Il mondo magico de gli heroi (i.e., the novel’s forbidden book)

The cover of Cesare della Riviera’s alchemical treatise from 1605 Il mondo magico degli heroi. THE FORBIDDEN BOOK is based on such a work, both on its public and, especially, on its private edition.

In my sixty years as a publisher and literary agent, I have known many distinguished writers working in many genres of literature. One of the most wholly original is Guido Mina di Sospiro. To say that he is traditional in his approach to the writing of fiction is partially true, in that he is a master of narrative and characterization. To say that he is experimental is also partially true, in that he can produce remarkable flights of fancy which transport the reader from the commonplace to the extraordinary, literally out of the world as we know it.

–Christopher Sinclair-Stevenson