Author/Editor Judika Illes (The Weiser Book of Occult Detectives, 978-1-57863-624-2) Toasts to All of the NAIBA Booksellers! Thank You for Hosting Me!
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Author/editor Judika Illes (The Weiser Book of Occult Detectives, 978-1-57863-624-2) toasts to all of the NAIBA booksellers! Thank you for hosting me! Judika Illes is an American author of esoteric non-fiction books, aromatherapist and tarot reader. She is of Hungarian background (her parents are Hungarian immigrants) and attributes a childhood spent in the culturally diverse Queens borough of New York City as a significant influence on her writing career. Illes explains that her interest in divination began while playing with a Tarot deck at the age of six. Her first Tarot deck was the Builders of the Adytum deck, which she described in a 2005 interview as "formidable and very esoteric," an unusual starter for a child of her age. In an interview in 2016, Illes reported that she still had the BOTA deck, which she took from her sister who had had purchased it from the Samuel Weiser Bookstore in New York City. During her teen years, Illes frequented New York bookstores such as Magickal Childe and Samuel Weiser's, known for their metaphysical and occult collections, and Latin botanicas[4] Her love for esoteric books led to her interest in astrology, which began with Zolar's It's All in the Stars. She has a Bachelor of Arts in English and Communications from Rutgers College and earned a Graduate Certificate in Aromatherapy[5] from the American College of Healthcare Sciences (previously known as the Australasian College of Health Sciences) in 1999. Her writing interests include folklore, folkways, mythology, astrology, spellcasting, spirit- working, herbalism and traditional healing. She also covers the subjects of the occult, magic, divination, spiritualism, fairies, witchcraft and the paranormal. A certified aromatherapy consultant, she has taught introductory courses on the subject at the Australasian College (2000–2002), and practices taromancy. Although she practices and teaches other forms of divination, she considers Tarot to be her "main practice" and has been reading Tarot cards professionally since the age of 26.[3] She sometimes holds workshops relating to her books or other specialized subjects. In 2012, she gave a workshop on the use of symbols as part of the SIgils & Signs Art Show at Observatory in Brooklyn. She gives similar workshops and presentations intermittently throughout the year. The first complete book Illes wrote was about traditional methods of enhancing fertility. It contained a chapter about magic spells, which a publisher asked her to expand into a book of its own, now published as The Big Book of Practical Spells: Everyday Magic That Works The manuscript about fertility was set aside, but in a 2011 interview by The Witches' Almanac, Illes mentioned that she may eventually publish it under the title, Frogs and Pomegranates.[1] After the release of The Encyclopedia of 5000 Spells, her publisher suggested an encyclopedia about witchcraft. A note of encouragement from the Non-Wiccan Witches Yahoo group persuaded her to accept the challenge, which led to The Element Encyclopedia of Witchcraft. According to Illes, most encyclopedias about witchcraft were written by outsiders and "not really about witches or their craft."[1] The Weiser Book of the Occult Detectives: 13 Stories of Supernatural Sleuthing This collection of stories by other authors was edited by Judika Illes, with her introduction. Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC (2017). ISBN 978-1-57863-624-2 The Big Book of Practical Spells: Everyday Magic That Works. Weiser Books (2016). ISBN 978-1578635979. Previously published by Weiser (2007) as Pure Magic: A Complete Course in Spellcasting and Fair Winds Press (2001) as Earth Mother Magic: Ancient Spells for Modern Belles. A foreword was added to the 2016 version. The Weiser Book of the Fantastic and Forgotten: Tales of the Supernatural, Strange, and Bizarre. This collection of stories by other authors was edited by Judika Illes, with her introduction. Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC (2016). ISBN 978-1-57863-606-8. The Encyclopedia of Mystics, Saints & Sages: A Guide to Asking for Protection, Wealth, Happiness, and Everything Else!. Harper Collins Publishers (2011). ISBN978-0-06-200957-9. The Weiser Field Guide to the Paranormal. Red Wheel/Weiser LLC (2010). ISBN 978-1- 57863-488-0. (published under the pseudonym, Judith Joyce) The Weiser Field Guide to Witches: from Hexes to Hermione Granger, From Salem to the Land of Oz. Weiser Books (2010). ISBN 978-1-57863-479-8. The Encyclopedia of Spirits: the ultimate guide to the magic of fairies, genies, demons, ghosts, gods, and goddesses. Harper Collins Publishers (2009). ISBN 978-0-06-135024-5. The Encyclopedia of 5000 Spells. HarperOne (2008). ISBN 978-0-06-171123-7. Previously published as The Element encyclopedia of 5000 spells: the ultimate reference book for the magical arts. HarperElement (2003). ISBN 0-00-716465-3. Magic When You Need It: 150 Spells You Can't Live Without. Weiser Books (2008). ISBN 1- 57863-419-9. Previously published as Emergency Magic! 150 Spells for Surviving the Worst Case Scenario. Weiser Books (2002). The Element Encyclopedia of Witchcraft: a complete A-Z of the entire magical world. Harper Element (2005). ISBN 0-00-719293-2. **TRIVIA! I love putting these vintage fiction anthologies together, because, back in the day, I used to be a free form disc jockey. I arranged the stories in the same way I used to arrange songs for airplay. Below is the introduction and the first story, The Pot of Tulips by Fitz-James O’Brien (1855), which takes place in New York! The Weiser Book of Occult Detectives 13 Stories of Supernatural Sleuthing Edited and Introduced by Judika Illes ISBN: 9781578636242 Weiser Books $16.95 paperback October 1, 2017 THE WEISER BOOK OF OCCULT DETECTIVES Dedication In memory of my mother Herta Illes, lover of fine mysteries and juicy stories Table of Contents Introduction by Judika Illes 1. The Pot of Tulips by Fitz-James O’Brien (1855) 2. Green Tea by J. Sheridan Le Fanu (1872) 3. The Cave of the Echoes by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1892) 4. The Story of Yand Manor House by Kate and Hesketh Prichard (H. Heron and E. Heron) (1899) 5. The Leather Funnel by Arthur Conan Doyle (1902) 6. The Dead Hand by L. T. Meade and Robert Eustace (1902) 7. The Horse of the Invisible by William Hope Hodgson (1910) 8. A Victim of Higher Space by Algernon Blackwood (1914) 9. The Veil of Isis by Sax Rohmer (1914) 10. Aylmer Vance and The Vampire by Alice and Claude Askew (1914) 11. The Witness in the Wood (Norton Vyse) by Rose Champion de Crespigny (1919) 12. The Eyes of Doom by Ella M. Scrymsour (1920) 13. The Return of the Ritual by Dion Fortune (1926) INTRODUCTION Angel Heart, Anita Blake, Constantine, Dr. Spektor, Dr. Occult, Death Note, The Dresden Files, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, Foucault’s Pendulum, Hellblazer, Hellboy, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off Angel, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Nightwalker: The Midnight Detective, Tokyo Babylon, Penny Dreadful, Supernatural, The X-Files, YuYu Hakusho, Witchblade, Zatanna That list above features titles of a small selection of popular entertainment in various genres. They do share something in common: all feature occult detectives. I’ve let the genres be jumbled, not separating films from comics from television shows from books, because so much overlap exists. For example, occult detective John Constantine first appeared in comics, but can now be found in movies and television. The X-Files, whose FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully investigate the paranormal, premiered on television, but are now featured in movies, comic books, novels, and a video game. Occult detectives have evolved into a mainstay of popular entertainment, appearing in books, comics, manga, anime, television shows, movies, and video games. They are sometimes also known as psychic detectives or occasionally as psychic physicians, as many of them, like Dana Scully, are doctors. What is an occult detective? Regular detectives solve crimes or mysteries. Occult detectives explore paranormal mysteries or use their own supernatural gifts to solve crimes. To qualify as an occult detective, some sort of supernatural or occult element must exist, although what appears to be supernatural sometimes turns out to have rational, mundane, or conventional causes. Various kinds of occult detectives exist: • Some are detectives who investigate what at least appear to be supernatural or paranormal crimes and mysteries. They rely on evidence, as well as their powers of deduction and observation to discover a solution. • Others are well-versed in occult lore—they are themselves occultists. This knowledge is used to solve mysteries, both supernatural and mundane. • Still others possess psychic powers of some kind with which they solve crimes, both supernatural and mundane. For example, Norton Vyse uses his powers of psychometry--- the ability to gain information by touching an object, whereas Shiela Crerar is clairvoyant. It is a fluid genre and how one categorizes some of these detectives will likely depend on the opinions and perceptions of the beholder: Diana Marburg solves crimes through her ability to read palms—does this make her innately psychic or is she just exceptionally well-versed in palmistry? The examples I gave at the beginning of this introduction are modern, but this genre has long roots. The Weiser Book of Occult Detectives: 13 Stories of Supernatural Sleuthing presents some of its foundational material, the original authors and stories that were its inspiration. The stories in The Weiser Book of Occult Detectives star both female and male sleuths. The mysteries they tackle include murder, missing funds, demons, ghosts, vampires, and more. Occult detectives featured include beloved favorites like Dr. Hesselius, Thomas Carnacki, and John Silence, but also the unjustly forgotten and obscure like Shiela Crerar and Diana Marburg.