Mark Twain was not a Spiritualist, though he was known to attend séances for their entertainment value. He died in 1910-but, according to two mediums, he wasn't finished writing. The famed author allegedly had much more to say from beyond the veil.

Between 1915 and 1917, a medium and novelist named Emily Grant Hutchings, working with another medium, Lola V. Hays, claimed that Twain dictated Jap Herron one letter at a time through a Ouija board. If Twain's ghost truly lingered to painstakingly spell out fiction from beyond the grave, one suspects he did so with the same amused detachment he brought to séances in life.

Not everyone was entertained. Harper & Brothers., Twain's longtime publisher, rejected Jap Herron, denying both its supernatural origins and its literary merit. The dispute reached the U.S. Supreme Court. Hutchings maintained that she'd worked closely with Twain's ghost, but agreed to destroy the printed copies. Most were lost. A few survived.

Now, through this re-publication, Jap Herron is fittingly back from the dead.