Showing results by author "Leanna Renee Hieber" in All Categories

Sorrowful widows, vengeful jezebels, innocent maidens, wronged lovers, former slaves, the odd axe-murderess—America's female ghosts differ widely in background, class, and circumstance. Yet one thing unites them: their ability to instill fascination and fear, long after death. Here are the stories behind some of the best-known among them, as well as the lesser-known—though no less powerful. A Haunted History of Invisible Women offers a unique lens on the role these ghostly legends play both within the spook-seeking corners of our minds and in the consciousness of a nation. 

In turn-of-the century New York City, the police have an off-the-books spiritual go-to when it comes to solving puzzling corporeal crimes.... Her name is Eve Whitby, gifted medium and spearhead of the Ghost Precinct. As accustomed as Eve is to ghastly crimes and all matters of the uncanny, even she is unsettled by her department's latest mystery. Her ghostly conduits are starting to disappear one by one as though snatched away by some evil force determined to upset the balance between two realms and most important - destroy the Ghost Precinct forever.  

We often think of the enduring tropes of the Gothic in terms of fiction and film—breath-catching escapes that tap into our fears, anxieties, forbidden desires, and unsettling dreams. But what if some of these chilly vibes are rooted in the experiences of real and tragic people who danced a macabre waltz with love and death? That's why we're here. Take the case of teenage Mercy Brown, victim—or was it predator?—of Rhode Island's vampire hysteria of the 1890s. Marguerite de la Roque, a French noblewoman condemned for "sexual crimes" to Canada's long-lost Isle of Demons. 

Elizabeth Marlowe is being hunted through time and space. She is targeted for her unique power: the ability to experience her past lives as though they are concurrent, easily switching her consciousness from druidic Britain, to aboard Victorian steamships, to war-torn London, and even into the frontiers of space travel. But she’s not the only one with this talent. Donald Silver is like a dark mirror to Elizabeth, a version of himself plaguing her in each lifetime. He believes that by killing her, he can prevent future generations from developing psychic powers.

The year is 1888 and an ancient Prophecy has just been fulfilled, leaving Rebecca Thompson, Headmistress of the mysterious Athens Academy in London, utterly ‎heartbroken. Having long served as second in command of The Guard, keeping balance between the mortal and spirit world, she has lived a lonely life in love with the leader of the Guard. But now that he is married to another woman, Rebecca fears her bleak, isolated future.

Elizabeth Marlowe is living four different lives at once. Her unusual psychic abilities allow her to experience her past lives concurrently, easily shifting her consciousness from era to era. She is L’Bet, a druid priestess holding out against the Roman invasion. She is Lizzie, a headstrong Victorian plumbing the depths of both science and Spiritualism. She is Beth, a Royal Air Force pilot fighting in World War II. And she is Captain Liz, forging a path through the stars.

Captain Liz Marlowe has just learned of a horrific Homeworld plot to eradicate the Psychically Augmented population. Though her crew managed to rescue one survivor from the lonely desolation of space, the danger isn’t over yet. In fact, confidential documents from the Homeworld council reveal that Liz is in even more danger than she thought. For Liz has a power that may be the key to erasing the psychic population once and for all … the power of existing throughout time.

In 1899 Manhattan, the impending turn of the century has put both the living and the dead on edge. As the spirit of a socialite who has haunted the city streets for longer than she walked them, Maggie now spends her afterlife helping to solve crimes for New York City’s Ghost Precinct. When Coronado gets roped into investigating a murder at a nearby church, Maggie jumps at the opportunity to flex her sleuthing skills and spend more time with the distressingly handsome reverend. But as familiar with death as Maggie is, she is not prepared for the gruesome sight of the crime scene.

As the dawn of the twentieth century approaches, the spectral battle for the city’s souls is heating up. Maggie Hathorn, a ghostly socialite, and her living beau, Reverend Roberto Coronado, have spent their entire courtship so far solving murders and banishing evil spirits. All Maggie wants is a chance to bask in her newfound romance, attending dinner parties and stealing moments alone with her beloved exorcist. But when New York City’s Ghost Precinct receives a call of distress from the spirit world, Maggie realizes that their battles aren’t over yet.

Elizabeth Marlowe has always known she was different—even from others with psychic abilities. She doesn’t merely glimpse past or future lives, she lives multiple lives concurrently. She is L’Bet, a druid priestess holding out against the Roman invasion. She is Lizzie, a headstrong Victorian plumbing the depths of both science and Spiritualism. She is Beth, a Royal Air Force pilot fighting in World War II. And she is Captain Liz, a starship commander forging a path through the stars. But being different comes with danger.

Someone is targeting immigrant communities and the churches that serve them in turn-of-the-century Manhattan. After performing an exorcism at a local tenement, Reverend Roberto Coronado learns that the nearby aid society has been plagued with insulting leaflets that use devilish imagery to mock the incoming “immigrant horde.” As the harassment escalates from incendiary literature to arson, Coronado is determined to catch the culprit—whether man or a demon. Luckily no one knows demons better than Maggie Hathorn, the spirit of a socialite who once courted demonic forces during her life.

Maggie Hathorn is the spirit of a socialite who is determined to redeem the sins of her past by spending her afterlife solving crimes in turn-of-the-century Manhattan. Reverend Coronado is a young exorcist whose life is turned upside down the moment he is first possessed by Maggie’s vivacious spirit. Navigating a budding romance that crosses the boundaries between life and death is challenging enough in its own right.

In 1889 a group of bold pseudo-scientists discover the "temporal current" and begin to view the distant futures that await the Empire City. In the future, all life as we know it has crumbled, leaving New York City a ghost town with a populous scrabbling to survive underground. In the past it's up to an unlikely group of Victorians to preserve something of their world to save their future generations. In the future it's up to an unlikely group of survivors to take a leap of faith; discovering what their ancestors left for them with no more guarantees than love and hope.

Evil forces that killed star-crossed lovers in the past seek to destroy Lillian and Nathaniel in the present. It will take fortitude, ingenuity and unexpected help from the strange town itself to make sure the demons of the past don’t destroy a passionate future; destined to set old wrongs right.

An executioner and a healer are an unlikely alliance in a world newly waking to restored ancient magic, but their leadership in freeing enslaved children from magic-repressing mines in the land of Allforth is as inspiring as it is dangerous. Blackthorn’s executioner’s past comes back to haunt him as he is abducted by three Amethyne witches from the last of the three Allforth courts.

Blackthorn, the Silvervale Court executioner, has not questioned his duties, he knows he sends the condemned to The Great Dreaming peacefully. He is an Evergreen; one of the rare people able to wield magic past childhood. But when a young boy on his execution table insists that something terrible is going on in their kingdom, Blackthorn secretly spares the boy’s life, asking for proof. When a beautiful healer from the land of Amberfire, Roseleigh, is brought in to be executed next, Blackthorn hesitates, drawn to her.