J. A. Thomas

From the author of "Crimson." A reclusive former magician moves to Pennsylvania to escape a dark past--a past which is about to catch up with him in the form of a mysterious stranger and a battered old trunk containing a grotesque and deadly monstrosity. Original.

An immersive in-world guide to all things magical in the Marvel Universe One of the most formidable and powerful items in the Marvel Universe, the sacred Book of the Vishanti contains an infinite number of potent spells, incantations, and lore from fantastic realms. Created thousands of years ago in the ancient city of Babylon to combat demons and those who wield dark magic, this tome has been passed down by the greatest sorcerers of the ages, each adding their own discoveries into its ever-expanding pages. Now in the possession of Doctor Strange, the Sorcerer Supreme and Earth’s foremost protector against mystical threats, the Book of the Vishanti acts as his first line of defense. The greatest source of magical knowledge in our dimension, the Book of the Vishanti is the ultimate collection of spells, history, and personal accounts recorded by practitioners over centuries, including notes from Doctor Strange himself. Featuring detailed inscriptions, mind-bending illustrations, and everything you need to know about the heroes, villains, artifacts, creatures, and worlds that make up the mystical and supernatural side of the Multiverse, this book is a must-have for all Marvel fans.

The Bone Witch meets Sherlock Holmes in this thrilling historical fantasy about a girl with the ability to raise the dead who must delve into her city’s dangerous magical underworld to stop a series of murders. Catherine Daly has an unusual talent. By day she works for a printer. But by night, she awakens the dead for a few precious moments with loved ones seeking a final goodbye. But this magic comes with a price: for every hour that a ghost is brought back, Catherine loses an hour from her own life. When Catherine is given the unusual task of collecting a timepiece from an old grave, she is sure that the mysterious item must contain some kind of enchantment. So she enlists Guy Nolan, the watchmaker’s son, to help her dig it up. But instead of a timepiece, they find a surprise: the body of a teenage boy. And as they watch, he comes back to life—not as the pale imitation that Catherine can conjure, but as a living, breathing boy. A boy with no memory of his past. This magic is more powerful than any Catherine has ever encountered, and revealing it brings dangerous enemies. Catherine and Guy must race to unravel the connection between the missing timepiece and the undead boy. For this mysterious magic could mean the difference between life and death—for all of them.