One person has been chosen the winner in the Spooktacular Halloween giveaway!
Congratulations to:
Please contact me with your mailing address by Friday, November 15, 2013 to claim your prize.
Thank you to all who participated and left comments!
In the spirit of everyone’s favorite scary holiday, loosely based on Pagan rituals and gifts to spirits that somehow evolved into a candy filled day of wearing costumes (not that anyone’s complaining), I figured we at the blog should do a Halloween-themed giveaway! As some of you may remember, I previously reviewed two books by Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson, of Ghost Hunters fame (you can read the reviews here and here!) Now they’re back with another work, Ghost Town! It’s their second fictional work, with the first being Ghost Trackers. The ghost hunters Amber, Drew, and Trevor are back in Ghost Town, this time taking place in Exeter, which has the distinction of being “the most haunted town in America.” They encounter an uprising of the town’s normally quiet ghost population, which is further exacerbated by the ghost of one of their former teammates, who died years prior and has returned to complicate matters. It will take all their strength and skill to put these ghosts back in their place and deal with their past at the same time.
So, if this sounds up your alley, leave a comment below telling us about your favorite part of Halloween. Or, let us know what you’re going to dress up as!
Giveaway – Special thanks to Gallery Books for our giveaway copy!
One lucky winner will have the opportunity to win a paperback copy of Ghost Town by Jason Hawes, Grant Wilson, and Tim Waggoner! For your chance to win simply leave a comment below. Comments will be accepted through midnight of Thursday, November 7th, 2013. A winner will be picked at random and announced on Friday, November 8th, 2013. Open to US residents only. Good luck!
One person has been chosen in the Ghost Files Giveaway!
Congratulations to: Rochelle who left a comment on December 13th for being the lucky winner!!
Please contact me with your mailing address by Saturday, December 17, 2011 to claim your prize. Shipment is to the US and Canada only.
Thank you to all who participated and left comments!
After being introduced to The Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS) via Ghost Trackers, I was interested to see the nonfiction side of Jason and Grant as they traveled across New England and beyond in search of anything paranormal. Consisting of a detailed description of some of their more memorable cases, Jason and Grant have compiled two of their previous books: Ghost Hunting and Seeking Spirits, into one volume, Ghost Files. Additionally, they’ve also added some personal insights into their own experiences with the paranormal, as well as their takes on what it means to research these perceived hauntings.
Both novels are written in a similar format: descriptions of memorable cases interjected periodically with tips and tricks that Grant and Jason use when they’re on a case, or explanations of various technical portions of their occupation. At the end of each book, Jason offers a conclusion that recaps his feelings on various hauntings, as well as predictions on the future of TAPS. At the very end of Ghost Files, Grant and Jason offer a glossary of terms commonly used in the work, as well as a guide to amateur paranormal researchers on the basics of the trade. As a whole, the work is part documentary, part guidebook, mixing the two together in order to show both the entertaining and scientific sides of paranormal research. Jason especially places an emphasis of the scientific method in their research, highlighting its importance in what they do.
Ghost Files was both entertaining and enlightening. It was really interesting to see how much TAPS has grown since its inception, and the length the group will go to find the source of paranormal activity on each case. The care that they treat the individuals with, even in cases where they are being intentionally mislead (as was the case some times), is admirable and shows Grant and Jason’s dedication. I especially enjoyed the parts of the book in which they discuss how they approach each case scientifically. As a scientist myself, I definitely agree that this is the best way to tackle these sorts of phenomena, and it gives them a steady set of data that they can look back on to make observations. Overall, this dedication, coupled with an entertaining set of some of their best cases, makes this book a fun and quick read. For anyone new to TAPS, this is a good primer on their organization and it is definitely worth a look!
4 out of 5 Stars
Giveaway
One lucky winner will have the opportunity to win a copy of Ghost Files by Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson. For your chance to win simply leave a comment in the thread below. Comments will be accepted through midnight of Tuesday, December 13, 2011. Winner will be picked at random and announced on Wednesday, December 14, 2011. Giveaway open to residents of US and Canada only. Good luck!
One person has been chosen in the Ghost Trackers Giveaway!
Congratulations to: Sheri Orlosky who left a comment on November 23rd for being the lucky winner!!
Please contact me with your mailing address by Saturday, December 3, 2011 to claim your prize. Shipment is to the US and Canada only.
Thank you to all who participated and left comments!
What do you think of when you think of high school reunions? Bad music, bad food, and hazy memories blurred by alcohol? Well, what if instead of these things you get to encounter mind-altering illusions that you have no control over? Such is the case for Amber, Drew, and Trevor, the main characters in Hawes and Wilson’s fictitious tale of paranormal terror and mystery, Ghost Trackers.
We open the book by being introduced to Amber, Drew, and Trevor, three friends that have been reunited after many years through their 15 year high school reunion. Amber convinces the two men to attend the reunion after speaking with their old pseudo friend Greg, who hung around the fringes of their friendship during their high school years. Surprised to hear from him, Amber is taken aback by his suggestion to attend the reunion, but finds herself oddly compelled to make Drew and Trevor go. Odd feelings are nothing new to Amber, however, as she suffers from persistent nightmares that lead her to placate her existence via prescription drugs. Additionally, all three friends share another secret: they all have large portions of their memories from high school missing. Amateur ghost hunters at the time, they spent much of their time chasing down tales of the paranormal. Their most spectacular case involved a local home that was long rumored to be filled with negative energy. When the three were younger, the man living there killed his wife and two children in a night of delusional horror. Many years later when they were in high school, they entered the house to investigate the suspected hauntings, yet all they remembered was ending up on the front lawn with minor burns as the home burned to the ground in front of them. Now, as they attend the reunion weekend and attempt to piece together their pasts, they are shocked to find themselves at the scenes of two deaths of their classmates. Who will wind up dead next? Is there something more to Greg? Will they ever get their memories back?
As a disclaimer I have to say I’m not all that familiar with the paranormal and the genre that surrounds it, but I did find this book both interesting and enlightening. I’ve never really had an opinion of the subject of ghosts; that is to say that I’ve always thought that they could exist, but I had yet to see one or definitively know that one was there. The closest I’ve been was in my old apartment, before I moved in with Kim, that definitely had something odd going on. I used to catch odd motions out of the corner of my eye when I was alone, and I often felt a chill in the bathroom when I was doing laundry. As a man of science myself, I didn’t jump to conclusions. I prefer hard evidence and data over conjecture. However, that aside, I learned a bit about how paranormal activities work with this story. You can tell that the writers have years of experience in investigating these matters, and they draw on this experience to create a good story. Despite this, I sometimes felt that the plot dragged slightly. I felt at times that the authors attempted to mold the story around a defined set of psychotic states that the different characters experience. These psychotic states were amazingly well written, and they made my hair stand on end. However, the bridging plot between these series sometimes seemed a bit thin and not as well written as the smaller sub-stories.
Apart from this detraction, I have to commend the authors on a great job creativity-wise. The idea of psychotic mind control is not new, yet they put a fresh spin on the tale that made it seem real, like it could happen to any vulnerable person out to enjoy their 15th high school reunion. The crisp details of the delusions and the crazed actions of the characters in them definitely drew me in. If you enjoy a good paranormal tale that will leave you doubting your own imagination, look no further than this book!
3 out of 5 Stars
Reflections of a Book Addict 