(Short Story Collection) Between the shadows and the stars lie the pathways to Bolingbrook Miriam and Sara both feel they’re on the wrong path. Miriam, abandoned by her family, is homeless, alone, and stuck in Iowa City. Sara, a mother of two, is a reporter at a struggling suburban Chicagoland newspaper chain. Then they each find themselves at a crossroads. A stranger offers Miriam a chance to escape Iowa City and her past. Sara discovers a mysterious recording of a conversation she doesn’t remember. While the new paths may lead to what Miriam and Sara want, there are also hidden dangers along each path. As Sara’s investigation brings her closer to Bolingbrook, her publisher threatens her job and urges her to think about her children if she continues. Miriam wants to escape, but she knows everything has a price. Will they find the answers they need along the pathways to...

Lies divide the world — but so does the truth. Tom Larsen once devoured the outlandish stories of the Bolingbrook Babbler, mesmerized by tales of UFOs and monsters lurking in the shadows. Now a member of the skeptical movement, he’s more interested in debunking the garish lies he once believed. When a drunken incident allows a woman to publicly humiliate him, Tom doubles down on a career of antagonistic commentary. Then, three years later, a chance to confront her and expose her anti-skeptic agenda falls into his lap. Determined to publicize the truth as he knows it, Tom unwittingly unearths rifts that go beyond his town’s — and even the galaxy’s — borders. As he pursues his goal, he forges new alliances with old enemies, and encounters weredeer, secret societies, and even time travel. But each encounter changes Tom’s perspective more than the last. And the closer he gets to...

(Novella/Novelette) No one is lonelier than a vampire who loves. Lydia is an exceptional vampire—not only as an urban scout and skilled fighter, but because she's regained her ability to love others. While her family teases her for having crushes, traditionalist vampires would kill Lydia if they knew about her forbidden feelings. But when an investigation takes her to Bolingbrook, she falls for the editor of paranormal tabloid the Babbler. Sara is one of the few humans who believes in the vampires she reports on— and, freshly heartbroken and devastatingly lonely, Lydia finds herself imagining things she shouldn't. Then, enforcers from one of Chicago's vampire kingdoms upend the supernatural community and threaten Sara's life. Lydia leaps to her defense, but while skill and passion win fights, can they save a vampire from the greatest weakness of all—love? This novelette is part of the Bolingbrook Babbler Stories and takes place during...

Touch a flame. Feel the fire. Tom Larsen, a former skeptic, became a paranormal investigative reporter for the Bolingbrook Babbler. A year later, he discovers that covering suburban Chicago's paranormal activity is tougher than debunking it. Despite his family, and the residents questioning his sanity, Tom is determined to succeed. But Tom's world is upended when the ghosts who used to publish a rival tabloid, the Phantom Press, reappear. Their attacks shock the village’s covert agencies, and even the Babbler’s newsroom isn’t safe from their rage. Tom and the remaining staffers are forced to evacuate Bolingbrook. Despite his editor's orders, Tom, aided by his mentor Juanita and her anti-psychic cat, investigates the Phantom Press's return. They’re soon attacked by occultists addicted to spirit possession, and face scrutiny from the village’s Department of Paranormal Affairs. Tom begins to suspect there’s a larger conspiracy involved, and wonders if Juanita is hiding something...