The king's orders were clear enough. "Move the tower's shadow," he bellowed. "I refuse to deliver my commencement speech from the dark." As the newly appointed mage to the Crown of Tirlin, Meralda Ovis has no choice but to undertake King Yvin's ill-conceived task. Tirlin's first female mage, and the youngest person to ever don the robes of office, Meralda is determined to prove once and for all that she deserves the title. The Tower, though, holds ancient secrets all its own. Secrets that will soon spell destruction for all of Tirlin-unless Meralda can unravel a monstrous curse laid by a legendary villain seven centuries before she was born.

Socialists, Socialites, and Sociopaths is a quartet of plays and screenplays written by Frank Tuttle between film directing assignments during the last twenty-five years of his life. Even more than his autobiography, They Started Talking, Tuttle's original plays reveal the wit and imagination that made him one of Hollywood's most sought after (if often underrated) directors of the 1920s and 30s. In addition the plays and screenplays provide vibrant behind-the-scenes views of the many facets of the entertainment industry as well as an honest portrayal of how politics and show business intersect with Tuttle's pacifist and socialist political views emerging loud and clear from the plays, though more subtly from the screenplays.

From Frank Tuttle, the director of Kid Boots, The Studio Murder Mystery, True to the Navy, Roman Scandals, College Holiday, and This Gun for Hire, comes a candid and lively backstage tour of the film industry from the 1920s through the 1950s. With a cast of characters that includes Jean Arthur, Mary Astor, Mischa Auer, William Bendix, Joan Blondell, Clara Bow, Evelyn Brent, Louise Brooks, Eddie Cantor, Dane Clark, Bing Crosby, Bebe Daniels, William Demarest, Dick Foran, Mitzi Green, Glen Hunter, Victor Jory, Otto Kruger, Alan Ladd, Angela Lansbury, Veronica Lake, Charlie McCarthy, Fredric March, Thomas Meighan, George Montgomery, Adolphe Monjou, Osgood Perkins, William Powell, Robert Preston, Edward G. Robinson, Charlie Ruggles, Simone Signoret, Phil Silvers, Gloria Swanson, and Monty Wooley, They Started Talking is an affectionate Who's Who of the leading supporting players of Hollywood's golden age. In addition, published for the first time, are rare letters from film directors George Cukor, Jos Ferrer, Elia Kazan, Stanley Kramer, George Stevens, Norman Taurog, and William Wyler.