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The Books of Magic

" Science is a way of talking about the Universe in words that bind it to a common reality. Magic is a method of talking to the Universe in words that it cannot ignore. "

The Books of Magic was a four-issue limited series by Neil Gaiman which explored the DC universe through the eyes of a young boy named Timothy Hunter . Characters from The Sandman , including The Endless , are featured prominently in the second half of the story.

The concept was later expanded upon by other Vertigo authors, first in a 75-issue series by John Ney Rieber and Peter Gross, and later in a series that became part of The Sandman Universe .

• Despite being relatively short, this series has probably the largest timespan among the Sandman stories, showing both the dawn of the Universe and its destruction.

• 2 The Endless

• Phantom Stranger Titles
• Doctor Occult Titles
• Zatanna Titles
• Comics by Title
• Limited Series
• December Comic Debuts
• March Last Issues
• 1990 Comic Debuts
• 1991 Last Issues
• Volumes No Longer in Publication

The Books of Magic (1990—1991)

Initially meant to be a three-issue series written by J.M. DeMatteis , various production setbacks led to Neil Gaiman becoming a writer instead, with a rotating quartet of artists supplying full-painted illustrations. The series was a success, and editor Karen Berger would launch an ongoing Books of Magic series under DC's mature readers Vertigo imprint to further chronicle Timothy's adventures. In 1999, the Trenchcoat Brigade would reunite for a titular limited series of their own .

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• Books of Magic (Volume 1) #1
• Books of Magic (Volume 1) #2
• Books of Magic (Volume 1) #3
• Books of Magic (Volume 1) #4

Collections

• The Books of Magic ( 1993 ) ISBN: 1563890828
• The Books of Magic ( 2014 ) ISBN: 978-1401246860
• Cover Gallery: The Books of Magic Vol 1
• Images from The Books of Magic Vol 1
• Textless Cover Art from The Books of Magic Vol 1
• Variant Covers from The Books of Magic Vol 1
• Books of Magic (Volume 3)
• The Names of Magic (Volume 1)
• Hunter: The Age of Magic (Volume 1)
• Books of Magick: Life During Wartime (Volume 1)
• The Books of Faerie (Volume 1)
• The Books of Faerie: Auberon's Tale (Volume 1)
• The Books of Faerie: Molly's Story (Volume 1)

External Links

• 1 Batman (Bruce Wayne)
• 2 Neil Quinn (Prime Earth)
• 3 Superman (Clark Kent)

The Books of Magic

The Books of Magic #1

The Books of Magic #2

The Books of Magic #3

The Books of Magic #4

Harry Potter's Forgotten Predecessor

25 years ago, Neil Gaiman introduced another bespectacled teen boy with a magical destiny.

An unassuming English kid with glasses obtains a pet owl, and takes up his preordained destiny to enter a secret world of magic hidden in plain sight—brought to you by one of the world's most successful fantasy authors. That thumbnail summary of course describes Harry Potter , J.K. Rowling's hit series first published in 1997, which is still a massive pop-culture phenomenon today. But the description also fits The Books of Magic , a DC Comics miniseries published 25 years ago this month by Neil Gaiman. Though largely forgotten, the series foretold much of pop-culture's current (and seemingly insatiable) appetite for the superhero and fantasy genres.

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The Books of Magic 's fall into obscurity seems on the surface like a surprising failure of marketing. Tim Hunter, the 12-year-old star of the series, is even visually a dead ringer for Harry Potter; you'd almost believe the assorted artists (John Bolton, Scott Hampton, Charles Vess, and Paul Johnson) had been getting time-travel bulletins from seven years down the road. (A magic bespectacled tween protagonist with an owl has the potential to become a hit, as everyone now knows.) Neil Gaiman was already a celebrated writer back in 1990, and the ensuing years confirmed his ability to write massive bestsellers such as American Gods and Coraline . So why did Harry Potter become a household name while Tim Hunter has remained a random tidbit of esoteric geek knowledge?

A big part of the reason is that Books of Magic was always intended to be an exercise in esoteric geek knowledge. The miniseries was designed as a way to reintroduce readers to all the DC-universe characters with magic-based powers—like the Spectre or Amethyst Princess of Gemworld—following one of its periodic shakeups. Each of Gaiman's four books follows Tim through the past, present, and future of the mystical universe as he visits various realms and meets different magical figures. In this way, The Books of Magic functions as more of an encyclopedia than a story, while Rowling's books offer an elaborate plot complete with original characters.

Gaiman is a deft enough storyteller that Tim isn't just a blank presence—he's more of a snot than Rowling's young wizard, and he has a low-key but ominous taste for power.  As a useful stand-in for the reader, Tim is a tourist through eldritch realms of fandom detritus and continuity porn (a comic-geek term that refers to excessive attention to narrative integrity at the expense of the story itself). The books span characters like Zatanna, Zatara, Dr. Fate, and Dr. Occult, organizing all the accumulated layers of DC's corporate property into a solemn wiki-before-there-were-wikis.

Was the potential hit, then, derailed by the possibility of intimidating, Byzantine crossover nonsense? Maybe—though the truth is there's an immense appeal in deeply complex comic-book lore 25 years on. Marvel's ever-popular films and DC's television shows have mastered the art of packaging geek Easter eggs and winking crossovers for a mass audience. In that sense, when Deadman pops up for a cameo in Books of Magic , it doesn't feel dated at all. You might as well be watching The Flash .

For that matter, one of the series' central figures is John Constantine, the cynical working-class, anti-hero magician. After battling baddies in the present, the character shows up as a kind of cosmic fool at the end of time, still mysterious and still as cool as ever while the universe around him experiences heat death. Whether Constantine will actually be around millennia from hence is an open question, but he's survived the quarter century well enough. The first season of Constantine the television series just ended in February.

The Books of Magic could be seen as a failed Harry Potter , but it's perhaps more accurate to view it a dry run for superheroes taking over movie theaters, TV screens, and bookshelves around the world. What was most prescient about the miniseries was the way it combined YA fantasy-adventure and superheroes, two of the most popular genres of the following decades. Harry Potter is essentially a superhero—an adolescent power fantasy functions much the same way whether you're handed a wand or bitten by a radioactive spider. Similarly, superheroes fit well into fantasy-adventure. In Gaiman’s comics, plenty of unspeakable dark forces like Voldemort pop up, as do King Arthur and Merlin. The Books of Magic makes The Lord of the Rings , The Avengers , Harry Potter , and even Twilight all look like entries in the same broad genre of tween-superhero fantasy, in which someone insignificant gets mighty powers, fights the forces of evil, and ultimately triumphs.

The Books of Magic , like any successful prognostication, has an air of glamour and mystery now that the prophecy has been fulfilled, and super-magical Tim, in one form or another, has conquered the world. But the series also makes all those power fantasies (Harry Potter's, Bella's, Spider-Man's) seem a little foreordained, a little overdetermined, and maybe a little sad. The pop culture landscape starts to look like an endless row of Tim Hunters, the same successful formula applied again and again. Reading The Books of Magic now, one feels the same kind of disappointment that comes with seeing how a magic trick is done.

More From Forbes

10 great magical realism books to lose yourself in.

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Ta-Nehisi Coates, the author of top magical realism book "The Water Dancer," attends a panel at The ... [+] Apollo Theater on February 27, 2018 in New York City.

Magical realism is a genre that has been beloved across the globe for decades. Combining elements of fantasy with highly detailed, realistic settings, magical realism books center humanity through the normalization of the fantastical. Spanning countries and traditions, magical realism has become a robust genre filled with stories of family, love and loss, all with a twist or a quirk. These elements can vary from ghosts of family members long gone to strange abilities passed down in the blood, but they clue the reader in to the fact that while things may be odd or off-kilter, the element in question will enrich the book and induct it into the world of magical realism.

What Is Magical Realism?

Magical realism refers to a genre in which every detail of the setting is identical to our own, except for one strange element that is passed off as completely normal in the world of the book. A key difference is that the magic goes unexplained.

To differentiate from fantasy, where books often take place in different worlds with dragons, witches, mystics, kings or queens, books involving magical realism specifically focus on our world. Another key difference is that the element in question is unremarked upon by the characters in the books: strange families, magical abilities, ghosts or other supernatural elements are incorporated into the world of the novel without attention being drawn to them.

Magical realism has existed as a genre since the early 20th century, with many ties to Latin America. The genre has traveled across the world but is usually associated with writers of the global majority, particularly writers displaced due to political turmoil and writers descended from various diasporas.

Top Magical Realism Books

Magical realism continues to be a popular genre, with classics like The House of the Spirits , One Hundred Years of Solitude and Beloved being taught in schools to this day. Masters of the genre include Isabel Allende and Gabriel García Márquez, while popular contemporary authors such as Ling Ma and Kevin Wilson have also dipped their toes in the magical realism space.

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Rankings of the top magical realism books will be based on cultural impact, legacy and how indelible the novels were: magical realism often tells human stories using magic as a metaphor, and so the books below focus on powerful tales of resilience, hope and love.

10. The Gospel According to the New World by Maryse Conde, Translated by Richard Philcox (2023)

Nominated for the International Booker Prize in 2023, The Gospel According to the New World reinterprets the New Testament through the lens of Caribbean folklore. When a baby is born on the island of Martinique, he is swiftly abandoned by his mother and the questions begin. Where did he come from? Where is he going? As Pascal grows into a young man capable of performing “miracles,” he decides to embark on a quest to discover his origins.

A satire of postcolonial relations, the novel thrums with a warm, generous heart. This book would be perfect for readers who enjoy humorous novels about connection, people who enjoy retellings of Biblical stories and those interested in geopolitics and the modern West Indies.

The Gospel According to the New World was Conde’s final novel , and can be purchased from publisher World Editions .

9. The Water Dancer by Ta- Nehisi Coates (2019)

A stirring, dark look at the legacy of slavery in the United States, The Water Dancer is about a young man, Hiram, who can remember everything he’s ever seen except for one — what his mother looked like. Lyrical and haunting, this novel weaves together magical realism and historical fiction for a powerful interpretation of what it feels like to live through immense loss. This book would be perfect for readers of moving historical fiction and readers who are able to handle dark themes.

The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates can be purchased from publisher Penguin Random House .

8. Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson (2019)

When Madison marries a man with political ambitions, she happily takes in his two children from a previous marriage in order to portray the image of a happy family. Things take a turn when she discovers that whenever the children are upset, they burst into flames — literally. Seeking help from her boarding school best friend, Lillian, this novel is a moving tale of loneliness, connection and found family. Utilizing magical realism to portray the inevitability of change and the powerlessness felt by children, this book is perfect for readers of books about complicated friendships and those who love unconventional family stories.

Kevin Wilson’s Nothing to See Here can be purchased from publisher HarperCollins .

7. Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward (2023)

A stunning novel from the winner of two National Book Awards, Let Us Descend combines the allegorical journey of Dante’s Inferno with the brutal landscape of the American South during slavery. When a young girl, Annis, is sold by her father, she learns she has the ability to communicate with her ancestors, and occasionally call on them for spiritual guidance. Annis begins the journey to her new plantation and reckons with memories of her lost mother. Beautiful, deeply realized and powerful, Ward’s novel infuses devastating details of American history with the weight of myth.

Jesmyn Ward’s Let Us Descend can be bought from publisher Simon & Schuster .

6. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender (2010)

A quietly poignant novel investigating the weight of family, Bender’s The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cak e focuses on Rose, a young girl who discovers the ability to feel the emotions of the people who have prepared her food. Through this ability, her view of her family is shattered, as she learns of her mother’s deep depression, her father’s hypochondria, and the individual struggles of each of her school’s cafeteria workers. As she grows up, the novel begins to uncover familial legacies and the weight of inherited trauma, and her entire world is shattered when twin tragedies coalesce. Investigating mental illness and how pain is transmitted across generations, this novel is perfect for readers of unique family stories.

Aimee Bender’s The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake can be purchased from publisher Penguin Random House .

5. Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie (1981)

A revered classic, Midnight’s Children follows the triumphs and tragedies of a country fighting for a path forward and wrestling with the weight of colonialism. The novel follows Saleem, a young man born at the exact moment India establishes itself as an independent nation, and his mysterious telepathic link to all of the other children born the exact minute he was. Dense and moving, this novel is perfect for readers interested in exploring heavy political themes wed to prose exploring individualism and patriotism.

Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children can be purchased from publisher Penguin Random House .

Author Salman Rushdie attends the press conference of the 2015 Frankfurt Book Fair.

4. Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo (2023)

Written by a winner of the National Book Award, Family Lore dives into the nested relationships of a Dominican-American family in New York City. Each of the Marte women is born with a magical gift. When Flor, the eldest sister with the ability to predict when people will die, decides to hold a living wake for herself, the sisters, daughters and cousins are sent scrambling to uncover the meaning behind the choice. Exploring the weight of sisterhood, the pain of yearning for a life different than the one previously imagined and the trauma of inheritance, this novel is perfect for readers of complicated family novels, lovers of sisterhood stories and people interested in novels about New York.

Elizabeth Acevedo’s Family Lore can be purchased from publisher HarperCollins .

3. Beloved by Toni Morrison (1987)

An undisputed literary classic and winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Beloved is a foundational novel that cemented Toni Morrison as a literary titan. Set during the Reconstruction period, the novel follows Sethe and her introverted daughter Denver as they struggle to live in a haunted house. After the arrival of a formerly enslaved man from her past, Sethe’s life changes forever when she finds a young woman on her porch calling herself Beloved. How is this woman connected to the ghost? How will the family be affected by her presence? An exploration of haunting as a metaphor, this novel uses magical realism as a tool to investigate mental illness and the psychological effects of slavery.

This novel is celebrated for its powerful depiction of a family in crisis. Toni Morrison’s Beloved can be purchased from publisher Penguin Random House .

Oprah Winfrey and Kimberly Elise holding on to one an other in a scene from the film adaptation of ... [+] "Beloved," 1998.

2. Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel (1989)

On a Mexican farm, a young girl falls in love with her neighbor. Unfortunately, due to a tradition forcing youngest daughters to live at home and care for their parents until their death, Tita is prevented from marrying her sweetheart. At his wedding, Tita discovers her ability to “infect” people with her emotions through her cooking, and suffers a decades-long legacy of abuse from her mother, who convinced Pedro to marry her sister. Heralded as a classic and a love story for the ages, this tale of passion, magic and heartbreak is perfect for readers of historical fiction, star-crossed romance and tales of dysfunctional families.

Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate was adapted into both a film and a ballet, and can be purchased from publisher Penguin Random House .

1. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez (1967)

The undisputed masterwork of the magical realism genre, Márquez’s novel is heralded as one of the greatest novels of all time, a masterpiece across genres and one of the greatest Latin American novels of all time. Following the story of one family across a century, the novel follows José Arcadio Buendía and the founding of Macondo, the fictional town the Buendías call home. The novel follows many disturbing incidents in the Buendía family, from hauntings, to insanity, to a child born with a pig’s tail, all considered to be omens of bad fortune for the cursed family.

Utilizing metaphors to depict the effects of colonialism and the inevitable downfall of elite families in Latin American countries, One Hundred Years of Solitude is now being adapted into a limited series for Netflix and can be purchased from publisher HarperCollins .

Bottom Line

Magical realism is a powerful tool for looking at complicated human conditions through a fantastical haze: stories of longing, devastation and death are all transposed into worlds where feelings are food or ghosts are trauma made manifest. These novels prove it occasionally easier to write about difficult concepts when they are wrapped in myths, stories and fairy tales, and the abiding love of the genre proves these books will continue to leave their impact on the world’s literary stage.

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How a 1933 Book About Jews in Magic Was Rescued From Oblivion

Richard Hatch gave up a career as a physicist to become a magician — and a one-man historical preservation society dedicated to a German author killed in the Holocaust.

The author, Guenther Dammann, was a 23-year-old Jew and amateur magician in Berlin when he self-published his book about great Jewish magicians, both living and dead. Credit... Russel Daniels for The New York Times

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By David Segal

David Segal is a reporter in the Business section who has written several stories about magic, including a feature about the world’s most baffling card trick.

• Published June 24, 2024 Updated June 25, 2024

Richard Hatch was searching the card catalog of the Sterling Memorial Library at Yale, hunting for intriguing titles under the subject heading “Magic.” It was 1979, and Hatch was a young graduate student in physics, but he’d long nurtured an amateur’s passion for the conjuring arts and, on this day at least, he preferred to read about sleight of hand than quantum mechanics.

His rummaging stopped when he spotted a title called “Die Juden in der Zauberkunst.” Hatch had spent four years of his youth in Germany so he translated it instantly: “Jews in Magic.” The card said the book was written by someone named Guenther Dammann and published in Berlin in 1933.

He paused. A book about Jews in magic, from Germany, in the very year that the Nazis assumed power and started burning “un-German” books in bonfires across the country. It seemed obvious. This was an antisemitic tract, identifying Jews to make it easier for the government to persecute them and the public to shun them.

Awful, Hatch thought. He then looked for a magic book he actually wanted to read.

Hatch would go on to earn two graduate degrees in physics but left the field in 1983 after realizing that his ardor for magic had completely overwhelmed his interest in science. He became a full-time “deceptionist,” as he calls it. While he honed his craft and looked for gigs, he translated a 1942 German book about the famed Austrian magician J.N. Hofzinser. That brought him to the attention of a collector of Judaica and magic books who urged him to translate a fascinating rarity he’d acquired: “Die Juden in der Zauberkunst.”

“That’s when I realized that the book was about the great contributions that Jews have made to magic,” Hatch said in an interview.

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Our 21 Most-Anticipated Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror Books for the Rest of 2024

Books for the witches, spacefarers, and ghouls among us.

It might be a bad year in the world, generally speaking, but it has been a great year for books—especially genre books! I love some good literary fiction as much as anybody but I’m a sucker for a good book of magic, dragons, spaceships, monsters, slashers, ghosts, etc… and so I’ve been combing the calendar for the back half of 2024 to bring you a totally idiosyncratic and absolutely non-comprehensive list of 21 sci-fi, fantasy, and horror books to look forward to.

We’re living in a true golden age of genre fiction, so there’s a little something for everyone here—Big Five publishers, small indie presses, novels, short story collections, non-fiction, doorstoppers, single-sitting novellas—but feel free to sound off in the comments with books I didn’t include that you’re looking forward to, too!

* A note on my methodology: there are a handful of big books out this summer like Lev Grossman’s The Bright Sword that I’m not including here even though they are absolutely genre fiction, because they are getting what I like to call the “literary-fiction treatment” in terms of coverage and launch attention. Definitely read The Bright Sword but also… pick up some of these that you maybe haven’t heard of before, too.

Cynthia Gómez, The Nightmare Box and Other Stories Cursed Morsels, July 9

I’ve read a few of these stories and have been looking forward to the collection for ages. Gómez brings Oakland to a magical kind of life in these strange, sometimes scary, sometimes furious tales. Vampires, witches, Black Panthers, ACAB—this one’s got it all. Plus, that cover!

Chuck Tingle, Bury Your Gays Tor Nightfire, July 9

As previously recommended: I loved Chuck Tingle’s traditional-publishing debut Camp Damascus (a terrific possession/demonology novel that managed to both terrify and uplift) and his Tinglers remain an absolute delight, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Bury Your Gays is his best work yet. It deserves to be the literary equivalent of a massive summer blockbuster, and I’m using that term specifically because it is set in Hollywood and written by somebody who gets it : the suits are going to drive us all off the cliff of increasingly crappy AI-driven stories that have zero humanity to them whatsoever, but we-the-artists (and we-the-audiences) can and must push back!

It also works as a total thrill-ride, following a screenwriter on the verge of his big moment (an Oscar nomination, critical and commercial success) only to discover that the suits want him to kill off the gay characters in his long-running series. When he declines, monsters from his horror movie days start appearing in real life and trying to kill him and his loved ones—coincidence? Outrageous publicity stunt? An over-the-top attempt to bring a rogue writer to heel? If you were on the picket lines last year, if original stories are important to you, if you too believe that love is real(!), then this one is for you—even if you don’t think you like horror, you’re gonna devour this.

Keanu Reeves & China Mieville,  The Book of Elsewhere Del Rey, July 23

I still can’t believe this book exists. Miéville and Reeves turn out to be a great match, and I for one will take new Miéville fiction however I can get it. Come for the action set-pieces and techno-thriller plotting but stay for the immortal pig(!) and the stirring digressions on ethics, morality, and humanity. It’s nothing like you could possibly expect, so don’t even bother: just dive in.

Gabino Iglesias,  House of Bone and Rain Mulholland, August 6

Five teenage boys set out to get revenge on the biggest gang in Puerto Rico after one of their mothers is murdered—just in time for a massive hurricane to sweep down onto the island. Trust Gabino Iglesias to deliver pulse-pounding scares, unflinchingly bloody violence, and achingly beautiful moments of friendship and humanity.

James S. A. Corey, The Mercy of Gods Orbit Books, August 6

For their first book since the end of The Expanse —for my money, one of the best and most satisfying space operas of the 21st Century so far—the writing duo of James S. A. Corey head back to the stars… but where those books were very much about humanity stepping out of the solar system into the stars and discovering space to be a somewhat lonelier place than we’d thought, The Mercy of Gods looks like it’s going to have aliens galore. I’m guessing we’ll have multiple points of view, thorny ethical quandaries, snarky banter, and the building blocks of the next big epic space opera series.

Carson Winter, A Spectre is Haunting Greentree Tenebrous Press, August 15

Tenebrous Press is quickly establishing themselves as a must-read indie press for horror lovers. Since taking over Dread Stone Press’s Split Scream novella series, they’ve introduced me to some incredible up-and-coming horror writers—and I’ve been looking forward to something new from Carson Winter since reading “The Guts of Myth” in Split Scream, Vol. 1 . This latest had me at the spooky scarecrows on the cover and in the blurb, not to mention the Marx reference in the title.

Emily Hughes, Horror for Weenies: Everything You Need to Know about the Films You’re Too Scared to Watch Quirk Books, September 3

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Emily Hughes is the go-to guide for all things horror. A sterling literary citizen and a relentless champion of others, now she turns her attentions to helping those among us who might like the  idea of being scared a whole lot more than they do the actual  feeling of being scared.  Horror for Weenies is here to deliver all the info you might need about some of the greatest horror films of the past half-century or so but without a single jump scare and with a whole ton of good jokes along the way. (But make no mistake: it’s a great read for lovers of the genre too, as Hughes provides a true afficionado’s insights into these classic horror films!)

Hildur Knútsdóttir, tr. Mary Robinette Kowal, The Night Guest Tor Nightfire, September 3

“When we all fall asleep, where do we go?” takes on a new and even-eerier dimension in this English-language debut from Knutsdottir (and translation debut from the celebrated Kowal), about a woman in Reykjavik who can’t shake off her constant tiredness… only to discover that, when she thinks she’s asleep, she’s actually been walking over 40,000 steps every night. A true nightmare.

TJ Klune,  Somewhere Beyond the Sea Tor, September 10

Klune returns to the world of The House in the Cerulean Sea to follow Arthur, the caretaker of the magical orphanage that so enraptured a legion of readers, as he must return to the mainland and take a stand to defend his found family. Expect tears, laughter, and a feeling of glowing warmth so lovely you’ll never want to leave.

Laird Barron,  Not a Speck of Light: Stories Bad Hand Books, September 10

For my money, Laird Barron is one of the best horror writers working—his particular grasp of the Weird speaks directly to the dark caves of my soul. His recent turn to noir with the Isiaiah Coleridge novels was a delight, but I’m excited to see him back at work in the form that terrifies me the most: a short story collection.

Dan Kois, Hampton Heights: One Harrowing Night in the Most Haunted Neighborhood in Milwaukee, Wisconsin Harper Perennial, September 17

Teenaged paperboys confronting a bunch of monsters in a Milwaukee suburb? From the guy who brought us Vintage Contemporaries and the oral history of Angels in America ?? Say no more, just let this fill the Stranger Things -shaped hole in your fall.

Jedediah Berry, The Naming Song Tor Books, September 24

I’ve been waiting for this book for a long time: Barry’s first novel The Manual of Detection was an instant favorite when it came out and his story-in-cards The Family Arcana has been deeply inspiring to my own creative practice. Now, he’s back with a fantastical epic about a world that lost its language and is trying to get it back. Plus, there’s a magical train! You probably couldn’t design a book more keyed into my personal interests, but I have the feeling this one is going to hit the sweet spot for a whole lot of people.

Nghi Vo, The City in Glass Tordotcom, October 1

I love fantasy cities and am always looking to visit new ones—so the promise of Nghi Vo squiring us away to a city beset by angels, protected (and maddened) by a demon, and caught in a cycle of history is very exciting indeed. Publicity copy cites Calvino, Mieville, and Le Guin—and if anybody could live up to that trinity, Nghi Vo can. Stamp my passport for Azril now.

Rivers Solomon,  Model Home MCD, October 1

A haunted house novel dealing with family, segregation, and racism in the American South, released on the first day of spooky season and five weeks before the election? Blurring the line between the supernatural and the all-too-human evils around us?? Rivers Solomon has their finger on the pulse of things, to be sure. I’m betting on this one to be Solomon’s breakout.

Alan Moore,  The Great When Bloomsbury, October 1

When a fictional book out of an Arthur Machen story ends up in a used bookstore in post-WWII London, a young man’s entire sense of the universe is turned upside down. It’s a rollicking adventure, the first in an apparent series. Imagine if Neil Gaiman commissioned Kevin Barry to write a prequel to Neverwhere and gave him some acid to help get things going, and that’s just the start of it.

Sofia Ajram, Coup de Grâce Titan Books, October 1

A suicidal young man on his way to throw himself into the Saint Lawrence River instead gets stuck in an endless Montreal subway station. Shades of Piranesi and House of Leaves abound.

Nicholas Pullen, The Black Hunger Redhook, October 8

A queer historical gothic structured in classic epistolary style? A journey across a dark and fantastically dangerous Europe? I’m always looking for something I know next-to-nothing about to win me over during spooky season and I’m thinking that Pullen’s debut might just be that, this year.

CJ Leede, American Rapture Tor Nightfire, October 15

There really seems to be something in the air right now when it comes to horror writers tackling the apocalypse as brought on by (or relating to) the forces of repression and shame. CJ Leede might have the most audacious yet, featuring lust-zombies and a good Catholic girl trying to find her family in a world on fire. Maeve Fly was one of my favorite reads of last year and I have the highest hopes for this one.

Andy Marino, The Swarm Redhook, November 5

Cicadas are scary! I mean think about it: they come out of the ground at these cyclical intervals and we talk about them in such near-apocalyptic tones… so what would happen if they really were harbingers of the apocalpyse? Trust Andy Marino to meld the 70s-horror-premise to a truly terrifying modern sensibility. Plus, it’s coming out on the scariest day of the year so I bet it’s going to be a banger.

Brandon Sanderson, Wind and Truth Tor Books, December 6

Start adding weight to your arm workouts: Sanderson’s latest doorstopper, clocking in somewhere north of 1200 pages, brings the first arc of his Stormlight Archive series to an explosive conclusion—featuring godfights, magic swords, and literally-world-shaking decisions.

Arkady Martine, Rose/House Tordotcom, December 10

Originally published as a limited-run one-off, Tordotcom is bringing Martine’s AI-haunted Hill House to the masses. Not only is it a great haunted house novel, but Martine’s exceptional eye for structures and systems (as seen in her Teixcalaan series) really shines here as she looks into architecture and design and the way such things shape our very perceptions of the world.

Drew Broussard

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New fantasy book ‘children of anguish and anarchy’ shows the dangers of being divided.

Children of Anguish and Anarchy is the third and last book in a fantasy series based on the Yoruba religion. It centers on the fight between people with magic powers and an oppressive monarchy.

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THE BOOKS OF MAGIC DELUXE EDITION 

From Neil Gaiman comes a mesmerizing tale of the dangers and opportunities of youth, and its endless possibilities. THE BOOKS OF MAGIC collects all four issues of the original miniseries in hardcover for the first time.

Timothy Hunter could be the most powerful magician in the world, but does he really want to be? John Constantine, Phantom Stranger, Mister E, and Doctor Occult attempt to aid Timothy in choosing his path, but by the time Timothy makes a choice, it may already have been made for him.

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Scott Hampton

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DC COMICS NEWS & FEATURES

Dolly Parton Faces “White Privilege” Backlash Over Free Book Program

in Entertainment

Is Dolly Parton teaching children about “white privilege” by giving them free books for decades?

Dolly Parton: The Legend

Dolly Parton is a leading contender for “most beloved American icon” and has been so for most of her life. Parton famously hails from impoverished circumstances in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, which she has immortalized in songs like “In the Good Old Days (When Times Were Bad),” and began performing as a musician in church by the age of six.

After graduating high school, Parton moved to the country music hub of Nashville, where she began a career writing songs for other performers and eventually became known for her powerful voice, comedic presence, and blonde bouffant hairstyle on the popular music program The Porter Wagoner Show .

Since then, she has scored literally dozens of hits in country and pop music, starred in movies like 9 to 5 (1980) and Steel Magnolias (1989), and released innumerable albums.

She will next release   Dolly Parton & Family: Smoky Mountain DNA – Family, Faith & Fables , a new album focused on her family history . It will be released on November 15 alongside a four-part documentary series of the same name.

Related: Dolly Parton Exiles Royal Family, American Treasure Rejects Kate Middleton’s Prestigious Offer

Dolly Parton is also known for Dollywood , her massively popular theme park in Tennessee. While Dollywood might be (slightly) less well known than Disneyland or Six Flags, it has been voted as one of the world’s best vacation destinations numerous times.

Just recently, Tripadvisor awarded Dollywood the number one slot in the 2024 Travelers’ Choice Best of the Best Awards and it ranks #10 (and the sole North American park) on the well-regarded Travelers’ Choice Top 25 Worldwide Amusement Parks list.

The Imagination Library

As though her ever-expanding theme parks were not enough, Dolly Parton is also well known for her philanthropic spirit. The singer is particularly known for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, an organization that has provided reading material to millions of children for years. The Imagination Library has been awarded the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval, the Best Practices award from the Library of Congress Literacy Awards,  and recognition in Reading Psychology.

It describes itself as:

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library  is a book gifting program that mails free, high-quality books to children from birth to age five, no matter their family’s income. After launching in 1995, the program grew quickly. First books were only distributed to children living in Sevier County, Tennessee where Dolly grew up. It became such a success that in 2000 a national replication effort was underway. By 2003,  Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library  had mailed one million books. It would prove to be the first of many millions of books sent to children around the world. Dolly’s home state of Tennessee pledged to pursue statewide coverage in 2004 and global expansion was on the horizon. After the  United States , the program launched in  Canada  in 2006 followed by the  United Kingdom  in 2007,  Australia in 2013 and the  Republic of Ireland  in 2019.

Among all of her endeavors, the Imagination Library might be the most beloved, which makes it all the more bewildering that it is the subject of research claiming that Dolly Parton and her organization are actively reinforcing notions of white privilege , heteronormativity, and the erasure of “dis/abilities, non-normative gender identities, or non-normative family structures.”

Speech-language pathologist Jennifer Stone has published a dissertation through the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Graduate School titled “Reading Power With and Through Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library: A Critical Content Analysis,” which uses critical race theory to assert that Dolly Parton and her philanthropy should not be providing free picture (and other) books to children, essentially because they reinforce existing social structures.

The dissertation abstract admits that “Policymakers share DPIL’s intention to leverage the power of picturebooks to transform family literacy practices. Families who own picturebooks read aloud early and often, and daily read-aloud habits have positive impacts on measures of children’s language and pre-literacy skills.”

But goes on to claim that:

“Unfortunately, picturebooks consistently misrepresent both reading and culture, which means the content of DPIL books could undermine DPIL’s purpose and perpetuate negative stereotypes while potentially inculcating community-wide biases regarding both literacy and cultural identities during a vulnerable life stage for two generations. The critical content analysis of the DPIL 2022 kindergarten corpus reported in this dissertation revealed explicit and implicit representations of literacy, race, class, gender, and dis/ability.”

Stone further asserts that the Imagination Library books represent primarily “Three inductively derived themes: reading to succeed, living the American dream, and perfecting parenting revealed complex intersections of discourses of power that resulted in oppressive childism, which operated to subjugate children and to privilege a White, middle-class, cis-gendered, heteronormative, able-bodied American norm.”

Related: Dolly Parton Releases Rapid Statement Amid Dollywood’s Battle With The Walt Disney Company

She further goes on to state, “I now understand literacies as multiple and dynamic and literacy intervention as potentially dangerous and informed by White saviorism.”

Dolly Parton is not above criticism. Very recently, her refusal to outright condemn LGBTQIA+ individuals as immoral and against Christian principles was condemned in a Federalist op-ed that stated, “She’s right that all should be treated with love and kindness, but when we refuse to label sin a sin, we’re doing more harm than good. The gospel of Dolly Parton is popular with the masses, but don’t bank your eternity on it.”

But now it appears that Parton is coming under fire for both being too liberal and non-judgemental in her work and also being too conservative and promoting patriarchal notions of white privilege. It really seems like, for all the good she does, Dolly Parton can’t get a break.

Do you think the Imagination Library reinforces white privilege? Opinions below!

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Magic By Pete   Magician from Coffeyville, KS

Will travel up to 100 miles

• Member Since 2015
• Starting at $ 250 per event

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Sophisticated deception that is uniquely entertaining and fun to watch. Pete's special brand of magic and comedy fits well into any situation of mixed audiences. Awarded nationally for his talents by his peers in the magic field. Always professional in appearance and in manner, he will be a welcome addition to your needs, whether it be for 20 people or 2000. Each show is customized for maximum entertainment and fun. Travel over 60 miles will incur additional minimal fee, but I'll go the distance I need to provide you with great entertainment. Whether as a magician, emcee, or comedian, Pete Walterscheid takes pride in what he presents. He is a long time member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians, the Society of American Magicians, and the prestigious Academy of Magical Arts. He has been awarded a magician membership to the Magic Castle in Hollywood and keeps busy performing for banquets, festivals, corporate functions and private shows. Pete was a featured performer in the "Masters of Magic Tour 2014" that performed in the Kansas City area finishing with a sold-out crowd at Theater Lawrence in Lawrence, KS. He has recently been awarded the title "Close-Up Magician of the Year" of the International Brotherhood of Magicians Ring #129 of the greater Kansas City area. Please like my public page on Facebook 'Magic by Pete' Be it on stage or in the spectator's hands, Pete's magic delights and thrills. You can't help but become a part of the excitement and fun that 'Magic by Pete' extends to his audiences.

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Bloody Kansas and Forward Paperback – January 11, 2015

• Print length 48 pages
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• Publication date January 11, 2015
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• Publisher ‏ : ‎ CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (January 11, 2015)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 48 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1506199542
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1506199542
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 6.2 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.5 x 0.11 x 11 inches

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How to unlock the ancient tome in baldur's gate 3.

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Baldur's Gate 3: How To Cast Spells Without Spending Your Spell Slots

Baldur's gate 3 has a huge, orpheus-shaped plot hole you probably never realized, one endgame baldur's gate 3 choice is the worst decision for a popular companion, quick links, how to find the ancient tome, how to reawaken the ancient tome.

If you want to add some extra magic to your character in Baldur's Gate 3 , you can find a hidden item called the Ancient Tome. You should be warned, though, that the Ancient Tome contains forbidden knowledge derived from taboo necromancy. You can find this artifact fairly early in the game, but you must complete a few tasks to harness the power of the Ancient Tome.

You will need to pass multiple skill checks if you want to learn magic from the Ancient Tome. You will need to pass Arcana checks and Wisdom saving throws in order to gain access to the book's dark knowledge. These rolls' Difficulty Class (DC) can be lowered if you play a class more connected with this magic, such as the Wizard or Cleric .

Certain class and background combinations have a distinct advantage when passing checks related to the Ancient Tome. For example, the Sage and Acolyte backgrounds pair well with the Wizard or Cleric to add a big bonus to magic-related checks.

Spells in Baldur's Gate 3 offer fantastic enhancements but are limited by spell slots. Here is how you can gain the effects without spending slots.

The Lost Book's Location

The Ancient Tome is located in the basement cellar under the Blighted Village , which you can reach during Act 1 of Baldur's Gate 3 . There are two ways you can enter this basement, i.e., using Sleight of Hand to pick the lock or speak to the Ornate Mirror to receive the Rusted Key . However, you will need to pass a dialogue skill check to convince the Mirror to hand over the cellar's Key.

Going downstairs reveals the Ancient Tome, also called the "Necromancy of Thay" in Baldur's Gate 3 . The book is in a place guarded by spider enemies, including a powerful Phase Spider Matriarch boss that can be difficult for your party to beat. Killing this creature will reward you with the Dark Amethyst , an item that helps fully awaken and unlock the Ancient Tome.

Awaken The Tome's Power

The Ancient Tome shuts until you reach Act 3 of Baldur's Gate 3 and find a way to awaken the full power of the Necromancy of Thay . Those who want more power from the book should head to Philgrave's Mansion after reaching the main city. Picking a few locks here or destroying the main doors should let you enter this space without any issues.

Next, speak to Mystic Carrion , an NPC you can find in the Mansion. You will need to convince them to have the same goals, which can be done by passing a few Persuasion or Deception skill checks.

Mystic Carrion will reveal that another book named the Tharchiate Codex can reveal stronger magic from the Tome in Baldur's Gate 3 . Your party must steal the Codex from the inner vault of the Sorcerous Sundries magic shop in the city.

Any character that uses the Codex with the Necromancy of Thay gains the unique spell Danse Macabre . This magic allows you to summon up to six undead creatures that will fight with your party in combat. An army of the undead that stands against your strongest enemies makes all the effort of unlocking the Ancient Tome more than worth it in Baldur's Gate 3 .

Baldur's Gate 3

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