Metaphysical Mysteries

Seven guests. One killer. A holiday to remember. A dark and addictive psychological thriller about seven strangers who find themselves cut off from civilisation in a remote guesthouse in Ireland. You use an app, called Cloud BNB, to book a room online. And on a cold and windy afternoon you arrive at The Guesthouse, a dramatic old building on a remote stretch of hillside in Ireland. You are expecting a relaxing break, but you find something very different. Something unimaginable. Because a killer has lured you and six other guests here, and now you can’t escape.

A seven percent grasp of the infinite. The universe may be limitless, but our senses are not. Just as the human eye sees but a small percentage of the cosmic wave spectrum, in the same way, most of us are only able to perceive a similar sliver of what we brazenly term “reality”, even with the use of all five of our scientifically acknowledged senses. This month-by-month account of people-supernatural relations spans its own sci-fi/fantasy/horror/comedy spectrum, touring the weird side of the cosmos while leaving the passengers comfy and unscathed in their listening chairs.

By universal consensus, there’s only one exhibition worth seeing at this year’s Venice Biennale. Giuditta Cancellieri’s Il Timore di Dio, six paintings of something as yet undisclosed. Don’t bother buying tickets, though. A court order means no one’s getting in, not even the artist’s closest associates. The city’s been filling with felons. Most observers don’t think that’s an accident. At least one rumor suggests the paintings depict Italy’s most powerful gangsters, or its politicians, in compromising positions.

They reach the shore, barks and joyful laughter swallowed by the crashing waves. Suddenly, an odd-looking object in the sky draws closer. As dark clouds loom, a flicker of unease crosses Scotty’s face. Before he can react, an eerie glow surrounds both boy and dog. In an instant, they vanish without a trace. Now aboard an alien ship, Scotty faces a reality far from home. The walls breathe, the corridors pulse and his fear deepens.

Deep in the enchanted hills west of Florence, a powerful ancient relic lays hidden, shielded by veils of secrecy both human and divine. Julia Giardano’s father tells her she’s a witch, heiress to an ancient tradition and all its mysteries, but before she can learn more, he’s murdered in cold blood. Alone, with few clues, can Julia find her legacy in time to save it from her father’s murderer, Gregor Danilenko, who will stop at nothing to possess the relic he believes will give him eternal life and unmitigated power?

Rebekah Scarlet is celebrating her 23rd birthday at a midnight pub in downtown Raleigh when fired gunshots send the freezing January night into a blazing panic. In an effort to escape, Rebekah conjures a powerful entity from the dead to protect her. Only, her summoning fails when bullets tear through her side, leaving her unconscious as cops and ambulances race to the scene.

David, a college student, takes a summer job at a run-down family resort in a dying English resort town. This is against the wishes of his family because it was at this resort where David's biological father disappeared fifteen years earlier. But something undeniable has called David there. The characters have a suspicious edge to them.

An Amazonian tribe that may or may not exist; a dangerous teenage sorceress - and madness - conspire to stop Jake Kendricks from revealing the truth about a mysterious substance that will end world hunger.

Rachel fends for herself in a country brought to its knees by climate change. Since Jason left two years ago, she only ventures beyond the safety of her storm wall when food supplies dwindle. Her one contact with the outside world is through Noah, who runs the market. Hoping he might be the answer to her isolation, she proposes a date. When another man turns up in Noah's place, she is intrigued and repelled in equal measure.

Adam Penhale believed he was part of the problem; now he is the solution. When he awakes in the desert alone, unaware of who or what he is, his animalistic side takes him on the adventure of a lifetime. Armed with a lone bottle of water and pushed to the brink, Adam faces down one of nature's cruelest environments whilst rediscovering and atoning for his own sins. And, in this almost magical process, he redefines his own reality and identity.

Dinah isn't just a private investigator, she solves unthinkable mysteries in the multiverse, and has never lost a case, until her best friend becomes a victim in a series of mass murders. Someone is toying with the human race, and sending threats across the cosmos. Arik, an Oxford professor in mythology, holds the key to several secrets in the multiverse. When Dinah travels to Earth to seek help from him, they discover one of the secrets he knows could make him the next victim.

Homicide detective Adam Garrett is already a rising star in the Boston police department when he and his cynical partner, Carl Landauer, catch a horrifying case that could make their careers: the ritualistic murder of a wealthy college girl that appears to have satanic elements.

If techno-shaman Olivia Lawson thinks a trip to the Hopi mesas is the escape she needs, she is gravely mistaken. Abducted from her tour, Livvy quickly discovers that all is not as it seems in the quiet villages. Formidable shamans draw her into a bitter and centuries-old conflict. While Livvy struggles to do what's right, she can't help but pursue an unexpected chance to be with the man she loves.

In the heartland of the ancient Maya, techno-shaman Olivia Lawson isn't just an oddity, she's an outcast. Despite having trekked through the jungle to find shamans thought to be extinct, Livvy finds the ultra-clandestine group not just closed but downright hostile. To her surprise though, their interest in SK borders on obsession.

In a time when prisons no longer contain inmates behind concrete and steel, the convicted serve their time while asleep, rehabilitating in virtual reality while blissfully unaware of their crimes. Roger Parker is a professional prison breaker, skilled at navigating these strange penal dream worlds and extracting those imprisoned there - for a price. Parker wants out of the game, but a powerful senator, desperate to save his son, convinces Parker to pull one last job.

Sweeney is a druggist by trade; Danny, his son, is in a persistent coma, the victim of an accident. Hoping for a miracle, they have come to the Peck Clinic, a fortress-like haven in a post-industrial city overrun by gangs. Doctors there claim to have resurrected two patients who were similarly lost in the void.

Even for a techno-shaman, a kachina in the bedroom isn't exactly part of the drill. When Olivia Lawson wakes to find one towering over her, she panics. A Hopi god visiting the real world isn't just wrong - it's impossible. Or is it? Soon Olivia learns that the kachina is the least of her worries. As she struggles to save her clients, clashes with other shamans, and fends off the attacks of real-world vigilantes, Olivia finds herself in the destructive path of a malevolent ancient force intent on leaving the spiritual realm to conquer this one.

Leigh has been married to a Hawthorne for a decade, but never knew the family secret: the Hawthornes are witches. When the dynamic Preacher Cody instigates a new, world-wide witch hunt, Leigh must choose sides. Will she stand with her husband and children, or will she run? This isn't the first witch hunt the Hawthornes have faced, but it could be their last. Will anyone survive?

As Livvy struggles to hold on to loved ones, her past and future unexpectedly collide. Caught between the multiverse and the real world, and saving herself or doing right, Livvy learns a final truth: the real measure of love isn't fighting for someone, it's dying for them.

Patients with fractured souls, clients threatened by deadly ancestor spirits, and now the paparazzi - it’s all in a day’s work for techno-shaman Olivia Lawson. Livvy has rocketed to the top of the shaman world, bringing old friends with her but also attracting new enemies. Even as her career soars, her personal life spirals downward. Broken bonds and lost love finally force her to confront the terrible secret of her beginning in shamanism.