Böcker av Brendan Connell

The Viridian Book of Occult Fiction, the fifth volume of the books of occult fiction of many colors, brings together twenty-two tales, dating from 1824-1917, from the American occult revival. Tracing the history of the occult fiction of the United States from its beginnings, with writers such as Washington Irving and Edgar Allan Poe, the book marches forth through the mystical texts of occultists like Paschal Beverly Randolph, Freeman B. Dowd, and Belle M. Wagner, the scribe of the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor, into the first part of the twentieth century, where Blanche Cromartie and Max Heindel, of the Rosicrucian Fellowship, spin their astrological magic. Containing a diverse and splendid assortment of stories, about mysterious initiations and magnetism, hierophants and soul-transfers, The Viridian Book of Occult Fiction, edited by Brendan Connell, who also supplies a fine, erudite introduction, is an indispensable addition to any library of the supernatural and occult.

The fifty-eight extraordinary pieces which make up Spells, though brief, most being just a page or two in length, are grandiose in their ambition. These miniatures, which are bathed in the light of violet suns and wrapped in the beams of the old moons, take up the themes of strange magics and poisons, curious births and lost theologies, and are like extracts of abbreviated drama, the sum-total of which might or might not be a visionary guide.

There was something about Claus Laufenburg that drew them, mothers and daughters, princes and paupers, spicy Spaniards and jet-set Swedes, to him. Was it his dangerous swagger, his arts and skills of passion, or the glittering universe of his gigantic collection of Rumanian limited edition hardbacks?In these five stories of reckless lust and steaming blood, filthy talk and degenerate banter, by five of the boldest voices in the New Pleasant Movement, the reader is invited to explore the ins and outs of one of Germany's most beloved bibliophiles as he moves through the world of physical matter. The book that Hollywood refused. Contents:Quentin S. Crisp: Who Is Claus Laufenburg?Damian Murphy: One Thousand Sleeping Souls Lie Best Unknowing and DistressedJames Champagne: DreamachineJustin Isis: Claus and the Transgressive EnglishmanBrendan Connell: Die geheime Kraft des Sex