Barry's Latest

  • Revelations of the Impossible Piddingtons; Adventures in Second Sight, a historical novel set in 1890-95  just up on the Amazon Kindle Book Store. It is the first of a trilogy presenting the global adventures of Kyame Piddington in second sight. more info
  •  
  • "The Thought Reader Craze"
    Gibecière, Winter, 2009,Volume 4, No. 1
    • The article is the definitive early history of the thought reader act with many images and stories never before published. The story examines the impact of the thought reading act not only on the public, but also on the scientific world of the time.
  • "Encounter on the Nile: the Fashoda Incident 1898"
    History Magazine, June/July 2010
  • The last time that the British and French armies faced each other with the intent to go to war at a ruined fort on the Nile at Fashoda.

Coming Publications

  • “Nellie Bly on Magnets, Mind Readers & Fakirs! Fakirs! Fakirs!”
    scheduled for Gibecière Vol. 5, No.2, Summer, 2010.
    • Bly is the famous female reporter best known for her 1889 global circumnavigation in 72 days which bested the 80 days of Phileas Fogg, Jules Verne’s classic hero. She went after any frauds that she encountered, whether they were lobbiests in Albany or mind readers in New York City. The article presents four of her articles from 1893-5 that appeared in Joseph Pulitzer's  New York World.

  • “The Blonde Witch of Boston”
    scheduled for History Magazine, 2010
    • The strange story of Mina Crandon, Boston socialite who became world renown as the spirit medium “Margery”. Her home at 10 Lime Street in Boston's Beacon Hill was the center of the psychic world from 1923 to the mid-thirties. Harry Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle battled over her, with Houdini claiming he had exposed all her tricks and Doyle claiming the magician had exposed nothing. I interviewed Dr. Eric J. Dingwall, the last person alive who had sat in a seance with Margery.
  • "Stranglers of the Yellow Scarf"  scheduled for History Magazine, 2010.
  • The story of Thuggee , the hereditary organization of garroters that preyed on travelers in India for over three hundred years and which murdered, using a yellow scarf, over two million people, who simply disappeared. The Thugs (pronounced "tugs") were followers of the Hindu goddess, Kali, the black goddess, the daughter of stone, and many other names. Yellow was Kali's favorite color and the killings had to be bloodless. Thuggee was surpressed by the forces of the British East India Company in about 1840, though there were often rumors of its local revival.
  • "Lycaon: the Coming of the Werewolf" scheduled for History Magazine, Oct/Nov,  2010.
  • The werewolf is a familiar mythical menacing beast of the movies, television and folklore -- but where did the belief come from and how has it changed over the years from its first mention in ancient Greek mythology when Zeus turned Lycaon into a wolf as punishment? The werewolf is more than just Lon Chaney, Jr., in heavy makeup.

Welcome to the Official Website of author, Barry Wiley

  Welcome to my website!

   On this site you will find descriptions of my books and CD's -- and how to purchase them -- as well as a list of my latest writings appearing in current magazines and journals. and a listing of the articles scheduled for publication later in 2010. You will find a section on FAQ which covers a few of the more familar questions that I have encountered. You are welcome to add your own questions if the questions listed don't cover your interests.

But first the latest news! My historical novel, Revelations of the Impossible Piddingtons: Adventures in Second Sight is now up on Amazon Kindle for $6.95. Go to the Kindle Store, put my name in the search and the dust jacket will come up. Kindle allows prospective readers with Kindle software  to sample the books before buying, which in the case of Revelations is the first six chapters. Kindle software is available from Amazon as a free download for PC's and Mac's which should expand the market beyond the 1.3 million Kindles sold thus far.

Revelations is the first of a trilogy describing Kyame Piddington and her adventures in second sight. The second book, Shadow of the Tiger, is well along and is set in France, Monte Carlo and on the banks of the Nile in 1896 when Kyame is seventeen.

   I need to explain the chop displayed above which was carved for me in Shanghai from Shou-shan stone. It stands 4.75 inches tall and is 1.5 inches square. It is crowned by a carving of a dragon and a tortise in battle. The dragon represents power and the tortise long life. It is taught that one without the other leads to an empty life, and so the conflict between risk and contentment, between assertion and denial must be ongoing.  I use the chop as a colophon or trademark. It means "Creator of Mysterious Stories" which about covers everything, particularly politics.

   Few, if any, writers get rich writing short stories unless one is optioned for a movie or television, but they are fun to do and form an enjoyable occasional break from the research and writing of historical novels and non-fiction. I have two short stories on the site with some background on their writing. These stories will be changed every six weeks or so. When I would be strapped into a plane for about a day or so flying frequently to Asia on business, I would sometimes turn off all the electronics, order another glass of wine, and write a short story. Most of the stories have a magic or mindreading flavor to them as that is an area that, over the years, I have come to know very well.

   I have lectured on the history of mentalism and Spiritualism at various venues as the Magic Castle in Hollywood to the Magic Circle in London, as well as a couple of times at the annual Meeting of the Minds of the Psychic Entertainers Association -- and at the biennial Yankee Gathering of the New England Magic Collectors Association. Whatever the venue, the audiences have always been stimulating with their questions, comments  -- and their often insightful criticisms.

  Also, you will find a brief summary of my novel now out with agents:  A Spirit of Fraud, a historical thriller set in 1876, the year of the most vicious Presidential election in American history among other famous events of the year; but the novel is focused on a major event that, thankfully, never happened. The novel has a paranormal theme, but unlike most of the paranormal-themed novels presently on the market, the protagonist,  Anna Eva Fay in Fraud, is a  fake, but a highly skilled fake. The reader is taken back-stage and in the course of the novel to learn some of the techniques used to create psychic illusions.

   I have nothing against levitations, vampires and such, but I have always found that "Open-Eyes", the fakes, to be much more interesting that the "Closed-Eyes", those people who genuinely believe that they have psychic powers of some type. [By the way, if you are into vampires and werewolves, then you need to read the books of the eccentric  English clergyman, Montague Summers, from the 1920's. Along with witches, vampires and werewolves, Summers also first  translated the fifteenth century Malleous Maleficarum, The Witches Hammer, into English in 1928. Summers' books can be more chilling than any fictional descriptions, as he was a believer. So, in reading them, prepare to meet the real thing.]  

  So enjoy. Content will be changing on a regular basis -- and thank you for coming,

  Regards,
  Barry