Stephen Skinner

Francis King

A complete beginner's guide to understanding and harnessing the mysterious forces of nature. • Provides tools for self-initiation into the ancient and secret traditions of ceremonial magic. • Explains various divination systems and how to perform ancient rituals that open the doorway to secret and arcane knowledge. True magic can be defined as the art and science of using little-known or forgotten natural forces in order to achieve changes in consciousness and the physical environment. It concerns a wide body of doctrines and techniques, including the conjuring of spirits and non-human entities; the manufacture and consecration of wands, swords, talismans, and other tools of the magus; ritual divination; and the exploration of universes other than that with which we are familiar. The masters who taught others these ancient arts are gone, but Techniques of High Magic provides the practical and lucid instruction necessary for self-initiation into these secret traditions. Emphasizing the ordered nature of the universe and the power of will directed by imagination, Francis King and Stephen Skinner introduce the reader to magical practices, rituals, and instruments that have been used for centuries. They explain systems of divination such as the I Ching, the Tarot, and geomancy, as well as techniques of astral projection and elementary alchemy. Their disciplined approach to magical practice includes easy formulas and diagrams that will help the initiate navigate an ancient and potent universe of gods, angels, and spirits--the world of High Magic.

A Handbook of Divination, Alchemy, and the Evocation of Spirits

Techniques of High Magic

A young English medical student arrives in a German university town in the summer of 1948 and struggles to understand the hidden emotions of his German hosts in the aftermath of the war

Punishments

A Manual of Self-initiation

Satan and Swastika

Here is the inside story of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, told in its entirety for the first time. Francis King describes the conflict between W. B. Yeats and Aleister Crowley, the often difficult relationship between Yeats and Kabbalist MacGregor Mathers, and Rudolph Steiner's attempt to take over English occultism. With consummate scholarship, King has created a definitive modern history of the Western esoteric tradition.

The Rise of Western Occultism

Modern Ritual Magic

Witchcraft and Demonology

Ritual Magic in England, 1887 to the Present Day

When the late, respected British author Francis King first published this book in 1971, it marked a turning point in our sexual history, a time when occult dimensions of sexuality were just coming out into the open. Long out of print, this amusing but serious examination of the origins and development of many secret traditions of sex is in high demand. With fascinating research into the interrelationship between sexuality, perversion and magic - East and West, past and present - this book will entice readers interested in sex, the occult and everything in between.

Sexuality, Magic and Perversion

Traces the history of magic, looks at astrology, magical texts, demons, and spells, and discusses the Order of the Golden Dawn and Aleister Crowley.

The Western Tradition

Magic

The Magical World of Aleister Crowley

Including Barrett's previously unpublished manuscript on Crystal Vision. From the editor of The Grimoire of Armadel and author of Sexuality, Magick and Perversion, this is the story of an enigmatic 18th century magus whose work still influences the current generation. Francis Barrett was the first since the middle ages to compile a manual or 'grimoire' of magick. His The Magus or Celestial Intelligencer is widely read and still capable of providing insight.

Being the Magical and Aeronautical Adventures of Francis Barrett, Author of The Magus

The Flying Sorcerer

Christopher Priest

Gerald Kersh

Michael McDowell

Michael Blumlein

Florence Marryat

Hugh Walpole

Richard Marsh

Stephen Gregory

Bernard Taylor

John Blackburn

Mary Cholmondeley

Charles Birkin

John Trevena

M. G. Lewis

Forrest Reid

Hugh Fleetwood

In this volume, you will encounter tales of ghosts, haunted houses, witchcraft, vampirism, lycanthropy, and sea monsters. Stories of cruelty and vengeance, of a body that refuses to be cremated, a deranged performer with one last shocking show, a frozen corpse that may not be dead. With stories ranging from frightening to horrific to weird to darkly funny, by a lineup of authors that includes both masters of horror fiction and award-winning literary greats, this is a horror anthology like no other. Spanning two hundred years of horror, this new collection features seventeen macabre gems, including two original tales and many others that have never or seldom been reprinted, by: Charles Birkin • John Blackburn • Michael Blumlein • Mary Cholmondeley • Hugh Fleetwood • Stephen Gregory • Gerald Kersh • Francis King • M. G. Lewis • Florence Marryat • Richard Marsh • Michael McDowell • Christopher Priest • Forrest Reid • Bernard Taylor • Hugh Walpole 'The things were there and they were hiding in the slime; waiting ... waiting to clutch and claw and savage’ - AUNTY GREEN by John Blackburn ‘The sound that came from her throat, a small, pleading cry of terror, was cut off before she’d hardly had a chance to utter it’ - OUT OF SORTS by Bernard Taylor ‘The words filled her with an indescribable fear, and she turned to run; but her way was blocked by a figure, gigantic in stature​ – and its monstrous shape moved towards her, and she knew it was the incarnation of evil itself ’ - THE TERROR ON TOBIT by Charles Birkin

The Valancourt Book of Horror Stories: Volume One

Roman om 2 unge englændere, godtroende og uskyldige, der mødes i den håndfaste italienske virkelighed i slutningen af 1940'erne

The Ant Colony

One ordinary afternoon, Anna Clive finds her apparently neatly-ordered life unravelling when she answers the phone to an acquaintance, Ossie, who tells her that his lover has died – before begging for her help. What follows is an extraordinary glimpse into the private hopes and fears of a group of characters bound inextricably to one another by their humanity, their secrets – and their love. Beautifully written and deeply moving, Secret Lives is a classic novella by the celebrated author and critic Francis King that examines why we must sometimes tell lies to lead the lives we desire, and what happens when those lies come, inevitably, to light.

Secret Lives: a novella

The Press could make Mervyn’s life a misery, if they knew where he lived. But they don’t. Mervyn has adopted an assumed name and established a quiet life for himself in a small town near Brighton. Then the typescript arrives. It is the autobiography of Mervyn’s former school friend Bob, and it reveals not merely everything about their relationship but also Mervyn’s new name and his whereabouts. If published, it would ruin Mervyn’s life. And it would kill his sweet, gently wife, Noreen. But what is it that Mervyn has done? He seems a wholly admirable man. He runs a quiet little antique shop, and with unstinting devotion he cares for Noreen, who is crippled with arthritis. Francis King’s skilful excavation of the past brings us both a love story and the story of a horrific crime. Young Mervyn, we learn, was seduced by the ugly, brilliant, sexually-precocious Bob. Mervyn’s mother Bella was a frivolous upper class socialist, whose chief interest in life was men. Her uncaring treatment of the boys led them first to hatred and then to the conception of a dark plan . . . This is a taut, unsparing novel, in which Francis King springs a whole series of surprises on the reader.

The One and Only

Neil Powell

Brian Innes

Fate and Fortune

In a lonely house above Dartmouth Bay lives General Sir Hugh Weir: a solitary figure, austere to the point of vanity and as contemptuous of weakness in others as in himself. Behind him he has left a trail of broken lives – friends, lover, wife, son. Now two more people begin to feel the force of his restless compelling nature: Shirley Forsdike, a neurotic, hero-worshipping schoolmistress who has yet to meet him, and Frank Cauldwell, an impecunious young writer. Out of the shifting conflict raised by their emotions and experiences Francis King constructed a taut novel of passion and despair.

To the Dark Tower

Olivia Manning

Gabriel Josipovici

Ian Cochrane

Penguin Modern Stories

The range of the author's work and the impact of his ruthless approach.

Selected Stories

One is a Wanderer

"I find on adding up that I have to read over 300 modern novels a year. Half-a-dozen of them I would wish to read again. This is one." - John Betjeman, "Daily Herald" "His creative ability is undeniable." - Charles Marriott, "Guardian" "This young writer's passionate interest in humanity and its problems is infectious." - Ralph Straus, "Sunday Times" General Sir Hugh Weigh is a war hero, a celebrated adventurer, and a best-selling author, whose personality has the power to inspire such strong loyalty and devotion that at least one person has willingly died for him. But in private, he is austere, imperious, even cruel, and his cold disregard for others has led to the deaths of his wife and son. Now two more people have begun to feel the force of his compelling nature: Shirley Forsdike, a schoolmistress who is obsessively in love with him, and Frank Cauldwell, a young writer at work on his first novel. Out of the conflict of their emotions and experiences Francis King weaves a gripping story of passion and despair. Beryl Bainbridge hailed Francis King (1923-2011) as "one of our great writers, of the calibre of Graham Greene and Nabokov," and during a career that spanned seven decades, King published fifty critically acclaimed books, winning a number of literary awards and twice being nominated for the Booker Prize. Though written while he was an undergraduate, King's compelling "To the Dark Tower" (1946) displays an assurance and maturity not often found in a first novel. This first-ever American edition features a new introduction by Gregory Woods.

Francis King

About

Books

Join the club