With Halloween approaching, I thought it might be fun to explore a theme. At this time of year, it is common to see ghosts everywhere. Though most of them are in costume, some of them are true spirits mingling with the rest of us in the physical world because they can blend in so well. And what are they doing while they are visiting from the other side? I caught up with a ghost last October and asked that question. It turns we have a lot in common with ghosts. They enjoy sweets so the opportunity to amass a pile of candy is not to be missed. And shopping. The once a year opportunity is critical to stock up on books for their libraries!
The Doctor, Rose and ghost storyteller Charles Dickens being haunted.
Like the living, I’m quite sure that ghosts have a wide variety of literary interests. But what I have learned is that there is a list of recommended reading that has been complied for the recently departed to help them cope with their new status. It includes self help titles, like the popular Welcome to Your New Afterlife. But it also includes a great deal of fiction that addresses many of the issues that ghosts face in their every day afterlife.
It just so happens that some of those works of fiction happen to be in the genre of Sci Fi Romance. Some have traditional ghost characters, and others use the term ghost in a non-traditional sense. Some are definitely Sci Fi and some are genre-defying. I’ve read a few of them myself and others are books I’d like to read. Hopefully I will get to them in this life!
Reading List for the Afterlife
(Words in quotes were taken from Amazon book blurbs.)
Gabriel’s Ghost (Dock Five, #1) by Linnea Sinclair
“After a decade of piloting interstellar patrol ships, former captain Chasidah Bergren, onetime pride of the Sixth Fleet, finds herself court-martialed for a crime she didn’t commit – and shipped off to a remote prison planet from which no one ever escapes. Gabriel Sullivan – alpha mercenary, smuggler, and rogue – is supposed to be dead. Yet now this seductive ghost from Chaz’s past is offering her a ticket to freedom – for a price.”
Gabriel’s Ghost was the first Linnea Sinclair book that I read. Wow! While I had read Sci Fi that had a romantic element in them, I think this book cemented the genre for me. Non-stop Sci Fi action combined with a romance with a enough intensity to carry over into the Doc Five series. I recommend Gabriel’s Ghost to any Sci Fi Romance reader – the living and the departed!
Ghost in the Machine (Corwint Central Agent Files, #1) by C.E. Kilgore
“Ghost In The Machine is a mature space opera romance with strong language, some violence, a good heaping of romance, some steamy bits, a few crazy aliens, one very confused android, an empathic girl with emotional issues who tends to trip herself up, and a crew of space agents who seem to enjoy making their Central Director yank out her hair.”
As reading lists go, the title appears on many of them. Several books in a variety of genres have the same title. But spirits, as near as I can tell, C.E. Kilgore’s version is the only one that fits into our favorite genre here at Smart Girls. This first book in the Corwint Central Agent Files is a freebie at Amazon.
To Love a London Ghost by Maeve Alpin
I’m a steampunk reader, so I had to include this one.
“Walk on the wild side of Victorian London with the ghost and the ghost hunter. On a mission to a match factory, even to the Otherworld and back, to stop a genius scientist and his phantasm debilitater machine, they seek the secret to freeing the boundaries of life and death.”
Phantasm debilitater. Mmm.
Ghost Phoenix, Ghosts of Christmas Past (The Phoenix Institue, #3 and 3.5) by Corrina Lawson
“Warning: This book contains one hot immortal surfer dude and a woman who’s been waiting for a chance to just go wild.” (From book 3)
I’ve seen The Phoenix Institute series categorized as Paranormal Romance, but there is that whole bit about using DNA to create a particular type of being, which sounds like Sci Fi. Which is how the afterlife reading list categorizes it. In these two Ghost books, character’s otherworldly abilities to turn invisible and walk through walls put these books on the recommended reading list. Self-help or indulgent fiction? For spirits, they could be either.
Ghostland (Ghostland World, #1) by Jory Strong
“Welcome to a postapocalyptic world, where the afterlife holds beings that only the bravest can summon – or dare to desire.”
I read all three books in the Ghostland Worlds series in print form and found them in the Sci Fi aisle in the books store. In fact, Ghostland has elements of Post-apocalyptic Sci Fi, Urban Fantasy and Paranormal fiction. Plus, of course, there is romance! Readers of Ms. Strong’s erotic romance will hear a different voice in Ghostland. I must admit, the Ghostland series is my favorite of the Jory Strong books that I have read. As a ghost, reading this book may help you deal with the living in those rare instances you make contact. Same goes for the next book on this list…..
Ghost Planet by Sharon Lynn Fisher
Ghost Planet is the book that got me thinking about this theme, since I read it a couple weeks ago.
“Psychologist Elizabeth Cole prepared for the worst when she accepted a job on a newly discovered world – a world where every colonist is tethered to an alien who manifests in the form of a dead loved one. But she never expected she’d struggle with the requirement to shun these “ghosts.” She never expected to be so attracted to the charming Irishman assigned as her supervisor. And she certainly never expected to discover she died in a transport crash en route to the planet.”
As of today, this book has been out for three years. Why did I wait so long to read Ghost Planet! This book starts out with a bang and builds up from there. Many surprises and plot twists follow. The highly original concept of symbiotic beings tied to human hosts had me constantly speculating about the true nature of these beings and the planet they originated on. Throughout the book, I learned bits and pieces about these enigmas right along with the main characters. Human Murphy and ghost Elizabeth dig into the puzzle while they get to know each other. Ghost Protocol says they should have nothing to do with each other, but that is just not going to work for these two intelligent, empathetic, passionate beings. Their partnership is the catalyst that stirs the actions of humans and ghosts alike to solve the planetary puzzle. Highly recommended! Ghosts and humans, if this sounds interesting to you, hop over to Goodreads to entry the anniversary giveaway! (Link below)
That’s it for the Sci Fi Romance portion of the Reading List for the Afterlife. Whether you are pre- or post-death, I hope you will find something that looks interesting. Come back next week for another otherworldly reading list!
Warning: This post includes one or two facts like a) I read some books and b) there are titles with ‘Ghost’ in them. It also contains a lot of made up stuff. If you require reliable information about ghosts and their reading preferences, you will need to do your own research. ‘Tis the season!
Goodreads Links:
Ghost Phoenix, Ghosts of Christmas Past
Smart Girls love SciFi 
What a great theme. My TBR list just took a hit.
Thanks for the shoutout, Riley! Happy Halloween!
What a super idea! Love it!