A Message From Martha

The question I'm most frequently asked goes something like this: "You write about a psychic detective. Are you psychic, too?"

Psychic. Whew. What a loaded word. You mean, can I give you this week's winning lotto numbers (for a small fee, of course)? No. Yet I have seen and sensed people--ghosts, if you will--who are no longer "alive." Sometimes I see bands of translucent colored light around people. I've had a several vivid dreams about events that later came to pass. Over the years I've heard similar stories from enough people to know that these are not such terribly odd experiences. What's odd is that for the most part our culture continues to view these occurrences as weird and abnormal. Why?

One reason might be that most fictional and cinematic accounts of psi phenomena blow things all out of proportion. Quiet little hauntings don't make for good ratings, I suppose. When you hear the term "psychic," you probably think of the Hollywood Technicolor version of the experience. This is unfortunate, because chances are that when your psychic moments come along your experiences are more subtle than that, so you probably dismiss them as "coincidences." The friend who calls just when you were thinking of her. The dream you don't quite remember that tells you what's coming next. The idea that comes out of "nowhere" to guide your next move.

When I created my psychic detective, Elizabeth Chase, my intention was to show psychic phenomena as I've experienced it: Sporadic, unpredictable, subtle--but nonetheless real. I'm hoping that by seeing the world through Elizabeth's eyes, you the reader just might begin to recognize the psychic in yourself. Even if you can't come up with next week's winning lotto numbers.

Sweet dreams (and pay attention to them!),