Come Hell or High Water, Part 2: Rising

Witchcraft! Ghosts! Vampires! Tarot Cards! Magdalena, a bored secretary at Charles University in Prague, has come to the aid of Fen'ka, a woman lynched by a mob for witchcraft in 1356. Unknown to Magdalena, Fen'ka cursed the city as she died and Magdalena has now unwittingly reawakened the curse and brought to Prague both the Dearg-due (a voracious Irish female vampire-like creature) and a dangerous Jesuit who, upon hearing of what transpired with Fen’ka, develop their own nefarious agendas. To access the enormous potential power to which Fen’ka holds the key, they dupe Magdalena into helping destroy the city. A small group of academics realize the danger facing Prague and struggle to keep one step ahead of the Dearg-due and the Jesuit, hoping to send the Dearg-due back to her grave.

Stephen has degrees in medieval history and theology from Yale and St. Vladmir's Orthodox Theological Academy. A former priest, he served as the Eastern Orthodox chaplain at Columbia University. His previous academic writing has dealt primarily with Late Antiquity and Byzantine church life. He is also the Chair of the CORE Executive of Inter-disciplinary.net and organizes annual conferences on aspects of the supernatural, evil and wickedness, and related subjects. It was an I-D.net project that took him to Prague for the first time in 2001 and he immediately fell in love with the city! He has been back many, MANY times! Stephen, a Seattle native, is now a long-time New York resident and currently lives in Manhattan with his partner, Elliot.