Secret Books of Paradys

Eroticism and gothic horror mingle in the enchanted city of Paradys, where no one remains unchanged The Book of the Damned introduces the city of Paradys, also known as Paradise, or Paradis. In fact, it is three cities, all places of luxury and decay, twisted love and chilling magic, intertwined by an unknown enchantment.   In Stained with Crimson, the first tale of Paradys's inhabitants, poet Andre St Jean encounters a mysterious man who thrusts upon him a ruby ring engraved with an Egyptian beetle. Advised by friends that the ring belongs to the most beautiful woman in Paradys-the pale and ebony-eyed Antonina von Aaron-Andre attends a salon to return it to her. Instead, he becomes entangled in a vampiric game of predator and prey, gender transformation, and bloody nightmares.   Dread imbues the second tale, Malice in Saffron. After young Jehanine is raped by her stepfather, she runs away to Paradys to find her stepbrother Pierre. But the once devoted Pierre accuses Jehanine of lying and casts her out into the inhospitable streets. The desperate girl finds refuge in a nunnery and tries to live in God's light. But when dusk falls, she transforms into her male alter ego, Jehan, and prowls the alleys with murderous, Devil-worshipping thugs.   Empire of Azure, the final exploration of Paradys's dangerous streets, recounts the investigations of writer Anna Sanjeanne, who receives a strange note from a mysterious man: In a week or less, I shall be dead. On the predicted date Anna follows the stranger's trail. A chain of clues-a shattered window, a corpse hanging from a rope, a leather-bound diary, and a portrait of an unknown woman-soon lead the young journalist toward a sinister and ancient force.   Told with lush fantastical prose and an acute aesthetic sense, The Book of the Damned ventures into a morbid and disquieting parallel world, exploring the recesses of identity, gender, and sexual transgression that lie within.

In this first volume of The Secret Books of Paradys, Lee begins the search for a demonic creature seemingly impervious to sword, conjuring, or prayer. Readers won't want to miss number two in the series, The Book of the Beast.

In a city imbued with dark fantasy and gothic horror, an ancient curse transforms the lives of all it touches The city known by three names-Paradys, Paradise, and Paradis-conceals many strange stories. In the second volume of the Secret Books of Paradys, young scholar Raoulin has just moved to Paradys to study at the university. He lodges at the once noble, now decrepit House d'Uscaret, a place he knows is haunted from the moment he arrives. There, Raoulin is frequented by the mysterious and beautiful phantom of a young bride with wide-set emerald eyes, and as he is drawn toward her, he realizes that his every action skirts the border of reality and dream. Soon, the voluptuous ghost has infected him with the curse of the Beast-a horrific amalgam of bird, lizard, and man that has preyed on the city's inhabitants for centuries.   Past and present are irrevocably intertwined in this horrifyingly lush tome, in which author Tanith Lee plunges the reader into the lore and monstrosities of an alternate Paris: the lurid and infamous Paradys.

The ambiance of fin de siecle France imbues these eight gothic tales in the third volume in Lee's Secret Books of Paradys tetralogy, tracing the tortured lives once led by those buried in the crypts and cemeteries of the mythical (or forgotten) city of Paradys. "The Weasel Bride" twists a folktale about a man who marries an enchanted weasel and dies of her bite into an account of a young husband who kills his beloved bride on their wedding night and takes her dreadful secret to the gallows. The artist in "The Glass Dagger," who normally saves her emotion for her art, is consumed by jealous rage and turns to supernatural revenge when a jaded aristocrat tries an old stratagem to win her love. In "The Moon Is a Mask" a drudge who creates a world of beauty in her garret room steals to buy a mask that turns her into a vampire owl. The miasma of corruption and death, combined with vivid and at times elegiac writing will engross readers who fancy this dark shade of fantasy writing.

A macabre dark fantasy of enchantment, misfortune, corruption, and death The unnerving third volume of the Secret Books of Paradys begins with a fable of two doomed weddings. In The Weasel Bride, a white weasel transforms into a fair maiden under the light of a full moon. A local trapper releases the animal from its curse by marrying it, but on their wedding day, the weasel inflicts the groom with a fatal wound. This tale flows into the story of a bride who is brutally strangled in the nuptial bed after giving her husband a small nibble on the hand. Decades later, his motive comes to light when the woman's unearthed tomb reveals a ghastly truth.   In the second narrative, The Nightmare's Tale, Jean de St. Jean is an orphan of the Revolution who grows up with a deep yearning for revenge. Determined to kill the man responsible for his parents' death, he sets off for the colonial island of Black Haissa. But he arrives on distant shores only to find that his adversary is already dead and that the isle is a country of wild nightmares, supernatural possession, and petrifying beasts. And in Beautiful Lady, small, shabby Julie d'Is lives in a tiny apartment near Temple Church that no one ever visits. Some refer to Julie as Bella Donna, but she has other nicknames-for wherever she goes, the Grim Reaper follows close behind.   Five additional fantasies entrance the reader with the gothic and tortured plights of the citizens of Paradys-a mythic city where vampire owls, occult conjurors, and femmes fatales abound.

In The Book of the Mad, a seductive nightmare unfolds in three parallel versions of the city-Paradis, Paradys and Paradise. Connected by a labyrinth of ice whose dangers are amplified by the will and emotion of its lunatic travelers, these cities provide the stage for a drama of mythical proportions, setting up a darkly dazzling finish to The Secret Books of Paradys.

A surreal gothic fantasy of three nefarious cities: Paradise, Paradis, and Paradys Welcome to Paradise, where the sun hasn't shone for years and a callous, ritual-obsessed populace roams the decayed metropolis enshrouded in fog. The citizens are unhinged, murder and incest are praised, and madness reigns. Only a pair of twins, Felion and Smara, remains sane. But their sole hope of escaping the city is a mysterious ice labyrinth connecting parallel worlds.   Thus begins the sinister finale to the Secret Books of Paradys, in which three alternate versions of one city-Paradise, Paradis, and Paradys-are the layered canvas upon which twisted narratives unfold. In Paradis, Leocadia, a striking and eccentric painter, lives a hedonistic and unremorseful life. She is the sole heir to her uncle's fortune, but the ease of life this affords her becomes a dizzying burden when her lover is murdered and doctors lock her up in an asylum called the Residence. Do the medics want to cure her madness-or do they wish to drive her insane?   Meanwhile, in Paradys, fifteen-year-old Hilde is a pale and perfect child with milk-white skin, ginger hair, and an obedient and loving countenance. But Hilde has a secret nocturnal life, budding sexuality, and lustful heart that becomes irrevocably engorged at the sight of a handsome actor with the face of a priest.   Written in author Tanith Lee's signature style, The Book of the Mad breaks taboos, relishes horror, and conjures the perverse.

The strange and the tormented dwell in Paradys-prowling its dark streets and twisted alleyways, passing the endless hours in the city's elegant mansions and smoke-tarnished inns, wandering in moldering graveyards and the stark surrounding countryside. For the land here is bound by a timeless, soul-chilling magic, and that power has cast its spell over all who have ever lived in this foreboding and dangerous place. All who came to Paradys were forever touched by its dread magic. The City was not one place but three, bound together by a labyrinth of ice yet separated, perhaps by time, perhaps by some long-forgotten enchantment, into Paradise, Paradis and Paradys-each cursed in an entirely different way...

A world of dark magic, eroticism, and gothic fantasy awaits in this series from the award–winning author of The Birthgrave and Death's Master. With these four books, together now in one collection, escape to a city known by three names-Paradys, Paradise, and Paradis-where you'll find many strange stories and novellas exploring gender, identity, sexual transgression, and more . . . The Book of the Damned: A poet discovers a mysterious ring that drags him into a world of vampires. A young woman's attack sows the seeds for a civilization's downfall. And a writer receives a cryptic note that leads her to a sinister, ancient force. The Book of the Beast: A young scholar has just moved to Paradys to study at the university, and a beautiful phantom of a young bride begins visiting him, drawing him toward her. Soon, he will be infected with the horrific curse of the Beast . . . The Book of the Dead: Seven stories of enchantment, misfortune, corruption, and death are in the third volume of this fantasy series, including the story of a vengeful orphan tracking down his parents' killer only to find a treacherous nightmare. The Book of the Mad: A labyrinth of ice connects three nightmarish versions of one city-Paradis, Paradys, and Paradise. In each of them, a story unfolds, breaking taboos, relishing horror, and conjuring the perverse.