Garn, a troll of the Scandinavian sort, and Lucy, a PhD-holding prostitute and expert in ancient languages, cavort and plot with friends in the New York City of the 1970s, with many of its themes still resonating today. This novel is being published on the 40th anniversary of the death of its author, Ronald J. Willis, founder of the International Fortean Organization. The typewritten manuscript was discovered in the proverbial trunk by the author's family when they were unpacking after a move recently. The novel has weird and wacky characters, wild and funny events, and allusions to death, Fortean phenomena, mysticism and various religions and spiritual paths including Gnosticism, Buddhism, Christianity, Jewish folklore, and Paganism. Willis was raised Roman Catholic but by the time he was an adult he had left that Church. Though interested in various spiritualities, he never again affiliated with a church of any denomination. A novel classified as magical realism, fabulist fiction, paranormal fiction, and similar genres, the book's language and writing style range from racy and humorous to poetically profound.

A Troll's Phantasmagoria

Literature & Fiction

Willis, Ronald J.

Genre Fiction

Open Sea Press

Is Goddess a Being? A metaphor? A process? This award-winning second enlarged edition of Goddess Spirituality for the 21st Century clarifies these and other concepts guiding contemporary Goddess spirituality. It also delves into the history of Jewish Kabbalah and Western Esoteric Qabalah, examining their biases and proposing a more gender-balanced version that links back to the Goddess Tree of Life. This book also explores the similarities between Goddess concepts and quantum physics and cosmology, and includes guided meditations and rituals. The Second Enlarged Edition contains the entire first edition plus a new Foreword, a new Preface, expanded discussion of a few subjects, musical notation for songs in the rituals, Tarot spreads using symbolism from the re-visioned Tree of Life, and a discussion guide. From the Foreword by Rachel Pollack: "This remarkable book manages to say more than many works on these subjects four or five times its size. What's more, what it says is not just clear and lucid, and stocked with information, it also is valuable for women and men living their lives today....Goddess Spirituality for the 21st Century is a rare book, a kind of sacred quest of ideas."

Goddess Spirituality for the 21st Century

Politics & Social Sciences

Laura, Judith

Women's Studies

She Lives! The Return of Our Great Mother explores the return of the divine personified as female through myth-like stories, rituals for both personal and seasonal celebrations with songs and dances, and a variety of meditations. Now in its third edition, this book continues to be treasured for its innovative multi-traditional perspective and the beauty of its language. Judith Laura's approach in She Lives! remains unusual among Goddess spirituality books. Its material doesn't fit neatly into any one category, such as Pagan. Rather, especially in its myth-like stories, it describes how female divinity might return to people on diverse paths, and addresses a variety of issues in a number of different religions and in secular settings. Its seasonal rituals contain aspects of Pagan, Jewish, Christian and other traditions. One of the earliest writers to see the connection between what is commonly called belly dance and Goddess heritage, Laura includes this and other folk dance forms in her rituals and meditations. Her personal rituals for women and for men focus on sex-related life milestones. Her seasonal rituals are community-oriented, including both adults and children. This Combined Third Edition has all material from the first edition, including 30 songs with notated music for 26 of them. (The four songs for which notation is not included in this edition have well-known melodies. The 1999 second edition had notation for only 11 of the songs.) This new edition also includes material added in the second (10th Anniversary) edition, such as guided meditations for each of the seasonal celebrations and an entirely new section, "Reflections on Seasonal Celebrations," with background information on holidays of a number of different traditions. There are also some changes and additions found only in this edition, such as an alternative "Hail Mary" in one of the "Modern Myths," and other material modified or added to keep pace with the evolution of Goddess thought.

She Lives! the Return of Our Great Mother: Myths, Rituals, Music & Meditations

Religion & Spirituality

Award-winning novel Beyond All Desiring reveals the deep secrets of Sara, a woman who was "different" in a time of conformity. When Sara's niece, Janice, is notified that her sharp-witted aunt, now in her 80s, hasn't been seen for several days, Janice¿s panicky drive to find out what's happened begins our journey of discovering that Sara has led a life very different from what her relatives and friends assume. Historical events of the 20th century form a backdrop to Sara¿s often tumultuous personal life, which we follow from Trenton, NJ, to Washington, DC. As Sara visits a museum exhibit about Buddhism, we learn of her two marriages, the first to an abusive man and the second to a kinder man involved in top secret projects, who develops a bizarre illness. We discover Sara's long but secret love relationship with a woman. And we learn of hidden booklets that hold the key to yet another secret. Judith Laura's writing in this novel is stylistically innovative, realistic and magical, erotic and spiritual. Beyond All Desiring received top honors in the Ulysses Awards, and finalist awards in the USA Best Books Awards and Media Darlings Awards, 2006.

Beyond All Desiring

Literary

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Books by Open Sea Press

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the Open Sea Press publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

A Troll's Phantasmagoria

Goddess Spirituality for the 21st Century

She Lives! the Return of Our Great Mother: Myths, Rituals, Music & Meditations

Beyond All Desiring