F. P. Dorchak

Speculative Fiction Author

Ghosts

Cat on a Couch

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Chloe and Cassie, December 2004
Chloe and Cassie, December 2004

I have put off writing about this for a while…but it happened again, yesterday, so I simply can’t ignore it any longer. It’s not just a trick of light or shadow. It’s something else, entirely.

In August of 2007, while I’d been on a business trip, we lost one of our cats, Cassie, to kidney failure and another complication. She was a beautiful gray and white “flower child” mouser who would actually go outside and smell our flowers. Not kidding…she would go up to them and stick her nose into the petals and just, well…smell. She also had a habit of dropping dead voles and field mice at our patio doorstep (on occasion sneaking them into the house before I could see what it was she had in her mouth). But we called her our “flower child.” She was very sweet and loving and our first cat as a couple. She loved to sit up on the top edge of one of our couches, the one before our picture window, and just look out at the world.

A pensive cat.

A philosopher cat.

She would either hunker down on the left side or sit upright. In the picture above you see that “dent” on the left, where our other feline is sitting? She did that.

Well, ever since her passing, I’ve kept catching brief images of a cat (not Chloe) on the top of that couch. I’d stop and back up…looking to the couch…and would see nothing. I would bid Cassie a “Hello, Cassie!” and move on.

Well, it happened again yesterday morning as my wife was getting off to work (I took the day off). The curtains were open. I had walked through the kitchen, which has a view of the above-mentioned area, and again caught a flash of a cat sitting upright on the middle top edge of that couch (just a smidge to the left of where Cassie is in the picture).

I still have that image burned in my mind.

There was a cat there.

Then there wasn’t.

And Chloe was sleeping upstairs on “her” (our) spare bed; I’d just come from there.

I backed up and looked…no Cassie. Told my wife about it.

Now I’m writing this.

Hello, Cassie!

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One Painting…Two Dogs

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Just Checking In To Say "Hi!" (Artwork by Rémi Jouandet [see page for license], via Wikimedia Commons)
Just Checking In To Say “Hi!” (Artwork by Rémi Jouandet [see page for license], via Wikimedia Commons)
Early into our vacation, like a day or so, something really weird happened.

Note: I’m going to respect my folks’ privacy and only tell the minimum of specific names and such.

While my dad was watching TV and his dog, Boomer (name has been changed for privacy), was lying on the floor by his side, I was in the kitchen, doing something that most probably involved food, when I heard a bark—then my dad calling me over.

When I get into the living room, my dad tells me that Boomer was just lying quietly on the floor, when he all of a sudden went upright…and stared at this painting that was on the living-room wall. Barked at it. When I came in, Boomer was no-kidding-up-on-the-couch with his forepaws, back straight as an arrow, nose angled directly into the painting. He was very agitated, did those doggy “whiny sounds,” and may have again barked. But, both my dad and I looked to each other (definitely amused…highly curious)…and to Boomer…and the painting.

What the hell?

Preserving the privacy of this artwork, all I’m going to say is that in the painting (that had been up on the wall for a while, maybe towards a year?), two dogs are depicted: Boomer, and another, Rin Tin (again, not its real name).

Rin Tin is deceased.

Boomer remained agitated and brought his nose right up to the painting, less than an inch away from it, again, his whole body straight as an arrow. I put one hand to the painting’s frame, while holding the other nearby Boomer’s face, in case he decided to lunge and/or bite at the frame or painting. Dad and I are chuckling and wondering what the heck was going on, when Boomer did the weirdest thing:

He stuck his nose directly to the depiction of Rin Tin, sniffed it for a second or two…then abruptly departed.

That was it.

He jumped off of the couch and came to us as if nothing had happened.

Dad and I are laughing and looking to ourselves, totally baffled (well, truth be told, I had an idea). For the rest of our near week and a half there, Boomer never paid anymore attention to Rin Tin’s painted image.

Okay, you know I’m about to get kinda weird, here, but here’s what I believe happened:

Rin Tin was my folks’ previous dog and had to be put to sleep (turns out we were there, visiting, my wife and I, and one of my brothers, Chris). I love animals, and am particularly fond of dogs. I miss Rin Tin, and the day we arrived on the current vacation two weeks ago, I was actually wondering if Rin Tin might make, well, an appearance, now that I was here. Rin Tin’s cremains are in an “urn” my dad made (which was what I’d seen that first day and got me to thinking about all this), and I made a point to go to it a couple times while there, and “reach out” to Rin Tin. After all, I reasoned, I had a really cool experience with my last dog, Mac, and wondered if I would have a similar experience with Rin Tin.

I really believe that Rin Tin had reached out to us to let us know she was there…and was just saying “Hi.” I had lots of fun with her. I just have a way with dogs…and dogs generally like (okay, love) me. And I couldn’t be there when she was actually put down. I feel this was her way of saying “hello” one more time to dad and me…meeting the “new fur”…letting us know that she’s still “around.” The only ones in the area were my dad, Boomer, and me.

That painting had been up on the wall for a long time, and Boomer had never reacted to it at all. What the heck else could it have been? What the heck could have possibly caused a dog to behave that way? He went right to Rin Tin’s image, not his own.

I was right there, with Boomer, at the painting when it happened, saw exactly where Boomer’s nose went—it was directly and unhesitatingly to Rin Tin’s image, not concerned with his own image at all. I’ve seen dogs bark at the TV, but never a static image like that, especially when the image had been around in the dog’s presence for a while, with no prior reaction to it.

It truly ranks as one of the weirdest things I’ve ever witnessed!

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The Uninvited—Now In Paperback!

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The Uninvited - Paperback (© F. P. Dorchak and Duvall Design)
The Uninvited – Paperback (© F. P. Dorchak and Duvall Design)

“The images invaded my thoughts when I wasn’t reading the book.”

CDurandette (The Uninvited reader)

Just in time for Hallowe’en, The Uninvited is now available as a 6 x 9 trade paperback!

Right this moment (October 26th), it’s just available through CreateSpace’s link, but keep checking for the Amazon link update. Though the page counts differ between the e-book and paperback (327 for e-book, 282 for paperback), nothing is lost. Same story, just different formatting

Karen Duvall, of Duvall Design, designed this cover. I will be interviewing her next month. Thanks for the bang-up job, Karen! My interior formatter was Pam Headrick, of A Thirsty Mind. I plan on interviewing her in no short order, too. Pam is quite patient and ever so thorough—thanks, Pam!

Recent events have forced me to reconsider my earlier timeline of releasing some other work, this year, so I no longer plan on releasing anything new in the remainder of 2013. Further releases of pending novels will now be sometime next year.

So, if you’re looking for another creepy read, please do check out the paperback version of The Uninvited! I’ve written with you in mind….

Praise for The Uninvited:

“This book was quite an unexpected pleasure. I began by following a journalist into a gruesome crime scene in Florida and in a short time I found myself thinking about this novel when I was shopping, having coffee or doing chores. The characters are interesting and well developed through the book to the very end. The development of the storyline was unanticipated so I hate to tell you too much about it here in the review, but I highly recommend this novel as a good way to spend your time.”

CDurandette (an Uninvited reader)

“I get the chills… a most impressive work.”

Rob Butts, Seth Material Facilitator/Author, The Seth Material, The Early Sessions, The Personal Sessions

“At some point in our lives we contemplate, among numerous things, the demise of past souls and the inexplicable ‘natural’ comfort (or immediate aversion) we feel with some upon first meeting. F. P. Dorchak’s The Uninvited presents the possibilities through an ominous tale that explores and may provide reason for such sensitivities, while explaining the evil borne (and perpetrated) by society’s sinister few.”

Jan C.J. Jones, CoExecutive Producer – Researcher/Writer, Forest Rose Productions, LLC

“The Uninvited is a dynamic, intense novel. F. P. Dorchak weaves his story adeptly, with skill and precision. He easily intertwines the worlds of reincarnation and quantum physics to create a powerful, suspenseful experience for the reader.”

Sydney Heflin, Ed. D. Former Research Chair, International Association for Regression Research and Therapies.

“If psychological and even physical characteristics can follow us from lifetime to lifetime, can revenge and retribution be far behind? In his chilling novel, The Uninvited, author F. P. Dorchak explores the dark side reincarnation. It’s a good read. Hard to put down.”

Dr. Robert T. James, author of Passport to Past Lives. The Evidence.

“I found I could not stop reading… I became totally fascinated by the depth of Dorchak’s exploration into the many influences beneath the hostilities performed. I was especially delighted with his reference to the modern pioneer in metaphysics and philosophy, Jane Roberts—right there beside the famous psychic Edgar Cayce. Today’s police and lawyers need this novel!”

Madelon Rose Logue, Editor/Publisher The Black Sheep

(© F. P. Dorchak and Lon Kirschner)
(© F. P. Dorchak and Lon Kirschner)
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The Woman in Black

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My wife and I watched this 2012 film last night and, though there were some odd incongruities I can’t mention because they give elements of the plot away, it was overall pretty cool! What I really loved about the film was the atmosphere and some of the really cool visuals. The story is a period piece about a lawyer (Daniel Radcliffe, of Harry Potter fame) who has lost his wife and has to raise his child on his own (well, with a nanny), and is sent to a dead woman’s estate (the “Eel Marsh House,” at a cool setting involving tidal washes) to close it out. Of course, the supernatural ensues. This film is produced with several companies, one of which is Hammer Films. I love Hammer films! They have such richly created and stylish worlds to all their productions, and I was not at all disappointed this time around. It was neat to see “Hammer Films” up on a screen again!

Now, this is not like your current crop of flicks that go all gory and hack-and-slash crazy, and I loved that. It was a ghost story. It was psychological and carefully played out. About shadows and reflections and peripheral visions.

Creepy.

That would be the operative word!

Check out this site, and the last video, titled “Classic Ghost Story.” Then catch the film itself, at night, in a dark room….

During afternoon tea, there’s a shift in the air.
A bone-trembling chill that tells you she’s there.
There are those who believe the whole town is cursed.
But the house in the marsh is by far the worst.
What she wants is unknown, but she always comes back.
The specter of darkness, the Woman in Black.

From FirstCovers.com.

The Uninvited—LIVE at Smashwords!

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The Uninvited, © F. P. Dorchak (cover art: Duvall Design, 2013)
The Uninvited, © F. P. Dorchak (cover art: Duvall Design, 2013)

Well, I erred!

I was just trying to see if I could upload my book into Smashwords and have it ready to go live later, but, apparently (and I downloaded a copy to check it), it’s available right now, my friends!  Yeah, The Uninvited, 12 years in the making, is now available FOR FREE at Smashwords (only for a couple weeks)!

Click here to go to The Uninvited Smashwords page.

Well, there it is, where the rubber hits the road. I hope you all enjoy it, and please, write up some reviews and post!  Feel free to copy the cover and use it, but attribute the proper copyright, please.

Also, please let me know about any viewing/formatting errors.

I look forward to hearing from you about your reading experiences!

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Ghost of Me

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One of the weirdest things to happen to me occurred on September 20, 2010, at around 4 in the afternoon.

Actual names have been removed for privacy.

Two relatives were at our home with my wife, while I was at work. One relative was in the kitchen with my wife, the other outside. My wife and the first relative were making dinner. At about this time, both my wife and this person both heard the downstairs door to our living room open then close, and me shouting out (as I always do) “Hellooo!”  They both looked to each other and commented that I was home. The other relative then came inside, and my wife told this person I was home.  But after a few moments they wondered where I was, because I hadn’t yet shown my face. When one of them went to check on me, they only found one car in the garage–I had not yet returned home!

My wife looked to the one who’d been in the kitchen with her and asked, “Well, you heard it right?” to which the person replied, “Yeah, I heard it.”

But I was at the gym!

<cue Twilight Zone music….>

Okay, that’s a first–I’m a ghost while I’m still living!

After hearing this, I’d talked to all parties, and they all confirmed the above events. Every detail. To make it even more interesting, when I really did return home that night, my wife had me go to where she’d been standing and showed me exactly how it all went down by her going to the same door…opening then closing it. I then came down to her after she’d closed the door and shouted out my normal “Hellooo!” I asked her, “It sounded just like that?” She said yup.  She added that I even had that playful lilt to it I always do when I shout it out upon getting home.

Later, as I got ready for bed the next night, I think it was, it dawned on me that when I was running errands after work on the above day (the 20th), I was fully intending to head home to check on some flight reservations I’d made at work for a business trip. When I went to check on these reservations after having made them, our Internet and e-mail went down, and I really wanted these reservations, because I was flying home in the middle of a four-week biz trip. And up until the very last minute, I’d thoroughly intended on actually coming home, checking on them (or making them if they hadn’t gone through at work with our Interent down) then head to the gym–but changed my mind on the drive home and ended up going directly to the gym. So this all happened exactly when I would have gotten home if I hadn’t changed my mind and instead headed to the gym.

What do I think this was?  Well, it could be considered “suggestion,” some kind of telepathic link…or perhaps it was an alternate reality. I like to think of it as…a ghost of me!