Monday, March 19, 2018

J.M. Northup: Coalescence & Time Wanderer

J.M. Northup: Coalescence & Time Wanderer: The Camden Investigations Series written by Gary Starta    AVAILABLE NOW                   COMING SOON    My Book Review of COAL...

Sunday, February 18, 2018

J.M. Northup: COVER REVEAL - TIME WANDERER

J.M. Northup: COVER REVEAL - TIME WANDERER: COMING SOON From GARY STARTA CAMDEN INVESTIGATIONS SERIES CAMDEN INVESTIGATIONS BOOK TWO COMING MARCH 2018 She travels time witho...

Saturday, October 14, 2017


In January 2017, The Twilight Recorder interviewed the lead investigators of two major paranormal research groups: Iris Camden of the Colorado Ghost Hunters, and a man who only would like us to identify him as “Mitchell” from the Colorado Eyes in the Skies.

Skeptics and believers both, I thought listeners might find it interesting to find such a division in beliefs as evidenced in the following transcript. As both Iris and Mitchell investigate the unknown, they both rather have strong opinions on ghosts and aliens. Iris believes in ghosts, Mitchell in aliens. So, the more interesting aspect of my interview will be to get both to divulge their skepticism respectively. Ultimately, you will be the judge if paranormal investigators residing on different ends of a spectrum can make each other stronger in the quest to shed the fiction from fact and determine if we are really “not alone” in both the universe and the spiritual realm. Unfortunately, the interview gets cuts short. It’s indeterminable if it’s a malfunction or a paranormal manifestation that interferes. Again, I’ll let you be the judge.



Interviewer Tim Cage: Good Evening, Mitch and Iris. I’m finding it hard to pick which of you to go first. But let’s make it Iris. What made you find ghosts so fascinating?

Iris: Ghosts kind of found me fascinating, I guess. I have a psychic sense, and I can sense they are out there. But I’m not a medium like my sister, DJ, who can actually speak with the dead.

TC: Mitch, you look like you’re going to burst. What’s on your mind about this topic?

Mitch: I’m just wondering if Iris can substantiate how her sister “talks” to the dead. Without an audio representation, which would still be subject to scrutiny, how do you know who she is talking to isn’t really alive?

Iris: Grunts. So you think I’m making this up? She shakes her head. My sister is talking to my dead stepmom, Mitch. We know it’s Mom; no one else could pretend to be that annoying. I must admit I’m not really close to her and that’s why she is probably attracted to DJ. But, just to let you and the audience know, it’s not even DJ’s choosing. The girl is freaked out by her mother’s death and each visit just reminds her of an untimely passing. She is becoming a recluse and I’m worried about her. Actually, I wish I could just tell my stepmom to stop!

TC: This is an interesting take on a paranormal relationship. I’m wondering if the blood relation is making the afterlife connection possible. I mean, Iris, you would think your stepmom might find a way to communicate with you.

Mitch: Scrubbing at his chin. That’s a fascinating take, Tim. If what you posit is true, why doesn’t every one of our parents come back and “annoy” us in the fashion DJ’s mother is said to be capable of. I’m wondering if DJ is so scarred by the death, the “haunting” is in her imagination. Perhaps, it’s guilt revisiting her. If so, I would think DJ might be better served by a counselor who might make the guilt tenable. Perhaps, she needs the guilt to disappear more than her “visiting mother.”

Iris: While I’m finding Mitch’s skepticism “fascinating,” I’m also wondering how a man who chases lights in the sky can be qualified to disqualify the existence of ghosts. I mean, lights in the sky can be anything, stars, gas, photo distortion, and even just an earthbound craft.

Mitch: Rubs his hands together. Of course! You’re absolutely right…I believe in UFOs—meaning “unidentified” objects. They could very well be Earth-based ships, but what I find untenable is the government’s complete denial of the sighting itself. I don’t think every ship in the sky is from another planet, but I do think that some of “our” ships were reverse engineered from confiscated alien technology. How else do you explain the rapid advances of technology since the 1960s? Why were we just learning to make an automobile and develop a photograph some fifty years or so prior? Who gave us the edge, and more importantly, why?

TC: Mitch you’ve stated your case very well. So, Iris, do you believe every apparition or specter is a ghost?

Iris: I never made the claim that I do. I head an investigative team where it’s very important to rule out what things “aren’t”. My dear friend, a former lead investigator who I won’t name out of respect, came upon something even I can’t classify to this day. But it did its damage to him. It disabled him. It’s my duty as the lead investigator to direct my team in the proper direction and get in the face of danger if necessary. We are not talking about fantasy or delusions in most cases. I can’t tell you if the entity was a ghost or even a person. But it was damaging

Mitch: Ah! So, you’ve just admitted that even when you think you are classifying a ghost, you might be experiencing another entity, something not of our known world…

TC: Okay, you two are sparring pretty well. So, Mitch, what are you getting at?

Mitch: What if an inter-dimensional being were to appear to us? It might be slightly out of phase with our world. What most think of as apparitions of former living persons might just be aliens in disguise. It may be capable of appearing to us in a form we can understand. So, even if you can prove a shadowy being beyond doubt on an EVP , what if it’s impersonating a human?

Iris: Takes off her spectacles and cleans them with her shirt. Mitch, what reason would an alien have to do such trickery? And are you seriously suggesting an alien is impersonating my annoying, but loving, stepmom?

Mitch: I think the very nature of an alien encounter would be unclassifiable. I mean, you’ve got me, Iris. I don’t know how I can prove it because it’s an entity not previously “officially” categorized. It would break the mold, at least, if you believe the government’s story that a weather balloon crashed in Roswell in 1947. So, we start from scratch. But we don’t always jump to the ghost conclusion, either.

Iris: This is your idea of being fair? Huh. Well, I can’t find the motivation for an alien to target my lonely stepsister DJ. The only consequence would be cruelty. I can agree that the entity which harmed my friend was not your typical specter. It certainly wasn’t just residual energy, meaning it could react. And its reaction was terrifying.

TC: And do you have any record of this entity?

Iris: It did its best to wipe my memory, Tim.

Mitch: So, if it did that, what even makes you think you experienced something formerly alive, and not an entity fully alive, aware, and possibly from another realm of our universe…? Or, possibly a hallucination….

Iris: It was a red ball for God’s sake.

Mitch: Red, and not orange…?

Iris. It was red, like your shirt, Mitch.

Mitch: There are orange balls of light known as OBOLs they are thought to precede UFO sightings. They are even thought to forge the distinct geometrical shapes known as crop circles. Just wondering…

Iris: Come now! We have two old men admitting to this forgery.

Mitch: If you think two old drunken men were capable of crafting such magnificence with a wooden board in the dead of night, then you are…

TC: What was that? Ladies and gentleman, we may be losing our broadcast signal. It appears our lights have just flickered on and off. Is this a technical malfunction? I’d have to ask my engineer. But with the very nature of our conversation this evening, do either one of you think…

Iris. The problem is we cannot think or even theorize without facts and evidence. So, you see not every bump in the night is a ghost to me. Nor, is it a deceased and annoying relative waiting in hiding…

Mitch: Perhaps I’m such a loner that ghosts don’t think to visit me. But for this light flickering, I cannot hazard a guess. It would be speculation. And Iris, you have my respect as an investigator. I just wanted to see if I could rattle your cage tonight…

At this point in the interview, I hear a tinkering sound but it’s never found on the tape by my engineer who hears it as well. Is it the entity which harmed Iris’s friend, or, is it an alien entity giving us an answer as to its existence…?

Several hours later, a crop circle appears in the City of Cherry Hills Village…

This reporter dares not speculate further. The interview you’ve read was fully recorded but without the tinkering clinking sounds at the interview’s end. Dare I posit that a noise made in another dimension might not be recordable in ours?

Three months later: A strange light show resembling the aurora borealis haunts the legendary Chaco Canyon area. Investigators Mitch and Iris claim they made contact with something but for the safety and good of the populace they are adamant they cannot make any statements. And I find it very odd that two people who are both committed to revealing their separate truths seem to uphold disclosure, something which has left a bad taste in the paranormal community’s mouth for decades. I must know what frightened them in Chaco Canyon. I pledge to make an effort to get Iris and Mitch back on my show in the near future. This is Tim Cage saying goodnight and make sure to keep the porch light on .



https://www.amazon.com/Coalescence-Camden-Investigations-Book-One-ebook/dp/B0768Z21GT/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1507998368&sr=1-2&keywords=coalescence

Wednesday, July 19, 2017


THE KILLING COLLECTIVE : A NEW YORK CITY                                   TOUR GUIDE



The Killing Collective takes the reader on a tour of New York City as well as the characters, most notably Stanford Carter and his wife, Jill Seacrest who trade Boston for the Big Apple to take jobs as F.B.I. agents. Additionally, new agent Shania Deeprose, a native of Alabama, also comes to the city like a fish out of water. But it’s all about adapting and enjoying the ride as the characters will find out. I am certain if New York City were a conscious entity, it would care less about adapting and fitting in. Lol.

 I also feel that N.Y.C is a character in itself and it provides a terrific backdrop for the novel whether you are with the agents on a ride-along or with the killers doing the nasty deeds.

So, first off, how about a bite? F.B.I. Assistant Director William Fischetti can’t get enough of his carb fix here…

Ess-A-Bagel


831 Third Avenue

New York, NY  10022

212-980-1010

Hand rolled bagels, voted the best bagels in NYC.  Certified kosher. 

“Essen” is German and Yiddish for “eat” or “Eating”. 

“Delicatessen” is a German loanword which first appeared in English in 1889 and is the plural of Delikatesse. In German it was originally a French loanword, délicatesse, meaning "delicious things (to eat)". Its root word is the Latin adjective delicatus, meaning "giving pleasure, delightful, pleasing". 

Then, I guess you’ll need something to wash that bagel down. The killers in this book find one of their victims here…

Pig 'n' Whistle on Third

Top of Form
Bottom of Form
922 Third Avenue (near 55th Street)  
New York, NY 10022
212-688-4646 

The name Pig ‘n’ Whistle derives from “Piggin” and “Wassail,” a medieval lead cup and the spiced wine that went in it, but it’s beef and beer that predominate at these midtown pubs.



Sometimes agents Jill Seacrest and Shania Deeprose like to blow off a little steam, drinking some firewater and dancing to some classic jazz….



Jazz Standard

www.jazzstandard.com/Danny Meyer

116 E 27th St, New York, NY 10016


One of NYC’s largest jazz clubs, featuring new & established musicians.



If all that music made you hungry again, how about a slice here…



Ben’s Pizzeria

123 MacDougal Street

New York, NY 10012

Open until 5 am ·               



Hot slices & people-watching at a counter with late-night hours near Washington Square Park.



If you’re up for some entertainment, how about a stroll through a museum? This is one of the first crime scenes of the novel.



Cloisters


99 Margaret Corbin Drive

New York, NY 10040


Architectural styles: Romanesque and Medieval

The Cloisters is a museum in Upper Manhattan, New York City specializing in European medieval architecture, sculpture and decorative arts, and is part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 



Now for the scary part. How about a drive along Admiral’s Row? Hint: the big finale for the novel takes place here.



Admirals’ Row at the Brooklyn Navy Yard


16 Flushing Ave

Brooklyn, NY 11201

Admirals Row was a street lined with 19th century manor houses built in the architectural style known as “Second French Empire” at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.  It was used as naval officers' housing for over a century before being abandoned in the 1970s.  Once enticingly visible from the street, they were demolished to build a supermarket and parking lot in early 21st century America. Nature was increasingly unkind to those 19th century buildings. Prior to their demise, however, they remained in the same splendorous state of utter dishevelment that previously transfixed the neighborhood and lured in curious visitors. During an exploration in 2008, the houses were found to be wide open to the elements, but with interior details intact, including chandeliers, wallpaper, plasterwork, bathrooms, and kitchens. The relentless pressures of winter snow and falling trees crushed many of these features into rubble, and in 2009, heavy summer rains caused the collapse of Quarters C, the second oldest building on the row. The encircling forest rose far above the buildings, all of which had lost roofs, floors, walls, and windows. The 11 residential buildings on the Admiral's Row campus became completely overgrown by ivy and trees. The front steps of Quarters K and L were almost unrecognizable.  Peeling paint, floors with holes, and crooked doorways were some of the lesser problems found inside the houses. Feral cats, birds, and other wildlife made them their home.  On the buildings' upper levels, entire rooms went missing over the years, though the exteriors of the buildings remained intact.  Snow, rain, and falling tree limbs caused walls and windows to cave in. Vines and soil entered the premises, blurring the boundary between interior and exterior, nature and fabrication.  (Revisiting Brooklyn's Abandoned Admiral's Row Before It's Gone, Curbed New York, by Nathan Kensinger, June 11, 2015).



There you have it! More places and details can be found as extras whether you purchase the kindle or the paperback version of The Killing Collective: A Stanford Carter Murder Mystery/Thriller. Please see links below:






Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Meet Timothy Ray - I Bought the Sun for a Dollar

Can anyone actually buy peace or happiness? Perplexed by the loss of job and fiancé, Timothy Ray makes a symbolic purchase of the sun for a dollar to try to right things in his slightly off course career trajectory. When he stumbles upon a brilliant, cascading sunrise and then a chance meeting with a statuesque blonde he feels his life is about to change for the better but his new girlfriend is a spy, working for a contracted data mining firm.


Character Interview



Name: Timothy Ray

Gender: Male

Age: 33

Profession: Recently unemployed due to outsourcing.

Do you have any special skills or training?
I seem to have a unique skill of turning good situations into bad. But my recent discovery of a sunrise has given me hope. Plus, I’ve just met a very sexy girlfriend.

How would you describe yourself?
I view the world with a realistic viewpoint. Some see the glass half full, but I know better.

Who is your significant other(s)?
Well I recently started dating this amazing woman, Lou Ann. I’m hoping she’ll be a permanent part of my future.

How would they describe you?
I think she sees me for the real me. But, who am I kidding, I think she likes the physical attraction between us both as much as I do.

Tell us about your family.
I don’t stay in touch much. My parents separated. It’s why I wasn’t too surprised when my recent fiancé called off the wedding.

What do you think was left unsettled in your story?
I want to see life from that full glass perspective. The funny thing a break-in in my home led me to a special place in the woods where I experienced a glorious sunrise. It was spectacular. And I hope Lou Ann will come to see this perspective as well. Right now, I’m just glad to spend nights with her and hold her hand at restaurants. Her voice is like a siren. But as much as I desire her, in every possible way, (Timothy laughs mischievously) I think Lou Ann needs to see the sunrise I see for us to have a lasting relationship, the one I can only dream of.

If you could change anything about your story what would it be?

I would like to get others to experience my joy. I think we’d all be in a better world because of it. I used to rail and scream at things out of my control. Now I kind of like things out of my control because it’s how I met Lou Ann.