Trails that are more or less traveled. In view of the fact that the borough of Jim Thorpe was named after an Olympic champion, it is fitting that the area is renowned for such physical outdoor activities as hiking, biking, and jogging in the surrounding hinterland (plus snowshoeing and cross-country skiing during the winter months). Hundreds of miles of trails provide access to remote forested mountaintops, yet the casual visitor may be unaware of all but a few. The Lehigh Gorge Trail and the Switchback Trail are well-known and popular destinations. Visitors flock to these trackless tracks because they are well publicized. But these commonly accessed tourist attractions pass by or intersect with scores of other trails that are largely ignored or unknown. These "other" trails are traveled mostly by a sparse community of outdoor folk - generally local inhabitants - who have discovered or been shown the wild routes that lie off the beaten track. Although the present volume describes in detail the sights and landmarks that dot the two trails that are named above, it goes far beyond them. Most of the content extols the virtues of hiking, biking, and jogging in areas where people seldom go: into the outback where nature prevails and solitude is a virtue. There you will find babbling brooks, neglected waterfalls, scenic overlooks, rock outcrops, pristine forests, abandoned structures, isolated reservoirs, and more - much more. The backbone of the book is the Lehigh Gorge Trail. The adjacent mountains are like transverse processes on descending vertebrae. The mountains are arranged in hopscotch fashion from north to south, jumping back and forth across the Lehigh River between White Haven in the north to the Lehigh Gap in the south. The chapters are arranged accordingly: not in alphabetical order but from upstream to downstream as they first make their appearance along the river: Chestnut Ridge (Hickory Run State Park), Green Mountain, Buck Mountain, Summer Mountain, Millstone Mountain, Weiser Penn Forest Tract, Penn Haven and Bald Mountains, Scrub Mountain, Broad Mountain, Pocono Mountain, Glen Onoko, Pisgah Mountain, Switchback Trail, Mauch Chunk Ridge, Bear Mountain, Beltzville State Park, and Blue Mountain. By using this book as a guide, readers can locate secluded pathways, forgotten trails, and old wagon roads that are too often bypassed. Whether you wish for nothing more than a simple stroll in the woods, or want to ride your mountain bike across strenuous terrain, this book is the gateway to lands beyond the pale.

The title says it all. The subtitle leaves nothing to the imagination. As the cover text clearly denotes, this book is a history of outright lies, deceptive practices, and gross administrative abuses that have been perpetrated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration throughout its existence. Most of the book focuses on the National Marine Sanctuaries Program, but fraudulent activities in other NOAA agencies are covered as well: past as well as present. The narrative starts with the Civil War ironclad warship Monitor, which was designated unlawfully as the first National Marine Sanctuary. A brief account of four federal lawsuits, which ultimately led to Congress forcing NOAA to permit public access to the site, is followed by NOAA's recent scheme to expand the boundaries of the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary in order to annex every shipwreck off the coast of North Carolina - and beyond. The Stellwagen Bank Robbery relates NOAA's plot to expand the Stellwagen Bank NMS to include all the fishing waters off the State of Massachusetts. This expansion goes hand in hand with NOAA's sordid history of preying upon commercial anglers by citing them with exorbitant fines for alleged violations that were never proven in court - and then using the proceeds as perquisites for NOAA's law enforcement personnel: personal credit cards, free vehicles, and around-the-world all-expenses-paid junkets for NOAA's judges and prosecutors. NOAA representatives have knowingly misled the public at so-called scoping meetings. Worse, they have deceived and lied to Congress by submitting false and distorted information in various action plans: all of which are designed to increase NOAA's authority and submerged land holdings. NOAA wants to expand the boundaries of its West Coast sanctuaries to create a huge conglomerate that will control all the waters off the State of California - and beyond. If NOAA gets its way, public access to National Marine Sanctuaries will be either disallowed or severely restricted. Prohibitions against sport-fishing and recreational diving will result in economic catastrophe as charter boats, dive shops, tackle shops, restaurants, and motels are forced out of business by the loss of tourism. NOAA's plans for expansion are unlimited. NOAA is a juggernaut that is totally out of control. This is NOAA's story.

GARY GENTILE'S POPULAR DIVE GUIDE SERIES Over 100 GPS and loran numbers included As suggested by the title and series name, this volume covers the most well-known wrecks sunk in the Virginia portion of the Chesapeake Bay. For each of the wrecks covered, a statistical sidebar provides basic information such as the dates of construction and loss, previous names (if any), tonnage and dimensions, builder and owner (at time of loss), port of registry, type of vessel and how propelled, cause of sinking, location (GPS and/or loran coordinates if known), and depth. In most cases, an historical photograph or illustration of the ship leads the text. Throughout the book is scattered a selection of additional photographs. Each volume is full of fascinating narratives of triumph and tragedy, of heroism and disgrace, of human nature at its best and its basest. These books are not about wood and steel, but about flesh and blood, for every shipwreck saga is a human story. Ships may founder, run aground, burn, collide with other vessels, or be torpedoed by a German U-boat. In every case, however, what is emphatically important is what happened to the people who became victims of casualty: how they survived, how they died. Also included are descriptions of the wrecks as they appear on the bottom. At the end of this volume is a bibliography of suggested reading, and a list of GPS and loran numbers of wrecks in and adjacent to the area covered. Wrecks covered in Shipwrecks of the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia Waters are: Annie, Brazil, Charon (Revolutionary War gunboat), Chilore, City of Annapolis, Cumberland and Congress (from the Civil War Battle of Hampton Roads), Diamond Shoals, Dorothy, Edward R. Baird, Jr., Florida (Confederate raider), Julia Luckenbach, Katahdin, Lorraine, Louisiana, Monmouth, Nellie Pentz, North Carolina, Pilot, Texas/San Marcos (battleship), Virginia (ex-Merrimack), West Point, William Donnelly, and Wm. D. Sannere. Also included is a special section about shipwrecks in Dutch Gap and Kiptopeke State Park.

THE ULTIMATE SCHEME TO ERADICATE CHRISTIANITY "We have a big problem. The Islamic Revolutionary Forces have developed a time machine." This is what the director of the CIA told the President of the United States. The IRF was initiating a nefarious plan to use its "temporal displacement apparatus" to go back to the time of the Crucifixion of Christ and nip Christianity in the bud. To ensure the success of their goal, the IRF was taking a home-made atomic bomb with them. CIA analyst Laila Masterson discovered the bold Muslim plot by deciphering intel from field agents who worked under her command. Her report sent a shock wave through U.S. military forces and intelligence gathering services - a wave that reached all the way to the Vatican. Laila was assigned as a special advisor to the Elite Guard: the Air Force's select team of professionals whose desperate mission was to balk the enemy plan by following a terrorist cell into the past, to ancient Jerusalem: when and where the Crucifixion occurred, or was to occur, or might occur - the occurrence dependant upon a point of view that was nonsequential or mischronological. Using state-of-the-art aircraft and unconventional tactics and equipment, a daring Air Force colonel organized a team of experts to accompany his chosen few on a bid to save and sanctify the roots of Christianity, before those roots could be annihilated by a Muslim suicide squad that was bent on making Islam the dominant religious force in the modern world. This is the story of those brave volunteer temporanauts who fought to preserve the humanitarian principles on which Christianity is based.

SHARE THE LIFE OF AN UNDERWATER ADVENTURERGary Gentile has tramped the world in search of adventure. Many of his exploits have been related in previous books about wreck-diving, the great outdoors, combat, and courtroom dramas. The present volume continues in this vein as he reflects upon a host of expeditions and incidents in which he has been involved throughout the years.Read about frightening wreck-diving experiences; about incredible rescues and recoveries; about being lost at sea; about exploring submerged caves in a remote corner of the world; about being marooned on an uninhabited island; and much, much more.These are all brand new stories that have never been told.In addition to some of his most personal experiences is a resounding condemnation of a blatant attempt of certain individuals to pervert the truth by fabricating tales about the destruction of the U-869.Experience thrills of a lifetime; second-guess difficult decisions that made the difference between life and death; and perhaps most important, obtain an understanding of an aspect of diving that is too often overlooked: the camaraderie that creates bonds that last forever.Much of the material within these covers is somewhat humorous: a lighthearted look at what divers take for granted, but which is generally neglected by reporters in order to emphasize danger and sell more copy. This attitude is shameful in that it sheds false light on an activity whose risk factors are reduced by training, expertise, and stern contemplation of the consequences of foolish or impulsive actions.This sublime hodgepodge of epics and anecdotes will make you laugh, make you scared, make you angry, make you wonder, but most of all, it will make you think about what you might be missing.

GARY GENTILE'S POPULAR DIVE GUIDE SERIES Over 100 GPS and loran numbers included As suggested by the title and series name, this volume covers the most well-known wrecks sunk in the Maryland portion of the Chesapeake Bay. For each of the wrecks covered, a statistical sidebar provides basic information such as the dates of construction and loss, previous names (if any), tonnage and dimensions, builder and owner (at time of loss), port of registry, type of vessel and how propelled, cause of sinking, location (GPS and/or loran coordinates if known), and depth. In most cases, an historical photograph or illustration of the ship leads the text. Throughout the book is scattered a selection of additional photographs. Each volume is full of fascinating narratives of triumph and tragedy, of heroism and disgrace, of human nature at its best and its basest. These books are not about wood and steel, but about flesh and blood, for every shipwreck saga is a human story. Ships may founder, run aground, burn, collide with other vessels, or be torpedoed by a German U-boat. In every case, however, what is emphatically important is what happened to the people who became victims of casualty: how they survived, how they died. Also included are descriptions of the wrecks as they appear on the bottom. At the end of each volume is a bibliography of suggested reading, and a list of GPS and loran numbers of wrecks in and adjacent to the area covered. Wrecks covered in Shipwrecks of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland Waters are: Alum Chine, American Mariner (target ship), Benjamin O. Colonna, Columbia, Columbus, Dragonet (American submarine), Express, Favorite, General J.A. Dumont, Hannibal, Herbert D. Maxwell, Levin J. Marvel, Mary A. DeKnight, Medora, Nelly White, New Jersey, S-49 (American submarine), Three Rivers, Tulip (Civil War gunboat), U-1105 (German U-boat), Wawaset, and Wilson Small. Also included is a special section about shipwrecks in Curtis Bay and Mallows Bay.

Did you know that Senator Robert Byrd passed laws all by himself, against the wishes of the American public? Did you know that people have been fined for making wild sea lions bark, because it violated the Marine Mammal Protection Act? Did you know that slavery still exists in America?Did you know that after the terrorist attack on the Pentagon, firefighters and rescue workers were not allowed to extinguish fires or provide emergency medical service because they did not have security clearance? Did you know that tourists are allowed to walk on top of the USS Arizona, but are prevented from swimming next to it?Did you know that in certain instances, a plaintiff is presumed guilty until he proves his innocence beyond all reasonable doubt?How absurd is it that people complain about paying $3 for a gallon of gasoline, but willingly pay more than $20 per gallon for drinking water? Tap water is free, but convenience store prices for bottled water are outrageous.Do you know how easy it is to cross the American border without going through customs? Did you know that the National Park Service operates sting operations against unwary visitors? Did you know that the government has mandated employment for individuals who are not capable of performing the job for which they were hired, and that they are paid the same wage as people who can do the job?It is bad enough that these blatant absurdities exist. What is worse is that they are commonly accepted. Worst yet, not only is nothing being done to correct them, they are proliferating and being perpetuated.The Absurdity Principle is replete with examples of everyday inanities, from serious breaches of Constitutional law to fraudulent activities that are sanctioned by the government. This is a book that will make your blood boil - unless you are an unethical accomplice who is profiteering from flaws in a system gone awry.It is time for people to condemn and castigate absurdities for what they are, to correct silly and farcical situations, to legislate changes in the laws of the land, and to make reason and rationality the way of life. This book will teach you how to get started on the path to deliverance from a world that has gone through the looking glass to tolerate madness and chaos.

The Great Deluge The environment is changing radically in the world of the near future. A runaway Greenhouse effect is causing the polar icecaps to melt. Rising sea levels are flooding seashore lowlands and inundating great harbor cities. People are abandoning their homes and businesses, and moving to higher ground. Energy resources are being depleted. Fuel reserves are at an all-time low. In its battle for world domination, the United Persian Republic is taking advantage of the global catastrophe by maintaining a stranglehold on the distribution of fuel, and by embarking on a voyage of international terrorism. Against this backdrop of worldwide conflict and competition for survival, an all-out search for alternative energy sources is being conducted on the ocean floor. Underwater communities are being constructed for the exploration of the benthic regions. Special deep submergence vessels are scouring the seabed for geothermal vents, mineral deposits, petroleum pockets, veins of coal and ores - anything that can be used to generate power for a dying humanity. Lisa Mallory is a submersible pilot trainee. Tod Mallory is an oceanography major who uses a one-atmosphere suit to study deep-water organisms. They are examining a Blue Hole - a submerged volcanic chimney - off the coast of Antarctica when they stumble upon an abandoned Persian submarine. Their recovery of the submarine sparks a series of events that leads them to the greatest adventure of a lifetime. Together with a professor of subaquatic research, and a hardcore ex-marine officer, they plunge the Benthic Explorer down to the bottom of the Blue Hole, and along vast lava tubes that lead into the Antarctic continent. They surface underground to discover the remains of an ancient civilization - either human or alien - where a spark of life yet abides, and which holds secrets that have been lost to mankind for thousands of years: secrets that have been passed down for generations in the form of myths and legends. The four intrepid explorers learn that some of those myths and legends were based on truth. These truths bring enlightenment about mankind's devastating past, and may provide a means to survive nature's unholy holocaust.

Mold invades our lives on a daily basis. It lives on our skin, on our food, on bathroom tile, in damp basements - in fact, it inhabits every niche in which life can be sustained. It possesses amazing resilience; it thrives and reproduces under the harshest environmental conditions. But this new Mold is different. Instead of subsisting only on one particular kind of nourishment, this Mold consumes every bit of organic matter that it touches, whether that matter is dead or alive. It grows at such a phenomenal rate that it devours an entire building overnight - and the people who are in it. Can this mutant Mold be stopped before it engulfs the landmass of the entire planet? A small but intrepid group of survivors struggles against all odds to eradicate the spread of infection before it breaks out of the Australian outback and reaches civilization. This is their story.

When the Fuhrer sent U-boats to America waters in World War Two, he was repeating a strategy that the Kaiser had tried a generation earlier. Long neglected in the annals of military history is the first attempt to employ a fleet of undersea warships to help achieve world domination. While the Kaiser's surface navy was as ineffective against his enemies as the Fuhrer's surface navy, his use of German submarines, or U-boats, afforded a tactical advantage that was unprecedented in naval warfare. The Kaiser's unterseeboote took a great toll on the world's merchant vessels. The volume in hand is the first of its kind to compare Allied action reports with the deck logs and war diaries of German submarine commanders. These bipolar sources permit a true and accurate assessment of U-boat efficacy, while dispelling erroneous notions about the impact of submarine warfare against staunch American defenders. U-boats torpedoed and shelled harmless fishing vessels, plodding windjammers, and unarmed steamships. They laid mines off U.S. harbor approaches. They left sailors stranded hundreds of miles from shore without adequate food and water. They killed men and women indiscriminately. They took prisoners of war. One U-boat lobbed shells onto a beach on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. This was the first time since the War of 1812 that a foreign country attacked the American mainland. This is the trenchant story of U-boat aggression and American defiance in the Great War of atrocities, when people perished at sea or suffered incredible privation in their struggle to survive.

This volume is a collection of short subjects that are controversial in nature. Leading the contentions is a history of the Abandoned Shipwreck Act. In this chapter is the story of how the Act was passed by only two senators, who sneaked into the closed chamber in order to pass unfavorable legislation that could not have been passed by honest means. Following this is an in-depth study of the U.S. destroyer Murphy: how the wreck was identified; how the Naval Criminal Investigative Service threatened to prosecute those who identified it; and how one diver's bid for sole access to the site led to the unlawful introduction and secret passage of a bill that appropriated all sunken U.S. Navy craft anywhere in the world. The book ends with a 70-page retrospection of Shadow Divers Exposed: what juvenile and irrational critiques were made against it, and by whom; how the truthfulness of the book has been vindicated; and how new evidence has established that the U-869 had been discovered and dived three years prior to events that were related in Shadow Divers: the greatest literary hoax in publishing history. In between these extraordinary disquisitions are chapters on other shipwrecks that have created nationwide controversies: the Civil War ironclad Monitor, the Hamilton and Scourge (U.S. Navy warships from the War of 1812, and which are now controlled by the Canadian government), the treasure wrecks Brother Jonathan and El Cazador, and the World War One ocean liner Lusitania. Also included is "The Stellwagen Bank Robbery," a scathing review of NOAA's illegal activities in the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary: its refusal to release public information, its ambition to prevent public access to wreck sites, and its program to expand sanctuary boundaries (in particular, Thunder Bay, Stellwagen, and the Monitor - the latter to eventually encompass the entire Outer Banks, and all the U-boats and merchant vessels from all wars and all marine casualties). This is a book that will rile your blood.

This volume contains two full-length novels, three critical essays, the illustrations from the 1874 edition, and annotations in endnotes. There are more than 17,000 words in these essays and annotations. In addition to the woodcuts that illustrated the 1874 edition is a reproduction of the title page. The centerpiece is Jules Verne's immortal classic, A Journey to the Center of the Earth, in its full and uncondensed version. The text has been modernized for present-day readers. Gary Gentile has annotated the text in endnotes, in which he defines words and phrases that are nowadays unfamiliar, and explains allusions that are no longer commonplace. For comparison is Gary Gentile's first science fiction novel: a full-length pastiche that was inspired by the original work. This modern subterranean journey is nearly as long as Verne's (76,000 words as opposed to 86,000 words), and incorporates imaginative concepts that go far beyond those of the master. Three shorter journeys include an essay on "Hollow World Myths" and the origination of Jules Verne's tale of descent. Next is "A Tribute to Jules Verne," in which Gary Gentile pays homage to the prolific wordsmith of adventure tales, while at the same time pointing out the scientific fallacies and failures in logic that permeate Verne's best-known novel. Last is a critique that compares the strengths and weaknesses of both novels. Now is the best time to join the fictional but intrepid explorers as they descend beneath the Earth's crust through a labyrinth of caves into the bowels of the planet, where they have many strange and fabulous adventures. They visit illuminated caverns, meet prehistoric creatures, encounter wild plants, and discoverthe progenitors of mankind.

This is an eclectic collection of the author's shorter works. Most have seen print in books, magazines, newspapers, or on the Internet. Some have been expanded for this volume because space limitations in the original publication precluded the author from telling the story in its entirety. Other have been printed the way they originally appeared, but have been appended with annotations either beforehand or afterward. In addition to biographical material, shipwrecks that are covered in this volume include the Andrea Doria, Empress of Ireland, Billy Mitchell Wrecks (Ostfriesland, Frankfurt, U-117, U-140, UB-148), President Coolidge, Sebastian, Texas Tower #4, Bow Mariner, Atlantic (Halifax), Bell Island wrecks (Newfoundland), Dunderberg and Florida (Lake Huron), Miraflores, Shuffled Shipwrecks of North Carolina (Buarque, Equipoise, Mexicano, Cayru, Ario, W.E. Hutton, Papoose, Ciltvaira, San Delfino, Mirlo), Ella Warley, China Wreck (John Sidney and Medway), and shipwrecks of New York (Ajace, Arlington, Bessie A. White, Charles E. Dunlap, Cornelia Soule, Marjory Brown, Panther). There is also a chapter on fossilized megalodon shark teeth.

Gary Gentiles seminal novel of supernatural horror that was first published as The Lurking Based on actual legend, the story begins when the monster known as the Jersey Devil manifests itself in the Pine Barrens of southern New Jersey after the accidental exhumation of a human skeleton. Newspaper reporter Elaine Adams happens to be in the area during the gruesome event. She delves into the lore and gore of the creature whose deathless existence is blamed for the subsequent series of abominable fatalities. She uncovers more than she ever bargained for when she learns that people have been disappearing in the Pine Barrens for years - for decades. Helped by her husband and hampered by an obnoxious sheriff, she digs deep into the mysterious deaths and dismemberments that recommence every seven years - a cycle that coincides with the Jersey Devils regular reappearances. Quickly she is swept into an ageless conspiracy of satanic cultists who not only worship the Jersey Devil, but who feed it by means of human sacrifice in a sensual but brutal ritual in which the victims are impaled on wooden stakes. What Elaine Adams hopes will be the greatest story of her career might instead turn out to be her last. Already one reporter has vanished in the quest to unravel the mystery of the Jersey Devil. Would she be the next?

Gary Gentiles most popular science fiction A TIME FOR DRAGONS, DRAGONS PAST, and NO FUTURE FOR DRAGONS The Time Dragons books have been enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of readers of all ages. First published in 1989 and 1990, and long out of print, all three novels are now combined for consecutive reading. Appended in this new edition is a ten-thousand-word essay that examines the origination and generation of the imaginative concepts, and that describes in detail the plot devices of the three additional books in the series - those books that were planned but never written. The dragons of the titles are actually intelligent, meat-eating reptiles from Earths distant past. They are bent on dominating the planet for all time by exterminating mankind in the present. After dragon death bombs destroy nearly all vestige of human civilization, small bands of survivors are all that remain of a population that numbered in the billions. These isolated pockets of humanity subsist by stealth for more than a century. The dragons slowly reform the planet by planting vegetation from their home time, and by populating the land with species of herbivorous dinosaurs that constitute their food supply - herds of dinosaurian meat on the hoof. Modern-day Earth soon resembles the Cretaceous. When the dragons renew their efforts to stamp out the few surviving humans, a handful of freedom fighters meet and join forces. They plan a courageous campaign against entrenched dragon rule. This small resistance organization first snipes at dragons in the newly-formed jungles, then attacks the dragon outpost with whatever weapons they can muster. Thus begins the saga of human retaliation, as a small but dedicatedguerrilla outfit seeks to eradicate the dragons, and reclaim the planet that is rightfully theirs. This fast-paced, action-packed story is quite literally never-ending. Battles rage in the past, present, and future; on land, in the air, and under the ice. From gun fights with dragons to hand-to-hand combat with a Tyranosaurus rex, the intrepid heroes and heroines never give up in their war against alien tyranny. The grand design of the Time Dragons trilogy is sweeping in its concepts and paradoxes in time. From its inspired beginning to its climactic conclusion, the reader is kept entranced by the brilliant dialogue of engaging characters as well as measured action sequences. Read the Time Dragons trilogy now, or again. Read the ultimate conclusion that has never been revealed: an ending that is not endless, but fundamentally satisfying in all its mind-bending nuances.

This is a collection of the author's earliest science fiction stories: the first ones that he wrote. Like his novels, the stories range from whimsical to serious. All contain imaginative concepts mixed with strong characters undergoing extraordinary experiences or unusual adventures. As a bonus, two previously uncollected stories from the author's later career are included. The author has been writing science fiction since the age of sixteen, when he submitted a 47-page story to his eleventh-grade English teacher for extra credit. He has now written fifty-one books, published more than 3,000 photographs, and led a life of adventure.

HOW THE CITY OF HAMILTON AND THE ONTARIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL LICENCE BUREAU CONSPIRED TO STEAL TWO U.S. NAVY WARSHIPS FROM THE PEOPLE OF THE WORLD. The War of 1812 was ravaging the countryside when two U.S. Navy warships - the Hamilton and the Scourge - foundered in Lake Ontario in a sudden nighttime squall. Seventy American sailors drowned in darkness. Both shipwrecks were discovered off Port Dalhousie, Ontario in 1975. Factions within the U.S. Navy immediately asserted American ownership. In 1979, title to the wrecks was transferred from the Navy to the Royal Ontario Museum, which, like a clearing house, quickly transferred title to the City of Hamilton. As a condition of custody, the City promised to conduct scientific studies and archaeological assessments of the sites, after which it would consider the possibility of raising the wrecks as tourist attractions. Now, a quarter of a century later, the City has done absolutely nothing to honor its pledge. Worse, it has taken an active stance in preventing others from conducting studies. After twenty-five years of apathetic treatment, the wrecks are still rotting away on the lake bed, suffering from the ravages of zebra mussels and inevitable natural decay. Stolen Heritage is the saga of one Americans attempt to visit these relics of his countrys heritage - a heritage that was usurped by bureaucratic fiat. Those who control these historic sites would rather see them decompose than permit anyone - including Americans - to see or photograph them. This book is a story of conspiracy, double dealing, lies, and deceit: an ugly trip through the political machinations of the City of Hamiltons corrupt bureaucrats, and the manipulations of individualswithin the Ontario Archaeological Licence Bureau.

Grant Templeton strolled home from his lab one night to learn that he no longer lived there. Strangers occupied his house. What he surmised must have been a simple case of absented-mindedness - losing his way while his mind pondered scientific problems - turned insidiously into terror. Either he had lost his mind or he had somehow been catapulted into an alternate universe which was similar to his but subtly different: where he either did not exist or he occupied a different place in the scheme of things. Nothing was as it should have been. He returned to his laboratory to find it abandoned. He could not locate family, friends, or co-workers by telephone. The police were unable to confirm his identity. His only ray of hope lay with a whacky sales rep who claimed that Grant had failed to appear for a business meeting with her the previous night. Then the situation got worse. People started shooting at him. A car chase along dark roads and fields ended in the middle of a barn. He and the strange sales rep escaped on foot. As the death toll mounted, law enforcement agencies descended upon the scene intent on his capture. Grant did not know where to turn. He clung to the woman who seemed to know more than she admitted, and who promised solutions to the mysteries that surrounded him. It appeared that he was the focal point of a plot to take over the world by a revitalized faction of fanatics. It all had to do with his counterpart's studies of the memory centers of the brain, and with a device that his otherworld self had invented to record those memories on a computer chip. The ultimate revelation occurred after he confronted the doppelganger who claimed to be - himself.

A high-tech mystery and action/adventure yarn about the light at the end of the tunnel. Can the mind exist away from body? As a scientist, Dr. Blaine Mitchell did not think so. Although he once had a near-death experience in which he mentally left his body for the astral plane and "saw the light," he did not believe that the event was other than imaginary. Mitchell is a medical doctor and research scientist who is studying the effects of electrical nerve stimulation on the control of pain in patients who have terminal diseases or who are suffering chronic pain. The device he is developing trains his patients to employ biofeedback mechanisms in order to block erroneous pain signals from reaching the brain, by forcing the release of naturally occurring endorphins: pain inhibitors that are natural analogues to morphine, and that are chemically similar to the artificial drug but which are not addictive. He knows that over-stimulation of the brain has side effects, such as simulating the out-of-body experience. He has experimented with the device himself. But this is a mere aberration and is easily controlled by installing a governor on the electrical output. As a scientist grounded in scientific reality, he knows that the out-of-body experience is the result of an over-activated imagination; it occurs near death because of the chemical imbalance induced by shock and trauma: the release of hormones into the bloodstream and the lack of oxygen to the brain. The experience is purely hallucinogenic-all in the patient's mind. Nevertheless, there are those who believe otherwise, who see applications of Dr. Mitchell's invention that he has not investigated: nefarious applications. Despite theskepticism of his colleagues, after a presentation of his findings at a national conference there is sudden and explosive interest in the device. Everyone wants a piece of the action: the local police, the FBI, the CIA, the KGB, even the Mafia. Some want to steal it; others want to destroy it. Overnight, a deadly game is in the air. Dr. Mitchell's car is blown up, he is assaulted by gunmen, a dead body is found in his house, his mainframe computer files are destroyed, his laboratory complex is under siege, and he is haunted by an assassin who has the uncanny ability to enter buildings undetected, no matter how secure, and to skulk through rooms and read concealed files with complete impunity. Guards cannot see him much less stop him. The assassin can even eavesdrop on top secret telephone conversations. Dr. Mitchell and his device are put to the task. Only his invention can save his life, and perhaps save the country from the fabulous technological power wielded by seemingly omnipotent foreign spies. What ensues is an incredible game of machine versus machine, mind versus mind, and the foreboding possibility that perhaps out-of-body experiences are not imaginary. It all leads to a finale that is nothing less than mind-blowing.