“Go then, there are other worlds than these.” -Stephen King, ‘The Gunslinger'(1982).
What is it about the supernatural world that draws us in? Perhaps it’s the idea that life can be different than it seems. Not necessarily as a rejection to what is, but rather, a desire or longing for something more.
Most of us have a personal tale of an unusual experience we can’t explain. Perhaps you’ve dreamt of a loved one coming to visit you after they passed away? Ever watch a dog or cat looking around the room, tracking something invisible, their bodies vibrating and alert? Or how about when little kids play; they are completely interacting with the environment, talking away… to… themselves?
I used to be one of those people who would say “I have to see it to believe it.”
In school, we are taught the process for quantifying data is to confirm something after we cut into, measure, and observe it. It makes sense why our minds cling to that visceral-confirmation-process when we are trying to leap from hypothesis to fact.
Then quantum physics came along, and kicked Newtonian physics’ butt.
It turns out that only one percent of matter is something we can see, taste, smell, hear, or feel. Most of reality exists beyond our very limited five-senses.
Find that hard to believe?
Consider that the air between you and this screen is not actually empty. If you are reading this on your cell phone, it’s receiving cellular transmissions. Wi-fi is radio waves that bring information to your PC via frequencies which transmit information between your device and a router. Those waves are right in front of your face, right now, and yet, we cannot see them.
In terms of the full light spectrum, humans are pretty much as blind as bats. Animals have far better senses than humans. Birds, such as falcons, have much sharper vision. Some insects can detect ultraviolet light, which we cannot see at all. When it comes to smells, dogs have 300 million smell sensors, compared to our lowly 6 million. Actually, I take it back, with kick-ass echo location, even bats have us beat in the vision department.
So if using our senses to measure reality is so limited, and yet, humans are successfully navigating a world that we can barely perceive, it leads me to believe we are not as blind as we seem. In fact, like bats, we may have developed other abilities to perceive the world around us; seen and unseen.
Perhaps those novels which showcase immensely detailed worlds, such the Lord of the Rings trilogy, are actually a testament to an authors’ gift at transposing their imagination and sharing paradigms that really do exist just beyond what we can sense.
Supernatural and science fiction books can stir up strong feelings of confirmation for us; we are reading a fiction book, and yet, it has a deep resonance of truth with us.
After all, the world isn’t quite what we think it is; the universe is mysterious and ineffable.
“The supernatural world has always been more real to me than the real world.”- A. Rice
Today’s Book Recommendation List focuses on stories which feature alternative magical realities; those just slightly out of step with everyday life. These books play on the idea that there’s an exciting world of otherness just around the corner.
Many of us are very passionate readers and fans of this fascinating genre. In future articles, I hope to go deeper and explore more titles; known and unknown. Please consider sharing your favorite picks in the comments below.
Odd Thomas, a 21year-old grill cook, is a loveable lad gifted with the power to see dead people. He uses his abilities, and close ties to the local Police Chief, Wyatt Porter, to help solve various murders, mysteries, and random mayhems. It’s helpful that many of the victims of those crimes choose to hang around to point Odd in the right direction.
“The dead don’t talk. I don’t know why.”
Odd’s many adventures are vast, unusual, and quite often, end in unexpected ways. In later novels, Koontz has his protagonist leaving his beloved town of Pico Mundo behind, to hit the road in service of the universe. From Las Vegas, to Monasteries; Odd goes where he’s called, tracking sinners and saints alike.
Synchronicity is a theme in this series. There’s always a feeling of something larger going on; fate and karma are very much in-play.
This is especially evident when our hero meets up with different people who come along to help him with his current mission. All the characters in the Odd Thomas series are intriguing and quirky. And yet, with all their eccentricities, Koontz manages to present them in a way that makes them relatable, and somehow, a bit understated. There’s the 400-pound mystery novelist P. Oswald Boone (Little Ozzie), Odd’s landlady Rosalia Sanchez, who fears turning invisible, and of course, Bronwen “Stormy” Llewelly Odd’s girlfriend, soul-mate, and destiny.
Like Dante’s Virgil guiding lost souls through purgatory, Koontz’s is more of director for this series, than narrator. You get the sense of the hand of a master puppeteer just out of sight, expertly setting the stage to put all the elements in place, and then, sitting back to allow the story to unfold. The reader is not given everything, and it’s easy to ponder about the back-stories and to want more information about how all the crazy-random-fated occurrences somehow just happen. And yet, you feel like each scene is satisfyingly full. There’s even a movie adaption for Odd Thomas (2013).
“Throughout the morning, under the expectant sky, low sluggish waves exhausted themselves on the shore. The Pacific was gray and awash with inky shadows, as if sinuous sea beasts of fantastical form swam just below the surface. During the night, I had twice awakened from a dream in which the tide flowed red and the sea throbbed with a terrible light. As nightmares go, I’m sure you’ve had worse. The problem is that a few of my dreams have come true, and people have died.” -Odd Hours
This paranormal fantasy series tells the story of Evangeline Hollis, cursed by God and hunted by demons, she’s forced to be a heavenly bounty-hunter. To make matters more complicated, Eve finds herself tangled in a love triangle with none other than the original brothers; Cain and Abel. Uncontrollable bloodlust, sexy desires, and biblical catastrophes; this series has it all.
“Now reunited, Eve and Cain are working on transitioning their insatiable desire into a tentative new relationship even as she struggles to become a full-fledged Mark—one of thousands of sinners forced to hunt demons as penance. When her training class goes on a field trip to an abandoned military base, things take a dark turn: There’s a demon hidden among them, killing off Eve’s classmates one by one.”- Eve of Destruction
American Gods is a fantasy novel which blends together notions of Americana, with various aspects of ancient and modern mythology. Only a few days before his release from prison, mysterious and reluctant protagonist Shadow Moon, loses his wife Laura in an unusual car crash with rather unseemly circumstances. Shocked, Shadow gets on a flight to make his way back home and deal with his broken life, only to cross paths with a mystifying man sitting next to him on the plane. Mr. Wednesday is a flamboyant character who claims to be a refugee from a distant war, a former god, and the king of America.
Together, they embark on a profoundly unusual road trip across America, in which preternatural problems of epic proportions tend to explode all around them. Gripping, unsettling, and surprising, American Gods takes a long, hard look into the soul of America, freedom of choice, and the idea that the old-gods still live among us.
American Gods was adapted into TV series with 3 seasons.
American Gods and Anansi Boys are set in the same universe, but are standalone books.
Olivia Taylor Jones thought she understood her life. Her world shatters when she learns that not only is she adopted, and not the daughter of Chicago socialites, but her real parents are notorious serial killers. Fleeing the onslaught of media attention, Olivia retreats to a small town called Cainsville. Instead of finding refuge, Olivia stumbles into an even stranger life. Her willful pursuit of the truth puts her in the cross-hairs of powerfully old forces with their own agenda, who like to closely guard their secrets.
“I’ll tell you everything. About the hounds. The Huntsmen. My association with them. Your parent’s association with them.” An anxious smile as I reacted. “That one intrigues you, doesn’t it? I can answer every question you have, for the small price of ‘removing’ a man who, as you will discover, richly deserves it.” – Deception
There are five books in the main series, four stand-alone books, Cainsville Stories, as well as, a later released prequel The Screams of Dragons.
An avid book reader and proud library card holder, Angela is new to the world of e-Readers. She has a background in education, emergency response, fitness, loves to be in nature, traveling and exploring. With an honours science degree in anthropology, Angela also studied writing after graduation. She has contributed work to The London Free Press, The Gazette, The Londoner, Best Version Media, Lifeliner, and Citymedia.ca.
