Doug Dillon's Blog, page 131
April 29, 2014
“This is an amazing book!”
Young adult, paranormal & historical. The St. Augustine Trilogy: Book I Sliding Beneath the Surface.
A review placed on Amazon by Lisa, a secondary school reading teacher.
“Doug Dillon does a fantastic job of incorporating history, suspense and drama in his first novel in the series, The St. Augustine Trilogy. The characters are relatable, just like the kids next door, except they’re not, they are very different! Or are they? As the reader, you find yourself knee-deep in suspense as you follow the characters Jeff & Carla living what appears to be a dream, only to find out it is very real. With the guidance of Lobo, they search the past looking for answers to survive their present day lives. Sliding Beneath the Surface is an intriguing story about growing up, dealing with life and the obstacles that are thrown your way.
“ Dillon does a fantastic job of integrating the peculiar history of St. Augustine, Fl. which lends itself to the question…is there something else out there?
“This is a must read for any Middle School student.”
To see this review on Amazon, click here.
Paranormal Events & Children
Florida Nonfiction: supernatural; ghosts; dreams; visions; telepathy; ESP; after-life; spirit contact; mediums; auras.
An Explosion of Being: An American Family’s Journey into the Psychic.
The paranormal has been a part of my life for so long now that I’ve almost forgotten what it was like during the days when I regularly pooh-poohed such things.
To be perfectly honest, it took the death of my father many years ago to jump-start my transition from skeptic to believer. When our family lost Dad, really strange things started happening.
In the process, my wife Barbara and I had some fascinating experiences, learned a great deal and wrote about is all in the book you see here. This journey of ours included our children.
Published originally by Prentice Hall, this publication stirred up enough interest back in the day for Barb and me to do radio shows across the United States and in Canada.
To help others on a similar path of exploration, Barb and I ended our book with a chapter titled, “Revitalizing Your Natural Psychic Heritage.” In that chapter, we offer readers step-by-step suggestions, the kind of thing we wish we had had back when we first started probing into the unknown.
Our book may be ordered from any bookstore or on any large online book outlet. Again, here is the link to find the book on Amazon.com: An Explosion of Being: An American Family’s Journey into the Psychic.
One more thing. As a former educator, I also publish a series of novels for young adults and adults young at heart that focus on the paranormal and historical. The setting for these books, titled The St. Augustine Trilogy, is the oldest and most haunted city in the U.S., St. Augustine, Florida.
I’m delighted to report that Book I of the trilogy, Sliding Beneath the Surface, is now being used in secondary school reading programs for motivation and skill building purposes.
If you would like to learn more about the trilogy, click here.
Top Teen Paranormal Books, Series, Trilogy, Blog
YOUNG ADULT, SUPERNATURAL, PARANORMAL, TIME TRAVEL ADVENTURES inspired by the author’s true-life experiences.
This is for real. Many years ago, after my father died, there were a lot of paranormal events that happened in my family. At the time, my wife and I didn’t believe in the paranormal but that soon changed.
In fact, Barb and I spent several years after Dad died investigating such weird occurrences. In the end, we had so much research material that we wrote a nonfiction book about it all and even did radio interview/call-in programs across the U.S. and up into Canada.
That book, An Explosion of Being: An American Family’s Journey into the Psychic, was published across the world by a division of Prentice Hall.
But more recently though, I decided to write a series of fiction books for young adults and adults young at heart using my paranormal experiences as the inspiration the wild and crazy plots of those books. As an old history teacher, I couldn’t resist creating this fictional world for young people.
Today, the title of that series is The St. Augustine Trilogy and it takes place in America’s oldest and most haunted city in the U.S., St. Augustine, Florida.
Trilogy Description
Told in his own words, this paranormal/historical series is a very personal account of fifteen-year-old Jeff Golden’s explosive coming of age in America’s oldest and most haunted city, St. Augustine, Florida.
Join Jeff and his girlfriend Carla as they experience mind-blowing events that threaten to destroy their very existence.
Follow the two teens as Lobo, the Native American shaman, tries to protect them from powerful forces beyond understanding. Be there when Jeff and Carla discover the depths of reality as well as their own powers to reshape what they find.
Two of the three books in the trilogy are available in both print and eBook formats at the moment, with the third book due for publication in 2015.
Check out the book descriptions you’ll find here and then click on the active links for each book to see the reviews on Amazon.com.
I’ve also include the book trailers for the two books already in print so you can get a real sense of the characters and the plot.
Below all that, I have included active links to some of the most interesting blog posts I’ve written on the paranormal.
Enjoy.
Sliding Beneath the Surface: The St. Augustine Trilogy, Book I
Description
In America’s oldest and most haunted city, St. Augustine, Florida, teenager Jeff Golden is in trouble. Horrible dreams won’t let him sleep, and he is up to his eyeballs in terrifying, paranormal experiences.
Finally, Jeff turns to his girlfriend Carla, and Lobo, the mysterious Native American shaman, for help. But what he discovers is a lot more than he bargained for.
A ghostly presence linked to a local historic cemetery is not only threatening Jeff’s sanity but his life as well. And before he knows what’s happening, Jeff finds both himself and Carla pulled into one of the nastiest and bloody events in Florida history. It is a place from which they may never escape.
Book Trailer
Stepping Off a Cliff: The St. Augustine Trilogy, Book II
Description
An otherworldly, evil and dangerous force infests America’s oldest and most haunted city, St. Augustine, Florida. Everyone living there, or visiting, is at risk in ways too horrible to imagine.
Standing between this invader and the people of St. Augustine are teenagers Jeff and Carla, the mysterious Native American shaman, Lobo, and Lyle, the homeless guy.
In their quest to save themselves and all the inhabitants of this ancient Florida city, Jeff and Carla uncover lost parts of St. Augustine history, push past the limits of space and time, and come face-to-face with what they come to realize are the true walking dead.
Book Trailer
Targeting Orion’s Children: The St. Augustine Trilogy, Book III – due for publication in 2015
Description
In this, the final book of The St. Augustine Trilogy, the team of Jeff Golden, Carla Rodriguez, old Lobo, the Native American shaman and Lyle, the homeless guy, gather once again to join forces.
This time, though, the two teens face a paranormal presence that defies full human understanding and becomes a threat far beyond the oldest city in America where they live.
Overwhelmed by the immense responsibility they hold in their hands, Jeff and Carla make a jaw-dropping discovery that leads them in directions they could never before have imagined.
Now, as promised, here are those blog postings that contain some very interesting paranormal stories:
Haunted Lighthouse in St.Augustine, Florida
Paranormal Experiences: The Skyway Bridge Disaster
St. Augustine, FL Ghost Hunt: Miss Caroline’s Guest House # 2
Ghost Hunting on the Queen Mary
Infinite Hummingbird Experiences
Paranormal Events in Families: The Car Horn
Dreams of Past Lives? The Russian Revolution
Carl Jung on Coincidences, Synchronicity and the Paranormal
Most Haunted City in the U.S.
Ghosts, hauntings, executions, monsters, sea creatures, pirates, pyramids, cemeteries, paranormal activity and more. St. Augustine is the oldest and most haunted city not only in Florida but in all the U.S. as well.
As an author of paranormal and history related books, I find St. Augustine one of the most interesting places to visit and write about. Founded by the Spanish in 1565, that old city is just 100 miles from where I live in the Orlando area and I go there whenever I can.
In fact, the place is so beautiful and has such a rich background that I use it as the setting for my paranormal/historical young adult fiction series I known as The St. Augustine Trilogy.
The St. Augustine
National Cemetery
If you are researching St. Augustine, or planning a visit there yourself, you might find some of the links I’ve provided below of use. These are stories that will give you a taste for some of the strange things that have happened in this old city.
Enjoy.
Pyramids in the St. Augustine National Cemetery
A Pirate’s Near Death Experience
Ghost Evidence in Old St. Augustine
The St. Augustine Lighthouse
Ghost Hunt # 1 at Miss Caroline’s Guest House
Ghost Hunt # 2 at Miss Caroline’s Guest House
Most Haunted City in Florida
Ghosts, hauntings, executions, monsters, sea creatures, pirates, pyramids, cemeteries, paranormal activity and more. St. Augustine is the oldest and most haunted city not only in Florida but in all the U.S. as well.
As an author of paranormal and history related books, I find St. Augustine one of the most interesting places to visit and write about. Founded by the Spanish in 1565, that old city is just 100 miles from where I live in the Orlando area and I go there whenever I can.
In fact, the place is so beautiful and has such a rich background that I use it as the setting for my paranormal/historical young adult fiction series I known as The St. Augustine Trilogy.
The St. Augustine
National Cemetery
If you are researching St. Augustine, or planning a visit there yourself, you might find some of the links I’ve provided below of use. These are stories that will give you a taste for some of the strange things that have happened in this old city.
Enjoy.
Pyramids in the St. Augustine National Cemetery
A Pirate’s Near Death Experience
Ghost Evidence in Old St. Augustine
The St. Augustine Lighthouse
Ghost Hunt # 1 at Miss Caroline’s Guest House
Ghost Hunt # 2 at Miss Caroline’s Guest House
Weird St. Augustine, FL
Ghosts, hauntings, executions, monsters, sea creatures, pirates, pyramids, cemeteries, paranormal activity and more. St. Augustine is the oldest and most haunted city in the U.S. – a most fascinating place to visit.
As an author of paranormal and history related books, I find St. Augustine one of the most interesting places to visit and write about. Founded by the Spanish in 1565, that old city is just 100 miles from where I live in the Orlando area and I go there whenever I can.
In fact, the place is so beautiful and has such a rich background that I use it as the setting for my young adult fiction series I call The St. Augustine Trilogy.
The St. Augustine
National Cemetery
If you are researching St. Augustine, or planning a visit there yourself, you might find some of the links I’ve provided below of use. These are stories that will give you a taste for some of the city’s more unusual locations and past events.
Enjoy.
Pyramids in the St. Augustine National Cemetery
A Pirate’s Near Death Experience
Ghost Evidence in Old St. Augustine
School Rules in Colonial St. Augustine
Ghost Hunt # 1 at Miss Caroline’s Guest House
Ghost Hunt # 2 at Miss Caroline’s Guest House
Ghost Warns Teens in Oldest & Most Haunted City in U.S.
St. Augustine, Florida – teen novel - Stepping Off a Cliff – paranormal, historical, romance , zombies, monsters.
The St. Augustine Trilogy, Book II is finally published! First check out the description below and then the trailer:
An otherworldly, evil and dangerous force infests America’s oldest and most haunted city, St. Augustine, Florida. Everyone living there, or visiting, is at risk in ways too horrible to imagine.
Standing between this invader and the people of St. Augustine are teenagers Jeff and Carla, the mysterious Native American shaman, Lobo, and Lyle, the homeless guy.
In their quest to save themselves and all the inhabitants of this ancient Florida city, Jeff and Carla uncover lost parts of St. Augustine history, push past the limits of space and time, and come face-to-face with what they come to realize are the true walking dead.
Click here to check out how Book I of the series, Sliding Beneath the Surface, is being used in school reading classrooms.
April 28, 2014
Stepping Off a Cliff Review # 118
“Amazing series.” The St. Augustine Trilogy, Book I for young adults and adults young at heart
A review placed on Amazon.com by Hollypain Chelsea.
“The beginning caught my attention by how it was written because it was written in a way that the main character, Jeff, was talking to you.
“The story itself was different and intriguing, and very well-written.
“It was hard not to like the character of Lobo with his blunt personality and exception knowledge of what was going on.
“I think that all three characters worked so well together. I enjoyed the relationship between Carla and Jeff.
“When it ended, I was glad that I was able to pick up the second book, and continue reading. I would also recommend this to all of my friends.”
To see the full review on Amazon.com, click here.
See below for the book trailer.
April 27, 2014
The St. Augustine Monster: A Giant Octopus?
Florida sea creature hotly debated by scientific community for over 100 years. A controversy that gained international attention in multiple centuries.
I’m a Florida writer, author of The St. Augustine Trilogy, a series for young adults and adults young at heart. As the title for these three combined novels suggests, they all take place in my favorite city of St. Augustine, Florida.
As America’s oldest and most haunted city, St. Augustine was the perfect setting for these paranormal/historical books.
In the development of Book II in the trilogy, Stepping Off a Cliff, I needed some sort of unusual creature as an integral part of the plot. Much to my amazement, I found that such a fascinating animal actually existed in St. Augustine’s past.
In fact, I originally used these key words, “St. Augustine Monster”, in a Google search and came up with a bunch of hits with titles saying, “The St. Augustine Monster.”
And after scanning some of that information, I found out that the St. Augustine Historical Society, where I was doing research for the trilogy, even played a part in what turned out to be one of the most sensational news stories of the late 1880s.
Of course, on my next trip to St. Augustine and its historical society, I asked for information on “The St. Augustine Monster” and was handed a thick file. What fascinating reading!
Street entrance to the St. Augustine Historical Society’s Research Library
At the end of this post, you will find some of the links I first encountered on Google for you to begin your own search for information on this subject if you should choose to do so. But in the meantime, I decided to condense my basic research as much as possible in order for you to get a quick glimpse of this intriguing event in Florida history.
1. Nov. 30, 1896
Two boys discover a huge carcass of some sort while riding their bikes on St. Augustine Beach.
One of Dr. Webb’s photos of the carcass
2. Dec. 1, 1896
The boys bring Dr. DeWitt Webb to view the carcass. Webb is a physician, amateur naturalist and head of the St. Augustine Historical Society and Institute of Science (Today known as the St. Augustine Historical Society).
What Webb Finds, Does and Concludes:
• The carcass is partly buried in sand and it is badly deteriorated.
• He digs it partly out.
• The surface is pale pink but in the reflection of bright sunlight it looks a whitish silver color.
Dr. Webb
• The length measures 18’ and the width 7’-10’ wide.
• Webb estimates the weight at somewhere between 4 and 7 tons.
• The carcass has a thick hide (3+ inches) – hard to cut – dulls knives & axes.
• The carcass has stumps that to Webb looks like where arms had been attached.
• Webb believes what the boys found is the remains of a giant octopus.
3. Dec. 7, 1896
• Webb gets some help and has the carcass photographed.
• Close to this date, a Mr. Wilson- digs out carcass even more and finds more “arm” stumps and one arm 23’ long.
4. Jan. 9-15, 1897
• A storm carries the carcass south close to Crescent Beach.
• Dr. Webb finds it again. He takes 4 horses, six men & planking, moves the carcass back to St. Augustine Beach and rolls it 40’ above high tide line.
• Webb adjusts his measurement of the creature’s length from 18’ to 21’.
• The carcass becomes a tourist attraction.
• News reports from this era call the creature, “The St. Augustine Monster.”
5. March 17, 1897
• The carcass is last seen on the beach.
6. Scientific Analysis, late 1896, early 1897
• Dr. Webb initially sent drawings of the carcass to Dr. Verrill of Yale.
• At first, Verrill thinks Webb’s find might be a giant squid.
• Verrill then changes his opinion and calls it a giant octopus. He even publishes his conclusion and gives Webb’s find a scientific name – Octopus Giganteous. He determines, based upon the carcass dimensions sent by Webb, that the creature’s arms might have been 100’ long, giving it a diameter of 200’.
• But once Verrill gets photos & samples of the carcass from Webb, he changes his mind yet again. This time, he says that the creature is actually the remains of a large whale – whale skin and blubber.
• There the story ends until the late twentieth century.
7. Revived Interest, 1957
• Mr. Forest Wood, Director of Marine Studios, later called Marineland, just south of St. Augustine, becomes interested in Dr. Webb’s forgotten find.
• He gathers all the information as is available about the creature and locates the old tissue specimens at the Smithsonian Institute.
• Wood begins a campaign to get scientists to analyze what he has found using modern methods of investigation. That effort takes a while.
8. Scientific Analysis, 1971
• One scientist agrees to investigate, Dr. Genarro at the University of Florida
• He studies the case, examines the photos and analyzes the specimens.
• His conclusion is that what Dr. Webb found was indeed a giant octopus.
The carcass and possibly Dr. Webb next to it
9. Scientific Analysis, 1986
• Dr. Roy Mackal, University of Chicago, verifies Dr. Genarro’s findings.
10. Scientific Analysis, 1995
• A joint team of investigators from the University of Maryland and Indiana University open their own investigation (Sidney Pierce, Gerald Smith, Timothy Maugel and Eugenie Clark).
• They conclude that Dr. Verrill’s final verdict was correct. The remains found by Dr. Webb were those of a whale.
So there you have it, at least where the story rests at this point. And as promised previously, below you will find links to some excellent sources that in turn will allow you to burrow even deeper.
Enjoy.
Castillio de San Marcos, the old Spanish fort on Matanzas Bay
The Smithsonian Institution Archives
The St. Augustine Record (St. Augustine’s hometown newspaper)
Oh, one more thing. Below you will find the book trailer for Stepping Off a Cliff. You might find it interesting to see how “The St. Augustine Monster” gets worked into the plot here in a tantalizing way.
Sliding Beneath the Surface Review # 117
“Wonderful paranormal story.” The St. Augustine Trilogy, Book I for young adults and adults young at heart
A review placed on Amazon.com by Jo.
“The plot is about a 15 year old guy named Jeff Golden. He has just moved to St. Augustine, Florida and has been having a recurring nightmare which terrified him and has kept him up for a few days with minimal sleep.
“As a result he is having a constant headache and is unable to sleep when we first meet him, in chapter 1. Jeff has already made a friend in Carla Rodriguez who cares and worries about him. She suggests visiting her neighbor, Lobo, who she thinks can help him. Lobo is native american and was a shaman. Basically Lobo introduces Jeff into the paranormal aspect of the world and they determine that the “ghost” or spirit of his ancestor is trying to get in contact with him which is what is causing his nightmares and headaches.
“The rest of the book is about all three characters figuring out who the ghost is, what he wants, how to contact him and how to help him. It may sound boring but the events that occur are awesome and action packed.
“I like Jeff. He is a nice guy but he does have a huge attitude and anger problem. He gets angry way to easily, especially at Lobo who is trying to help him (although Lobo has own attitude).
“He is loyal to his friends and cares about their safety immensely, which is evident in his interactions with Carla.
“When introduced into the paranormal world, he doesn’t immediately buy everything Lobo is saying and has a difficult time accepting what is happening. Numerous events happen to him that involve his new paranormal powers that convince him to believe what Lobo and Carla tell him.
“Jeff is a very sympathetic character and I felt sorry for the guy especially the times when he felt overwhelmed. Lobo and Carla throw a lot his way and at times he felt overwhelmed and as a reader, I felt the same way he did at those points in the story.
“It seemed like things just kept piling up one right after the other (the book takes place in the span of a day so its a lot that he has to deal with). While Jeff does have some meltdowns, he eventually bucks up and deals with everything, which I admire in him. The things that happen to him would of freaked me out and I probably would of gone insane. Kudos to Jeff.
“I liked Carla also. She was funny. She is a short spanish girl with a huge attitude. She is one tough cookie. She doesn’t back out of helping Jeff even when it endangers her life. She worries and cares about Jeff and continuously wants to help him.
“Carla is also someone who has been introduced into the paranormal world by Lobo and has her own paranormal powers that Lobo has taught her to control. Carla is very practical and no nonsense when she has a task that she needs to get done.
“She has a lot of patience but if someone keeps pushing her she will tell them off. One of the things I loved about Carla was her love for history. One of my co-majors was (ancient) history so I appreciate reading about a character who shares my love for something. Most of the history in the books came from Carla. At times she sounded like a walking encyclopedia but I was ok with that.
“I’m not sure how to feel about Lobo. When we first meet him, he is mean to Jeff. He never smiles and the only way he will help Jeff is if Jeff does things his way. Lobo is very stubborn but also very wise. He has lived a long time and has lived with his paranormal abilities all his life so he has a lot of experience with it.
“He tries to impart his knowledge to Jeff to help him but with his stubborness and Jeff’s anger problems, they clash and Carla has to be the mediator.
“As the book moves on, Lobo is still very strict and stubborn but I saw some glimpses of him that show how much he comes to care about Jeff and how he wants to save his life. He preps Jeff for his contact with his ancestor and helps Jeff start to hone in his paranormal abilities.
“Lobo himself is very powerful and that is evident in many scenes in the book. Make no mistake, Lobo is a good guy but he could stand to change a few things in his personality.
“I loved the action in the last chapters and all the paranormal happenings in the book. Each character shows and uses their abilities at some point in the book and we get to see many of Jeff’s new powers emerging.
“Oh and there are also doppelgangers which are always fun.
“There is a bit of what you can call “time travel” and it was cool to see a historical event reenacted in a book.
“There is also some gory bits in the book as well. Not too bad but still nasty. There is no real romance at least on Carla’s side..yet.
“Its clear that Jeff likes Carla “like that” but Carla doesn’t show any romantic emotions towards Jeff..yet. She is too preoccupied with figuring out how to help him. I am interested in seeing how this relationship turns out. So far the two are friends and nothing more.
“I also enjoyed reading the history of a town/city I never heard about and a battle I didn’t even know happened.
“While Jeff’s ancestor is a made up character, the rest of the people in the battle were real and it was cool to read about what really happened. I liked how the author wove the facts of what really happened without changing it to fit the story. The only thing I could see that was changed was the addition of Jeff’s ancestor as a character. I like it when authors stay true to the history in their books.
“One thing I do want to mention is that the book is written as if Jeff is talking to you. Its like you’re having a conversation with him about something that happened a few days ago.
“He tells you his feelings, thoughts and what he said about things. He also adds in extra things that really have no place in the book but the author does that to show that Jeff is a teenager and that he notices things that adults wouldn’t or is easily distracted.
“I would recommend anyone with an interest in the paranormal/fantasy genre to give this book a try. I’m glad I did and I am excited to read the next one.”
To see the full review on Amazon, click here.
See below fore the book trailer.
