Blackmore Books

When a world populated with dwarves, trolls, elves, sorcerers and other assorted magical creatures, is faced with an invading horde of vicious goblins, a young boy from our world may be the only hope. Magically transported to The Land in order to fulfill an ancient prophecy, Zach Needham must learn to trust himself and his companions as they venture forth to rally all the races of the land to defeat the evil goblins.

Djar, the son of the late Duke Lahroan, and his friend Cookie, escape from the clutches of the goblins and set everything in motion. Along the way they find Dymorla, a reclusive sorceress who uses her powers to conjure Zach into The Land in an effort to fool the Waypriests into believing the prophecy has come true. But is she simply fulfilling her own part of the prophecy?

This is a rich and exciting story, full of action and adventure. The characters are varied and believable. Friendships between diverse cultures are formed, young men and women become heroes, and good triumphs over evil.

All in all, it is an excellent fantasy suitable for just about any age group. I look forward to reading the next installment of what will certainly become a classic series.

I bought this book recently and was very pleased. I wasn;t thrilled with the cover art, but once I got inside, it was wonderful. The characters are warm, likeable and the ction is swift and nearly relentless - only pausing long enough so the characters, and readers, can catch their breath!

I will be lookin for the next book in this series, and I hope it comes out soon.

I read Gareth Blackmore's Unusual Tales VOL II back in 1994, and I loved it! It was illustrated by Kyle (Spiderman) Hotz, Armando (What If Hulk Killed Wolverine) Gil and others. The stories were great, but this is completely different - and even better!

This is kind of like the classic fantasy story (by Brooks, Jordan, and so on), but a bit lighter on the descriptions, etc., and much quicker paced than most. Things happen quickly in this book!

Though, again, it was "classic fantasy" I thought it still had quite a bit of originality with the character Zack (from our Earth). I liked the way he was introduced and how he "fit" into the overall story - this was a trciky thing to do.

I also loved Cookie and Djar - they were both great and you didn't get overwhelmed with the overused "reluctant hero" bit that so many fantasy stories (over)employ.

My only problem is if Blackmore waits another 9 years to get a book out! Get to work, Gareth!!!

a very entertaining read! if you like fantasy, then this is your cup of tea.

This is the best fantasy book I have ever read! I love Gareth Blackmore from way back. Thanks for finally coming out with a book.

The book is a great gift for Mother's Day or any extraordinary women you may know. It features 58 women from all walks of life and doesn't just concentrate on celebrities. You learn about these women, who they are and the accomplishments they have made - while finding out what they always wanted to be when they were children. It's really well done and a beautiful coffee table book.

Added benefit - some of the proceeds go to charity to help inner city kids and families.

If you have a daughter, wife, mother or niece who is graduating from anywhere, this is the perfect gift. The book of terrific photographs from Clay Blackmore of 58 women documents their aspirations as children before succeeding in other areas (e.g. former secretary of state Madeline Albright, the chess champion; Olympic gymnast Dominic Dawes, the Supreme Court Justice; etc.). I love books like this. To find this book and other cool short book club recommendations, go to [...].

An exceptional gift book for the special women in your life.

I bought this for a friend and everyone at the party loved it - was passed around and got rave reviews - the friend was very pleased with her gift.

The author of this book seems very credible, as she has a PhD in Parapsychology and has published many articles in scientific journals and magazines. The is also a member of the Council of the Society for Psychical Research. I would definitely give this book a read if you're interested in such subjects. There are many case studies and interesting stories to back-up Blackmore's research.

Out-of-the-body-experiences (OBEs) are among the most remarkable of psychological phenomena, challenging as they do our fundamental assumptions about reality and consciousness. Following a series of such experiences many years ago, I sought an explanation for them. I found references to them in texts from Plato to Aleister Crowley, but nowhere was there anything approaching a coherent, rational theory. There were - and to a regrettable extent still are - two opposing viewpoints: on the one hand you have the supernaturalists, with talk of "astral projection" and are full of advice on how to deal with the demons you will encounter on the various "astral plains", and on the other, the orthodox scientific community, who find the whole subject rather embarrassing and would prefer not to be associated with it. I could find no author who understood the importance of OBEs and who approached them in a scientific manner. Until I discovered Blackmore's book. It is without question the definitive work on the subject. It is a model of scientific rigor, and the thoroughness of her research - in psychology, folklore, occult philosophy and more - is astounding.

The supreme philosophical and psychological quest of our time is for an explanation of consciousness. That will not be achieved without taking account of the anomalous ways in which consciousness can sometimes manifest itself, of which OBEs are the most striking examples. If you are lucky enough to have experienced them and seek an explanation, or if you are just wondering what all the fuss is about, read this book.

Dr Susan Blackmore is the leading academic authority on the out-of-body experience or OBE, she has had obes herself and has seriously studied the phenomenon for many years. Her book begins with details of the OBE from the shamans of thousands of years ago right through to the modern day OBE which is often a part of the near-death experience. All of the major names in the field are mentioned like 'Sylvan Muldoon, Robert Monroe, Ingo Swann and Dr Charles tart, as well as all the academic research on the subject. Susan Blackmore brings the full weight and discipline of science to this subject. With great authority, and after considerable explanation she reveals the true nature of the phenomenon with great clarity and insight. This book is a must for all who are seriously interested in the subject.

This book is truly a magnificent story!!! It holds your interest right from the start and is almost impossible to put down. Dan poured his heart and soul in this book, and it shows. Look for the movie in the near future...it's in the works!!

This book is truely the best book I have ever read. I found my self, as you will, on the edge of my recliner in anticipation, as I read through the chapters.
Have your tissue ready.

This book is a magnificent tale of a young boy's ability to overcome the many obstacles set before him. Not only is the character development unusually detailed by today's standards, but the plot keeps you guessing. Nearly every time I thought I knew where the story was going, it took an unexpected turn. Each time I anticipated foreshadowing of a later event, or formed expectations about certain characters, the story lead in another direction. In the end this book brings sexual abuse, and many other hardships experienced by modern children out of the closet, and shows that given the chance these children can become a benefit to their family and society.

This is a second edition of Casspriano's 21st Century spiritual classic "FREE YOUR MIND," The Simplest Path to Personal and Planetary Awakening Step One:: FREE YOUR MINDwith a new cover, and a with few interior changes that,in my opinion, genuinely improve the book. The original introduction was kind of cheeky and out of place, tone-wise, compared to the very smart and wholly user-friendly rest of the book - in this edition, that intro is gone, replaced by the old chapter one, and the book has better flow and consistency for the change. The type is a bit smaller, but the lines are also a bit further apart (more white space between them), which overall, makes for a very comfortable read. I have been walking Casspriano's "Simplest Path" to mental/spiritual freedom for more than a year now, and I can honestly say, without hyperbole, that my life has been transformed, in a variety of very positive ways. Before entering onto "The Simplest Path," I had no real idea just how hypnotized I was by things like TV, advertising, pop culture, concern for how others see me or what they think about me, traditional religious concepts, etc. I'm just an ordinary guy, so I was not more obsessed by any of these things than anybody else is, just an average American living my life swimming in the ocean of media and cultural socialization we all experience every day in this country and in this time. Before applying the understanding of reality and the consciousness-awakening techniques in this book, I would have considered myself at least reasonably "above it all," a powerful personality, free of mind and will, in charge of my own life and experience. But all of that really is total illusion. It's just nonsense, "Maya" as the Buddhists call it. Thanks to a lot of hard spiritual work, using this book as a one-of-a-kind clear guide to liberation, I now know from personal experience that I have been sleep-walking my whole life. I know this because I have awakened from the sleep of what Casspriano calls the "meme dream." I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to wake up, too.

I am reposting here my review of the first edition of this book, since a lot of people tagged it as useful on the old product page:

A UNIQUE AND INSPIRING WAKE UP CALL

This is one of the most clear-headed books I've read in years on the subject of real, nitty gritty, get your hands dirty spiritual development (as opposed to the fru fru New Age variety). So much of what passes for "spirituality" in our time amounts to some author, celebrity, priest, philosopher or self-appointed guru telling us what to "believe," sight unseen, if we want to reach heaven, attain enlightenment, achieve "ascension," etc. Casspriano takes an at times startling opposite approach. For Casspriano, such unquestioned/unquestionable beliefs are not only NOT the path to spiritual awakening, they represent the chief obstacle blocking our realization of higher consciousness. And it's not just religious beliefs ("faith") he's talking about, but all our beliefs about reality, especially those that enclose our thinking in "boxes" that limit our freedom to find solutions to real-world threats like Peak Oil, overpopulation, Global Warming, etc. Though much of the book focuses on individual enlightenment, for Casspriano, these larger planetary issues are "spiritual," as well. Whether the issue is our personal inability to find happiness or Humanity's collective rush toward physical extinction, the cause is the same - our wrong-headed beliefs about what's real. The solution is the same, as well - continuous, deep questioning. Using Richard Dawkins' concept of "memes" as a central metaphor, Casspriano first breaks down the basic process of belief, showing the mechanism in our brains by which beliefs misdirect and control our psyches, then he walks the reader through an exploration of a series of ten "anti-meme questions" aimed at breaking down the walls of our mental "boxes" and setting our minds free. With each question, he supplies an exercise designed to allow the reader to attain a personal taste of reality "beyond the box," especially as flavored by that chapter's "Key Question." For the most part, this formula works very well (with a few rare moments of over-exuberance on the author's part, as already described in other reviews, though as a card carrying vegan environmentalist, I can't say I particularly minded), delivering a cumulative series of death-blows to some of the most basic "pillars" of our present human consensus reality. Beyond the walls those pillars supported lies real reality, where we are all interconnected and interdependent, and, in Casspriano's view, mutually destined for greatness, if we can just wake up and grab the reins of our runaway culture in time. This is not a book for spiritual "feel gooders" seeking soft assurances that they're perfect just they way they are and everything's going to be all right, no matter what. This is a wake up call, a tool kit and a concrete action plan for becoming individually enlightened and collectively saving the world, all rolled up into one. That, I think, is a cause well-worthy of exuberance.

This is a second edition of Casspriano's 21st Century spiritual classic "FREE YOUR MIND," (The Simplest Path to Personal and Planetary Awakening Step One:: FREE YOUR MIND)with a new cover, and a with few interior changes that,in my opinion, genuinely improve the book. The original introduction was kind of cheeky and out of place, tone-wise, compared to the very smart and wholly user-friendly rest of the book - in this edition, that intro is gone, replaced by the old chapter one, and the book has better flow and consistency for the change. The type is a bit smaller, but the lines are also a bit further apart (more white space between them), which overall, makes for a very comfortable read. I have been walking Casspriano's "Simplest Path" to mental/spiritual freedom for more than a year now, and I can honestly say, without hyperbole, that my life has been transformed, in a variety of very positive ways. Before entering onto "The Simplest Path," I had no real idea just how hypnotized I was by things like TV, advertising, pop culture, concern for how others see me or what they think about me, traditional religious concepts, etc. I'm just an ordinary guy, so I was not more obsessed by any of these things than anybody else is, just an average American living my life swimming in the ocean of media and cultural socialization we all experience every day in this country and in this time. Before applying the understanding of reality and the consciousness-awakening techniques in this book, I would have considered myself at least reasonably "above it all," a powerful personality, free of mind and will, in charge of my own life and experience. But all of that really is total illusion. It's just nonsense, "Maya" as the Buddhists call it. Thanks to a lot of hard spiritual work, using this book as a one-of-a-kind clear guide to liberation, I now know from personal experience that I have been sleep-walking my whole life. I know this because I have awakened from the sleep of what Casspriano calls the "meme dream." I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to wake up, too.

I am reposting here my review of the first edition of this book, since a lot of people tagged it as useful on the old product page:

A UNIQUE AND INSPIRING WAKE UP CALL

This is one of the most clear-headed books I've read in years on the subject of real, nitty gritty, get your hands dirty spiritual development (as opposed to the fru fru New Age variety). So much of what passes for "spirituality" in our time amounts to some author, celebrity, priest, philosopher or self-appointed guru telling us what to "believe," sight unseen, if we want to reach heaven, attain enlightenment, achieve "ascension," etc. Casspriano takes an at times startling opposite approach. For Casspriano, such unquestioned/unquestionable beliefs are not only NOT the path to spiritual awakening, they represent the chief obstacle blocking our realization of higher consciousness. And it's not just religious beliefs ("faith") he's talking about, but all our beliefs about reality, especially those that enclose our thinking in "boxes" that limit our freedom to find solutions to real-world threats like Peak Oil, overpopulation, Global Warming, etc. Though much of the book focuses on individual enlightenment, for Casspriano, these larger planetary issues are "spiritual," as well. Whether the issue is our personal inability to find happiness or Humanity's collective rush toward physical extinction, the cause is the same - our wrong-headed beliefs about what's real. The solution is the same, as well - continuous, deep questioning. Using Richard Dawkins' concept of "memes" as a central metaphor, Casspriano first breaks down the basic process of belief, showing the mechanism in our brains by which beliefs misdirect and control our psyches, then he walks the reader through an exploration of a series of ten "anti-meme questions" aimed at breaking down the walls of our mental "boxes" and setting our minds free. With each question, he supplies an exercise designed to allow the reader to attain a personal taste of reality "beyond the box," especially as flavored by that chapter's "Key Question." For the most part, this formula works very well (with a few rare moments of over-exuberance on the author's part, as already described in other reviews, though as a card carrying vegan environmentalist, I can't say I particularly minded), delivering a cumulative series of death-blows to some of the most basic "pillars" of our present human consensus reality. Beyond the walls those pillars supported lies real reality, where we are all interconnected and interdependent, and, in Casspriano's view, mutually destined for greatness, if we can just wake up and grab the reins of our runaway culture in time. This is not a book for spiritual "feel gooders" seeking soft assurances that they're perfect just they way they are and everything's going to be all right, no matter what. This is a wake up call, a tool kit and a concrete action plan for becoming individually enlightened and collectively saving the world, all rolled up into one. That, I think, is a cause well-worthy of exuberance.

In 1982, Australian Lew Blackmore (not Len) entered his fully functional, one quarter scale model of the Bentley BR2 rotary engine in the British Model Engineer Exhibition, winning the Duke of Edinburgh Challenge Cup and becoming the first winner to take it from British soil. The Model Engineer magazine later published a long series of articles by Lew, illustrated with drawings, plans and photographs, for others wanting to build their own BR2 model. Lew followed up in 1986 by refining and expanding his series into a hardbound book which he self-published. This work has long since sold out, and has become a collectors' item, but Camden Live Steam (UK) has reissued it in softcover to form the subject of this review.

For constructors of model internal combustion engines, I'd call this book an absolute must. It contains all you require in the way of plans, drawings of jigs and special cutters to reproduce Lew's engine. Many have done so and the sight and sound of one in action is something you'll not soon forget. The book is nicely composed, in two column format, profusely illustrated with plans, drawings and photographs. The text is clearly written to be enjoyed by builders and arm-chair model engineers alike. It begins by describing the history of WO Bentley's second engine design for the British Admiralty during World War One, showing a sectioned drawing of the BR2 and the Clerget rotary it was derived from. Subsequent chapters describe the research for the model and devote individual chapters to the components, including a working, scale oil pump and scale, but dummy, magnetos that hide the contact breaker system for a conventional coil ignition system. The book concludes with a reprint of the official BR2 Aero Engine handbook of 1925.

Sadly, Lew is no longer with us, passing away in the mid 1990's before he was able to complete the astounding Napier Lion miniature replica he was working on. His achievements are all the more noteworthy for his not having an engineering background--only taking up model engineering following his retirement. His legacy, in the form of this book, will be enjoyed by model builders and aero engine historians alike.

Out-of-the-body-experiences (OBEs) are among the most remarkable of psychological phenomena, challenging as they do our fundamental assumptions about reality and consciousness. Following a series of such experiences many years ago, I sought an explanation for them. I found references to them in texts from Plato to Aleister Crowley, but nowhere was there anything approaching a coherent, rational theory. There were - and to a regrettable extent still are - two opposing viewpoints: on the one hand you have the supernaturalists, with talk of "astral projection" and full of advice on how to deal with the demons you will encounter on the various "astral plains", and on the other, the orthodox scientific community, who find the whole subject rather embarrassing and would prefer not to be associated with it. I could find no author who understood the importance of OBEs and who approached them in a scientific manner. Until I discovered Blackmore's book. It is without question the definitive work on the subject. It is a model of scientific rigor, and the thoroughness of her research - in psychology, folklore, occult philosophy and more - is astounding.

The supreme philosophical and psychological quest of our time is for an explanation of consciousness. That will not be achieved without taking account of the anomalous ways in which consciousness can sometimes manifest itself, of which OBEs are the most striking examples. If you are lucky enough to have experienced them and seek an explanation, or if you are just wondering what all the fuss is about, read this book.

It is hard to imagine how a serious collector of antique British Military firearms could bear to be without this invaluable publication. Ditto for those others with any interest in the history of this subject and period.

Blackmore manages to produce a narrative that is both engaging and informative.

There is plenty of background on the development of the British Military Ordnance system combined with full data on individual weapons , their evolution and how they may be identified.

The work is copiously illustrated with photographs of original weapons held by the Armouries of The Tower of London and includes appendices which identify barrel,lock and stock marks.

The late Mr Blackmore spent 10 years on his researches and his dedication has resulted in the production of a book which has become a standard and invaluable reference point.

Although now out of print, the work merits any inconvenience which the reader may have to suffer to obtain a second hand copy.

Till now, collections of Mallarmé's works have been difficult to obtain; moreover, the translations were dicey. Here we have an inexpensively priced fine volume which features good translations with the original French facing for quick comparison. Excellent introductory essay as well. This is the best!

Especially excellent and of particular interest is the original double-page presentation of Mallarmé's magnum opus, A Throw of the Dice at Any Time Will Never Eliminate Chance. Superb!

This is truly an amazing true story of perseverance and determination to go against the odds and to conquer an unknown territory. With thrilling and page turning episodes of death defying days of true grit, Blackmore pens a tale you cant put down. With a team mix of British, Chinese and Uyghurs, this expedition treked almost 800 miles of nothing but sand dune upon sand dune, often up to 1000 feet high. Led along to carry their supplies were over 30 camels, without them the mission would have been impossible. The team experiences both the beauty, solitude and spiritual peace of this unblemished land, but also hand in hand came hardship, fear, extreme weather conditions of over 120 degrees in the heat of the day to often below zero freezing conditions at night. It took the team over two months to cross the ocean of sand and within this time friendships were cemented, arguments and team leadership questioned, and at some point each member experienced medical issues to the point of fear of death. This is a story both beautiful and scary, the reader is at all times in awe of the accomplishment and determination these people braved through a harsh and formidable land. Dont' miss out on reading this adventure, I'd recommend this to anyone who loves true adventure travel narratives and to readers who like survival stories as well. I thoroughly enjoyed this from start to finish.