Abracadabra ! Hocus-pocus! Allakazam! Happis crappis! Say it together now-magic! Take a peek inside the magician's secret wardrobe to discover the tricks of the trade, the tales of derring-do, and the people who made the magic happen. Demystifying the mystical is the popular, raucous, ready-to-trick-his-own-mother Bart King! But what, you may ask, can Bart do? He can show the ways of the most secretive magicians in the world.
An imaginative story of a woman caught in an alternate world—where she will need to learn the skills of magic to survive Nora Fischer’s dissertation is stalled and her boyfriend is about to marry another woman. During a miserable weekend at a friend’s wedding, Nora wanders off and walks through a portal into a different world where she’s transformed from a drab grad student into a stunning beauty. Before long, she has a set of glamorous new friends and her romance with gorgeous, masterful Raclin is heating up. It’s almost too good to be true. Then the elegant veneer shatters. Nora’s new fantasy world turns darker, a fairy tale gone incredibly wrong. Making it here will take skills Nora never learned in graduate school. Her only real ally—and a reluctant one at that—is the magician Aruendiel, a grim, reclusive figure with a biting tongue and a shrouded past. And it will take her becoming Aruendiel’s student—and learning magic herself—to survive. When a passage home finally opens, Nora must weigh her “real life” against the dangerous power of love and magic. For lovers of Lev Grossman's The Magicians series (The Magicians and The Magician King) and Deborah Harkness's All Souls Trilogy (A Discovery of Witches and Shadow of Night).
The Little Book of Pocket Spells offers all sorts of practical tips for bringing magic essentials into your life, from simple charms for encouraging love and success to hints for using herbs and aromatic oils for health and happiness. The Little Book of Pocket Spells includes:o "Aphrodite's Refresher" for adding zing to your love lifeo "Karmic Calmer" for dealing with annoying situationso "Candle Magic" o "Bath Time Brew"o "An Aromatic Antidote to Cigarette Cravings"o "To Attract the Apple of Your Eye"o "Astral Armor" for times of crisiso "Cure for Forgetfulness"Carry The Little Book of Pocket Spells around in your purse or pocket and use it to conjure up magic whatever the occasion.
Are you fascinated (or maybe just intimidated!) by Gabriel García Márquez's 100 Years of Solitude? Do you love Kafka, George Saunders, Gogol, Leslie Marmon Silko, Colson Whitehead, Kathleen Alcalá, and Aimee Bender? All of these writers have one big feature in common: they are all working with a kind of writing called Magical Realism. What is it? And how do you write it? Fiction writer and award winning teacher Stephanie Barbé Hammer uses prompts, games, and simple explanations to demystify Magical Realism AND show writers how to have fun writing it. You'll learn how to mix language, points of view, and plot in new and exciting combinations that will result in stories that are flavorful, distinctive, deep, and unforgettable. Delicious Strangeness will add zest to your writing whether you are new to fiction writíing or are a seasoned (!) professional.
The ultimate guide to T. A. Barron's Merlin epic! A luminous gift for fantasy fans! In this extraordinary guide to T. A. Barron's award-winning and New York Times bestselling Merlin saga, readers will discover the mysteries of Merlin's worlds as never before. The guide includes full-color art, seven maps, and information about the creatures, places, and magic in Merlin's worlds. Glowing with beautiful art and surprising details, this is a treasure trove of adventure and delight - as well as a collector's item for Merlin fans of all ages. Read T.A. Barron's blogs and other content on the Penguin Community.
Discover how plant medicine can boost your physical, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing—with over 180 recipes and step-by-step instructions for herbal teas and other natural remedies. “ . . . contains far more than simple directives found in most herb books . . . Spiritual insights are richly interwoven with excellent herbal remedies.” —Rosemary Gladstar, author of Medicinal Herbs: A Beginner’s Guide With more than 180 easy-to-follow recipes and written by a well-respected urban herbalist, The Gift of Healing Herbs explores herbology as the “people’s medicine”—freely available to all—and as a powerful yet gentle way to heal the body, mind, heart, and soul. You will learn about: • The true nature of health and the causes of illness • The physical systems of the body and the common and not-so-common herbs for tonifying them • Recipes for teas, brews, and how to incorporate herbs into your daily life • The relationship between our body systems and the elements of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water Filled with personal stories, case histories, prayers, meditations, and more, The Gift of Healing Herbs is equal parts inspiration and instruction drawn from the author’s decades spent teaching and practicing herbal medicine in a spiritual, earth-based, non-dogmatic style. Bennett explores how one’s personal story turns into one’s embodied physicality—ultimately revealing unique paths of healing for each reader.
The New York Times bestselling journalist and author of The Girls from Ames, Jeffrey Zaslow, takes us to a multi- generational family owned small-town bridal shop to explore the emotional lives of women in the 21st century. You may not have heard of Fowler, Michigan, much less Becker's Bridal. But for the thousands of women who have stepped inside, Becker's is the site of some of the most important moments of their lives-moments that speak to us all. Housed in a former bank, the boutique owners transformed the vault into a "magic room," with soft church lighting, a circular pedestal, and mirrors that make lifelong dreams come true. Illuminating the poignant aspects of a woman's journey to the altar, The Magic Room tells the stories of memorable women on the brink of commitment. Run by the same family for years, Becker's has witnessed transformations in how America views the institution of marriage; some of the shop's clientele are becoming stepmothers, or starting married life for a second time. In The Girls from Ames, beloved author Jeffrey Zaslow used friendships to explore the emotional lives of women. In The Magic Room, he turns his perceptive eye to weddings and weaves together secrets, memories and family tales to explore the hopes and dreams we have for our daughters.
A new anthology celebrating the witches and sorcerers of epic fantasy—featuring stories by George R. R. Martin, Scott Lynch, Megan Lindholm, and many others! Hot on the heels of Gardner Dozois’s acclaimed anthology The Book of Swords comes this companion volume devoted to magic. How could it be otherwise? For every Frodo, there is a Gandalf . . . and a Saruman. For every Dorothy, a Glinda . . . and a Wicked Witch of the West. What would Harry Potter be without Albus Dumbledore . . . and Severus Snape? Figures of wisdom and power, possessing arcane, often forbidden knowledge, wizards and sorcerers are shaped—or misshaped—by the potent magic they seek to wield. Yet though their abilities may be godlike, these men and women remain human—some might say all too human. Such is their curse. And their glory. In these pages, seventeen of today’s top fantasy writers—including award-winners Elizabeth Bear, John Crowley, Kate Elliott, K. J. Parker, Tim Powers, and Liz Williams—cast wondrous spells that thrillingly evoke the mysterious, awesome, and at times downright terrifying worlds where magic reigns supreme: worlds as far away as forever, and as near as next door. FEATURING SIXTEEN ALL-NEW STORIES: “The Return of the Pig” by K. J. Parker “Community Service” by Megan Lindholm “Flint and Mirror” by John Crowley “The Friends of Masquelayne the Incomparable” by Matthew Hughes “The Biography of a Bouncing Boy Terror: Chapter Two: Jumping Jack in Love” by Ysabeau S. Wilce “Song of Fire” by Rachel Pollack “Loft the Sorcerer” by Eleanor Arnason “The Governor” by Tim Powers “Sungrazer” by Liz Williams “The Staff in the Stone” by Garth Nix “No Work of Mine” by Elizabeth Bear “Widow Maker” by Lavie Tidhar “The Wolf and the Manticore” by Greg Van Eekhout “The Devil’s Whatever” by Andy Duncan “Bloom” by Kate Elliott “The Fall and Rise of the House of the Wizard Malkuril” by Scott Lynch Plus George R. R. Martin’s classic story “A Night at the Tarn House” and an introduction by Gardner Dozois Praise for The Book of Magic “In The Book of Magic, you get everything you expect and more! Assembling seventeen great authors in one place is a difficult job but this book, with a lot of help from editor Gardner Dozois, does just that. . . . This compilation is a treat for any who love a good fantasy tale.”—Geeks of Doom
The greatest leaders and geniuses in history were mischief makers. They were the brave women who looked at how unfair the world was and said, “I can do better than that.” They were the stalwart men who saw stupidity and asked, “Why do we have to do it that way?” And they were the delightful children who ganged up on the neighborhood bully and hit him with wet noodles until he said, “Uncle!” Yes, history's mischief makers had the courage to point out that things like slavery, global warming, and turtleneck sweaters are bad. And they also pulled off some of the greatest hoaxes and practical jokes of all time. Their achievements include the Boston Tea Party, the “War of the Worlds” radio broadcast of 1938, and the Cheese Whiz Disaster of 2008. In honor of them, we introduce The Pocket Guide to Mischief, the perfect addition to any prankster's collection, as well as a fun-filled how-to for the budding troublemaker in all of us.
