That Hoodoo Voodoo That You Do is an occult-themed horror anthology novel edited by Lincoln Crisler (Skinjumper) and published by Ragnarok Publications through its Angelic Knight Press imprint. Rituals have always been a powerful part of human life, from the ancient Aztec nation's human sacrifices to the simple act of brushing one's teeth in the morning. They can impart a sense of history, comfort, community, stability and at other times, power, mystery and horror. Some are grounded in centuries of tradition or superstition, while others are unique, individual creations.
In this collection of 22 stories, you'll find the darker side of ritual in all the various forms you can imagine–- from the ancient and ceremonial to the simple and homegrown. Some have real power, while others simply exist in the convoluted recesses of someone's mind. Some produce the desired effect, while others have an entirely different result. What binds them all together is the simple truth of any good ritual. Their practitioners-— and you, the reader-— just might be unalterably changed by them.
This work provides examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Offering up your daughter for human sacrifice certainly qualifies.
- Black Magic: Many of the spells used in the book qualify as this.
- Blood Magic: Blood is one of the keys to achieving the effects most of the practicioners wish to achieve.
- Came Back Wrong: Happens in "For Love" when trying to raise the dead in the Cthulhu mythos.
- Foregone Conclusion: Or maybe in this world no one's heard of Charles Dexter Ward or Herbert West.
- Church of Happyology: An apparent one worships Moloch from the Bible. It turns out they haven't abandoned the "child sacrifice" part of it.
- Curse: Another common subject of the book as a Catholic woman lays one down on Father Tim for his use of Black Magic.
- The Devil: Makes an appearance in "Late Payment."
- Disposable Sex Worker: Unfortunately present in a few of the short stories. Inverted in "Young Girls Are Coming to Ajo."
- Exact Words: Unsurprisingly, the Devil enjoys doing this during bargains. See Troll.
- Functional Magic: Magic works in all but two of these stories. The price is just often very-very high.
- Hollywood Voodoo: Averted in "Sa Fe Iontan." Despite the title, the treatment of the system is usually rather respectful. The effects of Hoodoo are, of course, exaggerated for dramatic effect.
- Human Sacrifice: Commonly used as a method of appeasing the old gods.
- Karmic Death: A common enough punishment for individuals meddling with forces they do not understand.
- Karma Houdini: A couple, but only a couple of the more evil magicians, make it out of this book alive.
- Kind Hearted Cat Lover: Satan it turns out is one of them.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Tomald Trump shows the author didn't even care about disguising who their protagonist murdered.
- Necromantic: "For Love" deals with a man who wants to raise a long-dead witch as his paramour.
- Non-Indicative Title: Only a few of the stories deal with Voodoo.
- Religion is Magic: A running theme is many of the rituals used by magicians started as religion but the people practicing them now only want the power.
- Ritual Magic: More or less the theme of the book. All of the stories deal with one form or another of the process.
- Sinister Minister: Father Tim is a Irish Catholic Priest who worships the Tuatha De Daanan in secret. This occasionally involves blood sacrifice. The magic he gains from this is also used to appease his gambling habit, until it turns to murder.
- Sympathetic Magic: Best on display in "Gingerbread Man." Magic usually requires a representation or item to perform it.
- Streetwalker: The most frequent victim of human-sacrifice happy occultists in this story.
- Troll: The Devil turns out to enjoy doing this to people, like showing up 20 years later to trade concert tickets he sold his soul for (to that exact show) at a joke ceremony. They're even tickets to the same, long-past, concert.
- Voodoo Doll: A couple of effigies show up in the book to be used against enemies.
- Whole-Plot Reference: "Afflicted" is revealed at the end to be one for the classic Ragman story.
- Witch Doctor: They tend to be the only decent magic users in the book, showing people who understand the magical forces they call on tend to try and help people with them.
