How much is your soul worth? After thinking that they’re hunting a crossroads demon, Frankie and his friends discover that Hecate is in town, and she’s after innocent souls. The gatekeeper of the underworld sends phantoms, who takes the shape of someone from the victim’s past, and torments them until they decide to trade in their soul to end the suffering. While trying to find a way to stop the goddess, Evelyn finds herself trapped in an alternate plane, where she witnesses Hecate quietly wreaking havoc of those around her. And the longer she spends in the alternate plane, the weaker she becomes. Meanwhile, Frankie is suddenly seeing his late wife, who tries to persuade him to join her in the afterlife so they can spend eternity together. As Hecate closes in on the group, Levi is the only one who can see what’s going on. And as the only one without magic of his own, saving his friends might be an impossible task. Lured by Magic is the third book in the Lost by Magic series, which serves as the first series in the Art of Magic universe, containing the Coven and the Under the Moon series.

Neronian representations of magic, a practice prevalent in the everyday life of the period and a central topic in its literary production, are characterized by unprecedented accuracy and detail. The similarities of witchcraft depictions in Seneca’s Medea, Lucan’s book 6, and Petronius’ Satyrica with spells of the PGM, the defixiones, as well as with Pliny’s quasi-magical recipes underscore realism as the distinctive trait of Neronian magic scenes which has often been considered the authors’ means to differentiate themselves from their Augustan predecessors. However, such high-degree realism is not merely an ornamental feature but transforms into a tool that influences the reader’s response toward magic, according to each author’s worldview and aims. The cross-generic examination of the motif of magic in the major Neronian authors shows how realism forms a link between reader, contemporary experience, and text that encourages more active participation on the part of the reader. At the same time, images of destruction, the horrific, and the ridiculous further enhance the negative view of magic as an ineffective (Lucan-Petronius) or destructive force (Seneca), simultaneously eliciting the reader’s critical response.

“Wicchecraft the Way, the Powers that be, for the young and the old, the bold and the free. The Path is to know, the Path is to see, the way of the Ancients, as it used to be. All be Earth’s children of Sun and of Moon, down through the ages we’ve danced to the tune. The flow of all life through Goddess and God, none shall forsake thee, the Sword, and the Rod. Holy the Star that is worshipped in Truth, Morgaine, and Merlin forever in Youth. All is the Horned One, Fertility Rite, and Blessed Be Diana, in Love and in Light. Candles and Incense and Tools of the Trade, for Magus and Wicche Queen all debts shall be paid. Praise are the Elements Fire, Earth, Water, and Air, Celebrations and Sabbats, you will find us there. Blessed be the Power, and Bind ye the Cord, Blessed is the Union, and Love the reward. The Wicches song of the Ages echoes again, Blessed is the knowledge, long may it reign. The Path of the Wicche, the Path of the Wise, in Power and Glory, all Truth shall rise. We stand United, through Ages long past, the Truth that is Wicchecraft, forever shall it last. Gathered together those of the Kin, in freedom and Love beyond any sin. Merry Meet, Merry Part, tis Union for all, Blessed the Fellowship that answers Her Call!” Tamara Von Forslun 1978

Can you live your life by what The Twilight Zone has to teach you? Yes, and maybe you should. The proof is in this lighthearted collection of life lessons, ground rules, inspirational thoughts, and stirring reminders found in Rod Serling’s timeless fantasy series. Written by veteran TV critic, Mark Dawidziak, this unauthorized tribute is a celebration of the classic anthology show, but also, on another level, a kind of fifth-dimension self-help book, with each lesson supported by the morality tales told by Serling and his writers. The notion that “it’s never too late to reinvent yourself” soars through “The Last Flight,’’ in which a World War I flier who goes forward in time and gets the chance to trade cowardice for heroism. A visit from an angel blares out the wisdom of “follow your passion” in “A Passage for Trumpet.” The meaning of “divided we fall” is driven home with dramatic results when neighbors suspect neighbors of being invading aliens in “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street.” The old maxim about never judging a book by its cover is given a tasty twist when an alien tome is translated in “To Serve Man.”

The acclaimed author travels across Ethiopia collecting folktales in this travelogue featuring many of the fabulous stories she heard. In 1967, at the age of 23, Elizabeth Laird set off for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital city, to start her first teaching job. She was introduced to Emperor Haile Selassie, made a pilgrimage across the mountains on foot to the ancient city of Lalibela, hitched a ride on an oil tanker across the Danakil Desert, and was arrested—briefly—for a murder she did not commit. Back in Britain, Laird established herself as a major author of fiction for children and young adults, but she always wanted to return to Ethiopia. Her chance came in the late 1990s, when the British Council in Addis Ababa invited her to collect folk stories from every region of the country. Encountering ex-guerrilla fighters, camel traders, Coptic nuns and tribespeople en route, Laird has written a remarkable account of her journey interwoven with a treasure trove of stories featuring princes and maidens, snakes and lions, zombies and hyena-women.

First published in 2001.The standard work on its subject, this resource includes every traceable British entertainment film from the inception of the "silent cinema" to the present day. Now, this new edition includes a wholly original second volume devoted to non-fiction and documentary film--an area in which the British film industry has particularly excelled. All entries throughout this third edition have been revised, and coverage has been extended through 1994.Together, these two volumes provide a unique, authoritative source of information for historians, archivists, librarians, and film scholars.