The Sorcery Club

is a novel set in the early 20th century. The story centers around Leon Hamar and his companions, Kelson and Curtis, who are struggling with poverty in San Francisco and eventually become entangled in the practice of sorcery after discovering a mysterious book about Atlantis and its dark arts. At the start of the novel, we meet Leon Hamar, who seeks shelter in a second-hand bookstore dur ing a rainstorm and inadvertently acquires a book that leads him to explore his dire circumstances further. He encounters his destitute friends, Curtis and Kelson, who are also in desperate need of food. While discussing their situation, they become intrigued by the book’s claims about Atlantis and its sorcery, which sparks Hamar’s ambition to form a 'Sorcery Company' with his friends. As they delve into the book’s secrets, they explore the tests to unlock occult powers,settingthestageforagrippingjourneythroughthe supernatural intertwined with their dire desire for fortune and survival. some time after Kelson and Curtis had left him, Hamar lolled back in his seat, lost in thought. Thought, as he told himself repeatedly, should be the poorman’schief recreation-it costs nothing: and if one wants a little variety, and the wallsofone’sroomsaretolerablythick, onecanthinkaloud. Hamar often did, and derived much enjoyment from it. 'I’m convinced of one thing,' he suddenly broke out; 'I’d rather be hungry than cold. One can, in a measure, cheat one’s stomach by chewing leather or sucking pebbles, but I’ll be hanged if one can kid one’s liver. It’s cold that does me! A touch of cold on the liver! I could jog along comfortably on few dollars for food-but it’s a fire, a fire I want! The temperature of this room is infernally low after sunset: and half a dozen coats and three pairs of pants don’t make up for half a grateful of fuel. Hunger only makes me think of suicide-but cold-cold and a chilled liver-makes me think ofcrime. Yes, it’s cold! Cold that would make me a criminal. I would steal-burgle housebreak-cut the sweetest lady’s throat in Christendom-for a fire!