One man must save the human race from total destruction when a small British village is invaded by a terrifying host of archetypal creatures released from the spiritual world In the small English town of Smetham on the outskirts of London, a wall separating two worlds has broken down. The meddling and meditations of a local mage, Mr. Berringer, has caused a rift in the barrier between the corporeal and the spiritual, and now all hell has broken loose. Strange creatures are descending on Smethem—terrifying supernatural archetypes wreaking wholesale havoc, destruction, and death. Some residents, like the evil, power-hungry Mr. Foster, welcome the horrific onslaught. Others, like the cool and intellectual Damaris, refuse to accept what her eyes and heart tell her until it is far too late. Only a student named Anthony, emboldened by his unwavering love for Damaris, has the courage to face the horror head on. But if he alone cannot somehow restore balance to the worlds, all of humankind will surely perish in the impending apocalypse. An extraordinary metaphysical fantasy firmly based in Platonic ideals, The Place of the Lion is a masterful blending of action and thought by arguably the most provocative of the University of Oxford’s renowned Inklings—the society of writers in the 1930s that included such notables as C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Owen Barfield. With unparalleled imagination, literary skill, and intelligence, the remarkable Charles Williams has created a truly unique thriller, a tour de force of the fantastic that masterfully engages the mind, heart, and spirit.

"The Place of the Lion" penned by Charles Williams is a mesmerizing novel that ventures into the realms of fantasy, theology, and human psychology. Set in interwar England, the narrative revolves around a group of individuals whose lives are disrupted by the sudden appearance of archetypal beings representing Platonic ideals. As these formidable and symbolic creatures manifest in the physical world, the fine balance between reality and imagination becomes increasingly blurred. The characters find themselves grappling not only with external manifestations of their inner struggles, desires, and fears but also with the inherent power of these archetypes to shape and influence human existence. Published in 1931, "The Place of the Lion" remains a captivating exploration of the interplay between the abstract and the tangible, and the profound impact of universal concepts on individual lives. Williams weaves together philosophy and narrative in a unique manner, inviting readers to contemplate the significance of archetypal forces in the human experience.

""Reading Charles Williams is an unforgettable experience."" -Saturday Review ""It is satire, romance, thriller, morality, and glimpses of eternity all rolled into one."" -The New York Times "" . . . One of the most gifted and influential Christian writers England has produced this century."" -Time Magazine Author and scholar Charles Williams (1886-1945) joined, in 1908, the staff of the Oxford University Press, the publishing house in which he worked for the rest of his life. Throughout these years, poetry, novels, plays, biographies, history, literary criticism, and theology poured from his pen. At the beginning of the Second World War the publishing house was evacuated to Oxford where, in addition to his own writing and his editorial work for the Press, he taught in the University.

The Greater Trumps is centred round Nancy Conningsby, her fiance Henry Lee and a very old pack of cards. Henry is a King among men: Young, strong and newly qualified as a barrister, Henry is also heir to great magical secrets passed to him from Aaron Lee, his grandfather, the eldest member of the eldest Gipsy family. Aaron has studied the secrets all his life but unlike Henry has heeded the warnings against putting them into use. Henry is about to find out what happens when the created attempts to assume the role of the Creator. Charles Williams was a member of the Inklings - the celebrated literary society which could count C.S.Lewis and J.R.R.Tolkien among its members

Descent Into Hell is a novel written by Charles Williams, first published in 1937. Williams is less well known than his fellow Inklings, such as C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien. Like some of them, however, he wrote a series of novels which combine elements of fantasy fiction and Christian symbolism. Forgoing the detective fiction style of most of his earlier supernatural novels, most of the story's action is spiritual or psychological in nature. It fits the "theological thriller" description sometimes given to his works. For this reason Descent was initially rejected by publishers, though T. S. Eliot's publishing house Faber and Faberwould eventually pick up the novel, as Eliot admired Williams's work, and, though he did not like Descent Into Hell as well as the earlier novels, desired to see it printed. SHORT SUMMARY: The action takes place in Battle Hill, outside London, amidst the townspeople's staging of a new play by Peter Stanhope. The hill seems to reside at the crux of time, as characters from the past appear, and perhaps at a doorway to the beyond, as characters are alternately summoned heavenwards or descend into hell. Pauline Anstruther, the heroine of the novel, lives in fear of meeting her own doppelganger, which has appeared to her throughout her life. But Stanhope, in an action central to the author's own theology, takes the burden of her fears upon himself—Williams called this The Doctrine of Substituted Love—and enables Pauline, at long last, to face her true self. Williams drew this idea from the biblical verse, "Ye shall bear one another's burdens. And so Stanhope does take the weight, with no surreptitious motive, in the most affecting scene in the novel. And Pauline, liberated, is able to accept truth. On the other hand, Lawrence Wentworth, a local historian, finding his desire for Adela Hunt to be unrequited, falls in love instead with a spirit form of Adela, which seems to represent a kind of extreme self-love on his part. As he isolates himself more and more with this insubstantial figure, and dreams of descending a silver rope into a dark pit, Wentworth begins the descent into Hell. HARROWING of HELL: "Christ in Limbo" and "Descent into Hell" redirect here. For the novel by Charles Williams, see Descent into Hell (novel). For the 8th-century Anglo-Saxon liturgical play, see Harrowing of Hell (drama).

This non-traditional study of the Church as governed by the activity of the Holy Spirit in history is considered to be the most significant work of Williams' theological writings.

A satanic conspiracy threatens mankind when the Holy Grail is found in an English country church in this classic metaphysical thriller. An unidentified body lies lifeless in the offices of a British publishing house. Soon after it is discovered, an urgent request from an author arrives by post, pleading for the deletion of an important paragraph from an upcoming publication. These unlikely incidents mark the beginning of a secret war waged in the English countryside but threatening to engulf all of humankind. On the side of the godly, an archdeacon, an eccentric duke, a book editor, and a young boy must confront the dark magic of relentless satanic forces—for behind the facade of a common pharmacy, sinister plans are being laid for the negation of everything. The most horrible of conspiracies, its success hangs on the acquisition of an object of enormous supernatural power recently discovered in a small parish church: the Holy Grail. Preceding The Da Vinci Code and the Left Behind novels by half a century, War in Heaven is the first novel written by Charles Williams, an esteemed member of the famed Oxford literary society known as the Inklings, which included such notables as C. S. Lewis, Owen Barfield, and J. R. R. Tolkien. This is a provocative, page-turning tale of faith, morality, and magic—an amalgam of thriller, fantasy, metaphysics, and theology that engages and entertains. This ebook includes a new introduction by Jonathan Ryan.

DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "Rochester" by Charles Williams. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.

Charles Williams' two cycles of poems, Taliessin through Logres and The Region of the Summer Stars, have been described as the major imaginative work about the Grail of the 20th century, praised for their spiritual reality and complex patterns of sound and haunting rhythms. In this new edition David Llewellyn Dodds collects together Williams' earlier poems on Arthurian themes, which both grew into and gave way to the final versions. This collection, which Charles Williams called The Advent of Galahad, was never published as such, though individual poems did appear in print. There are also later fragments, designed to form a sequel to The Region of the Summer Stars, which appear for the first time. Besides the publication of this new material, this edition aims to introduce new readers to William's lyrical pieces.

Dante is unequalled among poets in conveying an extraordinary intensity of thought and experience, but this very power may make his work seem formidable to approach. Charles Williams's Figure of Beatriceis outstanding amongst Dante scholarship and criticism for the sympathetic enthusiasm and clarity with which he eases that approach without simplifying the achievement in a highly personal introduction to Dante's work. The first half of the book traces the way in which the central image of Beatrice, representing transcendent beauty in feminine form, animates Dante's earlier works. The second half richly expounds The Divine Comedy, meditating on its significance in Dantesque terms. Williams foreshadows the valuable modern emphasis on Dante as philosopher-poet; he also touches on many later concerns in Dante criticism, including ambiguities of language, the inherent self-contradiction of all powerful discourse, and the place of the feminine. The Figure of Beatrice is also a moving and poetic work in its own right CHARLES WILLIAMS(1886-1945) is known to many as a prolific and unusual playwright, novelist and critic; his poetic works include `Taliessin through Logres' and `The Region of the Summer Stars'. d poetic work in its own right CHARLES WILLIAMS(1886-1945) is known to many as a prolific and unusual playwright, novelist and critic; his poetic works include `Taliessin through Logres' and `The Region of the Summer Stars'. d poetic work in its own right CHARLES WILLIAMS(1886-1945) is known to many as a prolific and unusual playwright, novelist and critic; his poetic works include `Taliessin through Logres' and `The Region of the Summer Stars'. d poetic work in its own right CHARLES WILLIAMS(1886-1945) is known to many as a prolific and unusual playwright, novelist and critic; his poetic works include `Taliessin through Logres' and `The Region of the Summer Stars'.