Tempest Michaels does not believe in the paranormal, so why does he investigate it for a living? Because a typo in his advert landed him the job and clients started calling before he could get it changed. There is no paranormal of course, so Tempest spends much of his time patiently pointing out that Grandma Rita isn't a witch, she is just ugly or that it is not a ghost disturbing your sleep, you have terrible flatulence. However, following a spate of violent deaths with vampiric characteristics the police are getting nowhere and Tempest feels that solving the mystery falls into his job description. This would be enough motivation, but when the alluring PC Amanda Harper AKA PC Hotstuff asks for his help the lonely voice from his pants demands he do all he can to solve the case, find the killer and win a one-way trip to her knickers. Aided by his friends, encumbered by his mother (Why are there no Grandchildren, Tempest?), advised by a clearly deluded occult book shop owner and surrounded on all sides by beautiful women who just want to be friends, Tempest soon finds himself up to his eyeballs in wannabe vampires who want to kill him while simultaneously investigating reports of a Big Foot terrorising the local countryside and dealing with a pesky Poltergeist.It will get worse before it gets better and all he really wants is a date with an attractive woman.

The paranormal? It's all nonsense but proving it might just get them all killed. When a master vampire starts killing people in his hometown, paranormal investigator, Tempest Michaels, takes it personally ... ... and soon a race against time turns into a battle for his life. He doesn't believe in the paranormal but has a steady stream of clients with cases too weird for the police to bother with. Mostly it's all nonsense, but when a third victim turns up with bite marks in her lifeless throat, can he really dismiss the possibility that this time the monster is real? Joined by an ex-army buddy, a disillusioned cop, his friends from the pub, his dogs, and his mother (why are there no grandchildren, Tempest), our paranormal investigator is going to stop the murders if it kills him ... ... but when his probing draws the creature's attention, his family and friends become the hunted. 'Steve Higgs can be counted on to keep you amused, with vivid imagination, characters you can sink your teeth into, plenty of action, and delicious snark.' If you are a fan of fast-paced paranormal thrillers, then this urban fantasy series is sure to please.

"Religion, Supernaturalism, the Paranormal, and Pseudoscience" provides a comprehensive rejoinder to the challenges posed to science, scientific anthropology, evolutionary theory and rationality by the advocates of supernatural, paranormal, and pseudoscientific perspectives and modes of thought associated with the current rise of irrationalism, antiintellectualism, and emboldened religious fundamentalism and violence. Drawing upon H. Sidky’s scientific anthropological background and ethnographic field research of supernatural and paranormal beliefs and practices in several cultures over three decades, the book answers several important questions: Why do humans have a proclivity for the supernatural and paranormal thinking? Why has humanity remained shackled to sets of ideas inherited from a violent past that have no basis in reality and which bestow an illusionary solace, promote bloodshed, endless cruelties and fervent hatreds, and have come at a high cost? Why have ancient superstitions been held as sacred, inviolate truths while other aspects of the archaic belief systems of which they were a part have long been discarded? Why have not humans outgrown religion and paranormal beliefs?

Ally Carter’s megabestselling Gallagher Girls series meets Veronica Mars with a paranormal twist when Jillian Cade’s (fake!) private eye service unearths far more than she bargained for. Jillian Cade doesn’t believe in the paranormal, unlike her famous father, a professor and expert on the occult. Ever since he abandoned her to travel the world for “research,” she’s milked his reputation—and all the suckers who believe in the stuff—by taking over his private investigation firm. After all, a high school junior has to take care of herself, especially when she’s on her own. Ironically, it’s when she takes on a case that might involve a totally non-paranormal missing person that things get strange. Particularly when Sky Ramsey—a new boy at school who insists on becoming her partner—won’t shut up about succubi, of all things. As they investigate, Jillian is surprised by her feelings for Sky, which threaten to derail the investigation. But that surprise is no match for the shock of learning that there may be something to Sky’s succubi obsession after all.

Recent polls suggest that fewer than 40 percent of Americans believe in Darwin’s theory of evolution, despite it being one of science’s best-established findings. Parents still refuse to vaccinate their children for fear it causes autism, though this link has been consistently disproved. And about 40 percent of Americans believe that the threat of global warming is exaggerated, including many political leaders. In this era of fake news and alternative facts, there is more bunk than ever. But why do people believe in it? And what causes them to embrace such pseudoscientific beliefs and practices? In this fully revised second edition, noted skeptic Massimo Pigliucci sets out to separate the fact from the fantasy in an entertaining exploration of the nature of science, the borderlands of fringe science, and—borrowing a famous phrase from philosopher Jeremy Bentham—the nonsense on stilts. Presenting case studies on a number of controversial topics, Pigliucci cuts through the ambiguity surrounding science to look more closely at how science is conducted, how it is disseminated, how it is interpreted, and what it means to our society. The result is in many ways a “taxonomy of bunk” that explores the intersection of science and culture at large. No one—neither the public intellectuals in the culture wars between defenders and detractors of science nor the believers of pseudoscience themselves—is spared Pigliucci’s incisive analysis in this timely reminder of the need to maintain a line between expertise and assumption. Broad in scope and implication, Nonsense on Stilts is a captivating guide for the intelligent citizen who wishes to make up her own mind while navigating the perilous debates that will shape the future of our planet.

This novel is loosely based on my real life but not 100% entirely. This is a book that I am hoping will make readers more confident about themselves and their own lives. The novel focuses on mental illness, drug addiction, suicide, and love. There is a lot of explicit language used throughout most of the novel as well as focusing on the topic of mental illness, loss of loved ones and the genuine struggle of living life as a human on planet Earth. This novel represents various struggles that I and other people deal with throughout day to day life. I’m hoping this book will be able to help those who struggle with mental illness, drug addiction, and loss of loved ones via suicide as well as religious confusion. It’s a dark read, but it has a fairly light, and happy ending.

The lives of three strangers interconnect in unforeseen ways–and with unexpected consequences–in acclaimed author Dan Chaon’s gripping, brilliantly written new novel. Longing to get on with his life, Miles Cheshire nevertheless can’t stop searching for his troubled twin brother, Hayden, who has been missing for ten years. Hayden has covered his tracks skillfully, moving stealthily from place to place, managing along the way to hold down various jobs and seem, to the people he meets, entirely normal. But some version of the truth is always concealed. A few days after graduating from high school, Lucy Lattimore sneaks away from the small town of Pompey, Ohio, with her charismatic former history teacher. They arrive in Nebraska, in the middle of nowhere, at a long-deserted motel next to a dried-up reservoir, to figure out the next move on their path to a new life. But soon Lucy begins to feel quietly uneasy. My whole life is a lie, thinks Ryan Schuyler, who has recently learned some shocking news. In response, he walks off the Northwestern University campus, hops on a bus, and breaks loose from his existence, which suddenly seems abstract and tenuous. Presumed dead, Ryan decides to remake himself–through unconventional and precarious means. Await Your Reply is a literary masterwork with the momentum of a thriller, an unforgettable novel in which pasts are invented and reinvented and the future is both seductively uncharted and perilously unmoored.