Born in Iran and educated in France, his works were influenced by the sense of alienation and self-destruction that pervaded post-WWI European literary circles. He was also known as a gifted intellectual and essayist in his native country. His interest in Persian culture led him to detest the Arabization of Iran, and so he traveled to India to live among the Parsees, Zoroastrians whose ancestors had chosen to leave Iran rather than submit to conversion to Islam. It was in India, away from Iranian government censors and political pressures, that Hedayat finished the book that is widely considered his masterpiece, "The Blind Owl."This collection of essays and travelogues, the title of which can be translated as "Commentary on the Vohuman Hymn," reflects his experiences in India from 1936 until about 1941. It was written in the Zoroastrian Middle Persian and later translated into Modern Persian by the author.

    The evidence of invisible influences on mankind, hypnosis, faith-healing, telepathy, is plentiful. The studies of astrology, numerology, palmistry, alchemy and the Cabala are described. Here is the history of religion and magic among the Sumerians, the Egyptians, the Greeks and the Incas, down to the present day.Here also are described the outward manifestations of those beliefs: human sacrifice, the mysteries of the Pyramids, the rituals of the Druids, witches' sabbaths, the perverted frenzies of the Black Mass, the conjuring up of the spirits of the dead.The Devil and All His Works, which includes 48 pages of colour plates, 167 black and white illustrations and 6 maps, is probably the most complete, most graphic survey of the forces of Darkness ever published.

    The three-part format—annotated text, contexts, and criticism—helps students to better understand, analyze, and appreciate the literature, while opening a wide range of teaching possibilities for instructors. Whether in print or in digital format, Norton Critical Editions provide all the resources students need.

    Reality is not what we think. Around us the world is dark and dangerous and nothing is what it seems to be. Our reality is an illusion, created to keep us captive. We are imprisoned since ages past by a dictatorial creator. The true world, invisible to us, is ruled by creatures who dominate behind the false facades, our prison wardens and torturers. The characters in 'Kult' are dark heroes, governed by Destiny. When the illusions shatter, they face the true reality. Kult is a complete role-playing game and includes 1) The Lie - rules for creating player characters with abilities, dark secrets, advantages and disadvantages and skills. 16 ready-made archetypes (each infull color) will enable you to create an interesting character speedily and commence playing. 2) The Madness: Rules for encountering terror; advanced, realistic combat rules; and a comprehensive, logical magic system 3) The Truth: A consistent background to help you to recreate different horror atmospheres. Our illusion and dark realilty are described in detail, together with the creatures and cults who lurk behind the veil.

    Al Burian weaves an excellent fictional but real account of twenty / thirty something life in the modern USA. Here is an Excerpt: "We see humans engage in similar behavior, although admittedly less in the context of procreation and Darwinistic survival and more in the are of pay-per-view cable entertainment options, in the form of the "Ultimate Fighting Championship" program, an international sporting event in which there seem to be no rules except those generally governing global human rights abuses and war crimes. Martial arts masters from the Far East go up against guys from Newark whose idea of fighting expertise is drinking from a bottle of gin and starting a bar fight. The results are often surprising. The constant is the insane violence, the disturbing spectacle of seeing people pounding on each other like animals. "Ultimate Fighting Championship" viewing never fails to deliver a queasy, unsanitary sensation, the bottom-feeding feeling of watching the very lowest common denominator in what can still be identified as "entertainment" - one step up, maybe, from watching videos of police car wreck footage. Although, I must concede: if, as in ape culture, the prize for being the winner of "Ultimate Fighting Championship" was the exclusive right to mate with the women of earth, it would probably make the program more compelling viewing. In any case, I am not sure where I stand in regards to this whole mating-for-life-issue. Humans, Judith points out, are the only creatures that mate for entertainment. That whole aspect complicates everything greatly, we both agree. The great apes have a good thing going for their needs, in that they have an effective, albeit socio-mechanically primitive, form of assuring that the greatest of the ape qualities are passed on, and since these great qualities consist of exactly two, ass-kicking and chest-pounding, the selection process is reasonably simple. If humans subscribed to a winner-takes-all pecking order of the type the great apes favor, the only person currently allowed to initiate sexual intercourse would be someone like Bill Gates, a man of great power and influence but also a man whose dancing was characterized by Newsweek magazine as looking like "a twelve year old kicking around a squirrel."

    This study guide includes the following sections: Plot Summary, Chapter Summaries & Analysis, Characters, Objects/Places, Themes, Style, Quotes, and Topics for Discussion.

    Hundreds of thousands have done this program and live happier, more perceptive and aware lives as a result.   Read the book Clear Body Clear Mind.Purification and Life, by L. Ron Hubbard"We live in a chemical oriented society."One would be hard put to find someone in the present-day civilization who is not affected by this fact. The vast majority of the public is subjected every day to the intake of food preservatives and other chemical poisons including atmospheric poisons, pesticides and the like. Added to this are the pain pills, tranquilizers and other medical drugs used and prescribed by doctors. And we have as well the widespread use of marijuana, LSD, angel dust and other street drugs which contribute heavily to the scene."I have even found that there is such a thing as the 'drug personality.' Drugs can apparently change the attitude of a person from his original personality to one secretly harboring hostilities and hatreds he does not permit to show on the surface. While this possibly is not always the case, it does establish a linkage between drugs and increasing difficulties with crime, production, program execution and the modern breakdown of the social and industrial culture."These factors are all part of the biochemical problem."WHY "PURIFICATION"?"We have known since 1968 that it is a mistake to try to do mental and spiritual handling on somebody who has been on drugs. People who have been on drugs do not make case gain* until the drugs are handled."In 1977, I stated that LSD apparently stays in the system, lodging in the tissues and mainly the fatty tissues of the body and is liable to go into action again, giving the person unpredictable 'trips.'"From the most recent research developments, it now appears that: Not only LSD but other chemical poisons and toxins, preservatives, pesticides, etc, as well as medical drugs and the long list of heavy street drugs (angel dust, heroin, marijuana, etc.) can lodge in the tissues and remain in the body for years."Even medicinal drugs such as diet pills, codeine, novocaine and others have gone into 'restim' [restimulation] years after they were taken and had supposedly been eliminated from the body."Thus it seems that any or all of these hostile biochemical substances can get caught up in the tissues and their accumulation probably disarranges the biochemistry and fluid balance of the body."Drug residues can stop any mental health. They also stop a person's life!"The removal of these life-hostile chemical substances from the body of any person apparently speeds, and in some cases even makes possible, case gain. It is even worth doing for its own sake."The Purification Rundown, therefore, is for anyone."—L. Ron HubbardFind out exactly what the Purification® Program can do for YOU. Buy Clear Body Clear Mind by L. Ron Hubbard.

    Best known for his command of the psychological fantasy story, De Quincey produced stories of the curious and obscure, but always with the traditional Romantic emphasis on feeling. His masterwork, "Confessions of an English Opium Eater" (1821), stemmed from his own laudanum addiction, and was followed by "Suspiria de Profundis", a collection of essays which continued to capture the same dark brilliance as in "Confessions". The collection was originally published in fragmentary form, and remained unfinished upon De Quincey's death in 1859. This edition includes "The Affliction of Childhood," a reflection on the death of the author's two sisters in childhood, "Levana and our Ladies of Sorrow," one of his best-known works about the Roman goddess of childbirth, and "The English Mail-Coach," on the "grandeur and power" of the English mail-coach system.

    A grand miasma of doom and foreboding weaves over the sterile rituals of the castle. Villainous Steerpike seeks to exploit the gaps between the formal rituals and the emotional needs of the ruling family for his own profit.

    A maximum-security prison, it contains every breed of hatred, self-destruction, greed, and regret. Its inmates aren't the only ones who grapple with these emotions. Under constant threat yet given absolute authority, the guards routinely cross the divide between law enforcement and criminality.Corrections Officer Kali Williams takes pains to avoid the complicated traps of inmates and guards alike. Then a young inmate named Joshua comes to her for help. He claims that another prisoner has drawn an elaborate comic book, which holds a guide to the illicit underworld of Ditmarsh. The struggle to obtain the information encoded in its pages has been the cause of ever-increasing violence throughout the prison.At first Kali can't take Joshua seriously. But soon afterward, the artist-inmate disappears completely. As she retraces his steps, she enters a labyrinthine world inside the prison with unexpected connections to the outside world. Along the way, she uncovers the most bewildering secret of all – the mystery of human compassion, the twisted forms it can take, and the violence and redemption it makes possible.

    Yet they lived by the green in the village of Stanford in the Vale, where everything you needed was within walking distance and the sound of motorcars was rarely heard. Then reaching her teens, Pam realised how few opportunities she had. At fifteen she started working for the civil service. Pam knew she had to reach out for more, and sought it first in the WRAF. But it was some time before she discovered the unique talent that would make her one of Britain's best-loved comics. Containing Pam's much-loved combination of humour and poignancy, The Necessary Aptitude is a beautifully written memoir of growing up in the country in post-war Berkshire.

    In her works of fiction, Gilman sought to illustrate her ideas about the way American society squandered the talents and economic contributions of women. Based on the nervous breakdown she suffered during her own disastrous first marriage, The Yellow Wall-Paper is her classic story about a woman who goes mad when the rest-cure treatment she undergoes forbids her any kind of work.Herland, Gilman's most famous novel, is a feminist utopian comedy in which three men stumble upon a society of women that has banished men. Also included in this Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics edition is a selection of Gilman's poetry and other short fiction. Gilman scholar Denise D. Knight has written an enlightening Introduction that explores Gilman's use of the utopian form, satire, and fantasy to provide a critique of women's place in society and to propose creative solutions.