BOOK REVIEW: Paul F. Eno Paranormal Books: Faces at the Window (1998) & Footsteps in the Attic (2002)

     I was at the Lincoln Public Library, where I go most often when I go to the library.   I was talking to the Reference librarian, because I was interested in maybe doing a public presentation on paranormal literature.   Maybe starting up a bi-weekly paranormal literature discussion group.   I don’t know exactly.   Just one of those thoughts that floats around in one’s head every now and again.   When I inquired, I was told that the reference librarian handled the public programming, so I was having a discussion with the reference librarian.   Although the reference librarian that does the programming had gone home for the day, I acquired enough information to follow up if I decided to follow up.

     When I told the reference librarian I was speaking with (not the reference librarian that programs the public programming) that I was thinking of putting together a paranormal literature presentation, maybe a bi-weekly regional paranormal literature discussion group, the name of Paul Eno came up.   Paul Eno had done similar programming and the reference librarian told me that they were quite popular and the presenter usually does a presentation, and though the library doesn’t specifically support the presentations as a method of selling books, Paul Eno does manage to sell a few of his books whenever he does a presentation.   This is encouraging, because although I genuinely and sincerely want to organize a regional paranormal discussion group, I also want to increase awareness of the Schiffer line of “ghost books”, especially since Thomas D’Agostino has written regional paranormal books for Rhode Island and Massachusetts, and Schiffer offers a regional paranormal book on Connecticut by Elaine Kuzmeskus as well as other “ghosty” books addressing the New England area.

     The reference librarian asked me if I was interested in checking out Paul Eno’s paranormal books, and I immediately agreed.   The reference librarian led me over to the “paranormal literature” section of the library and pulled out the two books, Faces at the Window (1998) & Footsteps in the Attic (2002).

     Slim tomes, at 100 pgs. And 167 pgs. respectively, I dove right in to see what kind of books a successful paranormal presentation presenter writes.

     Both books are very similar in style and content.   The back of the book blurb claims that ‘Faces in the Window’ “isn’t the usual collection of rehashed New England ghost tales, half-legends and spooky sketches”.    The author avoids providing an anthology of familiar tales by presenting two collections of stories about paranormal manifestations that he personally investigated.   This allows the books to serve a dual purpose as unusual collections of highly personal accounts of paranormal happenings, as well as a kind of casebook of the author’s experiences as an investigator of paranormal phenomenon.

     Although not a unique approach, it is refreshing when contrasted with the anthological approach of most regional paranormal books.   Also not unique, but certainly interesting is Paul Eno’s philosophy regarding the causes for paranormal phenomenon.   The author believes that paranormal manifestations are a result of the intervolving of the fabric of space-time.   The author believes that in the fuzzy nether regions of modern physics there is room for an infinite multitude of simultaneous timelines and an infinite multitude of dimensions and that paranormal manifestations are possible when energies are able to cross-over the often then boundaries between dimensions.   I paraphrase the author’s philosophy not in an attempt to summarize but rather to give reader’s a sense of the sensibility that is inextricably woven into each of the author’s stories.   The author’s disbelief in death as a finite end to an individual’s conscious existence and the author’s belief in the persistence of the spiritual energies of ancestor spirits is fascinating and for me personally it was evocative of the feeling one gets when reading from Erich Von Daniken, the annals of the Duke Parapsychology Laboratory, or the familiar Time/Life ‘Mysteries of the Unexplained’ series of books.

     Paranormal enthusiasts that adhere to the more conventional Sci-Fi’s Ghost Hunters philosophy of the causes of paranormal manifestations, such as hauntings as electromagnetically imprinted sense memories from traumatic events, and ghosts as lingering manifestations of the consciousnesses of the departed with an earthly agenda, may have trouble wrapping their minds around Paul Eno’s multidimensional space-time theories.   Not because the author’s prose is unnecessarily elaborate, but rather because the ideas are that much different than the ideas that we usually encounter in our day to day business.

     The stories themselves are quite enjoyable, although after I got the flavor, I glossed through about the last five in the second book.   There is such a thing as too much of a good thing.   The author’s prose is easy to read and understand, except when he takes a left turn into his discussions of space-time continuums, but aside from those digressions, the author writes in a conversational style liberally sprinkled with common figures of speech that keep the tales from seeming detached or artificial at the cost of distancing eager readers.

     Overall I found both books enjoyable, but rather brief, with six chapters in 100 pages in the first book, and sixteen chapters in the 167 pgs. of the second book.   Some may find the prices, ($12.95 and $14.95 respectively) a little prohibitive, but what price contentment?

     Those interested in acquiring copies may visit the publisher’s web site at: www.NewRiverPress.com

     Or, if you’re like me, and you prefer to read before you buy, both copies are available from the Lincoln Public Library in Lincoln, Rhode Island.

     I’ll be dropping them off tomorrow so you can pick them up.

About the Reviewer:

Scott Lefebvre can write about whatever you want him to write about.
Mostly because when he was grounded for his outlandish behavior as a hyperactive school child, the only place he was allowed to go was the public library.
His literary tastes were forged by the works of Helen Hoke, Alvin Schwartz and Stephen Gammell, Ray Bradbury, Richard Matheson, Stephen King, Clive Barker, Edgar Allan Poe, and H. P. Lovecraft.
He is the author of Spooky Creepy Long Island, and a contributing author to Forrest J. Ackerman’s Anthology of the Living Dead, Fracas: A Collection of Short Friction, The Call of Lovecraft, and Cashiers du Cinemart.
He is currently working on ten novel-length book projects which will be released in 2014.
He also publishes themed collections of interviews from his interview blog You Are Entitled To My Opinion.
His reviews have been published by a variety of in print and online media including Scars Magazine, Icons of Fright, Fatally Yours and Screams of Terror, and he has appeared in Fangoria, Rue Morgue and HorrorHound Magazine.
He is the Assistant Program Director for The Arkham Film Society and produces electronic music under the names Master Control and LOVECRAFTWORK.
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