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Black Magick: 13 Tales of Darkness, Horror & the Occult
Darkness is interpretive. It’s in our nature to explore the shadows. Through the 13 stories presented in Black Magick, compiled and edited by award-winning occult author Raven Digitalis, the reader is transported into mysterious settings that blur the line between fiction and reality.
Each story uniquely integrates occultism and magick, deepening the mysteries of the shadow. By acknowledging darkness through the written medium, we can better come to terms with the darkness within ourselves.
Stories contained:
1. Candle Magic by Storm Constantine
2. Spanish Jones by Adele Cosgrove-Bray
3. 3:33 by Rhea Troutman
4. Entombed by Corvis Nocturnum
5. Fata Morgana by S.M. Lomas
6. Automatic Writing by Gabrielle Faust
7. The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe
8. Don’t Forget to Feed by Miranda S. Hewlett
9. The Night Everything Changed by Raven Digitalis
10. ReBound by Tracy Cross
11. Captured by Jaclyn M. Ciminelli
12. Red Gifts by Daniel Adam Rosser
13. The Iconoclasts by Mona Fitzgerald-King
Black Magick is a distinctive collection of modern occult fiction. Esoteric themes permeate 13 engrossing stories, invoking a sense of wonder and terror. The stories within this anthology explore occult themes across eras and cultures, proving to be both entertaining and educational.
These haunting tales are finely crafted by a wide variety of writers, and each story is uniquely different from the other.
When we bravely explore the darker aspects of life, we more accurately come to know what it means to be human.
Each story uniquely integrates occultism and magick, deepening the mysteries of the shadow. By acknowledging darkness through the written medium, we can better come to terms with the darkness within ourselves.
Stories contained:
1. Candle Magic by Storm Constantine
2. Spanish Jones by Adele Cosgrove-Bray
3. 3:33 by Rhea Troutman
4. Entombed by Corvis Nocturnum
5. Fata Morgana by S.M. Lomas
6. Automatic Writing by Gabrielle Faust
7. The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe
8. Don’t Forget to Feed by Miranda S. Hewlett
9. The Night Everything Changed by Raven Digitalis
10. ReBound by Tracy Cross
11. Captured by Jaclyn M. Ciminelli
12. Red Gifts by Daniel Adam Rosser
13. The Iconoclasts by Mona Fitzgerald-King
Black Magick is a distinctive collection of modern occult fiction. Esoteric themes permeate 13 engrossing stories, invoking a sense of wonder and terror. The stories within this anthology explore occult themes across eras and cultures, proving to be both entertaining and educational.
These haunting tales are finely crafted by a wide variety of writers, and each story is uniquely different from the other.
When we bravely explore the darker aspects of life, we more accurately come to know what it means to be human.
- GenresHorror
304 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2025
About the author
Raven Digitalis
26 books72 followersRaven Digitalis (USA) is an award-winning author best known for his “empath’s trilogy,” consisting of The Empath's Oracle, Esoteric Empathy, and The Everyday Empath, as well as the “shadow trilogy” of A Gothic Witch’s Oracle, A Witch's Shadow Magick Compendium, and Goth Craft. Originally trained in Georgian Witchcraft, Raven has been an earth-based practitioner since 1999, a Priest since 2003, a Freemason since 2012, and an empath all of his life. He holds a degree in cultural anthropology from the University of Montana, jointly operated a nonprofit Pagan temple for sixteen years, and is also a professional Tarot reader, editor, card-carrying magician, and animal rights advocate.
www.ravendigitalis.com
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 30, 2024
This! This is exactly what I mean when I say I love dark fiction. These unsettling stories are some of the best I've read this year.
A diverse cast of characters find themselves in unnerving situations, abusive relationships, love, lust, obsession, and misplaced trust, all under the dark cloak of magic and the occult.
I have always wanted to befriend a crow and have it leave me little trinkets. I've often left them nuts and berries but they rarely return. After reading about a student who rescued one I think I'll just mind my own business and let them mind theirs.
A woman in love with the idea of love, though no man can ever meet her expectations sets her sights on a new conquest. They have never met but she is sure she can make him hers.
A witch settles in to her new home while on a trial separation from her husband, in a town where witches are unwelcome.
A man in an abusive relationship finally sees his lover for what he truly is.
A lonely man accepts a dangerous invitation from a stranger he meets while shopping in the small town where he is stuck waiting for his car to be repaired.
These stories are all delightfully disturbing and kept my dark little heart entertained for hours.
5 out of 5 stars
My thanks to Raven Digitalis
A diverse cast of characters find themselves in unnerving situations, abusive relationships, love, lust, obsession, and misplaced trust, all under the dark cloak of magic and the occult.
I have always wanted to befriend a crow and have it leave me little trinkets. I've often left them nuts and berries but they rarely return. After reading about a student who rescued one I think I'll just mind my own business and let them mind theirs.
A woman in love with the idea of love, though no man can ever meet her expectations sets her sights on a new conquest. They have never met but she is sure she can make him hers.
A witch settles in to her new home while on a trial separation from her husband, in a town where witches are unwelcome.
A man in an abusive relationship finally sees his lover for what he truly is.
A lonely man accepts a dangerous invitation from a stranger he meets while shopping in the small town where he is stuck waiting for his car to be repaired.
These stories are all delightfully disturbing and kept my dark little heart entertained for hours.
5 out of 5 stars
My thanks to Raven Digitalis
August 10, 2025
This is my review of Black Magick: 13 Tales of Darkness, Horror and the Occult, edited by Raven Digitalis (including a story by the famous guy everyone knows: Edgar Allan Poe, perhaps the 19th century’s most well-known horror writer and poet).
This book consists of New Age/occult-based stories by various authors, all consisting of magick (magick with a ‘k’ to indicate that it’s ritual based magick, rather than stage magic by performers like Houdini). All of these stories revolve around this use of magick in some regard, or the consequences of such use for each character .
The first story , Candle Magick, I liked it, but the writing didn't really draw me into the story. The plot concerns a roommate who casts candle magick spells to bring partners into her sphere, but it turns out that she doesn't love any of these people; we see that she's using magick for selfish purposes. Conversely her roommate—who doesn't use magick for relationship purposes—tends to never have any luck with men. There’s unmistakably this clearly delineated juxtaposition: of 1. the roommate who uses magick for selfish reasons and 2. the roommate who never seems to get what she wants romantically, no matter how hard she tries. It seems that the roommate using occult means has something right in using her magick. She’s getting results, but they aren’t necessarily the ones she was hoping for in the long run. Overall, the story was a great start to the book. I wanted more from the plot, or a deeper dive into the psychology of its characters. As far as character development, the story wasn’t long enough to accommodate this, rather favoring atmosphere over substance. On the plus side, the small number of characters made it easy for me to keep track of everyone.
Spanish Jones. At first the story took some time to get going, but after a bit I was fully invested. The Selkies here (as characters) were super unexpected and very creepy. I loved the time jump and the description of the circle casting. The story was mystical and drew me right in.
3:33 . This one overall was a pleasure to read. Loved the character building despite the limited real estate of 30 or so pages. The story felt very fleshed out and you really got to know the main character, Maeve. I truly at times had absolutely no idea where the story was going, but loved the result. The use of the repetitious number of 3:33 was a nice touch. Synchronicity? or was it something much, much darker?
Entombed was a fun little story, short and to the point. An archeologist enters a strange, foreign tomb looking for treasure, and things get a bit weird. I Kind of wished the story had some more pages, but maybe the length of the story overall was an attempt to build immediacy in the characters’ environment.
I really enjoyed Fata Morgana . Some striking imagery , a slick depiction of the magick used and its possible dangers, as several of the other stories here also broached this topic. I felt it was quite well written . A fine story to say the least.
I really liked Automatic Writing. The story was short and succinct, but kept me engaged the entire way. Mary’s search for her partner Vivian takes her in the direction of the occult. Mary, a practicing witch, lights various candles on her altar, and then attempts to communicate with the great beyond to find Vivian. I won’t spoil what happens from here. If you are a fan of various forms of divination, you will enjoy this to-the-point story.
The Black Cat by E.A. Poe is a true classic, one I have had the pleasure of reading before. Always super creepy and rather similar to the other Poe story, The Cask of Amontillado.
Don’t Forget to Feed was way too long — it just went on and on—and I was rather bored by the plot. I read the whole thing but was just wishing it would hurry up and end. I suppose this particular story just wasn’t for me, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
The Night Everything Changed definitely held my attention. This was written by the editor of this book, Raven Digitalis, and I feel he did an admirable job. The characters were well fleshed out, and the imagry vivid. I liked the depiction of how one of the characters harvested hair and other bodily objects to fashion poppets to use on a few of the people they encountered in the club.
Generally, in several stories, there were some over the top depictions of sex and what not that didn’t really do it for me. I felt they were clunky and ham-handedly written and they were a chore to get through and detracted from the overall plot. But, despite this (I am not really a big fan of romance) I would say I really had fun reading through Black Magic! Some really cool stories that stood out , and only a couple that were misses. So glad I read these!
My thanks to Raven Digitalis.
This book consists of New Age/occult-based stories by various authors, all consisting of magick (magick with a ‘k’ to indicate that it’s ritual based magick, rather than stage magic by performers like Houdini). All of these stories revolve around this use of magick in some regard, or the consequences of such use for each character .
The first story , Candle Magick, I liked it, but the writing didn't really draw me into the story. The plot concerns a roommate who casts candle magick spells to bring partners into her sphere, but it turns out that she doesn't love any of these people; we see that she's using magick for selfish purposes. Conversely her roommate—who doesn't use magick for relationship purposes—tends to never have any luck with men. There’s unmistakably this clearly delineated juxtaposition: of 1. the roommate who uses magick for selfish reasons and 2. the roommate who never seems to get what she wants romantically, no matter how hard she tries. It seems that the roommate using occult means has something right in using her magick. She’s getting results, but they aren’t necessarily the ones she was hoping for in the long run. Overall, the story was a great start to the book. I wanted more from the plot, or a deeper dive into the psychology of its characters. As far as character development, the story wasn’t long enough to accommodate this, rather favoring atmosphere over substance. On the plus side, the small number of characters made it easy for me to keep track of everyone.
Spanish Jones. At first the story took some time to get going, but after a bit I was fully invested. The Selkies here (as characters) were super unexpected and very creepy. I loved the time jump and the description of the circle casting. The story was mystical and drew me right in.
3:33 . This one overall was a pleasure to read. Loved the character building despite the limited real estate of 30 or so pages. The story felt very fleshed out and you really got to know the main character, Maeve. I truly at times had absolutely no idea where the story was going, but loved the result. The use of the repetitious number of 3:33 was a nice touch. Synchronicity? or was it something much, much darker?
Entombed was a fun little story, short and to the point. An archeologist enters a strange, foreign tomb looking for treasure, and things get a bit weird. I Kind of wished the story had some more pages, but maybe the length of the story overall was an attempt to build immediacy in the characters’ environment.
I really enjoyed Fata Morgana . Some striking imagery , a slick depiction of the magick used and its possible dangers, as several of the other stories here also broached this topic. I felt it was quite well written . A fine story to say the least.
I really liked Automatic Writing. The story was short and succinct, but kept me engaged the entire way. Mary’s search for her partner Vivian takes her in the direction of the occult. Mary, a practicing witch, lights various candles on her altar, and then attempts to communicate with the great beyond to find Vivian. I won’t spoil what happens from here. If you are a fan of various forms of divination, you will enjoy this to-the-point story.
The Black Cat by E.A. Poe is a true classic, one I have had the pleasure of reading before. Always super creepy and rather similar to the other Poe story, The Cask of Amontillado.
Don’t Forget to Feed was way too long — it just went on and on—and I was rather bored by the plot. I read the whole thing but was just wishing it would hurry up and end. I suppose this particular story just wasn’t for me, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
The Night Everything Changed definitely held my attention. This was written by the editor of this book, Raven Digitalis, and I feel he did an admirable job. The characters were well fleshed out, and the imagry vivid. I liked the depiction of how one of the characters harvested hair and other bodily objects to fashion poppets to use on a few of the people they encountered in the club.
Generally, in several stories, there were some over the top depictions of sex and what not that didn’t really do it for me. I felt they were clunky and ham-handedly written and they were a chore to get through and detracted from the overall plot. But, despite this (I am not really a big fan of romance) I would say I really had fun reading through Black Magic! Some really cool stories that stood out , and only a couple that were misses. So glad I read these!
My thanks to Raven Digitalis.
March 1, 2025
I...don't even know where to start, this was dark, chilling, and each story brought horror in its own unique way. I enjoyed each story, the characters, the magic, the worlds, and the darkness they brought. The stories are varying lengths, some might take you a few minutes to read, others a little longer. Honestly, I read through this quite quickly, curious about what new horrors awaited. I was already familiar with The Black Cat by Edgar Allen Poe, and it was easily the least chilling story of the bunch. (I read it again out of curiosity, as it's been quite a few years since I read Poe). Some of these can get quite graphic and gorey, but it all fits in well with the story being told. Each story is memorable, but I'd say Don't Forget to Feed and Red Gifts will likely haunt my dreams, for very different reasons. (But I don't want to give spoilers, so I won't go in depth). Honestly, we'd be here for a while if I were to touch on each story and what stood out to me the most from it, but I don't know if I'd be able to without accidentally giving spoilers, and you really need to experience this for yourself.
March 15, 2026
I came across this book on a whim, and decided to give it a shot. Normally anthologies are very hit or miss with me and lately they've been more miss than hit. I'm a sucker for the Witchy and Occult stuff so I had decently high hopes for this one. The only author I was familiar with was Edgar Allan Poe. This book did not disappoint! The stories were short, and I had a hard time putting it down! Every story was great in their own way and I definitely look forward to exploring more from each author! It was a great introduction to new to me authors that left me wanting more!
June 21, 2025
Dark fantasy at its best. Not the all the stories are at the same level, all made me learn something or kept hooked.
Well done, recommended
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine
Well done, recommended
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews