title: Writer's Complete Fantasy Reference: An Indispensible Compendium of Myth and Magic
author: Writers Digest
description: The fantasy writer has a lot to keep track of: fantasy cultures and races, magic, mythological creatures, unusual punishments, castles and fortifications, and more. Plus, though fantasy writing "must be grounded in both truth and life experience if it is to work," says Terry Brooks (<i><a href="/exec/obidos/ASIN/0345379632/${0}">A Knight of the Word</a></i>) in his introduction here, it must also be "as inventive and creative as the writer can make it." Find your groundedness elsewhere. This is the place to turn for all the other stuff. Need a refresher on the difference between <i>aleuromancy</i> (fortune cookies) and <i>alomancy</i> (fortune-telling by salt)? Can't remember the term for starting a new witches' coven (hiving off)? Need a glossary of particularly gruesome punishments from the Middle Ages? It's all here, and more. With illustrations of architectural structures, Maori weapons, and various types of dress and armor; and references to many more sources, should you crave even greater detail. <i>--Jane Steinberg</i>
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  ![image](../images/00003.gif)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ALSO BY J.D. HORN
  
  
  Witches of New Orleans
  
  
  The King of Bones and Ashes
  
  
  The Book of the Unwinding
  
  
  The Final Days of Magic (forthcoming)
  
  
  Witching Savannah
  
  
  The Line
  
  
  The Source
  
  
  The Void
  
  
  Jilo
  
  
  Shivaree
  
  
  Pretty Enough to Catch Her: A Short Story
  
  
  A Peculiar Paradise: A Short Story
  
  
  One Bad Apple: A Short Story
  
  
  Pitch: A Short Story
  
  
  Phantasma: Stories (contributor)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../images/00004.gif)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events,
  and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used
  fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual
  events is purely coincidental.
  
  
  Text copyright © 2018 by Jack Douglas Horn
  
  
  All rights reserved.
  
  
  No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or
  transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
  recording, 