The Spell Of The Sorcerer S Skull

A bookish boy searches for his missing best friend in this spooky tale by the author of The House with a Clock in Its Walls On a country lane in snowbound 1950s New Hampshire, a car goes skidding off the road. Professor Childermass and Johnny Dixon escape unscathed, but their car is stuck, and they are forced to walk into town. Johnny doesn’t mind. A curious young man, he has fun anytime the professor takes him out, because he’s treated like an adult. Together they’ve gotten into all sorts of supernatural scrapes, and this winter night, they’ll face their toughest challenge yet. When Childermass suddenly vanishes, Johnny is the only one who can find him. The mystery is linked to a tiny skull taken from a child’s dollhouse, which seems to have powers too terrible to guess at. With the help of a crusty old Irish priest, Johnny chases the clues to his friend’s disappearance all the way to the rocky coast of Maine, where something evil hungers for revenge. From the author of the series featuring Lewis Barnavelt and Anthony Monday, the Johnny Dixon novels are charmingly old-school and shot through with suspense, and The Spell of the Sorcerer’s Skull may be the most chilling of them all.

When Johnny Dixon takes a tiny skull from a haunted dollhouse, demonic forces are released,capturing Professor Childermass and leading Johnny on a harrowing chase to a deserted island off the coast of Maine.

Beyond the Known Lands lay terror. It was strange country, that across the western seas, and sensible men would avoid it as tough the waters of the seas themselves were bearers of the plague. But Owen of Marrdale was not an ordinary man...nor even an ordinary thief, though he made his living through the art of stealing. Still, he once made the mistake of saving his life by accepting the favor of a sorcerer... and the favors of such do not come cheap. But when in debt to a sorcerer, the debt must be discharged... no matter what the elements of hell are released along the way!

A malevolent sorcerer. A grim fortress. Those who cross its gates never return... Gareth Arban seeks to stop the sorceress Azalmora from finding the Dragonskull, a powerful relic of dark magic. But the fortress of Nifheldun lies in his path, and to pursue Azalmora, Gareth must help the warriors of the Norvangir seize the fortress. But the sorcerous master of Nifheldun is cunning, and Gareth and his friends might be the latest warriors to fall before his deadly spells...

In Search of the Sorcerer's Apprentice is the first book in English to be devoted to Lucian's Philopseudes or Lover of Lies (c. 170s AD). It comprises an extensive discussion, with full translation, of this engaging and satirical Greek text with its ten tales of magic and ghosts. One of these is the famous story of The Sorcerer's Apprentice, and this conveys the flavour of the rest. In other tales a plague of snakes is blasted with a miraculous scorching breath, a woman is drawn to her admirer by an animated cupid doll, and a haunted house is cleansed of its monstrous ghost. The Philopseudes stands at the intersection of three of the liveliest fields in the study of antiquity: magic, traditional narratives, and the Lucianic oeuvre itself. Ogden's cross-fertilising expertise in all three of these fields enables him to build sophisticated analyses for each of the tales and to place them sensitively in their historical, cultural and literary contexts. Among the themes of the work are Lucian's methods of adapting motifs from traditional narratives, and the text's overlooked Cynic voice.

Presents literary criticism on writers and illustrators for children and young adults. Critical essays are selected from leading sources, including published journals, magazines, books, monographs, reviews, and scholarly papers.