The world is entering a time when countries once part of a long-in-the-tooth empire want to be rid of them. And rightly so. Barbados shed its Commonwealth skin in favour of ruling as they see fit. Belize is another nation looking to rid the Crown as head of state, whether […]
Books
Review: The Borders of Normal dusts stigma off the paranormal
One of the questions that will probably go unanswered for as long as humans exist, which may or may not be for very much longer, is what happens after we die. All the theories that people of faith and atheists seem to postulate are nothing more than ephemeral. And as […]
Review: Karl Mamer pens a skeptic’s essentials for your paranormal library
For those of us raised before the Internet’s ubiquity, books of lists, of records, of miscellany, encyclopedias and field guides were the repositories of choice for random facts, strange tidbits and useless information. School libraries and book fairs were full of these titles, which served as gateways to a deeper […]
Review: Peter Aykroyd’s A History of Ghosts great for academic settings
There’s a delicate line between academia and entertainment when it comes to the paranormal. It’s often a challenge to both keep the reader enthralled with the source material and have them understand it without being diagnosed with temporary narcolepsy. A History of Ghosts: The True Story of Séances, Mediums, Ghosts, […]
Review: Avi Loeb’s Extraterrestrial is required reading for his follow-up, Interstellar
Knowing that there is intelligent life beyond our planet should be the impetus to better ourselves. That’s the message Frank B. Baird Jr. Professor of Science at Harvard, Avi Loeb, wants you to take away from his experience with interstellar object, ‘Oumuamua. His second book, Interstellar: The Search for Extraterrestrial […]
Review: Inconvenient facts deconstruct America’s popular ghost stories
When you tour along with Colin Dickey in his 2016 book, Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places, you get the sense that most paranormal stories are a grift. There may be small details that can trace themselves back to real history, but the rest are part of a slick […]
Review: The Whisper on the Night Wind is the cryptozoology book we all need
Getting lost in a book is like getting lost in a dense forest. You never know when and where you’re going to get out. That’s part of the allure of writer-explorer Adam Shoalts’ 2021 book, The Whisper on the Night Wind, as he brings readers along for a good, old-fashioned […]
Kitchener writer Travis Watson compiles Canadian Sasquatch sightings in new book
Trepidation was stalking Travis Watson like a wild animal when he was writing Sasquatch Canada: Beyond British Columbia. Much like the eight-foot-tall suspected primate of Canadian folklore, his consternation loomed over him, giving him complicated feelings, as the subject of Bigfoot is one that heightens division. “There’s just an awful […]
Brampton writer puts a spotlight on lesser-known cryptids of Asia, Oceania in book
Carol Scott’s idea for her book The Cryptids of Asia and Oceania had been simmering on the creative burner since high school. The Brampton-based writer started the first draft of her book in 2015. Its publication came to fruition in September 2022, allowing her passion for digging deeper into cryptozoological […]
B.C. writer, Ghost Story Guy pays homage to Revelstoke in second edition
There is an afterlife for Brennan Storr’s homage to his hometown Revelstoke, British Columbia. The Victoria resident’s book A Strange Little Place, which was originally published in August 2016 by Llewellyn Worldwide, went out of print in April 2022. Storr, one of the founding members of The Ghost Story Guys […]