A Different Kind Of Magic

Magic can be used for good, and it can also be used for evil, but there is a different kind of magic to be found in this collection of stories by T.W. Grim - the kind that can take you away from yourself, if only for a little while.Behind the cover of this book lies fourteen dark and wondrous spells, fourteen doorways to another place and another time. These pages are populated by tormented souls, the restless dead, and gruesome horrors of every description. Stoke up the fire, get cozy within a protective layer of blankets, and prepare to fall under the enchantment of these frightful incantations...

Amber Sand is not a witch. The Sand family magical gene somehow leapfrogged over her. But she did get one highly specific bewitching talent: she can see true love. As a matchmaker, Amber's pretty far down the sorcery food chain (even birthday party magicians rank higher), but after five seconds of eye contact, she can envision anyone's soul mate. Amber works at her mother's magic shop -- Windy City Magic -- in downtown Chicago, and she's confident she's seen every kind of happy ending there is: except for one--her own. (The Fates are tricky jerks that way.) So when Charlie Blitzman, the mayor's son and most-desired boy in school, comes to her for help finding his father's missing girlfriend, she's distressed to find herself falling for him. Because while she can't see her own match, she can see his -- and it's not Amber. How can she, an honest peddler of true love, pursue a boy she knows full well isn't her match? The Best Kind of Magic is set in urban Chicago and will appeal to readers who long for magic in the real world. With a sharp-witted and sassy heroine, a quirky cast of mystical beings, and a heady dose of adventure, this novel will have you laughing out loud and questioning your belief in happy endings.

In this “fun and flirty” debut, a shy scientist is swept off her feet by a rock star—but is it real romantic chemistry or just her love potion perfume (Night Owl Reviews)? Biochemist Eden Sinclair has no idea that the scent she spritzed on herself before leaving the lab is designed to enhance pheromones. Or that the cute guy she meets at her brother’s concert is the international rock god Adam Copeland. By the time she learns the truth, she’s already spent an unforgettable night in his bed . . . Now Eden, who’s more accustomed to disastrous dates set up by her mom, is going out with a gorgeous celebrity who loves how down-to-earth and honest she is. But for once, Eden isn’t being honest. She can’t bear to reveal that this overpowering attraction could be nothing more than seduction by science. And the only way to know how Adam truly feels is to ditch the perfume—and risk being ditched . . . “Sexy, engaging and original. I completely fell in love with Eden and Adam.” —Sydney Landon, New York Times–bestselling author

Pick a card, any card. Eli has loved magic – the pick-a-card, any-card kind – for as long as he can remember. The talented young magician is forced to leave home and attend a private school in Salem, Massachusetts—the most notable location in the history of witchcraft. Once there, he’s shocked to learn of the hand fate has dealt him. Magic – far greater than any parlor trick – lies within him, waiting to be unleashed. But Eli isn’t the only one eager to tap into that power. His potential has caught the attention of another, one with sinister intentions and a cruel plan. Witches begin disappearing, with Eli’s own father and sister as victims. What this has to do with him, Eli has yet to uncover. Now, to prevent anyone else from getting hurt, Eli must learn to harness the magic within him... before his lurking enemy can claim it as their own. Fans of gripping urban fantasy and young adult page-turners are sure to love A Different Kind of Magic written by Ellis Michaels!

Freddie Mercury was rock’s most dazzling showman, a legendary entertainer who in 1991, at the age of just forty-five, became the first major music star to die of AIDS. Mercury’s soaring four-octave voice was a defining element in Queen’s unique sound, crucial to the success of the band’s fifteen studio albums, from Queen (1973) to Made in Heaven (1995). He was also a supremely talented songwriter and musician who wrote many of the band’s greatest hits, including ‘Killer Queen’, ‘We Are the Champions’ and their biggest triumph, the epic anthem ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. As a solo artist he released two acclaimed albums: Mr. Bad Guy in 1985 and the operatic 'Barcelona' with Spanish soprano Montserrat Caballé in 1988. Mercury’s extraordinary charisma was perhaps best seen in his imperious live performances, in which he’d hold vast stadium crowds to rapturous attention. His outrageous theatrics, physicality and over-the-top costumes led one commentator to describe him as ‘a performer out to tease, shock, and ultimately charm his audience with various extravagant versions of himself’. He pushed the limits of camp in everything he did. His extreme behaviour, in a society in which being gay was only starting to be accepted, just added to Freddie Mercury’s allure. With expert understanding, Mark Blake traces Mercury’s life from his childhood in Zanzibar and India to his untimely death, and charts his astonishing achievements including in Queen’s world-conquering performance at Live Aid in 1985. In the year that marks what would have been his seventieth birthday, Freddie Mercury: A Life celebrates a remarkable life, lived to the fullest. Featuring revealing interviews with fellow musicians, producers and collaborators, and a detailed discography and timeline, this is a memorable tribute to a unique recording artist and an irreplaceable performer who rocked the world.

"The first biography of Kesey, [revealing] a youthful life of brilliance and eccentricity that encompassed wrestling, writing, farming, magic and ventriloquism, CIA-funded experiments with hallucinatory drugs, and a notable cast of characters that would come to include Wallace Stegner, Larry McMurtry, Tom Wolfe, Neal Cassady, Timothy Leary, the Grateful Dead, and Hunter S. Thompson"--Dust jacket flap.

This collection of articles by distinguished scholars and experts in their particular fields of research is introduced by a chapter dealing with general matters of the current hermeneutics of magic: what is the nature of magic and what is the understanding of magic in the Western world-view and what - for instance - in the African world? Centered around studies on Jesus and magic the second part contains studies on the use of the term "magic" in the New Testament and especially in Acts. The third section broadens the understanding of magic through selected case studies in different approaches to magic in the environment and background of the New Testament (Old Testament, Qumran, Apuleius, Women as Magicians). Early Christianity subsequent to the New Testament develops its own view of magic, criticizing pagan magic but not being uninfluenced by magic or magic-like practices. This development is part of the fourth and last chapter of the collection along with two different papers on the possible use of Jewish and Christian themes in later magical texts. The collection explores the importance of magic within Early Christianity, an issue shared with its Old Testament and Jewish roots and with its ancient background, implying reluctance and critique. Both magical traits and the critique of non-Christian magic have an impact on later scripture and still exert influence now on modern theoretical discussion and popular ideas.