A spate of novels that include the NDE as a central plot element are popping up across genres — thrillers, horror, sci-fi, westerns and even literary fiction. Contemporary fiction is not only a testing ground to explore cutting-edge theories about NDEs, it’s also a unique frontline glimpse into society’s shifting perspectives. This nascent but growing literary trend has similarities to what would become the sci-fi heyday of the mid to late twentieth century. Back then, as the world struggled to come to grips with the staggering power and potential of science — thrown into a stark light in the tragic wake of the atomic bomb — a handful of brilliant writers helped us integrate this new reality into the collective national psyche. The words of authors Clarke, Dick, Asimov and many others entertained us, as well as predicted and likely inspired numerous future scientific and technological breakthroughs — from the smart phone to the space shuttle.  A golden age of sci-fi flourished.

Today, the ingredients for the birth of another new genre of ideas (consciousness-fiction, or “con-fi”) are present. Extraordinary findings from neuroscience research, new understandings about the human brain and the spectacular advances — and capabilities — in brain imaging technology are unleashing a similar creative surge in fiction, and near-death experiences are smack in the middle of it

Near Death (Three-Thirty AM Publishing, 2012) by Richard Hale is a genre mash-up, combining romance, mystery, corporate/government espionage into a page-turning thriller. Scientist Jake Townsend is inspired, some might say maddened, by the violent death of his pregnant wife in a car wreck. As she bled out in his arms, he struggled unsuccessfully to make out her whispered final words. Years — and countless lucid dreams — later, he has configured a super computer that can uniquely identify and extract neurological content from human brains. This research, secretly funded by the military, hooks up near-death experiencers to the neurological computer network and tracks their reality as they remember their NDE. Eventually, the research team stumbles onto a portal to an alternate consciousness/reality. Near Death explores how information technology and advanced imaging may be harnessed to define the NDE, and how the military-industrial complex could use this knowledge for nefarious purposes.

The Lazarus Initiative (Bad Press, 2012) by David Sakmyster and Steven Saville is a fun whodunit detective thriller that indirectly gives directions to the research world about the type of expertise needed to figure out the significance of NDEs. After his private plane crashes in the Texas desert, Nicolas Sheridan, CEO billionaire, has an NDE. Using his legendary managerial skills, combined with his apparently unlimited wealth, he recruits the NDE A-Team — convinced that any puzzle, including the NDE, can be solved when the greatest minds are brought to bear on it. Who are those experts? Him, of course, along with a cadre that includes a scientist, detective, psychiatrist, some “muscle” and a leggy administrator type, among others. The Lazarus Initiative is also an example of the new wave in e-publishing; it’s being released as a series of novelettes online.

A globe-trotting thriller and love story, The Knowledge of Good and Evil (Tor Books, 2011) by Glenn Kleier blends neuroscience with religion in its quest to understand the NDE. Ian Baringer, novice priest, deploys his personal wealth to hire scientists and physicians that willfully cause his physical death and induce an NDE. He is passionately motivated to see his beloved parents again (killed in a car wreck). The book beautifully describes an NDE using classic descriptions of heaven and hell from Dante’s Inferno and Milton’s Paradise Lost as literary touchstones. But the truths Ian uncovers about the persistence of the soul triggers the revival of an ancient shadow religious sect protected by the Vatican and bent on keeping the NDE portal to heaven a secret. Ian must be assassinated. This book, like many in the burgeoning NDE pantheon, relies on a Christian lens for describing spiritual experiences.

Ann Richards, the heroine of Benevolent Virus (John Hunt Publishing, 2010) by Frances O’Brien, is a famous celebrity anchorwoman — think Katie Couric — who is struggling to integrate what she saw during a powerful NDE after a car crash into her life. In a parallel story, Richard Breton, a battle-scarred veteran who served in Iraq, is on a mission to collect the stories of as many people who have had NDEs as he can. He too experienced an NDE after a near fatal injury in Fallujah. Employing a “hero’s journey” narrative framework, the book is a well-written and entertaining primer, of sorts, for readers new to the NDE concept. “My interest was not only in the fascinating accounts of those who have survived their own deaths, but also in the hugely transformative power of these events to alter the course of the lives of the survivors,” said O’Brien.

The Trial of Poppy Moon (Peach Publishing, 2012) by John Corder presents an intriguing twist on both the spiritual and legal implications of the NDE rolled up into a solidly-written thriller chock full of memorable characters thrown together into a fast-paced adventure spanning multiple continents and dimensions. The story commences with a legal case involving an organ transplant gone wrong in which Poppy’s “eyewitness” account during her NDE becomes crucial to the legal defense, and leads ultimately to a clinical trial aimed at proving, or disproving, the existence of an afterlife. While the story is complex, the book is a thoughtfully executed example of “con-fi,” with enough detail so that readers familiar with NDEs will be satisfied, as will be those who are new to the topic.

And then of course, there is Blood and Whiskey (Pumpjack Press, 2012) by Clark Hays and Kathleen McFall (us!), a gothic western that deploys the age-old vampire myth to explore the nature of consciousness in the afterlife. The vampires in this love story die, literally, every morning. During the daytime period of death, the vampires exist in The Meta, a collective consciousness where their souls mingle as energy. The Meta is also identified as the “place” where humans travel during a near-death experience. The authors are indirectly positing a non-material theory of human (or rather, vampire) consciousness, with the undead brain functioning more like a receptor than a home. As described by Kirkus Reviews, “the existence of this meta world where consciousnesses wait out the daylight hours and immortality has all sorts of ramifications for human spirituality.

Based on this sampling, nascent themes are emerging in “con-fi.” Science as a tool for understanding — or at least proving the reality of — the NDE is a dominant feature. In most, a description of an actual physical place — or energy field — is described as the seat of consciousness (and the place from whence NDEs originate). Similarly, the transformative impact, both positive and negative, of an NDE on a character’s life is frequently described.  Most include characters whose lives have been shaped by death — either their own or the death of a loved one they are determined to see again – giving the character’s strong motivations. And other than the propensity to use car crashes as the dominant instrument of near-death, all books are worth reading.

The books listed above can be found on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Indie Bound.раскрутка