A collection of the adult fantasy and humorous works of John Bellairs. This collection includes The Face in the Frost, The Dolphin Cross (a previously unpublished fragment sequel to The Face in the Frost), The Pedant and the Shuffly, and Saint Fidgita and Other Parodies. The collection introduction is by Bruce Coville. There is also a special introduction to the Dolphin Cross by Ellen Kushner.
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The twisty-turny journey of a girl searching for her heart’s desire—glimpsed in a magic mirror. Perfect for fans of Rump or Catherine, Called Birdy A foundling girl with a crooked leg and a crutch doesn’t expect life to be easy. Indeed, Maggie’s dearest wish is to simply not feel so alone. So when she spies a man behind bars in a magic mirror said to show one’s truest desire, she feels sure he is the father she’s always longed for—and she sets off on a quest to find him. Along the way, Maggie meets both kindly pilgrims and dastardly highwaymen. She discovers she bears a striking resemblance to the princess Petranilla. Their connection is so remarkable that Petra believes Maggie must be her lost sister who fell from the castle wall and was swept downriver as a baby. What a turn of fate! From reviled foundling to beloved royal! But being the lost princess turns out to be more curse than blessing given the schemes of the current king... And if Maggie’s a princess, then who is the man she spied in the magic mirror? This is a grand middle grade adventure story full of mistaken identities, lost loves, found families, and a tantalizing tinge of magic. "I love this book—an uproarious, thoughtful, touching, absurd, ans altogether splendid adventure." —Karen Cushman, Newbery Medal-winning author of The Midwife's Apprentice and Catherine, Called Birdy
The simple image of oneself reflected back by a mirror can be more empowering than most of us realize. In A LITTLE BOOK OF MIRROR MAGICK, best-selling author Patricia Telesco explains how to use mirrors as a tool for personal empowerment and transformation. Combining ancient wisdom with practical approaches, this book is perfect for anyone interested in self-realization, magic, and fun! Discover how to:Improve self-image and call upon specific Gods and Goddesses.Gain insight into the past, present, and future, interpret mirror visions, and redirect energies. Prepare mirrors for truth seeking, healing, or blessings as well as make your own magic mirror. Use sample meditations and rituals to practice in personal spaces or in magic circles. Learn how to use astrology and feng shui in connection with your mirror magic practices.
In Venice, magic is not unusual. Merle is apprenticed to a magic mirror maker, and Serafin—a boy who was once a master thief—works for a weaver of magic cloth. Merle and Serafin are used to the mermaids who live in the canals of the city and to the guards who patrol the streets on living stone lions. Merle herself possesses something magical: a mirror whose surface is water. She can reach her whole arm into it and never get wet. But Venice is under siege by the Egyptian Empire; its terrifying mummy warriors are waiting to strike. All that protects the Venetians is the Flowing Queen. Nobody knows who or what she is—only that her power flows through the canals and keeps the Egyptians at bay. When Merle and Serafin overhear a plot to capture the Flowing Queen, they are catapulted into desperate danger. They must do everything they can to rescue the Queen and save the city—even if it means getting help from the Ancient Traitor himself.
There are fairy tales that surprise, destabilise, or even shock us: these are uncanny fairy tales that manipulate familiar stories in creative and bewildering ways in order to express new meanings. This work analyses these tales, basing its approach on a reformulation of Freud’s concept of the uncanny. Through a cognitive outlook the employed theoretical framework provides new perspectives on the study of experimental literary fairy tales. Considering English-language literature, complex and unsettling reinterpretations of the fairy-tale discourse began to appear during the Victorian Age, later resurfacing as a postmodern trend. This research individuates uncanny-related narrative techniques and cognitive responses as means to decodify and explore these tales, and as ways to discover unseen connections between Victorian and postmodern texts. The new theorisation of the uncanny is linked with three subconcepts: mirror, hybridity, and wonder, which function as tools to describe and investigate the cognitive and emotional entanglements characterising enigmatic and disorienting fairy tales.
Lovers of the Occult and the unusual will love this book. It gives a deep insight into the ancient Japanese tradition of magic mirrors and their connection to the Sun Goddess. In Japan mirrors had a peculiar place in society and spirituality. Mirrors were often decorated and surrounded with flowers like we see icons from the West decorated, and some of them are told to have magical properties. This book digs into the special properties. It seems that due to an old technique some Japanese mirrors can present patterns or images, not to the onlooker but at the mirror's reflection in the room, if the light source is just right.
