Ghost Books

I read this book a few years ago and could not put it down. I greatly enjoy works by Madeleine L'Engle and, the late, Roger Zelazny. This novel was a pleasure to read and if you enjoy the "Wrinkle" or "Amber" novels I suggest you give this a try. I had hoped for a follow-up book but I guess that's not going to happen. Too bad, I enjoyed this.

This was exceptional reading for younger readers who read above their grade level. It's difficult finding literature of this sort--something challenging for the accelerated reader with age appropriate subject matter. Brava!

Fantasy, science fiction and the paranormal becomes reality in this cleverly written story. A story of romance, war and intrigue suitable for all members of the family. The lovely Jacqualine, a young man's dream girl bravely faces dire challenges and excepts responsibility for the preservation of the kingdom she inherited.
The many characters come to life in a most pleasing manner. Their personalities are skillfully brought forth as each quickly becomes familiar and close to the heart of the reader.
I truely enjoyed this thoughtful adventure into the world of make believe. Many of the characters will be close to my heart for years to come.

This is a must read. I enjoyed the book emensely. Once I got past the first couple of pages, I had to force myself to step away from the book to do other things. I read this book in record time for me and enjoyed it very much. The ending leaves the reader in wonderment of whether or not the story will go on. I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes science fiction or fantasy.

Reviewed by Cherie Fisher for Reader Views (7/06)

The story begins with Jacqualine Argaus, a struggling graduate student. On the surface she seems like a typical student trying to figure out what she wants to do with her life. But this turns out to be an illusion. Jacqualine is actually a Princess from another layer above earth and a different reality. As the story unfolds, Jacqualine and her unwilling co-workers are transported back to her reality. There she is forced to deal with the death of a parent and her struggle to carry unthinkable power. And all the while someone is trying to secretly take over her claim to the throne.

As Jacqualine is preparing to take on her new role as Queen, she is confronted by Ashcroft Bitar who grew up in a rival family. She has to figure out if he is what he seems to be, someone who wants to assist her with managing the overwhelming power that is slowly consuming her. Or is he the unseen enemy trying to steal her throne? And are they destined to fulfill the mysterious prophecy that will link them together and replenish the power in the kingdom? These are the questions that Jacqualine must ask herself as she and Ashcroft lead her solders and followers into a war that may very well destroy the whole kingdom.

The book is a wonderfully written story that the entire family will enjoy - especially teenage girls. It should not be limited to that group though. Once I began reading it I had a hard time putting it down. It is written in a way that presents all the main characters perspectives and this approach makes it a very fast moving adventure.

I certainly hope that this is not the last we have heard of Queen Jacqualine, Ashcroft Bitar and the fascinating layer that they come from. I highly recommend this story of fantasy, intrigue and courage.

I greatly enjoyed the funny tales of the Sisters Kane. Very amusing and nicely written. I learned some valuable lessons from the Sisters. Hope there is a part II!

This book offers the reader a bird's eye view of harrowing life experiences as seen through the eyes of dolls whose names are as charming as their tales. It is one of the most whimsical, engaging books I have ever read.

The multi-talented author, Christy Kane, has created beautifully original stories featuring the dolls that she also created. The stories revolve around the Sisters Kane who learn very valuable lessons through their own mistakes, which are life-lessons for modern day children. I'll even say adults. The dolls are amazingly captured in black and white photography, which in itself stands alone. Coupled with the wonderful poetry, Ms. Kane has given us a treasure of stories that will surely become classics.

When A.A. Milne died, and took his smirk-rhyming poetry with him, the world lost Pooh's creator and one of the best animators of poetic fun ever to whisper to the children of the world. He's back, though using a young woman as his medium. And though she can put meter and rhyme to work in a style similar to Milne's, Christy Kane sidles off in a direction a bit south of One Hundred Acre Wood. In "Tales of the Sisters Kane", Christy Kane uses some dark poetic images and even darker photographhic images of her "doll daughters" to teach all of us about the unfair things that can happen to people. The poetry and the short stories gently remind us that life just isn't always fair and good, but if we respect others and try to see through their sufferings, that we are all the same, and all beautiful. Easy to read, tart with a little of the Goth acid, this is a message for moms, dads and all the children in between.

I honestly do not think that there is another book out there like this. Not only are the tales unique to the author but she designs, creates and photographs the incredible dolls in this book! It is written and photographed along the lines of humor one may find in a Monty Python movie. Yet the tales are unique and wonder of wonder in this day of feel good books, there are consequences to bad choices :-). To add to its slightly macabre charm are the amazing photographs of the author's creativeness. I found that my teenagers thought this the coolest book around. Think of the original Grimm fairy tales to decide what younger ages would enjoy this book. It is not Barney but then again, it is refreshingly NOT some TV sitcom with smart mouthed kids on it controlling impotent parents!
All in all, a unique contribution to the world of literature and art by a single artist!

I bought this book to add to my collection of Greene Knowe Books that I read to my children when they were small. The stories kept the kids on the edge of their seats wondering what would happen next.

I almost had a fit when I saw this title, but with a little research learned that I already had it. The whole series is first rate.

Tolly has returned to Green Knowe and his Grandmother full of excitement at being there once more, but an unhappy surprise lies in wait for him: the portrait of the children Toby, Alexander and Linnet is missing from the wall. It would seem a small loss but for the fact that its absence means that the children's spirits are also not present in the house.

Grandmother Oldknow explains the painting's loss due to poor finances, though soon sparks hope in Tolly for its return due to the tale of the missing treasure of Green Knowe (which he vows to find), and stories of another family ancestor: Susan Oldknow. Born to a vain mother, a kind but absent father, a spoilt older brother Sefton, and an overly pious grandmother, Susan knows her blindness is a terrible blow to the family's pride: "I can't take her into society, she'll never be married, and I'll have her *always*!" her mother laments when the sad truth is revealed.

Smothered by a good-hearted but utterly disillusioned Nanny, Susan is not allowed to do a thing on her own, till her Captain father brings back a gift from his travels that shocks the entire family: a West Indian boy named Jacob to keep her company. Their extraordinary friendship can only be describe through L. M. Boston's beautiful prose, as when the two meet:

"'Who is it Papa?' Susan asked. Jacob answered for himself, in a voice whose smallest half-utterance she was never afterwards to mistake for any other. 'It's me, Missy.'"

As with Tolly's previous summer in the house, the line between past and present blurs, and he once again interacts with the older inhabitants of the house, though this time in a far more influential manner, going so far as to actively participate in the stories his Grandmother tells him each night. While other time-travelling stories leave me completely cross-eyed, the "Green Knowe" stories treat it as something utterly natural, and thus so do the readers.

As a sequel to "Children of Green Knowe", this second part (also published as "Chimneys of Green Knowe") is undoubtably superior to its predecessor. Though I missed Toby, Alexander and Linnet, their part in the first story was as whimsical spirits - Susan and Jacob have a definite story assigned to them, and interact with Tolly in a more important way, stirring events into being on both sides of the centuries.

Lucy Boston creates a sophisticated commentary on prejudice that still rings true today in her use of blind Susan and West Indian Jacob. As she comments, blind people were either poor and beggars, or rich and had servants to live for them, and Susan was certainly of the latter group. As such, the poor girl often finds herself strapped to a chair with her doll tied to its arm, disliked by her grandmother who thinks her condition a judgement for her mother's vain lifestyle, and punished for fingering things. Boston's descriptions of blindness in both Susan's life: "things stuck out of space like icebergs out of the sea", and Tolly's experiments (he discovers feet are more useful than hands in such an instance) are evocatively written, and so imaginatively told that it won't simply be children so have their minds expanded.

Second is Jacob, whose place in the story is still whilst England allowed slavery. This book was first published in 1958, and I was both impressed by Boston's distaste for slavery, and refreshed by the lack of extreme political correctness that so often clogs books on the subject written today. Boston presents the Slave Trade as a simple factuality, that could be neither explained nor excused, but simply a reality.

Truly, the "Green Knowe" stories are among the lost masterpieces of children's literature. Do everyone in your family a favour and read them - the house, the characters, the situations, and the sublime use of language that Lucy Boston uses is unforgettable.

I will never forget reading this book - and the others in this series - when I was in grade school. This was actually the first volume I read, although it's not chronologically the first in the group. It was one of those wonderful discoveries you sometimes make wandering aimlessly through the stacks in the local library - cracking a random volume, reading the first little bit, and realizing at once that you are beginning a literary love affair.

Then, as now, I was captivated by the magical "otherness" of L.M. Boston's Green Knowe and by the wonderful characterizations and tales within the tale. I couldn't put it down until I'd learned the fates of all the characters, and I wished that my suburban row house had even half the romance of the old manor house, and that my own prosaic grandma was a bit more mysterious.

Now that I'm much older (although not nearly as old as Grandmother Oldknow), I realize that the book is quite well-written - accessible for children but sophisticated enough to be enjoyed by anyone with a taste for the supernatural. And I've purchased a copy for my 11-year-old niece, who thankfully shares her auntie's interest in reading and love for stories with an otherworldly component. A must-read for book-lovers young and old.

It's the spring immediately following the events of "The Children of Green Knowe," and young Tolly Oldknow returns to the ancient manor of his family to stay with his great-grandmother over the Easter break. He barely steps through the door when he senses that something is wrong--and how horribly wrong it is: his ghost-friends, Toby, Alexander, and Linnet, have accompanied their portrait on loan-out to an exhibition, and may never return, for Mrs. Oldknow is desperate for money to make repairs to the house and has been offered a high price for the picture. Tolly resolves to search for the long-lost jewels of Maria Oldknow, the stylish wife of his 18th-century ancestor, which disappeared when the grand "new annex" of the manor burned down in a suspicious fire in 1798. Yet he soon finds that ghosts still lurk in Green Knowe--or perhaps not ghosts at all, since his blind ancestress Susan and her young black companion Jacob lived far beyond the ages at which they manifest to him. As is often the case at this house, time becomes a half-meaningless concept, past and present blend and communicate, and Mrs. Oldknow's stories of Susan and Jacob, Susan's vain and flighty mother and spoiled older brother Sefton, her young tutor Jonathan Morley (who, years later, she married), and the sinister manservant Caxton seem to draw these Georgians even closer to Now. Tolly himself finds that his modern-day actions resonate into the past and that--in one memorable sequence--he can even travel back to it and help Susan and Jacob conceal a young poacher from Caxton in a secret tunnel he has discovered. And in the end, even before those stories lead him to the hiding place of the jewels, the portrait is returned, and in a beautiful closing scene we get a hint of the possibility that Susan and Jacob may come to know Toby and his sibs as Tolly does. A worthy sequel to the first book and nearly as good.

Inside one spooky cover and rather spirited font, `Trespassing Time: Ghost Stories from the Prairie' is an assortment of exceptional stories far different from typical Halloween spook and rattling chiller. These tales are rather well written and polished. They hold a quality that soars beyond bare poltergeist; derelict halls; beguiling whispers in the cemetery; arrows of lightning in steep darkness; wind that howls dolefully then silently chuckles or floating ethereal beings in dust coated villas. Inside sharp writing are tales one could almost regard with fondness and others that swell bold enough to make one reconsider with growing intrigue the scratching on a misted window that revealed a stray kitten, matted and half-starved. Personal favorites include Geraldine A. Garretson's Dance With Me; Déjà vu by Barbara J. Baldwin; Maxie by Sheri L. McGathy and Linda Madl's One Night at Whistling Woman Creek. I am keen to read more anthologies from this prairie quartet. Notable mention extends to Forgotten But Not Gone and Fireball Faye.

Reviewed by Sherryl King-Wilds for www.fantasynovelreview.com

"Christmas at the Gates of Hell" by Linda Madl: Two girls are stranded in the dark at a haunted, old schoolhouse.

"Dance with Me" by Jerri Garretson: A brutal entity surviving in a portrait wants one last dance.

* "Griselda" by Jerri Garretson: A ghost cat reveals the gruesome secrets of a quaint house in the country.

"Déjà Vu" by Barbara J. Baldwin: The spirits of two injured children hang between life and death; only one will survive.

* "Forgotten, But Not Gone" by Sheri L. McGathy: An odd charm bracelet found in a cemetery comes with an angry spirit and much more than the finder bargained for. Bone chiller!

"Maxie" by Sheri L. McGathy: Maxie the dog is back from the dead and she is not alone.

"The Graveyard Dance" by Sheri L. McGathy: A man's visit to his childhood town brings out more than playful memories.

"The Rose" by Barbara J. Baldwin: A father/husband passes on but remains a caregiver, his memory living on in the blooming of one beautiful rose.

"Trespassing Time" by Linda Madl: An elderly gentleman reveals the mystical truth behind the Seven Cities of Cibola, the cities of gold.

* "Whisper on the Wind" by Barbara J. Baldwin: A troubled young man gets a new foster family; he also meets the family ghost, a barnstorming pilot.

"Fireball Faye" by Jerri Garretson: Faye dies in a fire and heats up the town with her deadly reappearance.

"What's a Ghost to Do?" by Sheri L. McGathy: The society of ghosts is in an uproar of comic proportions; they are under attack from a strange and invasive enemy.

* "One Night at Whistling Woman Creek" by Linda Madl: People disappear as the spirit of the prairie exacts a horrific price for the use of its lands. Bone chiller!

"Dreams of the Dead" by Barbara J. Baldwin: The dead have gotten in and are ostensibly driving a woman to madness.

"Lost in the Fog" by Jerri Garretson: A wife and husband buy a cheap though lovely home; they soon find out why the price was so low but far too late.

"Halloween at the Gates of Hell" by Linda Madl: Evil arises to possess the living.

All these stories come very well constructed with ghosties, ghoulies, and haunting aftereffects. Trespassing Time would be perfect for reading on a dark night around the campfire or on a candle-lit night at home without electricity.

The asterisks above show my favorites by each author; these stories all touched a note of compassion within me. The words bone chiller follow the stories "Forgotten, But Not Gone" by Sheri L. McGathy and "One Night at Whistling Woman Creek" by Linda Madl. These two stories scared the living hell out of me, instilling a fear I will not soon forget. Perhaps I should not advise reading either of these tales in darkness of any kind! But I do!

Trespassing Time also brings up the question "Do ghosts really exist?" The answer to that question is best left to each individual's experience or innate beliefs. As for me, I think they are out there. I just hope to never find any of the ghosts produced by the imaginations of the ladies who created this book.

Happy haunting, ladies!

If you're looking for something different, check out Trespassing Time. This collection of sixteen ghost stories has a little bit of everything. Set in the American plains, these stories include historicals that evoke the yearning for open spaces to settle, start a new life and call one's own. In contemporary stories, people both young and old question beliefs they've always held and their own perceptions of self. The stories range from the funny "What's a Ghost to Do" that explores the lighter side of today's technology's ramifications on the spirit world, to the chilling "One Night at Whistling Woman Creek" and "Lost in the Fog" that will make you check your locks, to the bittersweet "Déjà vu" and "Maxie" and the heartwarming "Whisper on the Wind." These stories aren't just for Halloween. The book opens with a holiday story in which two college coeds learn something about one's hometown and about themselves. "Dance with Me" and "Griselda" are eerie mysteries that will take you on a suspenseful ride along with their heroines until the end.

Whether you believe in ghosts or not, Trespassing Time is an entertaining read that will take you away for hours, or for short whiles here and there - and will make you ponder your own beliefs.

***** Here are sixteen ghost stories by four tantalizing authors. Barbara J. Baldwin, Jerri Garretson, Linda Madl, and Sheri L. McGathy team up to give readers thrills and chills all night long. There is even an introduction by Troy Taylor who is the founder of the American Ghost Society.

As you begin reading each tale you cannot help but wonder how it will end. Take nothing for granted! Some ghosts are nice and mean the living no harm at all. Others are pure evil and seek only the demise of the living.

The title clearly states that these haunting stories are from the prairie. However, there is no certain time line. Some are present date, others are from the past, and one is even set a couple of years in the future. No matter the time, all are set in prairies. I hope in the future to see ghost stories from the mountains, the beach, the woods, and other such places. BRAVA! Give me more! *****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

Everyone has fond memories of ghost stories, perhaps told around a campfire, or at a Halloween party. Children love to shiver with fright, knowing full well they're safe and sound and the ghosts can't *really* get them. But they grow up and discard the ghost stories and spooky tales as childish things best forgotten.

Well, get ready to shiver again. TRESPASSING TIME: GHOST STORIES FROM THE PRAIRIE is a series of ghost stories set in the plains of the Midwest, and believe me, these stories are anything but childlike. Barbara Baldwin, Jerri Garretson, Linda Madl and Sheri McGathy, four very talented authors, will have you looking over your shoulder, jumping at noises, and wondering how an abandoned schoolhouse on the prairie or a rented cottage in a tiny town can be the cause of so much terror.

The collection opens with "Christmas at the Gates of Hell" by Linda Madl which, despite its title, is a gentle, nostalgic tale of holidays on the plains. Two college girls find themselves stranded in a desolate school during a snowstorm, and like Ebenezer Scrooge, are able to witness the joy of Christmas past.

The fear is amped up a notch in Jerri Garretson's story, "Griselda." A woman begins to fear she married in haste when her new husband carries her across the threshold in a charming cottage in the middle of nowhere...and won't let her leave. And who is the ghostly face she sees looking out of an upstairs window or peeking around a doorway?

Barbara Baldwin's tale, "Deja Vu," is a plaintive tale of two small children in a coma after a bus accident...children who had always been best friends. Hand in hand, they wander through their small town alone, wondering why no one sees or hears them. Then, they hear voices calling them back...but what will happen when only one returns?

"Forgotten, But Not Gone," by Sheri McGathy, is perhaps the most frightening tale in the collection. Chloe and her boyfriend Matt find an old charm bracelet when exploring an ancient cemetery next to their high school. Chloe feels an instant affinity for the bracelet, yet she can't shake the feeling that the pale, bedraggled, mud-streaked woman she sees in her dreams and waking hours wants something from her...something Chloe doesn't want to give.

If you're looking for scary, well-written ghost stories set in an unusual, fresh location, look no further. TRESPASSING TIME: GHOST STORIES FROM THE PRAIRIE will have you sleeping with the light on for weeks! Don't say I didn't warn you.

Reviewed by: Elizabeth Delisi for Word Museum, (...)

As the author/editor of Unnatural Phenomena, I apologize for the immodest five stars. Unfortunately, Amazon won't accept a submission without a rating, and what the hell, I am fond of the book. It is among my own favorites of the ones I have written. This is not being written, however, to praise my own efforts but to correct some serious misinformation in T. Christopher Smith's review.

First of all, the book is not self-published. As Smith could easily have determined, ABC-CLIO is a successful, highly regarded publisher of reference books for libraries and the academic market. I am somewhere between stunned and perplexed by this sentence: "But remember, [Clark] is the one setting the price tag, not the retailer." Where in the world could Smith have gotten this impression? The retailer had everything to do with setting the price, and the author precisely nothing. Then Smith follows a baseless claim with a malicious charge, based apparently in mind reading with faulty reception, that "money now seems to be [the author's] only motivation." What did I do to deserve this?

As Smith would have learned with even the most minimal research, reference books are very expensive. I wish they weren't, but I have no say in the matter. If I had had some say in the matter, I would have liked Unnatural Phenomena to be a trade paperback, selling in the $15-17 range, so that just about everybody who wanted to read it could afford it.

I'm glad that you liked the book, Mr. Smith, but next time you feel the compulsion to throw around nasty charges, you would be better advised to make sure you know what you're talking about.

This is a wonderful reference book full of material that will inform much future research.

Such books are made for libraries, most often, and have high prices due to the time it takes to comply them, their length, the amount of time to edit and produce them, and more. A criticism of the price from someone that borrowed one from a friend seems immature to the extreme and should be removed from consideration as a valid critique.

Buy it if you have the money. But please, don't whine if you don't.

Clark and ABC-CLIO have rendered a priceless service to Fortean readers and researchers alike with this collection of 645 entries spanning the years from 1729 to 1935. The vast majority are verbatim quotations of newspaper stories commonly cited only in footnotes by other authors (or with excerpts taken out of context, frequently misquoted). Every library should own a copy of this book, and no serious researcher or would-be writer on Fortean subjects will begrudge its cost.

North America has seen some of the strangest natural phenomena in the world: some accounts yet to be proven and possibly fantasy; others well researched, documented science. UNNATURAL PHENOMENA: A GUIDE TO THE BIZARRE WONDERS OF NORTH AMERICA is a compendium of the former of these eyewitness accounts, gathering findings and events from the last 200 years that keep defying rational explanations, from strange lights and sky battles to sea monsters and huge flying starfish ghosts. Each documented sighting includes a description and a dated source reference. This could've been reviewed under 'New Age' but many a science student will find it fascinating, and not to be missed.

Not really organized like a traditional book this is really a collection of newspaper and magazine articles from the early 1800's through the mid-1900's. The original articles are repeated verbatim complete with comments, misspellings, and colloquial word usage. I found this to be one of the endearing qualities of the book. The author takes a very broad look at unnatural phenomena and includes everything from strange things falling from the sky, to strange apparitions, animals, visions, and just about anything else you can think of that has been reported over the last two hundred years. While it is interesting reading it is not a book that I would suggest if you are looking to do a serious study of strange phenomena. On the other hand, if you are just looking for some light reading and a collection of incidents as reported by the media you will probably find this an entertaining read. The articles are all arranged by state instead of by type of phenomena so it is easy to look through your state and see what has been reported over the years. Unnatural Phenomena: A Guide to the Bizarre Wonders of North America is a recommended read for anyone interested in this subject or light enough reading for the merely curious.

How does one review the contents of this book? It's hardly possible to draw on experience. They text is so extraordinary, that the reader is placed in a dilemma. Does he accept it at face value? If he does, then he really has to change the way he lives his life. Does he dismiss it as a fantasy? Possibly. Or perhaps the truth is somehwere in the middle? My intuition leads me to think that most, not all, of this book is bona fide. I wish there was more reading material of this quality on this subject. Reminds a little of the Robin William's movie "What dreams may come."

This review refers to the Lulu Press edition, which can be found by searching for ISBN 1411687183. From the back cover:

A classic true story of the afterlife, and of a love that flourishes beyond the grave. Written through the psychic medium A. Farnese in 1896, Wanderer is the true autobiography of Franchezzo, an Italian socialite who squanders his life on "wine, women and song." After an untimely death, he finds his spirit wandering in one of the dark lower worlds, alone and hopeless except for continued messages of love his young wife sends him through her prayers. Moved by the constancy of her devotion, he sets out to redeem himself by trying to help other lost souls, a mission which takes him into the lowest hells of the astral realm. Through his journey, there unfolds a remarkably lucid account of the different levels of the spirit realm, and the great brotherhoods of light who work there. Esoteric students have long regarded Wanderer as one of the clearest, most accurate descriptions of the spirit realms and the life that awaits us on the other side.

This edition contains an introduction by me describing the Spiritualist Movement out of which this story emerged.

--John Van Horne, author The Soul and the Ascension

I would suggest you read " Life in The World Unseen" by Anthony Borgia and compare the accounts yourself. It is amazing !!
The book gives you one of the best descriptions of the actual "passing" and encounters on the other side, struggles in realization that you have died and hope, once you realized you are gone, to move on and live in the world with totally different laws which most of us feel is true after all. I hope you will enjoy this book as much as I did. Thank you.

An excellent book and very easy to read. There are many published books on this subject, but most of them 'do not have clue' as to what life in the Universe as a soul spirit is really like. This book tells it 'like it is', it's a continual process. WE DO NOT DIE, this book describes WHERE WE GO and HOW WE LIVE until the time we are ready for rebirth to another body and continue our paths. The other reviews about this book are 'right on'. Even if you are not interested in life-after-death, I would recommend you read it!

I read this book a couple of years ago and am in the process of rereading it. This book is absolutely amazing. A lot of questions I had concerning life after death were answered in this book. You are responsible for your actions here, and how you live in the present moment determines your future, or should I say, the hereafter. Death is not the end but the beginning of spirit. If you have any questions concerning death, I suggest you pick up this book and read it.

There once was a girl who had a little curl...

Parents-to-be Jason and Paige Bennett leave their city apartment in New York and head upstate for rural tranquility after Paige fends off a would-be purse snatcher. Their life together planning for their child appears to be smooth and idyllic until...

Until they meet 11-year-old Lily. Found cowering in the rural house they are staying in, the Bennetts take her in. Charmed by her little-girl demeanor, Paige feels her maternal instincts kicking in. Delighted to have a child in the house, Paige cleans Lily up; buys her clothes and enrolls her in a local public school.

Problems with Lily soon crop up. She chops off a classmate's braid; she steals things and is notorious for doing sneaky little things to get others into trouble. She nearly causes a marriage to dissolve. Encouraged by the school to get counseling for the girl, the Bennetts have her evaluated and seen regularly by a specialist who has her own series of problems. One of those problems is an infirm father whom Lily takes an unusual interest in. Like her natural father, Lily scorns weakness and to her, the doctor's father represents all she cannot abide.

Where did Lily REALLY come from? And what could she possibly want from the Bennetts? Is she sinister or innocent? And what of the aunt she never mentions?

This power packed book will certainly keep readers wanting more. I highly recommend this one.

Wow, where to even begin? When I read the back cover of the summary of what's it going to be about, I never expected what I found out at the end. This is book is definitely a "must read". I finished it on the day I start, that's how good it is. I sometimes thought, why wasn't there a red flag for Paige when she got hit in the head that night in the woods; and the constant swearing? I'm almost 16, and to think someone can come insane of mere 11 is interesting. Gloria really described each character well. You could just feel the frustration on Jason. Very chilling, yet fast-pace story.

" A WHISPER IN THE ATTIC" was a on the egde of my bed, flashlight thriller. I loved the book so much i read it a second time just to get that thrill again. Gloria Murphy really made that little girl, look so sweet. Then just when the book peek the the little girl was a crazy murder. That caught me off guard, and that's what was so thrilling about it. "GREAT BOOK GLORIA GREAT"

Although the ending did not really come as too much of a surprise for me (I had guessed it about halfway through), this thriller remains a well-written piece of work that I kept thinking to myself would work pretty well on screen.

Not a bad read at all if you have nothing particularly interesting to do over the weekend.

I THINK THAT GLORIA MURPHY SHOULD BE AUTHOR THE YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It takes a very sharp author to write this type of book. The hero and heroine are thrown back in time after a night of dazzling sex, and the hero is possessed by his ancestor's ghost. The scenes between Paul (the hero) and Sam (the ghost) are hilarious, and the romance just sizzles all the way through. I'll be looking for more of Ms. Stover's books.

I searched months for this book after hearing so much about it, and it was worth the effort. It takes a brilliant writer to interweave such complex issues and characters. I'm now searching for all this author's books and have ordered her newest. Wonderful, sexy read

This is one of the most outrageous and delightful books I've ever read. The heroine's ex's divorce attorney as the hero? Oh, but does he ever get what's coming to him. This is a must read, and secondary character Sam Weathers is one of those cowboys who fills the room. And my dreams. This book sssssssssizzles.

Wahoo! Take a modern-day divorce attorney, put him in a houseboat with one client's ex-wife, throw them back in time, and you won't believe what happens next. This book had me laughing from the beginning. It's fast, funny, sexy, and one of the best time-travels I've ever read. The character of Sam (the "Willing Spirit") deserves a book of his own. Read this book!!!

A Willing Spirit is aptly named, because the hero can't make a move unless the Spirit is willing. The spirit in this case is the hero's great-great-grandfather. Paul Weathers and Winnie Sinclair end up on the same houseboat in present-day Oklahoma, where a violent storm throws them both back in time to 1896 Indian Territory. Problem is, while Winnie is sexually attracted to Paul, she has a slight problem with him. See, he was her ex-husband's divorce attorney! The sexual attraction is mutual--and how!--but being thrown back in time sort of gets in the way. Paul witnesses his great-great-grandfather's murder, and then the dead man decides to borrow his descendant's body to hunt down his killer. Winnie thinks Paul is just nuts, and all she wants is to return to her own time. This book is laugh out loud funny. Don't read it in public unless you don't mind staring, because you will laugh and laugh and laugh. And blush in places, too.... Outstanding read!

'The Wine Dark Sea' is a fabulous collection by an unjustly neglected author. Robert Aickman writes stories unparalleled by any other writer. It's not hyperbole to call him the finest spooky story writer of the 20th century.

This particular collection, published several years after Aickman's death, gathers together several of his later stories. My favorite story is the eerie 'The Wine-Dark Sea' which tells the tale of a vacationer in Greece who, against the admonishments of his Greek hosts, takes a boat out to a deserted island. Once there he finds three exotic women who claim to be sorceresses. What follows is a magnificent story of magic, love, and betrayal. Quite simply one of the finest novellas I've ever read.

The rest of the stories in the collection are all fine reading, but none approaches the level of the title story. Of particular note is 'The Trains', the creepy story of two girls bumming through Europe who stumble across a mansion with a mysterious past.

As a previous reviewer noted, Aickman's stories aren't easy to read. You get the most out of an Aickman story if you go slowly, read every word, and occasionally re-read paragraphs. This method, combined with his lengthy stories, means that one story can take you up to an hour to read. It's a lengthy process, but the stories are worth it.

I'm only exaggerating a little when I say that it's a tragedy Aickman's stories are out-of-print. There was a very ..., complete collection released in the UK in 2000, but that doesn't help us Americans!

What the other reviewers say is true. Aickman's stories are painstakingly crafted, or at least appear that way, to maximize a feeling of subtle dread and darkness. There is rarely blood or death, but horror is always lurking, in these and other more poignant forms, just beyond the periphery. The titular story is indeed excellent, but I'm partial to the gloomier "The Trains", "Your Tiny Hand is Frozen" (which actually raised goosebumps once or twice), "Into the Wood", and "The Stains".

Highly recommended for horror enthusiasts and non-enthusiasts alike. These are just great stories!

I strongly recommend the sadly hard-to-find fiction of Robert Aickman to ghost story aficionados, lovers of British literature, horror fiction readers willing to try something different and challenging, or just lovers of the short story form. Aickman's compelling, beautifully written, dreamlike stories are often puzzling, always atmospheric, and generally extremely memorable. The title story, a "strange story" (as the author liked to call his fiction) of a British tourist who journeys to a very strange Mediterranean island and meets three even stranger women, is typical of Aickman's bizarre, unsettling fiction. These stories are among his most accessible (although some readers will still undoubtedly find them opaque). If you are willing to risk being confused, Aickman's fiction is well worth your time. If you ever come across a copy of his first novel "The Late Breakfasters," which I don't believe has ever been published in this country, I would recommend that book perhaps even more highly.

This is the only book entirely by Aikman I have, and it has given me enormous pleasure. The title story is my favourite, though "The Trains" (I think that's the title - book is not to hand)was delightfully unsettling. Aikman, similar to Blackwood, weaves an atmosphere that surrounds the reader all too snugly, making the impact of each occurrence in a tale similar to having the wind knocked gently out of oneself. I first met RA in an anthology of 'ghost' stories, his selection being "The Hospice". Not a true horror story per se, but discomfitting, with a lasting, lingering impression which is still with me. Based on that reading, I've been collecting what I can find of his since. Nothing personal, but with Stephan King hardcovers on the remainder tables (and everywhere else!), it is a shame that this master of the "strange story" should be allowed to go out of print! Find him if you can, and settle in for a memorable and probably disquieting reading experience.

Enjoy!

Robert Aickman's "strange stories" are far from the usual horror fare, and readers who prefer straightforward, no-nonsense spectres are well-advised to steer clear of Aickman's work. But if you are a fan of the beautifully-crafted supernatural stories of Henry James and/or Walter de la Mare, Aickman will be *essential* reading for you. At his best, his stories are small masterpieces of the uncanny that are all the more disturbing because it's often not entirely clear what has happened. *The Wine Dark Sea* is an excellent collection, which brings together a number of Aickman's most evocative tales. Try "The Inner Room" if you're skeptical--if it doesn't work for you, then Aickman may not be your cup of tea. Some of the stories in this volume are a bit uncharacteristically direct--"The Fetch and "Never Visit Venice" for example--but even they have layers of multiple meaning that make them very rich and rewarding reading. ...................... so don't give up on finding some of the stories of this great and sadly under-appreciated master of the supernatural story.

Very original! As an avid reader (as in, I'm NEVER without at least one book I'm reading), I settled down to read this, not expecting anything more complicated than a basic Faust-ian plot. I was happily surprised. This has a good bit of very original plot twists. Quite often, when I was guessing what was around the next corner, I was wrong. And that doesn't happen very often anymore. I recommend this and (even more), the second book in the series - Witness:The Black Volume.

Hello - I am Jackie Coupe the writer of the above novel.
It was initially released in July of last year as a white jacketed book - you can probably still see it listed here.
You can see some the reviews against that edition and they are very complimentary.
The five stars you see are based on those reviews.
It has been re-released with vigour by a new publisher and is here for the first time as an electronic download also.
I am however not going to promise you and easy ride, not with Black Volume on it's way so soon now.
If you are going to get caught in the Witness storm and ebooks are what you prefer get your hands on yours now.
I promise you a chilling time.
For further news and reviews you can access my profile that advises of my webpage, tell me what YOU think.
Your the ones buying the books!

Thank you
Jackie Coupe

i dont usually bother with this type of thing but i will tell you i realy enjoyed this book

but dont take my word for it...

I haven't read anything as different as this for a long time
I've enjoyed it's difference and originality
I would really recommend to Stephen King fans and followers of Shaun Hutson etc
I would say to you read this if you only read one book a year,
treat yourself!
But be warned, its a bit gory!!!
enjoy and well done...

This but has endless twists turns with a grafic nature in discribing the actions of the lead player,demons whispering in your ear, tugging at your very soul,the story aims around whats starts off as an average family,but one by one people start dissapearing ,and death knocks some on this poor guys door, you almost feel sorry for him,james the main player, a normal everyday person.

i enjoyed every min of this book because in a strange way you can relate to it