<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Victor Hippolyte Rand, the son of a Jewish butcher in Nazi-occupied Paris, is a self-proclaimed Master of the Universe. Rand, a stumblebum if ever there was one, runs an Academy of Magic, where student acolytes become initiates in occultism, white magic, and the arcane.</p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Good news spreads fast. The dark forces of the Wehrmacht attempt to recruit Victor. Naturally, he refuses. Victor spends the next few years in a Nazi dungeon, stapled to a one hundred-pound ball and chain.&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Victor's adventures -- more like skirmishes, cul-de-sacs, Pyrrhic victories -- spin out in a variety of fantastic settings. Read forbidden books with Victor under cover of a Jesuit monastery; practice stage magic and prestidigitation with him in seedy nightclubs; make world tours in search of wisdom, of arcana, rubbing elbows with luminaries such as Aleister Crowley, Rudolf Steiner, and Alexandra David-Néel. At the end of Rand's day, he acquires a secret doctrine and a unique perspective: when God gives you a gas chamber - inhale!</p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The humor is manic, definitely overthought, overwrought. Victor Rand has previously appeared in the eponymous novel <em>Victor Rand</em>, where he helped mismanage spirit traffic control in the Bardo.</p><p><br></p>