The Specters of Mammoth Cave are comming!!!
Fall is almost here. Pumpkin is back on the menu. YouTube creators I watch are shifting to spooky content. The paranormal podcasts I listen to are. . . well they are doing the same things they always do.
It’s the perfect time to release the next spooky edition in the Junior Rangers Investigative Club Novels: The Specters of Mammoth Cave!!!!
I will make a more announcement style post the day it is released: September 14, 2023!!! Which hypes it up.
For now, I simply wanted to gush a bit about what to expect in this newest adventure for the Junior Rangers Investigative Club!
Printed proofs are one of the final steps before a book is ready to release.
1st: New Team Members!
Justin, Lucy, and Rudy are not the only members of JRIC. In addition to their older siblings, and some friends they make along the way, there are other permanent members waiting for thier introductions. This time Amelia Zhang and Bethany Caulfield join the team on their adventures in Kentucky. You can read a bit more about both of them here. I am so happy to introduce them to the team, and to you- the readers!
The team!
2nd: A new park.
The Junior Rangers Investigative Club has moved north to Kentucky for the fall season, and that takes them to Mammoth Cave National Park, home of the longest cave in the world, a storied history, and many mysteries.
There’s a depth of history and natural wonder to Mammoth Cave! With the help of many professional and lifelong hobbyist’s, I’ve learned so much about the park. (I’ve shared some of what I have learned in these blogs) But I am so happy to share such a rich environment for adventure and mystery in the book!
Me, standing at one of the Mammoth Cave entrance Signs. (not the one which features on the title page.)
3rd: A spooky adventure.
Spooky!
There are creepy rumors coming out of Mammoth Cave National Park. The team has faced ghosts before, including the dark memories of the dread Private Winters from Fort Jefferson in Treasure off the Coast. But this time, the phantoms take the forefront as a haunting mystery begins. Justin, Bethany, and the others are determined to figure out what is going on, even if that takes them into the cavernous depths of Kentucky’s history.
4th: Fun guest appearances.
Joining JRIC on this adventure is a serious team of ghost hunters known as The Specter Detectors. These five friends are well versed in the paranormal, and are intent to capture proof of the spirits within Mammoth Cave. If you want to learn more about this brave team, you can read Amelia’s 3 part writeup of one of their previous adventures Here.
5th: This was just so fun to write.
There was so much to learn about Mammoth Cave! There are so many cool things to see within the boundaries of the park and a lot of fun anecdotes I picked up along the way. Like all novels in the Junior Rangers Investigative Club series, the central mystery is fictional. But it is based around and within a fascinating park with a thrilling history. I am so happy to share a small fraction of the things I learned along the way. More happy to have you all follow the team on an adventure I had a terribly fun time writing, and most happy to hope that this book encourages you to get out and explore, if not Mammoth Cave, at least the vast and wonderful world and National Parks near you!
6th: The illustrations are awesome!!!!
If you loved Bailey’s illustrations in The Treasures off the Coast, then wait until you see what she has done in The Specters of Mammoth Cave! I have my absolute favorite, but I won’t spoil which one it is because all of the illustrations are amazing! (also in one of them characters from something else I write make a cameo, and Bailey was very kind to make this happen!)
You even get to see the team in thier Halloween Costumes! I'll give you one guess what Rudy chose…
7th: A long time coming!
Way back near the end of 2021 I ran into a family hiking one of my favorite easy trails in Mammoth Cave National Park: The road to Floyd Collin’s old homesite. (Floyd is an important figure to the history of Mammoth Cave, and you can learn more about him in the book - or hiking Sand Cave Trail in the park.) I remember telling the family a bit about my favorite Mammoth Cave anecdotes, and predicting that my book-then just a rough draft-would be out sometime in the following year. Now, nearly 2 years later, a much better version of that story is finally complete. And I am so happy to share it with everyone!
I had so much fun with this one.
Hopefully you will too!
The Specters of Mammoth Cave will be available in less than 2 weeks!!!!! (yay!!!!!!)