Related Books by Greg Guma
Spirits of Desire
An Historical Novel
Set during the spiritualist craze of the 1870s, Spirits of Desire follows an extraordinary group of people — including world-changing mystic Helena Blavatsky, lawyer-turned-journalist Henry Olcott, famous yet troubled medium William Eddy, and the unscrupulous Dr. George Beard — as they search for the truth about ghosts in a small Vermont town. The trail leads them into a world of seances, deadly elemental forces, astral forces and past lives. It was the inspiration for Woman of Another World.
Praise for Spirits of Desire
“Like E. L. Doctorow’s novel Ragtime, Spirits of Desire is a story that plays out against a tapestry of social, intellectual, religious, political and scientific forces... Because this is a novel — and a good one — I don’t want to give away too much. Suffice it to say that Mr. Guma has done a fine job of bringing these characters and their fascinating epoch to life.”
— Joseph Citro, Vermont Public Radio
“One of the most fascinating fictional Vermont-based true-to-history yarns I’ve read in quite some time...an impressive debut novel, one that raises more questions than it answers, one that will stay with you long after you finish the tongue-in-cheek last sentence.”
— Rob Williams, Valley Reporter
“Guma has retold the Eddy story in crisp, clear prose, keeping himself out of sight (like a good medium) and setting his plot against a backdrop not just of scientism and spiritualism, but also human emotion, individual quest, private doubt, sex, love and social turmoil... It’s Guma’s achievement that he doesn’t belittle any of his characters, nor land dogmatically on either side of the “Yes/No?” Debate over parapsychology.”
— Peter Kurth, Seven Days
RETN Roundtable Interview 2005
Greg discusses Spirits of Desire with host Scott Campitelli
Into the Mystic
From Spiritualism to Theosophy in the Gilded Age
The amazing true story of how Helena Blavatsky and Henry Olcott brought ancient Eastern wisdom to the West and created the foundation for the modern New Age movement. This short, engaging history includes rare interviews and clippings; detailed accounts of what happened in Vermont, how critics attacked spiritualism, the first official cremation in the US, and how Blavatsky and Olcott explained spirit “materializations” and subjects like karma, reincarnation, and astral projection.