Best of
Cults

2015

Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology


Leah Remini - 2015
    Leah Remini has never been the type to hold her tongue. That willingness to speak her mind, stand her ground, and rattle the occasional cage has enabled this tough-talking girl from Brooklyn to forge an enduring and successful career in Hollywood. But being a troublemaker has come at a cost. That was never more evident than in 2013, when Remini loudly and publicly broke with the Church of Scientology. Now, in this frank, funny, poignant memoir, the former King of Queens star opens up about that experience for the first time, revealing the in-depth details of her painful split with the church and its controversial practices. Indoctrinated into the church as a child while living with her mother and sister in New York, Remini eventually moved to Los Angeles, where her dreams of becoming an actress and advancing Scientology's causes grew increasingly intertwined. As an adult, she found the success she'd worked so hard for, and with it a prominent place in the hierarchy of celebrity Scientologists alongside people such as Tom Cruise, Scientology's most high-profile adherent. Remini spent time directly with Cruise and was included among the guests at his 2006 wedding to Katie Holmes. But when she began to raise questions about some of the church's actions, she found herself a target. In the end, she was declared by the church to be a threat to their organization and therefore a "Suppressive Person," and as a result, all of her fellow parishioners—including members of her own family—were told to disconnect from her. Forever. Bold, brash, and bravely confessional, Troublemaker chronicles Leah Remini's remarkable journey toward emotional and spiritual freedom, both for herself and for her family. This is a memoir designed to reveal the hard-won truths of a life lived honestly—from an author unafraid of the consequences.

The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly


Stephanie Oakes - 2015
    As she languishes in juvenile detention, she struggles to un-learn everything she has been taught to believe, adjusting to a life behind bars and recounting the events that led up to her incarceration. But when an FBI detective approaches her about making a deal, Minnow sees she can have the freedom she always dreamed of—if she’s willing to part with the terrible secrets of her past.The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly is a hard-hitting and hopeful story about the dangers of blind faith—and the power of having faith in oneself.

The Unbreakable Miss Lovely: How the Church of Scientology Tried to Destroy Paulette Cooper


Tony Ortega - 2015
    Those interviews, as well as documents which have never been previously made public, provide the first full telling of what Paulette Cooper experienced — from her childhood in a Nazi concentration camp, to her life as a New York magazine writer, to becoming the most famous target of Scientology’s revenge.Silvertail Books previously published BBC journalist John Sweeney’s book, The Church of Fear: Inside the Weird World of Scientology, and last year brought Russell Miller’s landmark biography of Scientology’s founder, Bare-Faced Messiah: The True Story of L. Ron Hubbard, back into print for the first time in 27 years.Silvertail publisher Humfrey Hunter said: “A lot of people have been waiting a long time for Tony Ortega to write a book about Scientology and The Unbreakable Miss Lovely will not disappoint. It is an extraordinary story of terrible things done to a woman who did not deserve them and shines a light into the darkest corner of the history of the Church of Scientology. Tony has done a wonderful job with the narrative – the story reads like a thriller. This is an outstanding work of investigative authorship by a very fine journalist and I’m delighted Silvertail is to be his publisher.”Tony Ortega has written about Scientology as a journalist for nearly 20 years, and began working with Paulette Cooper about her life story while he was still at the Voice. Ortega appears in Alex Gibney’s HBO-produced documentary about Scientology, Going Clear, which premieres at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah on January 25, and he will be in attendance.Silvertail bought world rights directly from the author and will publish in paperback and ebook in May 2015 in the US and the UK.

Devoted


Jennifer Mathieu - 2015
    Rachel has always found solace in her beliefs, but now she can’t shake the feeling that her devotion might destroy her soul.

The Nightmare Girl


Jonathan Janz - 2015
    How could he suspect the young mother is part of an ancient fire cult, a sinister group of killers that will destroy anyone who threatens one of its members? When the little boy is placed in a foster home, the fanatics begin their mission of terror. Soon the cult leaders will summon their deadliest hunters-and a ferocious supernatural evil-to make Joe pay for what he's done. They want Joe's blood and the blood of his family. And they want their child back.

His Only Wife


Melissa Brown - 2015
    That is, until Brin. I was twenty-six years old the day she entered my life, just when I’d given up hope, just when I’d given up completely on having any shred of happiness in my pathetic excuse for a life. After years of indecision, self destruction and soul-searching, she found me. Brinley challenged everything I thought I knew. She proved that goodness could still come from that hellish compound. Goodness, bravery and love. She changed everything the moment she knocked on the door of my apartment, acting as brave as a lion, even though she was shaking like a terrified mouse stuck in my trap. And now, three years later, I want her as my wife. My only wife. Till death do us part.Just us.And I’ve never wanted anything more.

The Bohemian Grove: Facts & Fiction


Mark Dice - 2015
    Is this mysterious meeting “just a vacation spot” for the wealthy and well-connected, or is it something more? Does it operate as an off the record consensus building organization for the elite establishment? What major plans or political policies were given birth by the club? Do they really kickoff their gathering each year with a human sacrifice ritual? Is this the infamous Illuminati? After getting his hands on some rare copies of the club’s yearbooks; obtaining an actual official membership list smuggled out by an employee; and having personally been blocked from entering the club by police—secret society expert Mark Dice uncovers The Bohemian Grove: Facts & Fiction. By the Author of The Illuminati: Facts & Fiction-Their History-Symbols, Saint, and Motto-Infiltrations and Leaks-Cremation of Care-Different Subcamps-Allegations of Murder-Hookers & Homosexuality-Depictions in TV and Film-And More!

Wolfblood: Call of the Wild


Robert Rigby - 2015
    Meanwhile, Maddy and her parents take shelter in their underground 'den', away from the full moon and the danger of transforming into Wolfbloods in the open air. When the young wolf is chased desperately to their house, they realise with shock that it's Rhydian - back from the wild, where he's been in self-inflicted exile with his mother and the 'wild' pack. Danger is hot on Rhydian's heels, though. The pack leader, Alric, is hunting him, claiming that he broke their rules, that he tried to win the wolves around to being open to human ways. Maddy and her family must, once again, try to keep Rhydian safe, and protect the Wolfblood secret from being exposed. Things are complicated, though, with the arrival of another young wild Wolfblood - unkempt, feisty Jana, who poses a threat to Maddy in more ways than one . . .Another thrilling and tense instalment in the CBBC WOLFBLOOD series.

A History of the Apocalypse


Catalin Negru - 2015
    As history flows without interruption and doomsday scenarios fail, the following generations focus on their own contemporary events, ignoring or underestimating the past. In this way people always see “signs” in their times and the end of the world is constantly a fresh subject.

Wolfblood: Pull of the Moon


Robert Rigby - 2015
    Humans with the ability to transform into wolves at the full moon and at times when they're stressed. This mysterious race has lived among us for centuries. Wolfbloods have superhuman powers in the form of strength, speed, agility and heightened senses, and retain these even when in human form. Fourteen-year-old Maddy lives with her mother and father high in the moors of the beautiful Northumbrian countryside. Her Wolfblood nature - and that of her parents - is her most closely guarded secret. She tries to live as normal a life as possible, but there is danger at every turn, with her best friend determined to track down the secret of the 'beasts of the moors'; and the pull of the full moon every month tempting the Wolfbloods. And on top of this, the trials and tribulations of ordinary teenage life . . . Then into her life steps a stranger, Rhydian, and one who she realises with shock is just like her . . . Maddy and Rhydian must hide their secret from even their closest friends, or the Wolfblood race could be in deadly danger.PULL OF THE MOON is the first in the series of four WOLFBLOOD books.

The Revelator


Robert Kloss - 2015
    This is the context that frames The Revelator's protagonist: a young orphan named Joseph. Reared on nights spent carousing with drunks and con men, the young protagonist dreams of something more.He begins to preach. Soon he takes a young wife, to the horror of her father, a butcher. They depart for the wilderness where Joseph's visions, haunted by a dark Beast, take hold of his life. Husband and wife nearly die of exposure, and upon their return, Joseph begins to build his congregation, built on the discovery of the golden plates that deliver the Almighty's message.As his congregation grows, Joseph builds a settlement, takes multiple wives, and negotiates multiple betrayals and intrigues with his followers, his wife, and even his suspicious and distant son. Persecuted by society at large, and on the U.S. government's watch list, Joseph takes his people further and further west to meet their destiny.Written in the second person, author Robert Kloss's prophetic voice demonstrates the macabre and gruesome consequences of Manifest Destiny and the conflicted motivations behind the creation of a religion that boasts 15 million members today.

Helter Skelter: Part Two of the Shocking Manson Murders


Vincent Bugliosi - 2015
    Susan Atkins aka Crazy Sadie, is one of the imprisoned. Seemingly high and excited, she tells everyone in gruesome detail how they did it, and how they were going to unleash hell. She reveals that the Manson family were also involved in the Cielo Drive murders, the horrifying place Sharon Tate Polanski and her friends were bludgeoned to death.

Seed


Lisa Heathfield - 2015
    Seed will never let you go.Fifteen-year-old Pearl has lived her whole life protected within the small community at Seed, where they worship Nature and idolise their leader, Papa S. When some outsiders arrive, everything changes. Pearl experiences feelings that she never knew existed and begins to realise that there is darkness at the heart of Seed. A darkness from which she must escape, before it's too late.

The Followers


Rebecca Wait - 2015
    Led by their prophet, Nathaniel, they eagerly await the end times. But when the prophet brings in Stephanie and her rebellious daughter Judith, the group’s delicate dynamic is disturbed. Judith is determined to escape, but her feelings are complicated by a growing friendship with another of the children, the naive and trusting Moses, who has never experienced the outside world. Meanwhile, someone else is having doubts, unleashing a horrifying chain of events that will destroy the followers’ lives.In the aftermath, the survivors struggle to adjust to the real world, haunted by the same questions: if you’ve been persuaded to surrender your individual will, are you still responsible for your actions? And is there any way back?

The Least of God's Priorities


Bo Juel - 2015
    Bo’s crime? Leaving the religion of Jehovah’s Witnesses after suffering the worst cruelties any child could ever live through. "The Least of God’s Priorities" tells of one man’s harrowing journey through unimaginable abuses, including years of sexual molestation at the hands of a congregation elder, physical violence, betrayal, lies, family secrets, and the most horrific loss a young father can face. “The beautiful narrative reads like a fiction book, but what rips your heart out is that nothing about it is fiction.” ~ Alexandra James, JWvictims.org “A real, and I mean real, trip through hell and back.” ~ Linda Ellison, The Dana Ford Mystery Series With a foreword written by leading cult expert Steven Hassan, M.Ed., LMHC, NCC, author of "Combating Cult Mind Control, The #1 Best-Selling Guide to Protection, Rescue, and Recovery From Destructive Cults."

Cracked


Barbra Leslie - 2015
    But when Danny’s twin sister Ginger is murdered, Danny and her rock musician brother fly to California to find their nephews – and the people who killed their sister. Fighting her addiction, nosy cops and crazy drug dealers, she kicks ass and takes names, embracing her inner vigilante in a quest to avenge her sister and save her family. Cracked is a darkly comic roller-coaster ride to redemption as Danny struggles with bad guys and her own demons to find out who killed her twin.

Escape From Paradise: Leaving Jehovah's Witnesses and the Watch Tower after thirty-five years of lost dreams


Brock Talon - 2015
    With Armageddon ever looming, his life becomes an endless stream of restrictions and mandated works, harsh discipline and conditional relationships. Join Brock's struggle with apostasy and persecution, sanctioned abuse and God-like elders. Learn with him about his faith's built-in sexual dysfunction and an eerily business-like design, as well as its dubious origin, repeated failed prophecy, fixation on demons, and the curious "anointed ones." Will Brock ignore his eye-opening discoveries, or will he act and lose everything? This story, both humorous and tragic, is about one man's personal pilgrimage through the dystopian world of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. Along with millions like him, will Brock be able to safely make his escape from paradise?

Opening Minds: The Secret World of Manipulation, Undue Influence and Brainwashing


Jon Atack - 2015
    Throughout history, people have been unwittingly influenced to act against their own better interests. But today, more sophisticated forms of influence have been devised, posing a significant threat to a free and open society. It is persuasion so sinister and subtle that it can derail critical thinking and overwhelm even the most intelligent of people, reducing them into unthinking compliance. Manipulation, undue influence and brainwashing, or whatever one chooses to call such exploitive persuasion, challenges the very notion of human rights. The use of it by unscrupulous cults, totalitarian groups and abusive individuals is growing at an alarming rate. Yet, undue influence remains a well-kept secret in the media and for the general public. This book will show how the human mind is cajoled into submitting to unethical, uninvited external influence.

Zorba the Buddha: Sex, Spirituality, and Capitalism in the Global Osho Movement


Hugh B. Urban - 2015
    Most Americans today remember him only as the “sex guru” and the “Rolls Royce guru,” who built a hugely successful but scandal-ridden utopian community in central Oregon during the 1980s. Yet Osho was arguably the first truly global guru of the twentieth century, creating a large transnational movement that traced a complex global circuit from post-Independence India of the 1960s to Reagan’s America of the 1980s and back to a developing new India in the 1990s. The Osho movement embodies some of the most important economic and spiritual currents of the past forty years, emerging and adapting within an increasingly interconnected and conflicted late-capitalist world order. Based on extensive ethnographic and archival research, Hugh Urban has created a rich and powerful narrative that is a must-read for anyone interested in religion and globalization.

The Reengineers


Indu Muralidharan - 2015
    He is a misfit at school, his parents are about to divorce and the love of his life doesn’t know he exists. It seems pointless to go on with such a dysfunctional life. But before he gets anywhere with that plan, Chinmay and his friends, Anu and Sabi, stumble into the eerie world of Conchpore through a portal in Uncle RK’s library. They find themselves in The Seeker’s School, where you can buy spiritual courses that will bring you enlightenment. While the seekers seem unaware that there is anything amiss, Chinmay and his friends stumble upon a strange and sinister plot that the teachers and students are caught up in. The three youngsters suddenly find themselves in danger, and their only hope is the charismatic Siddharth, an old student of the school who has come to visit. Chinmay discovers that Siddharth is seeking catharsis from his dark past by writing a book—a book with Chinmay as the protagonist. He realizes that his own story is a mirror image of Siddharth’s, which leads to a moment of reckoning for him: can he become the author of his own life?Set in Madras in the early nineties, The Reengineers dispels the boundaries between fiction and reality to tell a tale that is as much a coming-of-age story as it is an inspiring narrative of self-empowerment and spiritual growth.