This book is almost inexplicably bad. It is bad in so many ways, that I'm not sure where to begin. Let's take the plunge. There are huge swaths of writing that are completely unnecessary, contribute nothing to the story, and have no drama or point whatsoever. For instance, the protagonist Michael...
A manuscript illuminated with fantastical creatures said to have roamed the Garden of Eden, the bestiary has been handed down throughout the centuries by one of the Arab world's most prominent families. Commissioned to restore it is the beautiful young art curator, Beth Cox. But it is Beth's husb...
In the caves beneath an Italian lake, the fossil of a creature older than the earth has been disinterred. In the Judaean desert, a legendary parchment has been discovered. One reveals the secrets of Heaven. One foretells an impending Hell. And deciphering their message has been left to paleon...
Here, in one spellbinding volume, is a history of the major occult arts as they have been practiced from ancient Babylon to the present day. Raising Hell weaves history with myths, quotes, anecdotes, and illustrations, to provide a vivid chronicle of the evolution of the occult arts. This definit...
After another hour or so, a pair of rough hands loosened the cord and yanked it off. Cellini gasped for a breath of the fresh country air.One of his captors leaned back in the opposite seat and surveyed him with a crooked smile. The other two, he presumed, were up on top, driving the horses.“They...
What do you do when you're not here?� �I'm posting a sign.� �That says what?� �That says there are several amphibious specimens loose in here and that they're all poisonous.� Michael laughed. �And you think that will work?� �No, not really� Darryl admitted, returning to his lab stool, �but t...
the elderly projectionist said. “I don’t mind at all, Professor.” For the third time, Lucas assured him that he could do it himself, so long as the projectionist gave him a quick tutorial. “Okay then,” the man said, adjusting various switches and kn...
In a way, it was the pinnacle of the magician’s art, the most extreme and impressive feat he could add to his professional résumé. In part this was due to its difficulty—the ritual requirements were extraordinarily elaborate—and in part it was due to the great risks any magician was expected to e...
It was like trying to write with Dunlop, the department chairman, sitting on his shoulder, chain-smoking and making nasty cracks. Nothing he did was quite good enough, nothing he wrote was as felicitously phrased as it should have been, no idea or opinion was really all that startling or original...
She wasn’t used to her feet sticking to damp rubber mats on the floor, for instance, or to Arctic blasts battering the walls of her lab. Nor was she accustomed to the constant roar of the wind, like a ceaseless pounding surf, or the lamps swaying overhead. The Tyvek suit and rubber apron she was ...