Afterlife science is stable. It doesn’t change, but it does evolve. The ongoing accumulation of data from of the experiences of thousands of people allows for an increasing depth of understanding of the implications. Through greater acceptance, healthcare professionals can admit to using controversial methods to help their patients. For example, a senior consultant psychiatrist can admit at a large conference held in 2017, that they sometimes use mediums.

My aim is to incorporate afterlife science into mystery and crime thrillers. Everything that happens is an accurate representation of these truly remarkable phenomena.

Every so often, another aspect of the subject becomes acceptable for public consumption. Take, for example, Induced After Death Communication. This sounds like a question from a cheap science fiction movie: Is it possible to be put in touch with the afterlife directly, rather than through a medium? Incredibly, the answer is yes – and has been since 1996 as part of treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. (It can only be induced by a psychiatrist or a suitably trained and registered psychotherapist).

This stability is very fortunate for me. A storyline in which a young yachtswoman, having been declared dead, has an out-of-body experience during which she witnesses terrifying medical negligence, but survives with her life hanging by a thread, means that the basis of the novel written ten years ago, is just as valid today. (The Trial of Poppy Moon)

Research by professional scientists is crucial. It shows that the Near-Death Experience of one person is very similar to that of another; that the error rate and types of errors, displayed by one medium or psychic are very similar across all mediums and psychics. In fact, these rates and types of errors can help you spot a fraudulent medium. There’s usually no doubt though when you’re in the presence of one that is truly gifted. See the How to Train your Psychic Medium webpage.

During a Near-Death Experience there is always a deceased person, usually a relative, to help your transition into the next realm. You may be told it’s not yet your time to die, but are subjected to a life revue nevertheless. A life revue tells you a lot about yourself and is invariably a life-changing experience. See the webpage Near-Death Experience.

It’s reassuring to have deceased relatives come to ease your transition. If you haven’t heard from them for a long time, it can happen that you didn’t even know they were dead. This has happened so many times that, in Afterlife Science, it’s been given the somewhat strange name of a Peak in Darien. (It’s a reference to a poem by Keats.)

But what if you didn’t even know they were a relative? Worse still, what if they claim to be your father, and the person you’ve known as your father all your life was at the breakfast table that very morning? If your family is absurdly rich and as cruel as they are powerful, best be very careful whom you tell. If true, who was your real father, how did he die; does your mother know? Are there any hidden truths about the accident that caused your Near-Death Experience - if indeed it were an accident? Trust no one; not even your own family. In fact, especially your own family. (Springs of Dark Water).

Mediumship is a remarkable phenomenon, better described as After Death Communication by proxy. It does though suffer from one huge affliction. It’s relatively easy for someone with cunning and a modicum of acting ability, to fake the talents of a true medium. Thanks to the work of the Windbridge Research Centre in Tucson, Arizona, they can though be caught out. (See the How to Train your Psychic Medium webpage.)

A psychic ability that has received a lot of ridicule and scorn is clairvoyance, or Remote Viewing as it’s also called. It’s the ability to accurately visualise distant locations and objects. Whether it’s 10 miles away or 10,000 makes no difference.

There are two possible reasons for pouring ridicule over an ability such as Remote Viewing: Firstly, because it is, in fact, truly ridiculous. What though if it works so well that you don’t want your enemies to know. During the Cold War, Remote Viewing was used by the United States’ psychical espionage division called Project Star Gate. Their most impressive practitioner was Joseph McMoneagle. With a success rate of 100 per cent, he provided the CIA with highly strategic military intelligence. This seemingly impossible rate of success turned out to be due to the type of targets he’d been asked to locate: nuclear weapons and reactors (bombs, submarines, etc).

Although not realised at first, the reason was due to a principle in physics called entropy. Anything that’s radioactive has high entropy, which for some reason makes it easier for remote viewers to detect. Much later, this was tested by creating increased entropy using the release of high-pressure nitrogen at various remote locations. It produced the same impressive results.

So, just how much do you trust these powers? They are faithfully represented in this storyline.

An outstanding scientist working near Oxford in the UK, happily married with a family, is charged with the rape and murder to two young women. The evidence against him is irrefutable: large volumes of the girls’ blood on the scene, his semen on the floor and he has no alibi. The only possible witness, who could be equally for him as against him, is in a deep coma.  

A famous afterlife research centre offers the services of a clairvoyant and a psychic medium. They find some evidence. Looked at one way, it could be of possible interest; looked at another though, it could be very disturbing. It’s not in the UK, but in the tropical rainforests of southern India, where it’s now the rainy season. Torrential tropical rain is annoying, but even more so is one of the reptiles it brings out: the largest venomous snake in the world, the formidable, but magnificent, King Cobra. Would a trip there, just to investigate a long shot, really be worth the risk? (Lowland Highcane).

Induced After Death Communication (IADC), isn’t new. Dr Allen Botkin discovered it by accident while treating frontline soldiers for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder back in 1995. It’s accepted that the results achieved are nothing short of miraculous. A treatment using older methods could take many months, often years. Using IADC the symptoms can be dramatically reduced, even eliminated, in just two sessions.

It works equally well with the trauma of the loss of a loved one as it does for the violence experienced in warfare. As remarkable as it may sound, the process puts you directly in contact with a deceased person. This isn’t something that’s happened to just a handful of people. Those who have now benefitted run into the thousands. Visit the Induced After Death Communication webpage

My next novel will be based on Induced After Death Communication, Shared Death Experience, Near-Death Experience induced by psychedelics. The storyline: Before asking questions about your family’s history, be sure you’re prepared for the answers. Especially if your family is worth billions, and you’re in love with someone that perhaps you shouldn’t be. Death could be a consequence.