"The end of the twentieth century and the dawn of a new millennium had seen something of a renaissance in the public awareness of the paranormal. Psychics, haunts, vampires—you name it. People still don't take them seriously, but all the things Science has promised us hadn't come to pass. Disease was still a problem. Starvation was still a problem. Violence and crime and war were still problems. In spite of the advance of technology, things just hadn't changed the way everyone had hoped and thought they would." Page 3, Chapter 1.

"Most magic involves a circle of one kind or another. Drawing a circle sets a local limit in what a wizard is trying to do. It helps him refine his magic, focus and direct it more clearly. It does this by creating a sort of screen, defined by the perimeter of the circle that keeps random magical...