Sam and Dean Winchester know all the secrets their father recorded in his journal. Now you can, too. Sam and Dean Winchester take up the reins of their father's quest to hunt down the demon who killed their mother. Lucky for them, John recorded the secrets of his dark crusade in his one-of-a-kind journal filled with hard-won knowledge of monster hunting and preternatural dealings—a tome revealing the heart of a man haunted by guilt after the death of Sam and Dean's mother . . . and a story that ends abruptly at John's own disappearance. Without the diary, Sam and Dean would have been lost during their adventures on the CW's Supernatural—and now, with the journal itself in your hands, you too can delve into the eldritch world of monsters, ghost, spirits and ghouls alongside television's hottest demon hunters. An opus of hidden knowledge, John Winchester's Journal is a must-have addition to any Supernatural fan's occult library. Sam and Dean Winchester know all the secrets their father recorded in his journal. Now you can, too. On November 2, 1983, Sam and Dean Winchester lost their mother to a demonic supernatural force. In the wake of the tragedy, their father, John, set out to learn everything he could about the paranormal evil that lives in the dark corners and on the back roads of America . . . and how to kill it. In his personal journal, he not only compiled folklore, legend, and superstition about all manner of otherworldly enemies but he also recorded his experiences—hunting the creature that killed his wife even as he raised his two sons. Part prequel, part resource guide, John Winchester's Journal finally gives fans the ultimate companion book for Supernatural . It's all here: the exorcism Sam and Dean used in "Phantom Traveler," John's notes on everything from shape-shifters to Samuel Colt, Dean's first hunt, Sam's peewee soccer team . . . and John's single-minded pursuit of a growing and deadly evil. Alex Irvine has written more than thirty books, both his own original fiction ( Buyout ,  The Narrows ,  Mystery Hill ,  A Scattering of Jades ) and licensed work for Marvel, Hasbro, Warner Brothers, Fox, Blizzard, Legendary, and other international entertainment companies. He has also written comics ( Daredevil Noir ,  Iron Man: Rapture ,  Hellstorm, Son of Satan: Equinox ), games, and animation. The three games he's currently writing --  Marvel Avengers Alliance ,  Marvel War of Heroes , and  Marvel PuzzleQuest  -- together have totaled more than 75 million players. Before leaving to write full time, he spent six years as an English professor at the University of Maine. A native of Ypsilanti, Michigan, he lives in South Portland, Maine, with his wife and three children...and two dogs, a bird, a snake and a fish. You can find him on Twitter or Facebook. Supernatural John Winchester's Journal By Alex Irvine HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. Copyright © 2009 Alex Irvine All right reserved. ISBN: 9780061706622 Chapter One 1983 November 16: I went to Missouri, and learned the truth. And from her, I met Fletcher Gable, who gave me this book and said: "Write everything down." That's what Fletcher told me, like this new life is a school and I'll flunk out if I don't have good notes. Only if I flunk out of this school, I'll be dead. And the boys will be orphans. So I'm going to go back to where this started. Two weeks ago, my wife was murdered. I watched her die, pinned to the ceiling of Sammy's room, blood dripping onto his cradle until she burst into flames—looking at me as she died. The week before that, we were a normal family . . . eating dinner, going to Dean's T-ball game, buying toys for baby Sammy. But in an instant, it all changed . . . When I try to think back, get it straight in my head . . . I feel like I'm going crazy. Like someone ripped both my arms off, plucked my eyes out . . . I'm wandering around, alone and lost, and I can't do anything. Mary used to write books like this one. She said it helped her remember all the little things, about the boys, me . . . I wish I could read her journals, but like everything else, they're gone. Burned into nothing. She always wanted me to try writing things down. Maybe she was right, maybe it will help me to remember, to understand. Fletcher seems to think so. Nothing makes any sense anymore . . . My wife is gone, my sons are without their mother . . . the things I saw that night, I remember hearing Mary scream, and I ran, but then . . . everything was calm, just for a second—Sammy was fine—and I was sure I had been hearing things—too many horror movies too late at night. But then there was the blood, and when I looked up, my wife . . . Half our house is gone, even though the fire burned for only a few hours. Most of our clothes and photos are ruined, even our safe—the safe with Mary's old diaries, the passbooks for the boys' college accounts, what little jewelry we had . . . all gone. How could my house, my whole life, go up like th