New Books and Media

From the back cover: Weirdly Queer is a narrative examination of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer sexual minorities found throughout the long history of fringe research into unexplained phenomena. From the foundations of the Society for Psychical Research and sexually-charged Spiritualist mediums to lesbian alien abductee reports, sodomizing cryptids, and queer Hippie witches, the truly queer stories of our puzzling, profound, and amazing world have hidden in plain view, waiting to be retold. This trailblazing journey uncovers a world where genders stretch beyond the confines of biology and the real monsters are buried in the closets of humankind’s darker side.

From the publisher's website: This large-scale international investigation into spontaneous After-Death Communications (ADCs) reveals the circumstances, nature and consequences of these beautiful and consoling experiences. You will discover the powerful beneficial impact of these deeply meaningful contacts, allegedly initiated by the deceased towards their loved ones.

Further information at the publisher's website: Iff Books.

Review by Gregory M. Westlake

From the publisher's website: In the year 1900, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was at the height of his success as a qualified doctor, keen sportsman, writer of historical novels, champion of the oppressed and, most notably, the creator of that honourable, fearless, and eminently sensible master-detective Sherlock Holmes.

Every new Holmes story was greeted with great anticipation and confidence in the knowledge that, however complex the crime, the supremely intelligent and logical detective would solve it. But in 1916 Conan Doyle surprised his readers by declaring that he believed in spiritualism. And when, in 1922, Doyle published a book in which he professed to believe in fairies, his devotees were nonplussed. How could the creator of the inexorably logical Sherlock Holmes claim to believe in something as vague, esoteric, and unproven as the paranormal?

In this fascinating study of the life of the creator of one of the greatest detectives of all time, Dr Andrew Norman traces the origin of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s strange beliefs. Can it be that Doyle’s alcoholic father holds the key to the unanswered questions about his son? What was Doyle’s involvement in the notorious ‘Cottingley Fairies’ affair?

By delving into medical records and the writings of Doyle himself, Dr Norman unravels a mystery as exciting as any of the cases embarked upon by the great Sherlock Holmes!

Further information at the publisher's website: White Owl.

This is a reprint of Arthur Conan Doyle: Beyond Sherlock Holmes

From the publisher's website: Historically, children’s inexplicable experiences -- from telepathy and conversing with deceased relatives to out-of-body- or near-death experiences, and more -- have been theorised through traditional scientific lenses that may not have the explanatory power to account for such experiences. In Children’s Unexplained Experiences in a Post Materialist World, Donna Thomas shares research that she and other scholars, past and present, have conducted with children and young people across the world.

Further information at the publisher's website: Essentia Books

Review by Athena A. Drewes.

From the publisher's website: Following Robert A. Charman’s previous book Telepathy, Clairvoyance, and Precognition, The Psi Mind in Action explores the extraordinary powers of the human mind in interacting with the physical world in the form of hands-on and distant healing, psychokinesis, poltergeist activity, clairvoyant map dowsing and more.

Further information at the publisher's website: White Crow Books.

Review by Robert McLuhan.

From the publisher's website: The Great War haunted the British Empire. Shell shocked soldiers relived the war's trauma through waking nightmares consisting of mutilated and grotesque figures. Modernist writers released memoirs condemning the war as a profane and disenchanting experience. Yet British and Dominion soldiers and their families also read prophecies about the coming new millennium, experimented with séances, and claimed to see the ghosts of their loved ones in dreams and in photographs. On the battlefields, they had premonitions and attributed their survival to angelic, psychic, or spiritual forces. For many, the war was an enchanting experience that offered proof of another world and the transcendental properties of the mind. Between 1914 and 1939, an array of ghosts lived in the minds of British subjects as they navigated the shocking toll that death in modern war exerted in their communities.

Further information at the publisher's website: Manchester University Press

From the publisher's website: Friedel’s Conversations with the Dead is the story of the Swedish painter and opera singer Friedrich Jürgenson, who pioneered the discovery of Electronic Voice Phenomena, in which deceased people appear to be able to make contact with the physical world utilising electronic devices such as radios, tape recorders, computers and televisions.

Further information at the publisher's website: White Crow Books.

Review by Edgar E Müller.

From the publisher's website: In the spring of 1983, a thirteen-year-old Polish schoolgirl named Joasia Gajewski suddenly began to exhibit astounding paranormal abilities (often beyond her conscious control) that mystified and frightened the people around her. The inexplicable, often destructive psychokinetic effects she randomly generated (even in her sleep!) met with disbelief, exasperation, and superstitious fear. Attempts by local authorities to ascribe these puzzling events to physical causes (settling of walls, geopathic anomalies, etc.) proved superficial and unsatisfactory. Eventually Joasia's plight caught the attention of several courageous, open-minded Polish scientists. Over a period of forty months, they administered tests and conducted numerous experiments with her under controlled laboratory conditions. Their detailed studies, though ultimately inconclusive, did succeed in confirming the girl's remarkable powers, which she continued to manifest long after the end of puberty-a singular case in the annals of parapsychology.

Further information at the publisher's website: Anomalist Books.

From the back cover: Sitting back in a comfortable armchair.Eyes covered by goggles such that only a diffused red haze is visible. Ears covered by headphones playing static noise. In this audio-visual fog, is it possible that the faint telepathic signal from another person can be detected? Since the 1970s researchers around the world have been trying to answer that question. This is the story of their work. Their theories, their failings and their one-in-a-million successes.

Review by Nemo C. Mörck.

From the publisher's website: Trauma and the Supernatural in Psychotherapy explores how traumatic experience interacts with unconscious phantasy based in folklore, the supernatural, and the occult.

Drawing upon psychoanalysis, anthropology, the arts, and esoteric philosophy, Alex Monk presents examples from folklore and literature to enrich his case illustrations which offer therapists important clinical perspectives on ways of working with clients who feel cursed and repeatedly manifest self-sabotaging states. The book examines the challenges that can arise when working with this client population and illustrates how to work through them while navigating potent transferences and projective identifications. Monk illustrates the way in which clients with developmental trauma may experience the supernatural and its psychic representatives as persecutory and/or a source of empowerment and healing. Trauma and the Supernatural in Psychotherapy also considers the historically conflicted relationship between psychoanalysis and the supernatural and proposes treatment perspectives which are not implicitly dependent upon a materialist paradigm.

This book will be of great interest to psychotherapists and counsellors who have an interest in clinical work concerning the connection of relational trauma to unconscious forms of communication and uncanny phenomena arising between therapist and client.

Further information at the publisher's website Routledge. 

From the back cover: Discover the legacies of some of the most influential women in the paranormal field. If you’re looking for a celebration of women throughout the history of parapsychology, folklore, and psychical research, then look no further! This book is for you! Sharing the stories of over 35 groundbreaking women in a male-dominated field, paranormal researcher Alex Matsuo excavates the buried legacies of women in the paranormal who were often overshadowed and almost forgotten. From paranormal investigators to parapsychologists to psychic mediums to cryptozoologists, you’ll discover an incredible world where women not only inspired the paranormal world, but set the very foundation for modern-day investigation and psychic practices.