The incantation is one of the most ancient and best-known techniques of verbal magic, utilizing vocal modulation and the complex poetics of the word to conjure spirits or occult power. Other literary forms, such as the epic, koan, psalm and cipher may also participate in the arcana and power accessed by the arts of the occult. Yet fiction, largely considered entertainment -or in its 'higher' forms, philosophy- seldom transcends its secular associations.
Occult Fiction, as an emerging literary form, is a verbal magic realized in both form and function. Not only does it give voice to discarnate entities, it also vivifies them into presence through the flesh of the reader. Having conjured the entic to form, such work generates an embodied state of alienating power within the reader, a possession of sorts which eclipses consciousness and allows sensorial contact with the otherworldly.
As the inaugural Occult Fiction Anthology from Three Hands Press, Penumbrae contains twelve tales exemplifying this rubric, some of which have drawn their art from the experiential alembic of occult operations. Among its authors are Kenneth Grant, Don Webb, Richard Gavin, Patricia Cram, Michael Cisco and Sun Yung Shin.
