The New Melusina (Fantasy and Horror Classics)


Book Description

Many of the finest stories of magic and fantasy, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.




The King's Betrothed (Fantasy and Horror Classics)


Book Description

This early work by E. T. A. Hoffmann was originally published in 1821. Born in Königsberg, East Prussia in 1776, Hoffmann's family were all jurists, and during his youth he was initially encouraged to pursue a career in law. However, in his late teens Hoffman became increasingly interested in literature and philosophy, and spent much of his time reading German classicists and attending lectures by, amongst others, Immanuel Kant. Hoffman went on to produce a great range of both literary and musical works. Probably Hoffman's most well-known story, produced in 1816, is 'The Nutcracker and the Mouse King', due to the fact that - some seventy-six years later - it inspired Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker. In the same vein, his story 'The Sandman' provided both the inspiration for Léo Delibes's ballet Coppélia, and the basis for a highly influential essay by Sigmund Freud, called 'The Uncanny'. (Indeed, Freud referred to Hoffman as the "unrivalled master of the uncanny in literature.") Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900's and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions.










Melusine


Book Description

Felix Harrowgate, a handsome, well-respected wizard among his aristocratic peers, finds his dark past as an abused slave coming back to haunt him and joins forces with Mildmay the Fox, a thief and assassin, to stop the demons of darkness. Reprint.







Le Deuxième Sexe


Book Description

The classic manifesto of the liberated woman, this book explores every facet of a woman's life.




Puramore: The Lute of Pythagoras


Book Description

Puramore is a science fiction novel that presents a utopian view of the future for mankind. The plot setting takes place between the latter part of the 20th century and the middle part of the 21st. The main character is a British Army general who is assigned by beings from another universe to bring about apotheosis for mankind after defeating its mortal and immortal enemy. * * * Mankind has only two choices after science and technology renders the species utterly obsolete and incapable of survival in the future. One choice compels humanity to submit body and soul to a sinister supernatural civilisation, whilst the other impels mankind to submit to a utopian bioengineering paradigm. The first choice results in extinction of the singularity of the human soul, whilst the second choice leaves it infinitely free and self-determined. General Sir George Smythe, Team Alpha, Nagual sorcerer and quantum computer battle Wingtip and spirit forces at his command to turn the tide of mankind´s survival dilemma decidedly in their favour. In order to prevail against their mortal and immortal foe, they must marshal all the genius and intellectual resources at their disposal to overcome Wingtip´s spiritual advantage. Time is of the essence since their foe is on the brink of delivering the final coup d´état to mankind. The Divine Blade, can be wielded only for the thirteenth and last time. And only a paragon of mankind is fit to wield the Puramore to defeat the mortal and immortal enemy and lead mankind to apotheosis. Failure is not an option for George Smythe, nor for mankind, whether or not he proves himself worthy to wield Puramore. *** If you enjoyed Dan Brown´s "The Lost Symbol", you´ll enjoy discovering the mystic secret of the Puramore talisman.




My Marriage


Book Description

Alexander Herzog, a young writer, goes to Vienna to escape his debts and a failed love affair. There he is pursued by book-loving Ganna: giddy, girlish, clumsy, eccentric, and wild. Dazzled and unnerved by her devotion to him, and attracted to the large dowry offered by her wealthy father, he thinks he can mold Ganna into what he wants. But no one can control her troubling passions. As their marriage starts to self-destruct, Herzog will discover that he can never escape her. Posthumously published in 1934 and based on Wassermann's own ruinous marriage, My Marriage is a tragic masterpiece that unfolds in shocking detail. This story of rare intensity and drama is now brought to English readers in a powerful translation by Michael Hofmann.




Cosmic Pessimism


Book Description

“We’re doomed.” So begins the work of the philosopher whose unabashed and aphoristic indictments of the human condition have been cropping up recently in popular culture. Today we find ourselves in an increasingly inhospitable world that is, at the same time, starkly indifferent to our species-specific hopes, desires, and disappointments. In the Anthropocene, pessimism is felt everywhere but rarely given its proper place. Though pessimism may be, as Eugene Thacker says, the lowest form of philosophy, it may also contain an enigma central to understanding the horizon of the human. Written in a series of fragments, aphorisms, and prose poems, Thacker’s Cosmic Pessimism explores the varieties of pessimism and its often-conflicted relation to philosophy. “Crying, laughing, sleeping—what other responses are adequate to a life that is so indifferent?”