Best of
Paranormal

1994

The Witches' Companion


Katherine Ramsland - 1994
    Reprint.

Haunted Places: The National Directory: Ghostly Abodes, Sacred Sites, UFO Landings, and Other Su pernatural Locations


Dennis William Hauck - 1994
    The perfect companion to The International Directory of Haunted Places, this revised and updated edition of Haunted Places is both a fascinating and unusual travel guide as well as an indispensable casebook for those interested in the paranormal. From buildings and parks believed to have resident ghosts and poltergeists to areas where Bigfoot or UFO sightings are most frequently reported, Haunted Places will lead you to more than 2,000 sites of paranormal activity across the United States. Organized alphabetically by state, each entry is referenced to an extensive bibliography of sources-with descriptions, addresses, phone numbers, Web sites, and travel directions provided for all locations.

Daimonic Reality: A Field Guide to the Otherworld


Patrick Harpur - 1994
    But those that aren't, those that purport to document or comment on such phenomena in what passes for "real life" vary across such a wide range of quality, credulity & comprehensibility that it's tempting to dismiss them all as pure badly-written hokum. Of course, as in any genre, no matter how microscopic, there are classics. Charles Fort's Book of the Damned is surely in the forefront. But once you get past the looming shadow of Charles Fort, matters become far murkier. Patrick Harpur's Daimonic Reality is a work that would surely make the top ten lists of many Fortean scholars. Subtitled A Field Guide to the Otherworld, Daimonic Reality synthesizes the reports of many different phenomena into a single Unified Field Theory of the Strange. It's an audacious attempt that largely succeeds. Harpur has a low key writing style that makes this work easy to read. His comprehensive knowledge of a wide variety of inexplicable events is impressive & entertaining. Most importantly, he has drawn together these disparate elements with a rather interesting philosophical take that looks to Jung, Fort, Blake, Yeats & beyond. There are enough elements in this stew to make it a really tasty treat for the hungry mind. Daimonic Reality is divided into three sections thru which Harpur journeys ever deeper into the mind behind the perceptions. But he's careful not to shortchange the perceptions & events themselves. Part One: Apparitions covers apparitions of all kinds, from UFOs to lights in the sky, from aliens & fairies to sightings of Black Dogs & Big Cats. Harpur's economical coverage of these subjects makes it easy for any level of Fortean reader to enjoy the individuality of each experience. But this treatment also enables the reader to step back & see the bigger picture, to move towards the idea of the otherworld. The individual reports are carefully chosen & beautifully written. Harpur takes a more substantial step towards the otherworld in Part Two: Vision. Starting with a discussion of "seeing things", he moves on to visions of Ladies, which are dominated by (but not exclusively) visions of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He discusses the evidence that these encounters leave behind, from fairy shoes to crop circles. (Coming soon to a theater near you.) He talked about the part that Imagination plays in the otherworld & finally reaches the mythic land itself. In Part Three: Otherworld Journeys, Harpur gives both practical & philosophical advice for otherworld journeys. He discusses the variety of journeys that one can have, from missing time to alien encounters, from a trip to fairyland to an out-of-body experience. When Harpur sticks to the practical, he has practically no peer in writing compelling prose about otherworldly experiences. His philosophical thoughts aren't quite as page-turning, but they're pithy, fascinating & pertinent. Harpur isn't content to merely provoke thought. He wants to invoke internal debate in the reader, & does so with some formal philosophical discussion that is difficult to pull off with the authority that Harpur achieves. He's a remarkably intelligent writer & his work requires a reader of nearly equal intelligence. You don't have to be a philosopher to read Harpur's work, but it certainly helps to be philosophically inclined. This isn't mere reportage of events, but a reasoned analysis, with conclusions that go well beyond 'Is it real or are they all just a bunch of crazy yahoos?' That there is an audience for this sort of thinking is shown by the eternal sales of the works of writers such as Carlos Castenada, not to mention the immense & increasing popularity of Fortean fiction, horror, science fiction & fantasy. That's because Harpur is looking to snatch something from the center of creation, something that is partly in the human mind & partly in the otherworld. Daimonic Reality does an excellent job grasping at the ineffable & getting it in print. As of 2/2003, this title is back in print by Pine Winds Press/Idyll Arbor. They've chosen an equally nice cover print, & are publishing the book as a sturdy US hardcover. Better yet, they're a small press, so you can buy directly from them. Since Harpur has managed to wrestle the ineffable into print, we've got to thank Pine Winds Press for keeping it in print.--Rick Kleffel

The Fever of Being


Luis Alberto Urrea - 1994
    The Fever of Being is a series of poems, some written entirely or partly in Spanish, ranging in mood from comic to tragic and dealing with Urrea's life within the Hispanic-Anglo border culture.

Twice Upon A Time


Lisa Ann Verge - 1994
    Utterly wonderful!" -- RT Book Reviews "A love story that transcends all boundaries." -- The Medieval Chronicle Legendary warrior Conor of Ulster defies his people to make the exiled Brigid of Morna his queen—until a shattering act of treachery destroys their world. Driven to the ends of the earth, Conor lives a thousand lifetimes in the fading hope that—one day, somehow—he’ll find Brigid once again. Finalist "Best Time Travel" -- RT Book Reviews "One of the Year's Best Reads" -- The Readers’ Voice Finalist, three categories, Affaire de Coeur Reviewers’ Choice Awards

Camp Zombie


Megan Stine - 1994
    What's worse than being stuck at summer camp with a bunch of rotten counselors? dead rotten counselors! That's what happens to Corey, who quickly realizes he's in danger of becoming zombie food.

The Calling


Kathryn Meyer Griffith - 1994
    Faye Summer has been haunted by a three-thousand-year-old-murdered Egyptian princess, one of the five daughters of Nefertiti and the doomed pharaoh Akhenaton, since she was a young girl…and has glimpsed her desperate ghostly face in darkened mirrors and heard her whispers in her dreams. Whispers begging for Faye’s help in uncovering the true story of her and her family’s long ago disappearances and deaths, their terrible fate, so the ghost would no longer be damned to her eternal wandering. On that grave quest, Faye and her husband, Nick, reluctantly travel to Egypt and among the ancient pyramids, sparkling hot sands and the ghosts of the past they discover a truth far worse than they could have imagined and end up fighting for their own survival. (Originally a 1994 Zebra/Kensington Publishing mass market paperback.)

Circle of Light


Nancy J. Cohen - 1994
    Can they combine forces to save the galaxy?Attorney Sarina Bretton believes in facts, not fantasy, at least until Captain Teir Reylock of the Coalition Defense League kidnaps her from Earth. His mission is to deliver her to the High Council for her marriage to Lord Cam’brii, a member of the ruling council. It is through this union that she will become the legendary Great Healer and save the galaxy from a devastating plague.At the capital city of Bimordus Two, Sarina discovers the wonders of an advanced civilization. She also awakens to her desire for Captain Reylock, who has been assigned as her personal bodyguard. Meanwhile, danger follows the betrothed couple as enemies try to prevent their marriage from taking place.Teir admires the feisty Earth woman, but he is sworn to duty. Not only must he protect Sarina from the Coalition’s enemies, but he must guard his heart against her charms. Drawn together by passion but torn apart by destiny, these star-crossed lovers must overcome their obstacles until the final shocking revelations expose the legend’s truth.Winner of the 1995 HOLT Medallion Award“Nancy Cohen sparks your imagination and melts your heart with her wonderful tale of galactic adventure and star-crossed lovers.” Marilyn Campbell, award-winning author of Lovers in Time and The Innerworld Affairs series