Preface

Does the term “paranormal” really mean “outside of normal,” whatever “normal” actually means? Paranormal events are generally thought of as events that are not scientifically explainable. We have all heard about instances of events which seem to imply that telepathy exists (such as one’s sense that a loved one is in trouble, resulting in a phone call) or premonition (for example, someone cancels a trip because of a bad feeling and then an accident occurs on the scheduled transportation). There even have been occasional reports of people experiencing precognition (knowledge of a future event). We’ve all encountered people with compelling personalities, presences so strong that when that person enters a room, all conversation stops and everyone turns to see who entered. Are these examples of the “paranormal”? Perhaps they are. But people accept such things as normal; although they might be considered to be just a wee bit on the strange side of normal. In writing this story, I decided to explore these fringes of normality, using a generally unknown and widely unfamiliar religion, Vodou, as the vehicle for the exploration.

This is a coming-of-age story, but it’s also more than that. This story also has connections to the Naked in School universe of stories, but that connection forms only a small part of the story. There’s romance here, some challenges, some violence, some humor, lots of science, and a very utopian story line—in some ways it’s a modern version of the “Adventures of Tom Swift” stories of the early twentieth century, where the main character always prevails while coming up with inventions thick and fast. This is the story of the journey of our protagonist, who grows up in a world completely different from that of her early childhood, and whose ancestry has given her certain gifts, abilities she’s inherited from her forebears. These abilities aren’t recognized by Western society as anything but superstition or charlatanism, but in truth, some people are known to possess similar, but less potent, abilities.

Our protagonist is the descendant of many generations of priestesses of the African-Haitian Vodou religion and she comes to learn that her knowledge and abilities are useful to help other kids in her schools when she finds out that they are being mistreated by parents—and the government too. Her abilities set her on the path to learn the scientific explanation for how she’s able to do what she does. You’re invited to join her on this path of discovery and I hope you enjoy the journey.

All of the science mentioned and medical descriptions in the story are accurate as of the writing of the story. The single fictional departure is that a room-temperature, superconducting molecular structure has been discovered, and I let my imagination extend modern physics principles to explore the ramifications of such a discovery, if nature allowed such a molecular structure to exist.

An ongoing cast of characters will be added to as the story progresses, but to publish these lists in their entirety at the story’s outset would provide major spoilers. Also included is a glossary of many foreign-language terms used in the story, a list of abbreviations, and a description of the Vodou lwa which are mentioned in the story.

Note

Reading the earlier stories in the Kevin and Denise series is strongly recommended because this story has many references to those that come earlier. There are many spoilers here too. The suggested order is Kevin and Denise; Roger and Cynthia; The Exported Rebellion; Tom’s Troubles; and Emma Comes in from the Cold.

Notice

This story is set in a fictional parallel universe very closely related to our Real World. In this story, the names of some characters, organizations, localities, events, and references to publications or movies, which resemble those found in the Real World, are used to establish this story’s world setting. All of the identifying names and descriptions used which are similar to any real people, locations, and organizations, exist in this story’s universe too and their use here is for strictly fictional purposes, to provide context and reality for the plot. Their use here does not imply that any events described as occurring in those places represent depictions of events involving any real organizations or characters. And of course, any similarities between any real person and any character appearing in this story are purely coincidental and unintentional.