Strange Days

The summer after her freshman year at all-Mormon Brigham Young University, Marguerite Farnsworth falls in love with philosophy by way of falling in love with an atheist philosophy student. Her search for Truth (with a capital T), God, the meaning of life, and a boyfriend leads her away from religious belief, but along the way she learns there are things even atheists can have faith in.

Presence tells the story of one of the most unusual experiences known to humankind: the feeling that someone or something is there, without being seen or heard. These experiences have been given many names—the Third Man, guardian angels, shadow figures, “social” hallucinations—and they have inspired, unsettled, and confounded in equal measure. While the contexts in which they occur are diverse, they are united by a distinct and uncanny feeling of visitation by another. But what does this feeling mean, and where does it come from? When and why do presences emerge?

The Western world's growth started its first major developmental boom in the early 1800s. We all know the typical story: 1803, The Louisiana Purchase; 1845, Texas joins the Union; 1860, The Civil War; 1865, The abolishment of slavery in the US. Seems like the average 2006 class history lesson right? Of course, it does! While these things did happen, there are things that the government keeps out of textbooks, due to fear of civil unrest. Fear of the truth. A truth that is hard to digest.

Sports day gets off to a shaky start when a bump to Stacey’s head kicks off a chain of events that aren’t on the programme. It soon becomes clear that the pupils are up against more than just each other, and James, Lenny and Alexander find themselves in a race to save their school from winning first prize for freakiness...The fifth spooky story in the 'Too Ghoul for School' series.