John Bellairs, the name in Gothic mysteries for middle graders, wrote terrifying tales full of adventure, attitude, and alarm. For years, young readers have crept, crawled, and gone bump in the night with the unlikely heroes of these Gothic novels: Lewis Barnavelt, Johnny Dixon, and Anthony Monday. Now, the ten top-selling titles feature an updated cover look. Loyal fans and enticed newcomers will love the series even more with this haunting new look!

~All song lyrics in this story are from the CD, Weathervanes, by Steven Howell~

If I knew then, what I know now
I’d like to think I’d choose a different way to go
But, my mistakes have paved the way
Down this dark and lonely, dead-end road

Poised on a stool in a corner of yet another bar, in front of a crowd of maybe fifty, the harmonies he played reached out to those around him. The rhythms in his head stirred his heart. For a man of magic, a sorcerer with powers he had never asked for, his musical talents were sung spells. They were his weapon of defense against loneliness, bringing people to him like a siren’s song. Yet, for the most part, he let his music haunt the deeper needs of those who listened—letting musical phrasings stir wants unnamed or purposely forgotten. Although he felt but a living and breathing jukebox, these strangers who came to see him play were the only lives he could touch. He reached out to them with his songs.

That is until one night one of Adam’s songs lures him back toward his hometown, and he calls out for Stacey, the one he was forced to leave behind all those years ago. Only this time she wants answers as to why he left, and maybe a bit of revenge for the heart he destroyed.

I wrote The Sorcerer’s Songs using my husband's song lyrics to create the plot. It was a lot of fun to write, and a great writing exercise! I think I was so inspired by his music that the story practically wrote itself. Click Here to listen to the song that inspired the story called "The Road" from Steven's "Weathervanes" CD. I am just so excited, and so grateful to my husband, Steven Howell, for letting me use his music!

Spells in Harry Potter occur in the fictional wizarding world of the series of books by author J. K. Rowling. Magic spells are used by many of the characters to achieve useful effects without the benefit of modern technology. The main depiction of a "spell" in the Harry Potter books consists of a gesture made with the character's wand, combined with a spoken or mental incantation. In the books and the associated film series, the names of the majority of these spells or the incantations used to effect them are derived from the classical languages, particularly Latin. These names are not grammatically correct in any language; most spoken phrases resemble Latin words of appropriate meaning but are not proper Latin themselves.
In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the concept of casting spells nonverbally is introduced. Earlier, every spell cast by the principal characters had been accompanied by the appropriate voiced incantation, although advanced adult practitioners of magic had cast nonverbal spells in previous books. Consequently, the incantations used for some spells introduced in Half-Blood Prince and its sequel Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows are unavailable.
Spells are listed here by their incantations (when known), with their vernacular names in parenthesis. Some spells have no known incantation – the only reference in the text is by an informal name, either because in its only appearance in the relevant book it was cast nonverbally, or because it was never depicted in the books, only mentioned. The majority of spells cast in duels between adult characters in all seven books appear nonverbally; only their effects can identify such spells. Try a free simple and enjoy.