Explore the Lore
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 […]
Murder mysteries and their villains always have those “goddammit” moments when they realize they’ve been made. “Murder She Wrote,” “Columbo” and “Ellery Queen” all culminated into a “the jig is up” denouement and the villain always attempts to flee. I know I equated J.J. Dupuis’ first Creature X Mystery book […]
In an era where the only exciting hauntings are demon infestations concocted by shows permanently done in night vision, Time-Life Books’ Mysteries of the Unknown: Phantom Encounters grounds the study of the ghostly phenomenon. Released in 1988, the compilation covers the themes of doppelgangers, spirits of those going through traumatic […]
I wouldn’t be surprised if J.J. Dupuis grew up on a steady diet of Mystery Inc. investigations. Whether it was the hijinks of Hanna-Barbera past or Matthew Lillard past, the Toronto-based author definitely watched Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! It may appear I’m throwing a non sequitur out into the aether […]
The best part of the horror genre is its ability to seize the social anxieties of the day and to mortar and pestle them into a grotesque pill that does not go down easily. With an internal struggle against “illegals” crossing the Mexico-U.S. border and a president who seems mulish […]
Great Canadian Ghost Stories by Barbara Smith Touchwood Editions, Canada, 2018 4/5 Each page turn of Barbara Smith’s Great Canadian Ghost Stories was a finger pull on a View-Master’s lever. Rife with viewports into Canada’s supernatural tales, Smith refrains from her traditional provincial campfire tales and cups her hand over her eyes to view for miles nationwide. […]
Ghost Hunter by Hans Holzer Tarcher Supernatural Series New York, 1963 2.5/5 To most paranormal aficionados, the name Hans Holzer conjures up the image of a German émigré who worked alongside the most receptive of clairvoyants to communicate with the other side. He first compiled his investigations with psychic Ethel […]