P R E F A C E

As the reader may or may not be aware, belief in the supernatural or paranormal is a phenomenon not only found far away from us in time (in 'the Middle Ages' and earlier), or far away from us in space (in distant lands with 'primitive' or very different cultures) but also here, that is, in any region of the world dominated by religious or superstitious ideas, and now, that is, up to the present era. It is this important aspect of the contemporary human condition with which this book deals.
   While the short stories of which it consists can be read separately, Six Warlocks My Age as a whole has its own temporal and conceptual structure, which gives this collection an extra dimension (if not an overall plot). The stories are original with the exception of Warlocks in Power, a tale based for a large part on a novel famous for the penetrating way in which it portrayed a totalitarian society. What it did portray, however, was a party-politically totalitarian society. Warlocks in Power warns us of the theocratic variant of the total state.
   Theocracy is religionist in the extreme; there are many other forms of exclusivism on the basis of religion or one particular religious ideology. Nor should the various other manifestations of the supernatural be forgotten, which do not come in so well-established or organized a shape, such as astrology and numerology. The present book focuses on those systems of supernaturalism which are somehow imposed on us by institutions that ought to be non- or pan-denominational by their very nature. When its mood is serious this is not without being funny at other times, or at the same time. Even the use of the term warlock, which is made to denote supernaturalists of either sex, can be regarded as anything from etymologically justified and historically transparent to clearly absurd. But if the latter, it is still meant to enhance the effects intended; effects which are ultimately part of a constructive rather than destructive scheme.
   As Six Warlocks My Age is a literary work of fiction, none of the experiences, statements or views of the persons described or describing themselves in this book is necessarily the author's. Even a first person narrator is no proof of this. Nevertheless it is entirely correct -- and done with good intent -- that the six tales together definitely paint an unflattering picture of supernaturalist beliefs and customs.
   So far as our present means of communication is concerned the reader should keep in mind that this is a world language, as little related to any country in particular as supernaturalism itself. Especially when the umbilical cord of a language which once connected it to the people that spoke it first has been cut it is not nationalist but inherent linguistic criterions which are to determine what usage is acceptable. True, observant readers are due to notice that it does not seem consistent to spell, for example, "neighbour" at one place and "neighbor" two lines down (or both "though" and "tho"). Even more observant readers, however, will notice, and have noticed long before, that spelling and pronunciation depend on the writer and speaker, or -- in fiction more than anywhere else -- on the character of the person supposed to be writing or speaking.