[Fiction] Ghost Hunters Primer - Table of Contents
When even the editor has a hard time tracking who did what, when -- there needs to be one big book to sort it all out...
The reason for this primer - is simple: over these several years of fiction writing, many recurring characters have been introduced. A reader finding a later book might get confused when someone just shows up and starts helping out with the story. Veteran readers just nod and smile and appreciate the new depth that character brings. So we've collected all the key character's first stories into one thick volume.
And it makes pretty good reading all by itself. (Scroll down to get your own copy…)
At least 25 characters are introduced in these 17 stories. (Of course, many have their own series now, but that's another story in itself...)
All of these books have been re-published here. For your reading enjoyment.
Table of Contents
[New Voices] Ghost Hunters
![[New Voices] Ghost Hunters](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!lDSE!,w_280,h_280,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F33bf8be7-2686-4ede-bb06-d335873f9d23_2685x1510.jpeg)
It was another gloomy night and there I was, out on the pasture with dungarees stuffed into mud-boots, arms and chest inside my chore jacket, and head covered by ball cap. Somewhere there had been a calf bawling and wouldn’t shut up enough to let me sleep. The tall grass and brush was making my walk tough. A stumble now and then. At least my feet were staying dry and warm. But the odd tree branch would catch my hat or whip my face from out of the dark...
[New Voices] Why Vampires Suck At Haunting
![[New Voices] Why Vampires Suck At Haunting](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!CtVo!,w_280,h_280,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa830232c-5a07-408d-a843-326458b7e2fd_2790x1687.jpeg)
I DIDN’T SEE IT COMING, but that wasn’t unusual. But I didn’t expect the ghost to try for my neck. I felt more than I saw, which was only a smoky shimmering. A quick shrug and a yell got it off, and it disappeared. I rubbed my neck thoughtfully. No scratches or punctures, just a gnawed feeling. Lucky this time...
[New Voices] “The Lazurai” — by J. R. Kruze
![[New Voices] “The Lazurai” — by J. R. Kruze](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!EcOC!,w_280,h_280,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9db6a70f-dc22-485f-be48-9631b16a190f_800x478.jpeg)
At the open door to the empty concrete dome, inside the long chain-link fence, you can see some sheets of paper tacked to a bulletin board, each page protected by plastic against the weather. You can read it from where you stand, if you focus your binoculars just right:
[New Voices] Harpy by S. H. Marpel
![[New Voices] Harpy by S. H. Marpel](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uvfw!,w_280,h_280,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F98fc0e4d-7019-4a68-bddc-aa9402c6e664_3200x1600.jpeg)
I I’D BEEN WAITING FOR him a very long time. And run out of patience at last. So I just reached out and pulled him to me across time and space...
[New Voices]The Case of a Cruising Phantom
![[New Voices]The Case of a Cruising Phantom](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!r-e8!,w_280,h_280,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F60f150b6-9973-46d9-89bb-be4b2cb0aff7_2762x1554.jpeg)
I KNEW EXACTLY WHY I was still here. To haunt whoever had pushed me overboard. My only problem was finding them. And if they weren't still alive, they had relatives. Meanwhile, I kept amused by haunting the ship's passengers and crew. And the cruise line didn't have a problem with it...
[New Voices] Ham & Chaz - C. C. Brower, J. R. Kruze
![[New Voices] Ham & Chaz - C. C. Brower, J. R. Kruze](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!akC1!,w_280,h_280,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8609d753-18e9-4fce-a6d4-f57ba8848997_2780x1840.png)
Finding out you're immortal as a teenager can set your world on fire. But finding out at the same time that getting angry could kill everyone around you can dampen that pretty quickly. Who wants to live forever if you can't get close enough to someone that they can piss you off and live to see the next sunrise with you?
[New Voices] The Lazurai Emergence
![[New Voices] The Lazurai Emergence](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!5r1F!,w_280,h_280,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcb19d456-612f-4bc8-bf96-f2f2a62a4a17_3072x2304.jpeg)
I HAD BEEN IN THAT stone wall for decades, alone on purpose. Not lonely. Waiting. Humankind needed to evolve past what they had done to create me. I was willing to wait - as long as it took. Because to re-emerge would mean to again threaten all humans I contacted...
[New Voices] Gaia
![[New Voices] Gaia](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fKOV!,w_280,h_280,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fee3b94e2-612e-4f78-9d93-0876d3d10f6f_2780x1840.png)
SOMETHING WAS SERIOUSLY wrong. Or she had slept too long. It didn't matter much. She was awake now. The ground around her rumbled as she slipped off what served for her bed coverings. To you and I, it would seem like solid rock, but to Gaia, it was simply another space...
[New Voices] The Training: Tess
![[New Voices] The Training: Tess](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!NydQ!,w_280,h_280,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7fcdc01a-7606-4c97-b507-f3010bf3fea4_1024x806.jpeg)
Tesseracts fold time and space. I inherited the ability to both find and control them. Unlimited access to all universes. Sort of. Yea, freaky. I know too well how freaky. So I spent my life on the move - through many times, and many spaces.
[New Voices] Mysti
![[New Voices] Mysti](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!o5F6!,w_280,h_280,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1044c48a-b926-411a-b53c-1a9cb1a33abf_2780x1840.png)
THEY CALL ME MYSTI. Because of my mystic origins. The beings who raised me almost killed me before they found out my real value. They became my mentors, and then - as my powers expanded - my servants. What they never knew is that "mystic" means both master and novice.
Ghost of the Machine
When you then connect your home to the Internet then you can get way more than you asked for. Because the more circuits in any machine, the more it's likely to get "haunted." Especially when you join the "Internet of Things" universe. Now a consumer's dream come true – or a nightmare come to life?
[New Voices] Time Bent
![[New Voices] Time Bent](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!R1WG!,w_280,h_280,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F22c166f0-5ff8-4e05-a966-c55563ee7af6_2200x1250.jpeg)
TIME HAUNTED HER. IT didn't do what it was "supposed to" when she was around. It ran forward, backwards, sideways. Sometimes time helped her solve her problems, sometimes it made them worse. For a lovely young woman, you'd think there would be young men lined up to talk to her at any gathering.
[New Voices] Hermione
![[New Voices] Hermione](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!JRob!,w_280,h_280,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F221e9d09-0d43-481a-a72e-727edaa77688_600x450.jpeg)
I'D BEEN CAUGHT IN a cross-fire. And just got saved from bleeding out. Now my shape-shifting was on hold until I healed. But I was stuck in human shape, having to re-learn the human experience. I don't know when I first appeared on Earth. Before recorded time somewhere.
[New Voices] The Girl Who Became Tomorrow
![[New Voices] The Girl Who Became Tomorrow](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Y8pZ!,w_280,h_280,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6730c94b-0b35-4412-ac28-8205d180a4b2_1505x978.png)
OUR PLANET'S POPULATION was addicted - to their own brain chemistry. Because their own electronic gizmo's made them that way. Built and sold by people who had only their own selfish greed as motivation. The problem was that their own narcissism kept them from thinking anyone else would ever find out.
[New Voices] When Death Died
![[New Voices] When Death Died](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!VPef!,w_280,h_280,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2d3e2ae9-355e-4e62-9f27-01ec725636d8_600x450.jpeg)
OF COURSE, DEATH HAD horrible timing. He showed up just after I'd buried my long-time friend Bertie - a golden lab I'd loved like family. He wanted his story written. I told him to get lost. Because I had nothing to lose at that point. I wasn't afraid of him.
[New Voices] Felicity
![[New Voices] Felicity](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!FpJZ!,w_280,h_280,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7caa2953-5042-41b9-ac20-685de7b26c9c_600x600.jpeg)
"SOMETHING'S NOT RIGHT here," I stated the obvious. "Looks like a trap," Sal returned. Bernie heard it first and ran toward John. That courageous dog knocked John down just as the incoming explosion hit.
[New Voices] The Healers Chronicles: Birthdays - Short Story
![[New Voices] The Healers Chronicles: Birthdays - Short Story](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!lMcD!,w_280,h_280,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F925d8b9c-3e48-47ae-9ff0-3d47437bebdf_2780x1840.jpeg)
WALKING DOWN A DARK, wet, gritty highway - barefoot, feverish, and in only a nightgown. At least the storm had quit. Now if I could get my chattering teeth to stop, it would help – maybe. A string of cars on the side of the road gave only a promise of help.
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