Tomes of Terror: Haunted Bookstores and Libraries

I am delighted that Dundurn is going to publish my third non-fiction exploration of the paranormal.

Just like my first one (Haunted Hamilton) was about the city I live in and love, and my second one (Spooky Sudbury - co-authored with Jenny Jelen) was about the city I grew up in and continue to adore, this third one is about something VERY close to my heart.

Tomes of Terror: Haunted Bookstores & Libraries (slated for publication in the Fall of 2014) is going to focus on the places I cherish and am quite passionate about. I have been a bookseller since 1992 and have spent my entire life surrounded with books. In my travels, one of the things I enjoy most is checking out local bookstores; and when I'm in a town long enough I like to also investigate the local library. The people who work at these locations are truly my kind of people, and often the stories they share not just about the books they love but about their community and sometimes, when the spirit moves them, about some of the darker stories and local legends, are worth compiling and sharing.

Like my looks at two beloved cities and their people, Tomes of Terror will be as much about the wonder of the places that hold books as much as it will be about the ghost stories that are shared about those spaces.

One of my favourite book quotes is Cicero's "A room without books is like a body without a soul." I hope to capture the very spirit of those words in my book, by celebrating both the wonder and magic of the bookstores and libraries that are written about as well as the thrill and chill of the ghostly tales that accompany those locations.

Though I already have a number of stories compiled, I'm still collecting tales. So if there is a local bookstore or library that you are familiar with that is haunted, has an eerie tale associated with it, or even just some interesting story that might make a person wonder if there are more things "in heaven and earth" than we normally perceive, please feel free to share them using this submission form.  It just could be the chance to have YOUR favourite local bookstore or library featured in my next book.