A black magic commune operating out of a storefront in New York's East Village . . . A high-fashion model's terrifyingly bizarre death in a luxury Manhattan apartment . . . A dignified doctor whose magnificent traveling companions are young women afflicted with a strange, terminal blood disease . . . When Doctor Owen Orient, a prominent New York physician, decided to renounce his practice and all the material comforts he had become accustomed to, his goal was to find a simpler, more meaningful existence for himself. But Orient was not like ordinary men. For years, he had been studying the secrets of the Occult and, though he sought simplicity now, found himself drawn more and more deeply into a horrifying series of events that challenged his scientific rationality, his occult powers, and the instincts and emotions that guided his manhood. The puzzle that began in a Manhattan black magic commune, eventually drew Orient to Tangier, Marrakech, and Rome, to a confrontation with an ancient ravening evil-a battle in which telepathy, telekinesis, and even sex become weapons in a frenzied struggle to the death-and beyond . . . Frank Lauria was born in Brooklyn, New York, and graduated from Manhattan College. He is a published poet and songwriter and has worked in the publishing industry as a copywriter and editor. He has been writing novels since 1970 and his twenty books include five bestsellers. He has traveled extensively through the Middle East, Morocco, and Europe to research his occult novels. He lived through and participated in the Beat era, reading poetry with Jack Kerouac, Alan Ginsberg, and most of the other well-known artists associated with the movement. He lives in San Francisco, where he teaches creative writing and performs with his rap band. Lauria blogs regularly and publishes installments in his autobiographical journey through the cultural past of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. Lauria is perhaps best known for the seven volumes of the Doctor Orient series. Doctor Orient is a delver into mystery and the arcane, a knowledgeable man on all subjects occult, and a seeker of truth. His adventures take him around the world and into the depths of psychic and spiritual challenge and adventure. The books in the series are Doctor Orient (1971), Raga Six (1972), Lady Sativa (1973), Baron Orgaz (1974), The Priestess (1978), The Seth Papers (1979), and Blue Limbo (1991). An eighth Doctor Orient novel is currently in the works. Lauria has written a number of tie-in and young adult novelizations of hit movies, including Dark City (1997), Pitch Black (1999), and End of Days (1999), as well as a series of Zorro novelizations.