Overview: Flying Saucers, Unidentified Flying Objects, Unidentified Anomalous Objects, Foo Fighters, Ghost Rockets, Phantom Airships, Chariots of the Gods - whatever you call them - strange things have haunted our skies since the dawn of time.

Are they invaders from outer space as imagined in Hollywood movies? Are they the product of psychological, sociological, and cultural factors? Are they non-terrestrial intelligences who are intimately linked to humanity?

Find out more on the subject through Paranormal Perspectives: Portraits of Alien Encounters Revisited, a brand new prose on the subject from author Nigel Watson.

Verdict: Instead of wrestling with theories and speculation, Watson speaks directly with ‘ordinary’ people in the United Kingdom who have reported seeing UFOs and a wide range of startling associated phenomena, that in the past were considered by UFO investigators as too far-fetched or ‘crazy.’

His decades-long research shows how UFO encounters can often escalate from simple sightings of lights in the sky to sightings of alien entities, robots, men in black, and angelic beings. UFO witnesses and experiencers can also be plagued by a life-changing poltergeist or other ghostly experiences, telepathic messages, alien communications, strange coincidences, visions of the future, and abductions.

So, as we all know by now, flying saucers and alien sightings, often categorized under the broader term UFOs (Unidentified Flying Objects) or more recently, UAPs (Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena), are reported phenomena that have sparked both public fascination and scientific inquiry.

Now, playing devil’s advocate here, these very same sightings, while frequently linked to extraterrestrial visitation, can also be explained by a wide range of factors, from misidentified natural phenomena and human-made objects to psychological and cultural influences.

And yet back in the 1940’s and 1950’s reports of flying saucers and the such became an American cultural phenomena. Indeed, sightings of strange objects in the sky became the raw materials for Hollywood to present visions of potential threats.

Furthermore, if UFOs were visiting our world, where were these extraterrestrials? Could they be hidden among us? Comic books and television have also dutifully illustrated down the years how the possibility of extraterrestrial visitors reflected anxieties of that era, albeit a fear (or genuine excitement and curiosity) that has bled through the following decades rather seamlessly.

Here in Paranormal Perspectives: Portraits of Alien Encounters Revisited - High Strangeness British UFO Cases, author Nigel Watson explains that UFO’s are here to stay and that even though now and again there are mutterings that the subject matter is a dead duck it only takes a fresh new sighting; a video or photograph, to quickly, and eagerly revive interest in the subject.

In conclusion, sure, many of the stories shared here might seem like science fiction or the very stuff of nightmares, and yet they are told by people of different age groups, social backgrounds, and locations. This is what makes this book such a compellingly intriguing read for as chock full of a lot of statistical and residual information on the subject to hand that it is, it also manages to showcase a very well researched and subsequently documented case study. One that is as infectiously beguiling as it is, at times, imaginatively crafted.

Meaning, to my mind, whatever the answer, and if there is any one answer, this is a most fascinating look at how UFO experiences have evolved in the UK and how they reflect similar worldwide changes in our relationship with the unknown.

About the Author - Nigel Watson has researched and investigated historical and contemporary reports of UFO sightings since the 1970s. He writes a monthly column Saucers of the Damned about UFOs for Fortean Times and regularly writes book reviews for the Pelicanist blogspot. He lives in Plymouth, UK.

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Overview: Lee Berk was president of his namesake Berklee College of Music for twenty-five years, where he turned a small, family-operated school into the world’s largest and most innovative music education institution.

In this book, you’ll learn how Berk led the institution’s unprecedented curricular developments in jazz and popular music, film scoring, music production and engineering, music therapy, and more, shattering conservatory models to provide training for countless world class artists and industry luminaries.

Historical records plus anecdotes from both famous and rank-and-file musicians portray Lee as an inspiring, bold visionary and a compassionate, generous man whose life affected musicians across the globe.

Verdict: Lee Eliot Berk, who I myself only just realized was the late president and namesake of the prestigious Berklee College of Music, and who passed away rather unexpectedly in late October of 2023 in Phoenix, Arizona, where he and his wife, Susan, have lived for the past 12 years, graduated from Brown University in 1964 and earned his law degree from Boston University in 1967. He began working at Berklee College of Music in 1966, serving first as bursar and supervisor of the Private Study Division.

He put his legal background to use by teaching courses on music law and copyright issues. He authored the book Legal Protection for the Creative Musician, which won the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award in 1971 as best book in music.

He later served as Berklee’s vice president from 1971 to 1979 and worked on the acquisition of new properties in the Back Bay to address the needs of Berklee’s surging student population. Lee oversaw the purchase of property on Massachusetts Avenue and development of the site to become a residence hall, an educational facility, and the Berklee Performance Center. He became the college’s second president in 1979, succeeding his father, and held that post for 25 years until retiring in 2004.

This dedicatedly written and dutifully impassioned new book Lee Berk: Leading the Berklee Way was written by guitarist and noted journalist Mark Small with the help of Lee’s widow Susan and is so much more than a loving tribute to the Berk family and its impact on the music community and beyond, trust me on this.

Opening on the beginnings of Lee’s life, indeed even delving into his lineage, what comes forth on these pages as it eases the story forward chapter by chapter is that aside from being a humble, clinically minded, yet core needs grounded human being, Lee led Berklee with kindness and an entrepreneurial spirit.

Furthermore, he made Berklee into the world’s leader for contemporary music education as if he were organizing the local church fete! He didn’t need to grind gears to achieve what he knew had to happen for this facility to shine and rise to the heights he knew it could. No, for whilst other similar institutes (all be they of a lesser scale) strove to just be the best they thought they could be, Lee broadened their collective curricular scope to include music business, music technology, and music therapy.

He extended their reach and increased access opportunities by establishing Berklee’s International Network, Berklee City Music, Berklee Summer Programs, and Berklee Online. Indeed, Lee broke boundaries with brave new initiatives including the first songwriting major, accepting electric guitar as a principal instrument, and so much more.

His dedication to Berklee and their students was lifelong and fierce. Throughout his nearly 20 years in retirement, Lee stayed in contact with the Berklee community. He devoted his life to helping and supporting aspiring musicians. He was a wonderful, caring person and is missed today by all those that knew him, of that this book resoundingly, and rightfully echoes.

Oh, and as I am sure you are all wondering, the book obviously covers the whole Lee Berk / Berklee name thing too. “My father came home one day and reported that Fred Berman had come into his office and said, Larry, I had a dream last night that the name of the school was changed to Berklee and named after your son,” Lee historically recounts.

And thus he bestowed on him within that very same instant a unique distinction upon him from the time he was ten or eleven years old. In a letter January 14th, 1954, his father wrote to the commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Education, Board of Collegiate Authority, requesting that entity officially approve a name change Schillinger’s School of Music to Berklee School of Music. The state readily granted it. The rest is, as they say, musical history!

In closing, this book is a compellingly alluring read from start to finish, detailing all you could ever hope to know (and more) about a man whose kind gestures made over the years still lovingly resonate today, and who turned a part-time gig into a lifelong passion, not just a career.

To learn more about Lee Berk and the Berk family, you can explore two digital exhibits presented by the Berklee Archives: Berk Family Collection and Lee Eliot Berk.

The collections include assorted Berklee documents and ephemera; artifacts and awards presented to members of the Berk family in recognition of their service and accomplishments; other professional records or tributes; and scrapbooks, photographs, and audiovisual recordings.

About the Author - Mark Small launched his career as a music journalist in 1982 and has contributed hundreds of articles to publications including Guitar Player, Acoustic Guitar, Soundboard, DownBeat, and the Ralph Vaughan Williams Society Journal, among others. He served as managing editor of Berklee Today magazine at Berklee College of Music for 26 years and co-authored the book Masters of Music: Conversations with Berklee Greats.

Small studied jazz guitar and composition and arranging at Berklee and earned his bachelor of music degree from New England Conservatory of Music and his master’s from California State University Fullerton (both in classical guitar). He has performed throughout the country as a soloist and with a variety of ensembles, including three televised appearances with the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah.

He has released nine albums featuring his works for guitar. His music is published by Les Productions d’Oz of Quebec, Canada. He lives in the Boston area with his wife MaryAnn. They have two daughters and six grandchildren.

www.berklee.edu

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Overview: Circadian Web: The Space of Time - A Novel is a speculative fiction about four men with subconscious secrets on disconnected timelines, and mysterious women intent on helping or hindering them.

Verdict: Across four disconnected timelines, a freelance writer, a Tibetan Buddhist monk, a Latin tutor, and a science teacher hold subconscious secrets. Events in their lives make them question their deep-seated beliefs.

Mysterious women could hold the key to finding answers to their internal conflicts or be intent on pushing them down the rabbit hole. Our subconscious can protect us from traumatic memories … but the truth cannot remain repressed forever.

In what is one of the best novels of the year thus far, Circadian Web: The Space of Time is one of those page turners that even though it is 309 pages deep, the 45 chapters are so enthralling, so dutifully crafted that putting the book down each time you it crosses your mind to so is quickly countered by that little voice in your head that counteracts it with Why?.

Capriciously bringing together an abundance of sci-fi crafted wisdom along with sci-fi fact, and lest it also be known mystically thought provoking and factually spiritually enthralling insights, Circadian Web by author Alistair Conwell is also, at its heart, a genre-bending and insightfully deep dive into quantum physics and alternate dimensions and timelines.

In short, the book is an adventurous read and one that prose wise stays with you long after you have finished the book and put it down. For me it was the sculpted length and breadth given within the idea of an alternate timeline combined with a highly imaginative thriller-esque core that subtly threads throughout.

About the Author - Alistair Conwell was born into a Eurasian family in India but grew up in Australia. He has post-graduate degrees in psychology and business communication.

Alistair spent three years travelling around the world including Britain, Europe, the Middle East, Turkey, Taiwan and the Indian sub-continent. While overseas, he visited and stayed at different types of spiritual communities, and deepened his understanding of meditation, death and the nature of consciousness.

His books and articles have been published internationally, and he has been interviewed by podcasters in the US, Canada and UK about his writings.

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Overview: Unlocking Epiphany Moments: A Primer for Life Coaches & Other Inner Guides is a book that defines various epiphanies and explores the skills and strategies that coaches and other inner guides can cultivate to facilitate awareness.

Verdict: Coaching often leads to a mind shift, a change in perspective. It’s not about maintaining the status quo but about diving deeper, gaining clarity, understanding oneself, becoming more authentic, and encountering truth.

This mind shift is an epiphany moment - a moment of discovery, good or bad - that shatters old ways of thinking and sets the future in motion. Though typically associated with religious experience or literature, epiphanies are foundational to coaching, ensuring that the coach and client enter a shared transformational process.

But I digress, for, and by definition, an epiphany is “a moment of sudden or great revelation.” Therefore, an epiphany in itself does not necessarily change your life. But it seems whenever people answer the question asked of them, “What is your greatest epiphany in life?” they always seem to go to events that actually made a profound and powerful difference.

As Stewart herself reveals from the very off, the word epiphany actually originates from the Greek language. It comes from the Greek word epiphaneia" (ἐπιφάνεια), which means manifestation or appearance. This Greek word is related to the verb epiphainesthai (ἐπιφαίνεσθαι), meaning to appear or to be revealed.

For me, the four characteristics of life-changing epiphanies are Listening, Belief, Action and Serendipity, which all come out to play here within the 220 pages that author Elizabeth-Anne Stewart has dutifully brought forth.

As aforementioned, this is an extraordinarily helpful, nay constructively insightful guide for life coaches and more, with the author delving into her own extensive scholarship-hued growth (along with long list of heartfelt acknowledgements) by embedding practical examples of epiphanically moments to being forth a cognate level of understanding and tutorial skills to the spiritually curious.

Unlocking Epiphany Moments: A Primer for Life Coaches & Other Inner Guides represents an unexplored field relevant to anyone who provides inner guidance. Dr. Stewart claims that epiphanies offer a framework for generating meaning, providing a GPS for the maze of life and allowing clients to deepen their exploration into their motivations and options and the forces that block them.

In short, this book defines various epiphanies while exploring the skills and strategies that coaches can cultivate to facilitate such powerful moments.

About the Author - In addition to spiritual direction, Elizabeth-Anne Stewart focuses on life coaching, coach education, and writing coaching; on faculty at The Institute for Life Coach Training, she recently launched The Ministry Coaching Foundation to provide continuing coaching education experiences, coach mentoring, and personal renewal.

She teaches business writing and creative writing at St. Xavier University, recently serving as Director of Education for Thriving Together, an ICF-accredited ministerial coaching program at the Catholic Theological Union, Chicago.

The author of 12 books and many articles, her specialties include the mythic imagination, archetypes, and dream work. In 1989, Elizabeth developed “Image Guidance,” a process that helps clients access their own inner wisdom through their own unique images. Mind-Shifting Imagery (2018), adapts Image Guidance for use in life coaching contexts.

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Overview: Rhythms of Resilience, by Alex Cohen, is a unique drum methodology book that doubles as a personal memoir of survival, transformation, and creativity under extreme adversity.

Written by renowned drummer and educator Alex Cohen, the book documents the advanced technical drumming concepts Cohen developed while battling—and surviving—malignant brain cancer.

It’s both a manual for drummers seeking new rhythmic frontiers and a story of hope, healing, and defiance in the face of life-threatening illness.

Verdict: To the musical world at large, drummer Alex Cohen is widely considered a modern technical drumming virtuoso and in addition to his role in the Murderhands three-piece, he has fast become one of the most sought-after drummers in New York City.

Furthermore, his first book entitled Ultimate Progressive Drumming (published via Hudson Music) was rightly hailed as a landmark piece of drumming literature by drummers ranging from Derek ‘One Take’ Roddy to multi-instrumentalist Charley Drayton.

But on July 7th, 2024, Cohen suffered a full-body seizure that led to his diagnosis with a malignant brain tumor. These tumors are characterized by uncontrolled cell growth and the ability to invade and potentially spread to other parts of the body. Unlike benign tumors, malignant tumors are life-threatening and require aggressive treatment.

However, and with that all said, over the course of the following weeks, Alex discovered that he could now play ideas and patterns with complexity never before seen on the drum set.

And thus he has now released his brand-new book entitled Rhythms of Resilience, an extremely enthralling new instructional drumming prose that at times pushes itself into new boundaries and shares the unearthing of new discoveries aplenty.

Incorporating a raft of very personal thoughts and black and white photographs of himself along his arduous journey, Cohen’s new drum method book (once again published by Hudson Music) may well have been developed during his painful battle with malignant brain cancer but still manages to merge technical exploration with a most dutifully crafted exposition.

Indeed, the heartfelt chapters brought forth within the construct of his innovative concepts include:

Eldritch Rudiments: Complex hybrid drumming rudiments inspired by cosmic horror and the feeling of insignificance in the face of immense adversity.

The ‘Cohen Method’: A technique system for both hands and feet, focusing on ergonomic motion, finger control, and endurance—developed during commutes and hospital stays.

Ostinatos, Extraction, and Insertion: Advanced limb-independence and polyrhythmic exercises, teaching drummers how to insert/extract rhythms across various limbs and ostinatos.

Extreme Dynamics: Exercises to develop nuanced control of volume and accents, reflecting the emotional extremes experienced through illness.

The Drift & Phasing: Concepts for developing the illusion of independent limb “drift,” as well as rhythmic phasing based on Steve Reich’s minimalist music.

Building Musical Lines: Approaches for creating melodic and contrapuntal drumming phrases, encouraging drummers to think like melodic instrumentalists.

In this book, which is dedicated to both his own father and his friend Owen Strong (both of who died from brain cancer), Alex documents both his extraordinary journey of surviving brain cancer, as well as developing the rhythmic concepts developed while near-death.

A story of survival, perseverance, and the remarkable power of drumming, Rhythms of Resilience shows us both what once seemed humanly impossible on drum set, and the power of music to help us heal during the most difficult times in life.

Furthermore, integrated into the book are more cutting-edge, extremely advanced concepts building on the ideas presented in Cohen’s first two books, Extreme Polyrhythm Coordination & Speed Techniques and Ultimate Progressive Drumming.

Whether following Alex’s journey of healing and discovery or using the exercises to push your drumming towards the most advanced abilities on the drum set seen today, Rhythms of Resilience will inspire you. Of this fact have no doubt.

About the Author - Alex Cohen has now emerged as one of the most advanced progressive drummers on the planet. Called, ‘Incredible’ by Thomas Lang, and ‘A revelation’ by Virgil Donati, Alex is pushing the boundaries of what was thought to be possible on the drum set.

Both of his books, ‘Ultimate Progressive Drumming’, and ‘Extreme Polyrhythm And Speed Techniques’ (co-authored with Brazilian drumming icon Ramon Montagner) have received rave reviews from drummers ranging from Derek Roddy to John Riley.

A faculty member at the world-renowned Drummer’s Collective in York City, Alex maintains a busy teaching and gigging schedule, as well as running a high-end recording studio in Pennsylvania.

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www.alexcohendrums.com

Overview: The Inner Heart of Reiki is the first Reiki book to look at the inner heart of the spiritual teachings of the system of Reiki.

It will take practitioners and teachers to a whole new level of understanding about their practice and about the way they teach.

This NEW EDITION of the bestselling title comes with new Preface, new Forward, and a new Introduction.

Verdict: For those unaware, Reiki is a Japanese form of energy healing where a practitioner channels healing energy through their hands to the recipient, aiming to promote relaxation, reduce stress, and potentially aid in physical and emotional healing.

Furthermore, it is based on the concept of universal life energy and is often used as a complementary therapy alongside conventional medical treatments.

With proven benefits of such a practice shown to be stress reduction, pain management, and amongst other emotional well-being, you can quickly see just how beloved this pseudoscientific form of energy healing/alternative medicine from Japan really is.

Author Frans Stiene first began writing The Inner Heart of Reiki: Rediscovering Your Self back in 2014. It was actually born from his training in Japan with Takeda Hakusai Ajari, as well as his own personal direct experiences from his training and the practices that he was doing on a daily basis.

At that moment, he did not realize that this book was to become a big game changer for himself and many other people. Why? Because at that time, a book like this had not been written about the system of Reiki.

Of course, countless words had been written, but not an in-depth book about the direct experiences we can have and develop when we practice the teachings of Mikao Usui in a clear and dedicated way.

Me personally, I grew up with a mother who was (putting it politely) Reiki-steered, and thus her five principles were: 1. Just for today, I will not be angry; 2. Just For Today, I Will Not Worry; 3. Just For Today, I Will Be Grateful; 4. Just For Today, I Will Do My Work Honestly; and 5. Just For Today, I Will Be Kind To Every Living Being.

And as much as I was too young to fully comprehend just what they were meant to do for us, or where they originated, or the history behind such a renowned healing technique, I never felt like she was forcing something on me. Moreover it always felt right, perhaps just, and definitely calming to undertake these mantras on a daily basis.

This newly updated The Inner Heart of Reiki: Rediscovering Your Self now comes with a brand new Preface, a wonderful new Forward, and a dutifully crafted new Introduction.

About the Author - Frans Stiene is a co-founder of the International House of Reiki and the Shibumi International Reiki Association. He is also the co-author of the critically acclaimed books The Reiki Sourcebook, The Japanese Art of Reiki, A-Z of Reiki Pocketbook, Reiki Techniques Card Deck and Your Reiki Treatment. He is also the author of The Inner Heart of Reiki - Rediscovering Your True Self and Reiki Insights.

Frans has been a major influence on global research into the system of Reiki since the early 2000s. His practical understanding of the Japanese influences on the system have allowed students around the world to connect deeply with this practice.

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Overview: We, Western minds, have forgotten who we are, despite having never once stopped being who we are. We’ve lost touch with the impersonal, Daimonic forces that give us direction and the sacrificial nature of our existence.

No longer do we realize that our lives aren’t, have never been, and will never be about ourselves!

Consequently, we have lost our ability to sense the immanent context that couches our lives in meaning and purpose. Our alienation from our own inborn nature and role has led to a tragic schism: a divorce between essence and narrative, being and action.

Verdict: This book is an effort to help heal this aforementioned schism. It’s about re-encountering our natural selves and guiding Daimon, re-tuning into the archetypal dispositions we embody, and re-learning how to navigate the choppy waters of life in a spontaneous and fulfilling manner.

The author himself, Bernardo Kastrup, even admits that the book is the inevitable outcome, in himself, of a simple momentous realization that we, Western minds, and as aforementioned, have forgotten who we are, despite having never once stopped being who we are. We’ve lost touch with the primordial impetus that fuels the inner fire of our vitality, as well as the innate, archetypal dispositions we embody.

That we’ve forgotten the inner chamber in the palace of mind where we stem from, as well as why we came into being and what we’re supposed to do. No longer can we sense the immanent context that couches our lives in purpose, or the ever-present inner compass without which we cannot navigate life adequality.

We’ve just lost our sense of identity and, therefore, that of family and belonging. In the throes of disorientation and emptiness, we’ve even come to deny the very notions of natural identity, inherent purpose, and objective meaning: we’ve come to deny our natural selves, believing instead that the self is an arbitrary construct that we are free to reinvent, tweak, and otherwise force to comply with convenience and escapist strategies.

Having now read this book three times, in different situations, different settings, and with a different mindset each time, I can honestly relate to you that this new book is a dutifully crafted, intriguingly eye-opening new prose that comes with such an emotional impact that you might not even see it coming before it is insightfully coursing through you days later.

About the Author - Bernardo Kastrup has a Ph.D. in philosophy and another in computer engineering. He has been a scientist in some of the world’s foremost scientific laboratories. His main interests are metaphysics and philosophy of mind. He lives in The Netherlands.

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Overview: Elizabeth Barnes, a brilliant agnostic scientist, recovers and uses DNA from a legendary burial cloth - the Sudarium - to impregnate herself and give birth to a clone of Christ, creating chaos for her daughter and the world.

When the identity of this 30-year-old woman cloned from Jesus is revealed, the media go wild, and people everywhere react.

Verdict: Her name is Jennifer, and she is not exactly a poster child for the Church. She has lesbian friends, uses he/she pronouns for God, and fights against domestic violence.

The saying You’re a child of God takes on new meaning as her life is put in danger, she starts to fall for an FBI agent, and global conflict between religions escalates.

Sudarium explores what it means to live with integrity and courage as a person of faith. It disrupts stale views about gender among Christians and invites its readers to pursue their spirituality with fresh eyes in the context of radically loving oneself and others.

Sudarium: A Thriller is Chuck Shelton’s debut novel. As a graduate of Fuller Theological Seminary and someone who has been devoted to a life of faith for more than fifty years, reading this book you can clearly see the way his mind works within this intensely written, and highly actionated, absolutely thrilling to immerse one’s self within new prose.

With an inner core that never once bends or even threatens to wane throughout the story, the omnipresent debate of genetics vs. environment makes for a thought-provoking premise, that’s for sure.

In closing, and to give it is full title of Sudarium: A Thriller - Jennifer Barnes discovers she was cloned from the DNA of Jesus. What could go wrong? is a book that not only brings forth a suspensefully written tale that thrills on many levels, but is devotedly chock full of well written characters, all elegantly threaded with a coming-of-age narrative that brings forth a world of captivating wonderment; one that is hard to forget once done.

About the Author - Chuck Shelton is the CEO of Greatheart Consulting, and a graduate of Fuller Theological Seminary (MA in Social Ethics). As one of the world’s few experts on engaging and equipping white executives and their mix of colleagues to lead more inclusively, he’s been interviewed and given more than 400 talks, including TV and radio. He lives in Issaquah, WA.

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Overview: During the 19th and early 20th centuries, ghost hoaxes (dressing in a white sheet or a more elaborate costume) and scaring people were rife but seldom studied or written about.

These hoaxes frequently led to impromptu ghost hunts by hundreds, sometimes thousands of often drunk vigilantes (and hysterical panics) as rumors of the supposed ghosts would spread round the community.

Many of these ghost scares occurred during the Christmas and New Year periods, and this book explores twelve little-known episodes.

Verdict: Comical but sometimes dark and tragic with entertaining elements of horror and the bizarre, these true Christmas ‘ghost’ stories combine spooky local legends, mischievous hoaxes, and comical ghost hunts.

At the same time, dour psychic investigators compete with whimsical spiritualists and ghost flashmobs. A unique Christmas book, this is an ideal holiday gift for those interested in ghosts and other fortean phenomena, as well as weird histories and social panics.

OK, look, I know it is only late August as I write this review and Christmas is still a veritably long way off, but just holding this book, reading its title and the fact it is red in color all makes me sink into the idea that Christmas is actually here now and that this book is a must-read for such an occasion.

Folklorists use the word “liminal” when referring to the threshold of a border between the old year and the new, the land and the sea, sleeping and waking, and life and death, for this is where one world meets another.

This “liminal” threshold is where the border between reality and imagination comes into being along with, of course, truth and illusion coupled with life and death, all breathing within the past and the present.

To put it another way, the word “liminal” with regard its reference to a threshold, either in the physical world (as in a doorway between rooms) or in time (as in the time between the job interview and the job offer) can also include physical spaces such as tunnels, bridges, and elevators.

Because they exist in space, they tend to have a pre-determined beginning and end, and connect two pre-determined, concrete points. We may not always know what’s on the other side, but we trust the physical world to be there at the end of the bridge.

Indeed, it is these noted “liminal” spaces that are haunted by the phantoms in this book.

And so what makes these twelve stories scary is that the “liminal” spaces brought forth here are ones that when we ourselves cannot perceive the future our grounded belief system suddenly starts to second guess itself; allowing for uncertainty to creep in about what is, what should be, but most assuredly now seems is most definitely not.

For the record, these are all true stories of Christmas and New Year phantoms from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Indeed, the word Phantom was chosen deliberately for its ambiguity. And the ghost hoaxes here generally fall into three categories: playing the ghost, poltergeist jinx, and journalistic jokes.

About the Author - Paul Weatherhead is a native of the Calder Valley and was brought up in Hebden Bridge. He has a longstanding obsession with the weird history of the area leading to the first edition of Weird Calderdale in 2003 which went on to become a local bestseller. His research into Alan Godfrey’s alien encounter led to a deeper investigation into the phenomenon, which formed his Master of Arts dissertation about the philosophy of alien abduction. He lives on the hills above Hebden Bridge, UK.

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Overview: Dr Lanning, Catherine Stannard and Patrick Hawton are thrown together by a motorway tragedy. Dr Lanning is treating Catherine and Patrick for PTSD, the loss of their loved ones, their different approaches to feeling and dealing with survivor guilt.

Through shared therapy sessions, Catherine and Patrick form a bond, allowing them to relinquish their previous lives and inhibitions. Dr Lanning sees an opportunity to study them, using them to rebuild his reputation. In doing so, he creates an environment where Catherine and Patrick begin to lose sight of their new realities.

Verdict: In what has quickly risen to become a Top 10 novel of the year to have read, The Quietist: A Novel by author Daniel David Gothard is one of those books you might well pick up simply having been intrigued by the title and cover art. But trust me when I say that once you open it and start to read, well, you will find it mighty difficult to put this book down before the final chapter is upon you.

In what is a breathy, yet downright engrossingly enraptured read, the story given of a shared connection between a doctor and his two patients is one not only subtlety, yet intensely disturbing as it grows, but at the very same time has been created with a magnificent grasp of genius, and dutifully complex storytelling.

As we soon learn, Dr. Lanning is not the person who should be attempting to counsel both Catherine Stannard and Patrick Hawton, especially given that he himself had lost his wife in similar circumstances to both Catherine and Patrick, who themselves had survived a massive pile-up; one that had taken Catherine’s partner and Patrick’s wife.

At just 168 pages The Quietist: A Novel is a book that might even have you so intensely connected to every word of prose captured within that you read it in just the one session. I suggest you do. For this distressing, disturbing human drama, all played out within the psyche of modern existence is one that is as compelling a read as I have myself undertaken in quite a long time.

About the Author - Daniel David Gothard is an award shortlisted author who has published three novels and many short stories, in the UK and abroad. He lives in Reading, UK.

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Overview: Journey through the Labyrinth to meet the Minoan deities of ancient Crete, who are still very much alive in the modern world.

The Minoan family of deities is presided over by a trio of mother goddesses representing the three sacred realms of Land, Sky, and Sea.

You might recognize some of the names in this pantheon: Ariadne, Dionysus, Rhea, Amalthea - even Minos, Arachne, and the Minotaur.

These deities continue to fascinate us as they draw us into the Labyrinth, the sacred maze that leads us on the adventure of a lifetime.

Verdict: My own take on the Minoan civilization of ancient Crete was that they revered a mother goddess as their chief deity, with various aspects like a snake goddess, and a young male god often depicted with wild animals. These deities, alongside symbols like the bull and double axe, influenced later Greek religious traditions.

Other deities, like a mountain goddess worshipped at peak sanctuaries, a dove goddess, and a goddess of childbirth, were also part of the Minoan pantheon.

Indeed, Minoan deities and religious practices significantly influenced the later Greek pantheon. For instance, the Minoan Snake Goddess may have evolved into the Greek goddess Artemis. Symbols like the bull and double axe, common in Minoan art, also found their way into Greek religious symbolism.

Thus here in Pantheon - The Minoans, a brand new book on the subject to hand, author Laura Perry brings forth a truly engaging new prose on the Minoan paganism and their culture that embodies them, whist at the same time allowing the reader to fully comprehend all that she is saying in, shall we say, a very enjoyable layman-written way.

Here we get an uncomplicated insight into the Minoan culture, their religion, their beliefs and more, and all whilst showcasing their spirituality through a most dedicated and astutely focused author eye.

An introduction to the ancient Minoans and their deities as well as the spiritual practices of Ariadne’s Tribe, a worldwide inclusive modern polytheistic spiritual tradition, the information on these pages is aimed at people who don’t already have much background knowledge about the Minoans and their religion but who are interested in learning.

About the Author - Laura Perry is an author, artist, and creator who works magic with words, paint, ink, music, textiles, and herbs. She is the founder and Temple Mom of Ariadne’s Tribe, an inclusive Minoan spirituality tradition. When she’s not busy drawing, writing, or leading rituals and workshops, you can probably find her digging in the garden or giving a living history demonstration at a local historic site. She lives in Woodstock, GA.

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Overview: What do the Buddha, Jesus, Nelson Mandela, St. John of the Cross, and Victor Frankl all have in common? They all found the courage to love this world even amidst intense suffering.

Verdict: Welcome to the ultimate guide to the great gurus of life: love and suffering. In this impassioned and informative work, love activist and spiritual leader Zach Beach takes you on an enlightened journey across world religions and spiritualities to find the unifying themes behind them all.

The message is simple: If you want to know love, know suffering. If you want to know suffering, know love. The author masterfully weaves insights from his life and teachings with mystic poets, spiritual leaders, therapists, and psychologists.

Inspiring without being dogmatic, and uplifting without being cheesy, Love and Suffering will help any seeker on the path of personal and spiritual transformation.

And so, and which is dutifully observed by the author himself, if you are reading this, you are human. And if you are human, here are three truths to your existence: You ae suffering; You do not want to suffer and You want love.

Furthermore, Beach advocates for himself by saying that as a human being wanting love and not wanting to suffer, this is the book for you. Which might well be the truth, for as I myself dived into it I honest did find myself quickly enthralled by all that he has written.

For Love and Suffering: A Spiritual Guide for Helpers, Healers, and Humans shines a most glorious insightful light on our relationships with love and pain, how they co-exist within us at all times, and how through his spiritual guide we can find ourselves on a path of spiritual and personal transformation sooner rather than later.

Chock full of insightfulness that will lead to inspirational growth and a much deserved healing, we learn that to love and be loved is the deepest human need and that as a result we are most likely either looking for love, trying to keep the love we have, or trying to prevent our love from leaving.

The bad news is that love leads to suffering and suffering leads to love. But here in this book, Beach has some good news too. For recognizing this and welcoming both into our life puts us on a path to wholesomeness, fullness, and transformation.

In short, this book - one which blends Beach’s personal experiences with his knowledge of ancient literature - is a serious must have for anyone looking to recognize the above statements and know they need guidance through either spirituality or the universal truth to understand just what love really is; and how to handle, and/or accept it thereafter.

About the Author - Zach Beach, MA is an internationally renowned yoga teacher, best-selling author, poet, love coach, founder of The Heart Center love school, and host of The Learn to Love Podcast. He lives in Oakland, CA.

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Overview: When the world ends, who you become begins.

The End begins with a chilling silence - the absence of wildlife in an African safari park, a subtle foreshadowing of the cataclysmic event to come. In London, Martin Larkin, a disillusioned teacher, and Katie, a successful barrister, are about to face a world far removed from their ordinary lives.

Verdict: The arrival of Bohr’s Comet, initially a source of global excitement, disrupts technology and throws nature into chaos. As the comet’s influence intensifies, Katie undergoes a shocking transformation. She abandons her life with Martin, seeking a radical new identity in Sydney’s underbelly.

But the comet brings more than personal turmoil. A terrifying illness sweeps across the globe, decimating the population. Society fractures further, and the ABs, a new dominant life form, rise to power.

Martin, forced into the role of survivor, navigates a post-apocalyptic world. He grapples with loss, betrayal, and the constant struggle to stay alive. His journey brings him face-to-face with the remnants of authority and a society forever changed.

Yet another solid Roundfire Books novel release this month comes in the form of The End by author Mark Golding, a law graduate turned secondary school teacher in Liverpool, who burst onto the literary scene during the first national lockdown.

For all intents and purposes, The End is a formidably written, well executed, and dutifully strewn with well-crafted characters work of prose art, for it not only highlights and distinctively creates worlds for us that we ourselves will never see, but brings a genuine heart and soul to the leads that enable us to veritably connect with them from the off.

Couple all that with a twisty-turny plot that one minute you think you have a handle on, the next you are left flailing, your trusty plot compass spinning all ends up, your brain now having to reassemble all you have read to try and fathom out just what happened and where this could all now lead, what we get is a narrative that is both easy to read, but at the same time easy to imagine.

That is the beauty of The End for as much as it is an engrossing and exceptionally built universe that we mentally traverse, it is also one that so seamlessly melds together with an unvisualized (for the most part) undercurrent that slips alongside everything; one that enables the aforementioned plot to always remain fluidly full of surprises.

In conclusion, this genuine page-turner of science-fiction imagination culminates in a heart-wrenching confrontation where Martin must confront the woman he once loved, now a symbol of the transformed world, and define his place in this new, unfamiliar order.

About the Author - Mark Golding, a law graduate turned secondary school teacher in Liverpool, burst onto the literary scene during the first national lockdown. His debut children’s book, Out of Time, released in June 2023, garnered critical acclaim and won the prestigious Golden Wizard Book Prize.

Praised for his whimsical storytelling and unique plot twists, Mark’s work has captivated young readers and earned commendations from reputable sources such as Kirkus. He lives in Wigan, UK.

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Overview: Scars: Sins Of My Mother, Faith Of My Father is a lyrically charged journey that goes beyond taboo to reach a troubled young boy at the center of abuse that shattered his childhood.

With nowhere to turn for help, he buries the memories and pain deep inside, lost in a young boy’s mind and hopefully gone forever. As a grown man now in his fifties and a successful corporate professional, he begins to reflect on what he considered a decent life.

Looking in the mirror brings back the young boy and these memories start to consume and haunt him.

Verdict: For the first time, Rahman Raheem Allah Hall tries to face not only what was done to him but what he had done to others, as the abused became the abuser. Disgusted and tormented by the guilt, he decided to share his story.

“Scars” delivers a therapeutic balm to a difficult subject. Musically driven and underpinned by one man’s goal to forgive the past and be forgiven for the subsequent abuse he inherited.

For anyone who has suffered sexual and physical abuse, this book is a long overdue conversation. Join this young boy as he embarks on an escapade to heal as a man, the only way he knows how, through words and music.

Beginning this the only way I believe I should, I myself am a victim of sexual abuse as a child and thus was drawn to this book from the very first moment that I heard about it.

Kindly sent to me for review by the author Rahman Raheem Allah Hall himself, what we get here in this most all-embracing of a prose on the subject of child abuse that I myself have read in the past decade or so, is a lyrically charged journey that goes beyond taboo to reach a troubled young boy at the center of abuse that shattered his childhood.

With nowhere to turn for help, he buries the memories and pain deep inside, lost in a young boy’s mind and hopefully gone forever. As a grown man now in his fifties and a successful corporate professional, he begins to reflect on what he considered a decent life.

But looking in the mirror brings back the young boy and these memories start to consume and haunt him.

A book created for anyone who has suffered sexual abuse and physical abuse, this book is a long overdue conversation. Join this young boy as he embarks on an escapade to heal as a man, the only way he knows how, through words and music.

Believe me when I say that the book is both engaging and enthralling, heartbreaking and angering, and yet at all times informative and direct to the core of something that happens too frequently within our cultures and societies.

And it is important to mention the musical aspects of this book as there is a music CD included within this book. Coming complete with nine chapters, it is a strong, emboldened and lyrically forthright set of tracks that in their varying ways, with their varying messages, is the most perfect of companion pieces to include here.

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