When seven hippies burned to death 39 years ago in a tragic fire, a ghost story was spawned. The legend, passed down by students at the local University, centers on Claire Wales, also know as the Hippie Queen. Graduate student Jeremy Spires thinks nothing of the tale until he stops on a deserted road to help a stranded motorist, an odd man named Grady, who retells the ghost story as if it and the Hippie Queen are real. Despite Grady's warnings to stay away, Jeremy and his devoted girlfriend, Jinni Malone, plan a camping trip to the very place - Reefers Woods - where the hippies died in 1969. After a near-death experience, an ultra-vivid dream and bizarre visions of children roaming about, Jeremy wonders if there could be some extraordinary power manifested in Reefers Woods. Can Jeremy, in his role as a cynical scientist, dare to believe in the supernatural? Can he discern what is real and what is not?

Do you know what it is to burn? No? Neither did Jeremy, at least not before a girl, a beautiful stranger, kissed him unexpectedly in a bar. In the days that followed, and despite his love for Jinni, Jeremy cannot turn his thoughts away from the provocative encounter. When Jeremy gives in to his forbidden desires and seeks out the mysterious Monika, he is thrust into a shadowy subculture of sex, drugs and rock-and-roll, of which he had been completely unaware. It is Monika who asks the question, and subsequently reveals what it is to burn.

I can' t believe she's dead! The intrigue and suspense intensifies after a ritualistic murder at the University draws the attention of the nation. After learning that the victim is someone very close to Jeremy and after finding evidence linking him to the crime scene, the police focus on Jeremy as a suspect, forcing him to search for the real killer and to try and make sense of the many unforeseen twists and turns his life takes.

THE REAL is a deeply-layered work that can be experienced on several levels. It is up to you, the reader, to decide how deeply you wish to delve.

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