16 Mar 2024

Frights from the Garden of England

Robert Bard. Paranormal Kent.  Amberley Publishing
(15 March 2024)

In this book Robert Bard takes readers on a spine-tingling journey around Kent to some of its most haunted locations. He discovers tales of ghostly apparitions, unexplained events and paranormal phenomena. 
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14 Mar 2024

Space Between Space

Anthony De La Vara. The Space Between the Space: Forensic Image Analysis of Energy and Non-World Dimensional Beings.‎ Palmetto Publishing
(5 March 2024)

Anthony De La Vara, with 16 years of his professional career spent in the field of STEM, specifically Software & System Engineering, and the last 10 years in Engineering Project Management, meticulously outlines, defines, and validates much of what a Channel or Medium encounter with their clients in terms of frequencies channelled such as spirits, ancestors etc. 
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Words from Beyond

Gavin Steingo. Interspecies Communication: Sound and Music Beyond Humanity. University of Chicago Press (1 March 2024)

In Interspecies Communication, music scholar Gavin Steingo examines significant cases of attempted communication beyond the human―cases in which the dualistic relationship of human to non-human is dramatically challenged. 
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12 Mar 2024

Seeking Information

Courtney Block. Researching the Paranormal: How to Find Reliable Information about Parapsychology, Ghosts, Astrology, Cryptozoology, Near-Death Experiences, and More. ‎Rowman and Littlefield (15 March 2024, Paperback Edition)

The paranormal has long been a hotly contested topic, especially in academia. Most people are entertained by the paranormal or casually read a few books they come across on the topic, perhaps assuming that these topics are nothing more than campfire fodder. 
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11 Mar 2024

Life on Mars

Robert Zubrin. The New World on Mars: What We Can Create on the Red Planet. Diversion Books
(7 March 2024)

Robert Zubrin, world-renowned space authority and founding president of the Mars Society, taps today’s newest science and most dogged research to foretell in astounding detail the brave, new Martian civilization we will achieve when (not if!) humankind colonizes Mars.When Robert Zubrin published his classic book The Case for Mars a quarter century ago, setting foot on the Red Planet seemed a fantasy.
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7 Mar 2024

Hate Mail

Chris Ferrie, Wade David Fairclough & Byrne LaGinestra.
42 Reasons to Hate the Universe: (And One Reason Not To) Sourcebooks. (6 February 2024)

If you've always suspected the universe was out to get you... you were right! Yes, the universe we live in is cosmically beautiful and mysterious and all that crap. But it's also a bit of an asshole. After all, remember that you are just a group of atoms structured in a specific way for barely long enough to try to understand this thing we call existence. 
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5 Mar 2024

Hunting the Griffin Through History

A. L. McClanan. Griffinology: The Griffin's Place in Myth, History and Art. Reaktion Books (1 March 2024)

Griffinology is a fascinating exploration of the mythical creature’s many depictions in human culture. Drawing on a wealth of historical and literary sources, this book shows how the griffin has captured the imagination of people for over 5,000 years, representing power, transcendence and even divinity. 
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3 Mar 2024

Asgard to Valhalla

Heather O'Donoghue. From Asgard to Valhalla: The Remarkable History of the Norse Myths. ‎ Bloomsbury Academic. (22 February. 2024)

From Asgard to Valhalla takes readers deep inside Odin’s cavernous hall and tells of the adventures, tragedies and lessons of the Viking Gods. Here, Heather O’Donoghue skillfully uncovers both the history and legacy of these myths to provide the authoritative student text on Old Norse mythology.
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1 Mar 2024

Selling Space

Mary-Jane Rubenstein. Astrotopia: The Dangerous Religion of the Corporate Space Race. University of Chicago Press. (February 2024)

As environmental, political, and public health crises multiply on Earth, we are also at the dawn of a new space race in which governments team up with celebrity billionaires to exploit the cosmos for human gain. 
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29 Feb 2024

Nordic Folklore Today

Thomas A Dubois. Folklore in the Nordic World. University of Wisconsin Press (29 February 2024)

In seven concise chapters that document both the history of Nordic folkloristics and the ongoing vivacity of Nordic folklore today, Thomas A. DuBois demonstrates how the informal, traditional elements of a culture or subculture are an integral and vibrant part of the Nordic world. 
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28 Feb 2024

East Side Stories

Marie Carter. Mortimer and the Witches: A History of Nineteenth-Century Fortune Tellers. Empire State Editions. (5 March 2024)

Under the pseudonym Q. K. Philander Doesticks, P. B., Mortimer Thomson went undercover to investigate and report on the fortune tellers of New York City’s tenements and slums. When his articles were published in book form in 1858, they catalyzed a series of arrests that both scandalized and delighted the public. 
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27 Feb 2024

Among the Hutsuls

Anthony Amato. The Stark Carpathians: Ritual, Text, and Authority Among Ukraine’s Hutsuls.‎ Lexington Books.
(15 February 2024)

The Stark Carpathians: Ritual, Text, and Authority Among Ukraine's Hutsuls addresses rituals and texts in a small mountainous area located in today's Ukraine. The residents of this remote region are known as the Hutsuls. This book argues that Hutsul rituals and texts, cast as ancient and extraordinary, had more mundane roots.
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26 Feb 2024

Curses!

Laura Salah Nasrallah. Ancient Christians and the Power of Curses: Magic, Aesthetics, and Justice ‎ Cambridge University Press
(31 January 2024)

Ancient Christians and their non-Christian contemporaries lived in a world of 'magic.' Sometimes, they used curses as ritual objects to seek justice from gods and other beings; sometimes, they argued against them. 
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25 Feb 2024

Fingers Crossed, Touch Wood

Nigel Pennick. Fortuna: The Sacred and Profane Faces of Luck.‎ Destiny Books.
(29 February 2024)

Some believe that our future is predetermined, while others assert that we have free will and our future can take many different courses depending on our actions. In ancient times, it was believed that the will of the gods determined people’s lives, and divination or sacrifices to the gods could change or improve one’s future. 
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24 Feb 2024

Trail of Terror

Allen Sircy. Fear & Folklore: American Monsters.‎ Independently published
(14 February 2024)

This gripping exploration delves into the shadows of American history to unearth the most notorious cryptids and monsters that have haunted the nation's collective imagination. From the misty woodlands of the Pacific Northwest to the eerie swamps of Louisiana, this collection reveals the tales behind some of the most enduring legends. 
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21 Feb 2024

The Learned Magician


Anthony Grafton. The Magus: The Art of Magic from Faustus to Agrippa. ‎ Allen Lane. (January 2024)

At the heart of the extraordinary ferment of the High Renaissance stood a distinctive, strange and beguiling figure: the magus. An unstable mix of scientist, bibliophile, engineer, fabulist and fraud, the magus ushered in modern physics and chemistry while also working on everything from secret codes to siege engines to magic tricks.
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19 Feb 2024

Just Passing

Judith Flanders. Rites of Passage: Death and Mourning in Victorian Britain. Picador. (29 February 2024)

In Rites of Passage, acclaimed historian Judith Flanders deconstructs the intricate, fascinating, and occasionally – to modern eyes – bizarre customs that grew up around death and mourning in Victorian Britain. 
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18 Feb 2024

Witches of the West

Ethan Doyle-White. The New Witches of the West: Tradition, Liberation, and Power (Elements in New Religious Movements)  Cambridge University Press
(2 February. 2024)

The terms 'witch' and 'witchcraft' have been used to mean many different things over the years. In the twentieth century, some people began referring to themselves as witches and espousing esoteric new religions that they called witchcraft. 
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15 Feb 2024

The Satanic Screen

Nikolas Schreck. The Satanic Screen: An Illustrated Guide to the Devil in Cinema. Headpress
(March 2024)

Satan has figured in film since the very birth of cinema. The Satanic Screen documents all of Satan's cinematic incarnations, covering not only the horror genre but also a whole range of sub-genres including hardcore porn, mondo and underground film.
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14 Feb 2024

Behind the Shadow

Henrike Lange, Tom McLeish (Editors) Eclipse and Revelation: Total Solar Eclipses in Science, History, Literature, and the Arts. OUP Oxford
(6 February 2024)

Two questions guide this seven-year project: First, how can we approach the phenomenon, representation, and interpretation of total solar eclipses? Second, how can we heal the historical divide separating the natural sciences from the humanities, arts, history, and theology? 
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12 Feb 2024

Looking for Mili Mongga

Samuel Turvey. The Tomb of the Mili Mongga: Fossils, Folklore, and Adventures at the Edge of Reality. Bloomsbury Sigma.
(15 February 2024)

A fossil expedition becomes a thrilling search for a mythical beast deep in the Indonesian forest - and a fascinating look at how fossils, folklore, and biodiversity converge.
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Monsters at the Edge

Margo DeMello. Bigfoot to Mothman: A Global Encyclopedia of Legendary Beasts and Monsters. ‎ Bloomsbury Academic. 
(22 Feb. 2024)

This one-volume encyclopaedia introduces readers to the world's cryptids―those hidden or secret animals believed to exist at the margins of human society―including Bigfoot, Yeti, the Loch Ness Monster, and the Mothman.
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9 Feb 2024

Parallel Dimensions

Paul Halpern. The Allure of the Multiverse: Extra Dimensions, Other Worlds, and Parallel Universes ‎ Basic Books
(1 February 2024)

The long history of one of physics' most enticing ideas: that the universe we know isn't the only one? Our books, our movies-our imaginations-are obsessed with extra dimensions, alternate timelines, and the sense that all we see might not be all there is. In short, we can't stop thinking about the multiverse.
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7 Feb 2024

Trial Records

Mary Ellen Snodgrass. Witch Trials: A Worldwide Chronology. ‎McFarland
(26 January 2024)

This chronological reference compendium traces accusations, punishments, and the investigation of occultism from sorcery inquiries in 323 BCE Athens to the modern day. 
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6 Feb 2024

Cryptocats

C.P.Marshall. The Cryptozoology of Cats: Feline Folktales, Fables, and Fauna. Hangar 1 Publishing (19 January 2024)

From exotic wild species inhabiting unfamiliar settings to elusive forms still unknown to science or thought to be extinct, the Felidae, better known as ‘cats’, have been reported in sightings from around the world. 
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